Dying in Valparaiso: Angels, Virgins and Teeny Little Babies

Here's a selection of some of the statues on the tombs in all three of the Valparaiso Cemeteries-1, 2 and the dirty Dissidents'.

Out of all the statues i saw, this was the only one that kind of moved me...


That's heavy cross to bear...



Howzaaaaaaaaaaaaat??????? (for cricket lovers only)


This lady is 'armless...(sorry)



Ahhhhhhh...


This lady looks like she's had acid thrown in her face...and she doesn't even get a sea-view. That's Cerro Concepcion behind.



An entire family of little 'uns...


She could do with a wash-this was the only dirty sculpture i saw...




There are repairs going on in Cementerio Numero 1 at the moment...




This photo you've already seen...

Renovations...getting there...

As i suspected, we're about 1 month behind schedule as the ground floor renovations took around 6 weeks longer than expected. We've caught up a little but not enough to be finished in time for New Year. Still, we're finished enough to have a party upstairs (where the view of the fireworks is pretty cool). Here are a few photos showing how things are looking now. The floorboards are down, the cornices and moldings are in place, the first couple of coats of paint are done and the glass is being put in the windows. Almost there...








The office and living room behind


The living room


A mini-living room upstairs leaving the (re-done) oak structure on display



These are the cornices that we've put in the passageways of the house


And these in the living areas


And the centre pieces for the living areas


Views from the yet to be finished roof...

Dying in Valparaiso: El Cementerio de Disidentes II

Here are a few more photos from the graveyard tour i did yesterday.

I really liked the stylish simplicity of this cross...it's the grave of a non-Catholic Italian...

The Knauf family appears to have died out around the 1920s...they all died really young. Weak folk, the Germans :)


The official company vault of Duncan Fox & Co (founded in Liverpool in 1882), an important shipping and export company at the turn of the century and now a large food company


A little light relief for the German dead (sorry)


The British and Germans got on quite well in Chile


The Royal Navy had a vault...



..starting in 1842 and ending around the turn of the century (on another flagstone)


Arthur Daly...!


Probably the most OTT tomb in the sombre dissidents' cemetery


The Grand Masonic Lodge of Valparaiso (isn't it supposed to be a secret society?)


Lots of the British in Valparaiso originated from Scotland





A member of the 10th Fire Brigade

Dying in Valparaiso: El Cementerio de Disidentes

As i recently turned 30, i've been thinking quite a lot about death. So i decided to head up to the Valparaiso cemeteries to see if i could find a plot. Now, you're not really supposed to take photos -there are signs up stating that as you walk in...but i ignored them and took dozens. A few are below and i'll be posting more as time goes by.

I started off in the Cementerio de Disidentes, the charming name the local Catholics gave anyone who didn't want to feel guilty their entire lives. The cemetery is typical of protestant cemeteries the world over: understated and generally quite pretty-nothing spectacular. The interesting part is really the tombstones and the names on them...the graveyard is full of British and Germans, showing the influence that these two nationalities had on Valparaiso back in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Of course, the German headstones are far more elaborate and pretty than the British ones. This was the same in the German and British Cemeteries in Chacarita in Buenos Aires. Maybe the Lutherans like a bit more pomp in their death?

Anyway, here are some of the many photos I took today. Look at the names and dates...some of the families are still around today with the same surnames which means they haven't had to mingle too much with the natives...

I also made it Cementerio Numero 1 and Numero 2. They're all joined so it wasn't too much of an effort. I'll post about those at some point soon as well.




























This is the tomb to the lost seamen of the HMS Arequipa, a ship that foundered in Valparaiso Bay on June 2nd, 1902









And finally...what would a cemetery be without a load of cute kittens...