Stairways Across the Hills

Stairways Across the Hills is an original illustration set in Valparaíso, Chile. It lies in the subtropics, where the climate is warm-summer mediterranean.

A steep public stairway climbs between corrugated houses painted turquoise, rust, mustard, and cream, crossing a narrow funicular track on the hillside. Utility lines, retaining walls, and glimpses of a bright Pacific harbor stack vertically through the view, while dry coastal vegetation clings to the upper slopes.

Why do painted stairs and funicular tracks climb between dense houses?

Because Valparaíso grew around a constrained harbor backed immediately by steep coastal hills, streets could not form a broad level grid beyond the waterfront. Residents connected dense hillside neighborhoods with stairways, switchbacks, and incline railways, while lightweight corrugated cladding suited irregular plots. The compressed vertical relationship among harbor, colorful housing, stairs, and ascensores therefore reveals the city's topographic logic.

Terpano is a free daily geography puzzle. You study one original illustration, place a pin on a borderless terrain map, and see how close you were. There is no account and no sign-up; progress stays in your own browser. It plays in 11 languages.