Santiago, Chile

Sunday 7th to Thursday 11th November 2010

There is so much to see in Santiago and the surrounds but we just didn’t have time for it all.  Our accommodation “Casa Newen B&B” was perfect, giving us the chance to explore the city with relative ease, whether walking or catching public transport.   We caught the local bus and metro train a number of times during our visit – with the convenience of a “Bip” card that Luis & Adda (our hosts at Casa Newen) allowed us to use during our stay there – we just had to top-up the card with the value of our fares.  And it was cheap to travel on the bus or train – only Chilean Peso $520 (about AU$1) each time we travelled.

Chileans don’t speak much English, if any at all.  It was definitely a challenge getting about but thanks to classes taken with Karen at Alice Springs language centre, our phrasebook, the assistance of Luis & Adda and occasional help from the very friendly Chilean people, we managed very well and by the 3^rd day in the country we were able to order our lunch with relative ease and buy a take-away ice-cream on our way “home”.

Museums are closed every Monday but neither of us is really a museum buff with the dire need to look in every one so we didn’t see this as a concern – there were so many other things to look at without worrying about this. 

So here’s a snapshot of the sights & scenes we took in while walking around on our own…

·         Walked along “Paseo Ahumada” – the main shopping mall in Santiago

·         “Plaza de Armas” - home of Catedral de Santiago (Catholic Cathedral), Correo Central (post office), Museo Historico Nacional (National History Museum) and Municipalidad de Santiago (Santiago Municipal office). The architectural experts of the Lonely Planet guide tell us that the buildings are all colonial & neoclassical buildings.

·         “Mercado Central” (Santiago’s seafood market) – alive with the hustle and bustle of locals and tourists – the locals buying their supply of seafood and the tourists walking around then eating in one of the many seafood restaurants on the same site.  King crab is one of the specialties but we bypassed this as a meal option – it would cost around AU$200 for a medium size crab.  Restaurant owners were keen to have tourists to eat in their restaurant.  The words “solo caminar” (only to walk) are what we said to most of them although we did have lunch in one of the restaurants after our walk around. 

·         “Parque Metropolitano” and “Cerro San Cristobal” taking the funicular (cable car type train carriage thingy) up the steep hill to take in the views (smog & all) over Santiago and across to the Andes mountains which were still snow-capped after colder weather earlier in the week.  The Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepcion (the Virgin Mary) overlooks the whole of Santiago on this mountain – a commanding statue that stands 14 metres high from the summit.

·         “Cerro Santa Lucia” – a smaller hill but many steps to climb to the top and we could actually see some evidence of damage from the earthquake in February – lots of cracks that need to be repaired.

We also took a day tour to Valparaiso & Vina del Mar, on the coast of Chile.  A 2-hour drive along Ruta 68 (Route 68).  By all news reports, this area was hard hit with the earthquake in February.  We saw a reasonable amount of damage, cracks and uneven wall joints, but buildings were still standing.  Apparently, it was the new buildings that completely collapsed – big investigations there we’re told – the old buildings still stand but lots of damage to repair & restore.

Both Valparaiso & Vina del Mar are frequented by Santiaguans for a beach holiday… lots of holiday homes.  In Vina del Mar there’s one of the Moai statues from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) so we even got to see one without visiting Easter Island. 

Valparaiso is a declared Cultural World Heritage city which has 45 hills.  The houses are very colourful but our time there was limited with only 1 hour to take a look around in one neighbourhood.  Anyone who is up with the poet & Nobel Peace Prize winner Pablo Neruda then this is where one of his 3 houses is located (the others in Santiago & Isla ??)

On our last day in Santiago, we took a morning Bike Tour with La Bicicleta Verde covering “Morning Markets & Locals Life”.  This took us the best way around the city in the shortest amount of time.  The tour comprised both of us and one other tourist along with 3 attendants – one as the guide, one for security & safety & one other support rider.  We were riding along roads of Santiago – now that’s an experience in itself, on the “wrong” side of the road and all that.  We visited the La Vega produce market (a very large fruit & vegie market), another of Pablo Neruda’s houses (we’re getting to know this guy now) and some other neighbourhoods of Santiago that we would never have found ourselves.  The guide was able to tell us all about where we were going.  A leisurely ride too… not too hard on us at all.  It was very good having the support riders; they managed to stop the very busy traffic at times when we needed to cross busy intersections.  During our visit to the markets we were treated to a local drink of “rice mote” – it’s made with barley grain boiled with reconstituted dried peaches & sweetened water then served ice cold.  Our description doesn’t sound like an appetising drink, but quite delicious and definitely refreshing.  We also had a fresh strawberry juice (very much in season).

Coreena’s spin on Santiago visit

The city is so big and crowded that it’s hard to get to see everything without feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.  Maybe that’s got something to do with the limited language skills too though.   

The thing I most enjoyed was taking the bicycle ride, riding around the city (even through the busy traffic) and visiting the produce market – this was my favourite place – goes without saying I guess (it’s all food related).  The only thing that happened that I’d rather otherwise was that I pulled out a chair from under a table at the market seating area and there was a cat on the chair… for those of you who know me well, that definitely was an interesting moment and a good chuckle for Roy.

I also enjoyed the opportunity to at least try to speak some of the Spanish I have learned over the past year.  It’s not easy but the Chileans are so friendly and happy for anyone to practice with them.  I have to say there’s a whole lot of sign-language and pointing to maps that goes on.  And I’m guessing my sentences were rarely grammatically correct.

Valparaiso was quite different to what I expected… not sure how I got in my head that it was a quiet coastal village but it’s somewhat opposite to that and a bustling city of 350,000 residents.  It probably would have been better to have an overnight visit there – never mind at least we got there to have a brief look around.

One thing that is great too is the amount of avocado (palta) used in sandwiches at no extra cost – a really thick layer (not the thin layer & expensive extra that is usual at home) - just had to end with a food comment!

Roy’s spin on Santiago visit

Santiago appears to me as a bustling city with lots of people and cars filling all the city roads everywhere.  The local people are quite friendly and helpful.  There were lots of interesting sights and smells at the various markets.  There are also stray dogs and cats to be seen all over the city.  The main river through the city was flowing quite heavily with brown water from the surrounding mountains.  When we arrived it was raining quite heavily and this gave the surrounding mountains a good dusting of snow which showed itself in the following days.

NEXT:  SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA (NORTH CHILE)