2017 Patagonia - Antarctica Part 13: Santiago

Saturday - Sunday, February 19-20

Santiago

Saturday morning we had a 4 hour city tour with Silvia and Eduardo to see the highlights of Santiago business and historical centers. As we saw when we flew in yesterday, the city sprawls across 270 square miles so we saw only a small percentage of it today.

Except for the traditional gridlike organization around a central plaza that is common to all Spanish settlements in the new world, little remains of the original city founded by the Spanish in 1531. Today the Plaza de Armas, flanked by the cathedral, post office, museums and shops, remains a busy central meeting place, especially for Santiago's growing immigrant population.

 

 

The city is modern and vibrant, with many parks and wide thoroughfares. Traffic on this Saturday morning moved well. Santiago seems committed to managing its busy pace; it is expanding its metro system and changes streets directions to accommodate rush hour flow. The skyline is full of modern structures, and architects seem to have successfully mastered the art of earthquake-proofing the buildings of this most seismologically active country.

 

With its dry northern climate and lofty Andes peaks, Chile has over 50% (to be 70% by 2020) of the world's observatories, and Santiago is home to the ESO (European Southern Observatory). Santiago also hosts the United Nations Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Due to a road race, our bus was thwarted in its attempt to drive partway up Cerro San Cristobal for a view over Santiago. Instead, we got to ride up the funicular, which was a lot more fun.

 

A large statue of the Immaculate Conception overlooks the city from the top, where there are views to both the Andes and Coastal Range.

 

 

Our tour concluded with a walk to see several government buildings, including the presidential offices and former congressional building. Eduardo talked about Chile's representative democratic republic and the 1973 military coup deposing Allende. 

 

Greg and Charley snagged a few geocaches while Kathy and I walked through an informal market on a pedestrian street. The vendors had their wares artfully laid out on red cloths, which they'd hastily grab into bundles whenever a policeman was sighted.

 

Our farewell dinner was at Como Aqua para Chocolate, after the book and film (in English, Like Water for Chocolate). Before dinner we met in Charley and Kathy's room to polish off the last of our Chilean wine, then we were served potent pisco sours with dinner, and wine with our meal. About half of our group then retired to the hotel's rooftop bar, and although we joined them, we had had quite enough alcohol by then.

 

 

 

And finally, our day for departure back to the US. 

We had several hours before our transfer tip the airport this evening, so the four of us ventured out to try the much vaunted metro and explore further out. The system is easy to use, and has a fee system based on time of day and how busy it is. It cost about $1 per leg for our Sunday trips.

We went to the Gran Torre Santiago (Great Santiago Tower) which is the tallest building in Latin America. The 64 story structure was completed in 2015 and is part of a larger complex that won't be finished for several years. We took the elevator to the top for a 360 degree view over the city and the surrounding mountains. The signage explaining points of interest in each direction was in Spanish and charming English that must have been a literal word-by-word translation.

 

 

You can see the river rushing through the city towards our hotel in the distance.

 

We then rode out to the end of the red metro line to an old Dominican mission that Silvia had told us about. We were disappointed that we couldn't see the church today, but there was plenty to do as an artisans market is on the mission grounds, with craftspeople selling lapis lazuli silverwork, ceramics, woodwork, knitting, etc. Charley and Greg worked on a geocache while Kathy and I window shopped.

 

 

We ate at a crowded outdoor cafe and trustingly ordered a casserole dish to share that nearly everyone else at the restaurant was eating with relish. Identified as Comida Locale (local food), we suspected it was melted cheese over rice, chicken and other mystery ingredients. Well, it turned out to be one of the few things I really do not like: creamed corn. The mystery ingredients were a black olive, refried beans (which Greg doesn't like), a chunk of hard boiled egg and a tasty piece of boneless chicken. I dug in, a little. That's ok. I've been eating too much throughout this trip, anyway!

I think I'd like to experience  more of Santiago, but that will have to be another trip. For now it was back to the hotel to wash up in their spa and change into traveling clothes for our long trip home. I'm sorry to see this wonderful adventure end, but looking forward to seeing my parents and friends, not to mention Maggie and Ellie. We're bringing lots of memories home with us to carry us through to our next adventure.