I’ve always liked the name “Santiago” for a city but didn’t know much about it. Now that we’ve been here for a few days, it doesn’t seem foreign at all except for the fact that even fewer people here speak English than in Peru but life in the city is so similar to North American cities that we almost feel at home.
Airbnb has become a favored option for us when traveling. It’s kind of a hybrid mix of Couchsurfing and VRBO. Basically, people rent either their entire home or a room in their home at a cost typically much less than a hotel but the real benefit is that you feel like a local when you’re in Airbnb accommodations. While neither Brenda or I are typically very keen on spending much time in big cities, both of us were raised in small communities and we’ve always wondered what it might feel like to live in a high rise apartment in the heart of a big city – voila! For the last few days, we’ve had our own small apartment on the 15th floor of a 16 story building just a few blocks from city center in a traditional residential neighborhood about 1mile away from tourist central. Fortunately, the balcony faces N/W and is sunny most of the day!
That’s one of the unusual things about Chile – since we’re South of the Equator, the sun crests to the North instead of the South during mid-day! It was slightly disorienting at first but now we’re getting used to it. Another strange thing is that it’s Fall season here and the leaves are turning and falling while it is Spring at home. One last oddity is that when you flush a toilet bowl, the “swirl” flows in the opposite direction.
While Brenda and I both appreciate the culture and liveliness of big cities, neither of us like being on the ground in traffic or on the streets walking among millions of people so, much like we do at home, we tend to seek out the “High Places and Open Spaces”. Here, we’ve managed to find both right in the heart of the city! There’s a wide section of open space in front of our apartment building with a bit of a mountain view and we’re within walking distance of Cerro Santa Lucia and Parque Metropolitano – two of the highest and most beautiful open spaces in the heart of the city.
Cerro Santa Lucia (Santa Lucia Hill) was a point of reconnaissance, or a lookout in the years of the Conquista (1541). In 1816, the Brigadier of the Royal Engineers built two forts on the hill – each with eight or twelve cannons. Now it’s just a park and historical monument for folks to enjoy. Parque Metropolitano is a HUGE open area and a high point in the middle of the city with a zoo, botanical gardens, and a religious sanctuary on top notable for its large statue of the Virgin Mary. We truly enjoyed the exercise and the beauty of the parks but, unfortunately, the city of Santiago is so smoggy that it’s hard to even see the massive mountains just 40 km to the East. Apparently, whoever decided upon the location of Santiago forgot to take into account the effects of carbon monoxide when there are mountains surrounding three sides of the city and the marine layer of air and wind coming from the other side.
While we liked the high rise apartment and the large city parks, after a couple days in the city, we were ready to escape so we rented a car and headed for the mountains. We’d heard that there was a ski area pretty close to Santiago so we thought we’d check it out. It was a beautiful drive up but, unfortunately, we were a bit early – ski season doesn’t open until June. We did, however, enjoy leaf peeping in April!
For our last day in the area, we decided to head to Valparaiso, a historic port city on the Pacific coast about 90 minutes away from Santiago. While still an active port, Valparaiso has become a popular spot for artists and claims to be the most colorful city in South America. The city is built on steep hills and is essentially a labyrinth of cobblestone pathways – each filled with fun shops and eateries, brightly colored buildings, and lot’s of artistic graffiti. There are also several “assessors” (incline railway lifts) to help residents get up to their neighborhoods if they’re challenged by the steps. While we were only there for a few hours, we enjoyed the day and admired the talent of the numerous artists who’ve made Valparaiso their home.
