Chile is very, very thin – only 150 miles at it’s widest part. Santiago is a city of old and new and has smog many days due to the Andes & other mountain ranges that envelope the city. The country is also the most earthquake prone area in the world.There are lots of buildings that shout out that Chile is clearly a third-world country; yet, there are a few gorgeous government buildings that have a 19th century neoclassical French architecture sprinkled around the city. There are also some spectacular new modern skyscrapers outside the central business district (aka in foreign countries as the CBD) including the Gran Torre Santiago which is the tallest skyscraper in Latin America. We had debated on whether we should stay right in the CBD and we were glad that we decided against it. It is simply comprised of a few office buildings (most are outside the CBD), not many restaurants and lots of older buildings. The fast flowing, brown Mapocho River divides the city along economic and cultural lines. It does appear that the city is becoming cosmopolitan; however, it will take time. The city has gone through quite a bit of political upheaval and was under a military dictatorship from the early 1970’s until 1990. Most tourist, like us, have to spend a few days in Santiago in order to catch a plane to Easter Island (our next stop) or the Patagonia region.
During our three night, two day stay in Santiago, we did two walking tours: an historical tour as well as an “offbeat” tour. Santiago is loaded with stray dogs who joined us on both tours. Both tours were around 4 hours and quite informative. The historical tour highlighted the history, culture and political attractions of the city. We started the walk at the Plaza de Arms, Santiago’s main square and one of the most picturesque areas of the CBD. The most impressive building housed both the museum of fine arts and the museum of contemporary art. We eventually made our way to a neighborhood of Santiago called Bellevista. It was our favorite area in the city! It is the home to two universities. Barrio Bellevista has a real bohemian feel to it with lots of great restaurants. We had a few delicious meals in this area. Chileans love BIG portions of food. Just about every restaurant we visited, the food was piled high on the plates. We did not see too many thin Chileans in Santiago. An interesting and one of Chile’s most famous dishes is called BIstec a lo pobre. It is an enormous platter of french fries, fried onions, topped with beef and four fried eggs. We watched a couple being served this dish and we couldn’t believe that they were aggressively devouring the entire dish except for the plate. The calories have to be astronomical!
After the tour and lunch, we headed over to Cerro San Cristobal for a 4 mile hike up and down the mountain. It is the second highest point in the city and offered some great views of Santiago. There is a funicular going up to the top; but, we opted to do the steep climb.
