Santiago (Chile)
22 April - 24 April 2015
22 April - 24 April 2015
Heading out of Mendoza also meant that we were now heading out of Argentina, a place that we would not really return to until the start of July. The Andes stood imposingly in front of us as we made our way west under sunshine and clear skies. Other than flying over the Andes this was going to be the first time that both of us had actually traversed the peaks overland and even though the journey into Santiago was 6hrs, the dramatic scenery meant that those hours slid on by quite quickly.
On the road to Santiago - outside of Mendoza - Argentina
On the road to Santiago - outside of Mendoza - Andes Mountains - Argentina
Arriving in the Chilean capital just after dusk our accommodation for the next few nights was going to be at the Luna Suite apartment located in the architecturally diverse neighbourhood of Paris-London. Situated in the city centre of Santiago, this neighbourhood of narrow pebble streets and European style buildings actually provided us with a little bit of a surprise. We had both heard prior to coming to Santiago, and also on our way here, that this capital is probably considered to be the most underwhelming and uninspiring in South America. Granted, on our travels, Santiago did not outclass any of the other major cities that we visited but all in all it was pleasant enough for the two day stay that we afforded it. Admittedly I think any more time than that would have been a waste.
Barrio of Paris-London - Santiago - Chile
Santiago - Chile
Santiago - Chile
Bellavista Patio - Constitucion - Santiago - Chile
Walking through the city in mid-evening we found it to be a nice place, clean, with mostly low rise buildings. Our meanderings, our should I say, loosely directed walk, guided us to Calle Constituticion in the Bella Vista barrio. Somewhere along the line I had picked up that the area was pretty much a bar filled street or a somewhat bohemian and rowdy type nature. Something that we didn’t really get to test out as somewhere along Constitucion we were dragged into the extremely large courtyard of Patio Bellavista. I’m not sure how exactly it happened, perhaps it was an arch way or its bright lights but once we were caught be is tractor beam we were dragged into what looked like an entire block filled with restaurants, bars and some souvenir shops. I was honestly like placing a kid in a candy store and saying, ‘Ok, you’re free to do as you please’. Which of course we were both at the liberty to do and had the means to do, so why the hell not. As mentioned earlier, the location of the patio places it right in the centre of the BellaVista bohemian district and hence there appeared to be quite a cross section of tourists and locals alike. Considering this discovery was wholly an accident on our part we were more than pleased with the outcome.
Bellavista Patio - Constitucion - Santiago - Chile
Santiago from Cerro San Cristobal
The next day we set aside to attack the Virgen Cerro San Cristobal, a hill that we had identified the night before as being our best bet to obtain the best views of Santiago and literally backed onto the Bella Vista barrio that we had occupied through our drinking spree in the early hours of the this. Prior to that however we set ourselves with the task of getting some laundry done, a necessity after having made our way through Patagonia for the last few weeks. Now this task is generally a fundamentally boring excursion but usually quite easy, on this day however it nearly turned into a contact sport for me. Somewhere along the line I walked into a very small convenience store and proceeded to ask a lady of say some 60 years whether there was a lavanderia in the area. Now to my sheer dismay the rather forceful and loud response that I received in return a blatant ‘NO!’. THAT was it! There was no offer of advice as to where one would be or even an apologetic ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know’ there was just that brutal ‘NO’ and then she turned to whatever the hell it was she was doing earlier. Standing there both perplexed and offended I pushed it a little further and asked ‘Where was one’ , the equally as abrupt and rude response was a ‘No se’ (I don’t know) but delivered in the kind of way that you do to someone when you’re being a total jerk. I stood in front of her for a moment, gave her a big ‘stuff you’ type of grin and simply added ‘Gracias’ as I walked away. I’m not sure why but that grandmother riled me up so much that for months after I had fantastic of walking into her store and delivering my own nasty punch lines, the best I think being taking 20 or so items off every low shelf, going to pay and then asking how much all the items cost only to scream out ‘NO’ in the nasty witches face when she told me a figure and simply walk away from the scene (…yeah…I still might do that one day!).
Constitucion - Santiago - Chile
Constitucion - Santiago - Chile
After the Searching for a lavanderia incident we eventually made it up to the top Virgen Cerro San Cristobal on what was quite a warm day. The hill/mountain lookout is essentially in the middle of the city and provides the perfect vantage point for viewing the layout of Santiago and the Andes mountains that surround it. In that sense I would anticipate that on a clear day (..on those rare clear days that Santiago ‘may have’) that being up here could be quite pleasant, unfortunately though the smog in Santiago is so thick that a brown haze blankets the entire city and makes the whole experience totally unappealing. It’s unfortunate because in a city that requires a bit of spark in terms of what it can offer the tourist this lookout would be a shining point if not for the serious pollution.
Santiago - Chile
After making the descent of the cerro via the peak tram (always on the way down as we NEVER took a tram up to anywhere, well except up Corcovado in Rio), we occupied our late afternoon at Patio Belle Vista once more, this time with some cocktails and fabulous tequenos (basically breaded cheese sticks that had some type of meat in their centres, absolutely delicious). We did eventually make our way back to the barrio of Paris-London that afternoon but only for a short stop, as somehow, almost inevitably, we returned to Patio Bella Vista for a few follow up cocktails.
And that my friends was that. Santiago was nice, but as you know, not many people like to settle for ‘just nice’. Just nice is what you accept when you’re looking for other things or when you’re in between stops, it’s rarely your final destination. So whilst I thank Santiago for putting us up for a couple of nights the next we were at the bus station and ready to head for Valparaiso, with the most enduring memory of the capital being a bad tempered granny with a poor attitude who doesn’t know that one day ‘I’ll be back’ and when that day comes my satisfaction from levelling the scores will be ever enduring.
