Santiago

Friday, 15 March 2013

If you can sleep on a plane, the flight from Miami to Santiago is about as pleasant as an 8-hour flight can be, since, as the airline told us, there is no time change between the two cities.   So, we departed Miami at about midnight and arrived in Santiago at 8:00, according to the airline announcement and my iPhone.  Fortunately, I can sleep on a plane, so I was conscious when we landed.

Approaching Santiago

Approaching Santiago, even closer

Although we flew into Santiago, the ship leaves from Valparaiso, which is about a 90-minute drive away.  So, we had arranged to spend a couple of days in Santiago before getting on the ship.  We got a taxi at the airport and in about a half an hour we arrived at our home for the next two days--Hotel Serrano Centro in Santiago.  The hotel itself occupied 4 upper floors of an office building, and we got a 3 three room suite (3 very tiny rooms) for $80 a night.

I had read on several web sites that in South America and most of the third world, people would refuse to take U.S. currency unless it was virtually brand new.  Any bills with markings, creases, or tears would not be accepted.  Although I rarely had experienced this in my travels, I made sure that all of the cash I had was in good condition.  Apparently it wasn't in good enough condition for the receptionist at the hotel, and she refused to take about half the bills when we tried to pay cash for our room when we checked in.  Fortunately, we were able to convince her to take a credit card. 

Hotel Serrano Central (top floors of building)

The "living room" of our suite, such as it was.

The hotel was centrally located near the main part of the city (perhaps that's why they called it the Serrano "Central"), so as soon as we settled in, we went for a walk.  Santiago has a population of about 6 million, it has two main centers.  The historical/government center is where we were located, and there is a new business/finance center a few miles away.  The historical center could use some cleaning up, but it was still a nice place for a walk. 

Pedestrian street in Central Santiago

Plaza de Armas (the main square) and the Catedral de Santiago

Chess matches in the Plaza de Armas

Another view of the Plaza de Armas

Iglesia de San Francisco--the oldest building in Santiago (from 1622)

Inside Iglesia de San Francisco

After lunch, we wandered over to Cerro Santa Lucia (Santa Lucia Hill), which has a beautiful fountain at the foot, and a castle on top, which has really nice views of the city.

Fountain at Cerro Santa Lucia

At the foot of Cerro Santa Lucia

View of Santiago from the top of Cerro Santa Lucia

Dinner was at a restaurant near our hotel (wonderful food, inexpensive), and then we took a stroll through the neighborhood.  The neighborhood is called Barrio Paris-Londres, named after the two main streets (Paris and Londres (London)) in the area, and it consists mostly of buildings from the early 1900's.

Not typical Chilean transportation (it was from a wedding)

Tower of Iglesia de San Francisco

Saturday, 16 March 2013

Breakfast was at a cafe near the hotel, followed by a daytime walk through the neighborhood and a visit to Londres 38 (38 Londres Street), a building that served as an "interrogation center" during the Pinochet years.  There were rooms of exhibits about the nasty things that were done there, as well as memorials to over 100 people who disappeared during the Pinochet regime.

The House of Plastic Bags

A view of Barrio Paris-Londres

Londres 38

Plaque at the entrance to Londres 38

Later that morning we bought tickets for the hop-on hop-off bus that goes around Santiago.  They have these buses in most major cities and I recommend it as a good way to see the highlights of any city and figure out what you want to do.  Mainly, we used it to get to some of the more modern areas of the city.  One of the first stops was "Sanhattan" (get it?) which is where most of the big companies are located, followed by Los Condes, with more skyscrapers and shopping malls. 

Part of Sanhattan

Parque Arauco shopping mall in Los Condes

Gran Torre Santiago, the tallest building in South America

The Mapocho River runs through the middle of Santiago, but doesn't have much water

Another building, somewhere in Santiago

We got off the bus in the Bellavista neighborhood, near Cerro San Cristobal, the tallest point in Santiago. We were ready to take the tram up to the top, but we discovered that we had run out of cash.  So, we decided to eat lunch nearby (paying with a credit card) and then go find a nearby ATM.

Lunch in Bellavista

Calle Pio Nono in Bellavista

It turned out that there were no nearby ATMs, or more specifically, there were no nearby open ATMs.  It was Saturday, and not only were all of the banks closed, but all of the bank ATMs in Santiago were inside the banks.  We wound up walking about a mile and a half before we found an ATM in a subway station.  We got the cash, but by that time we had given up on going to the top of Cerro San Cristobal.

So, we got back on the bus and toured around some more, eventually arriving back in the old center of town, where most of the government buildings were. 

Ready to pick up protesters, but there weren't any.

The Presidential Palace (La Moneda Palace)

Some government buildings--the flag is as big as it looks.

They loves them some graffiti in Santiago

After a late afternoon rest, we headed back to the Plaza de Armas for some people watching and dinner.  When we decided to eat (about 9:00), there were relatively few people in the Plaza, and most of the restaurants were closed or closing.   

Police presence in the Plaza de Armas

That's a 40 ounce Heineken

Catedral de Santiago

Another building on the Plaza

Next: Santiago, Valparaiso, and Vina del Mar