Chile (4)

It was cloudy in Santiago during the whole week, but it rarely rains there, it’s just a combination of clouds and pollution. It was actually good because walking around under a hot noon sun would be very unpleasant.

But the last day reserved a surprise: clear blue skies since dawn and we still needed to go to the Cerros (hills) Santa Lucía and San Cristóbal. We took the subway in a long-weekend Santiago – apparently October 31 is a holiday in the country, and people started to crowd the subways and taking the highways out of the city the day before. The city was definitely emptier and better to walk around, although many places were closed, except for the outdoor activities, and we started in Cerro Santa Lucía.

One of the many beautiful views in Cerro Santa Lucía.

This one is usually done on foot and the way up is pretty mild, until you get to the top… The place is very peaceful, a drop of greenery in a highway-filled city. The steps to the top were very treacherous and slippery, people must be careful when visiting the place. As you make your way to the very top, the steps are just built around the volcanic rocks and are protected have very thin and rusty banisters around them. I wanted to get to the top but I just couldn’t, every step I took just made me freeze a little bit more and at the end I gave up. But that’s okay, I made it to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal…

View from Cerro Santa Lucía. The weather definitely contributed to the amazing views…

Midway to the top, with places to sit down, drink some water, enjoy the views and rest and build up courage to the top.

This is where stairs start to become treacherous. It’s the gateway to “climb up at your own risk.”

Statue of a native man. I tried to get some information online about it but couldn’t find it… Open for suggestions!

One of the many steps to the top. This one I dared climb up. I don’t know what happened with the camera, I remember taking MANY more pictures but they weren’t there…

Pathway to the top, surrounded by volcanic rocks

This part is called Neptune Terrace. There is a beautiful fountain where you can throw a coin and make a wish.

Another shot of the fountain.

“Magic Fountain”

My wish…

Crossing the avenue there is an artisanal market and I bought a set of shot glasses to drink my two bottles of pisco sour with my post-grad classmates. There was a parade (which looked like a protest at first) praising Jesus Christ! “Jesus has arrived! Get ready!” they would chant.

Parade for Jesus. Hey, whatever makes you happy…

People walking for Jesus apparently…

Afterwards we walked around barrio Lastarria, which is right next to Cerro Santa Lucía and close to Universidad Catolica subway station and a walking distance from barrio Bella Vista and Salvador station, but on our 5th day and this one being under the sun, it was really tiresome. There was a little restaurant square and we ended up having lunch at Nolita. Great place, great food, but pricier than the rest of the city.

Beers at Nolita. Pricey but good. This is Cerveza Austral, produced in the south of Chile and excellent! I drank the blue label one (Calafate Ale.)

Walking through Parque Forestal, we headed towards barrio Bella Vista to Cerro San Cristóbal to try to go up the hill via Funicular (my friend had told me it hadn’t been working a while ago, so if it weren’t we would just go back to the hotel). It turned out it WAS working and it was crowded!

Line to board the Funicular, which is the little tram that takes you to the top of the hill. It was around 3 p.m. and probably around 32ºC.

After waiting some 20 minutes, we finally boarded the funicular and up we went. The views were amazing, the breeze was cool and we got to sit down and contemplate the whole city in the shade. I wanted to make my way to very top, which holds a statue of the Virgin Mary. Many steps ahead and my mother decided not to go. I gave my bag with the shot glasses for her to hold and started my way up.

Funicular, waiting to go up.

It’s possible to see very little ice on the top of the mountains. Was there supposed to be more? Climate change? Either way, I wish I had a better camera or were a better photographer.

Statue of Virgin Mary on the top of the hill.

Amphitheatre on Cerro San Cristóbal. Look at the view…

More mountains and great views…

Jesus Christ head in the middle of foliage.

View from the bottom of the amphitheatre. The place is breathtaking!

Way to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal.

Funicular, on my way down.

I was already very tired and didn’t stay at the top for a long time, I just climbed down to meet my mother and buy some water before leaving the Cerro. As we were drinking water, I saw people entering the funicular and presenting the return ticket to the attendant. I wanted to fetch mine and asked my mother ‘Where’s my plastic bag?’ It turns out she left it where she was sitting waiting for me and forgot it, just like she had forgotten her coat at Tea Connection, but there the waitress saw it and gave it to her. I went up those stairs as fast as I could, but all I saw was the empty plastic bag tossed near the spot where she had been sitting. I just lost it…

You know when you just want to get out of the place right away? Having to wait for the flight would be torture. I just wanted to get it over with the trip, go back home and watch Jon Stewart and have a beer. A beer… That’s what had been missing in my life in the last few days… Austral was a great one, but I needed some ten more bottles to cope with the pressure…

But I’ve learned my lesson, never travel with somebody that can’t help out, that doesn’t read maps, makes suggestions, ask questions and is unaware of their surroundings. I’m done with that. If going on holiday means doing extra work, I rather go alone…

But my impressions of Santiago: wonderful city. Big, cosmopolitan, clean. People are friendly and polite. Many, many bars and restaurants to enjoy local and international cuisine. Countless parks, squares and outdoor activities to do. Great local art, and lots of museums and historical buildings to visit. One regret is not spending more time in Valparaíso and Viña de Mal, these are fantastic places to visit and I would recommend spending some three or four days for the both cities. October proved to be a good time of the year to go, as it wasn’t so hot nor so cold, but because of the low humidity the temperature can vary some 20°C during the day. I can’t wait to go back!

Chile (3)

On the fourth day things had become more familiar. It was nice because I saw one of my classmates from Famecos who now lives in Santiago, and I hadn’t seen her since those days, which may be some 15 years now. We talked about the differences between the countries and she painted me distinct picture from what we had been hearing from the tour guides. Those guides almost brainwashed us into thinking that Chile is the greatest place in Latin America. What they said is that people have to pay for everything, there isn’t one thing provided by the government: education, health, retirement. There aren’t government “handouts” (it reminded me of Fox News…) My friend, on the other hand, said that some people literally work until they die.

I have a problem with extremes. I believe the government should provide free education and health care to the population, but I see their point in always bringing WORK into the equation. Brazil may have become, say, too generous… One point that I found really interesting and perhaps should be implemented in Brazil is that inmates have to work to keep the prison functioning: water, electricity, food, clothes, everything. If they don’t work to pay the bills, they don’t have anything. Also, there isn’t reduction of sentence, they have to do their time, not like in Brazil that prisoners may only serve a third of their sentence for “good behaviour”… Yeah, behaving well so they can be freed and resume their criminal activities… But this a matter for another post.

The afternoon was to explore Providencia area, Concepcion, Pedro de Valdivia. Really nice places, and of course, EXPENSIVE. The idea that R$ 1 is worth 200 pesos chilenos is deceitful. Everything is priced up. In cafes and restaurants, you can’t spend 30 minutes without coughing up some 5,000 pesos, which is about R$ 25 (10 dollars). Now that the Dollar is worth more in relation to Real, that may not sound so much, but 25 reais is A LOT for me! As of November 2014 and buying in restaurants/cafes, a bottle of water is around 2,500 pesos, or R$ 10 (in Brazil, around R$ 4,50.) An iced tea in this really nice place (Tea Connection) costs 3,300 pesos, or around R$ 15 reais (we don’t have this store in Porto Alegre, but in São Paulo these are the prices I found in Itaim Bibi store, and the equivalent iced tea – águas de frutas – costs R$ 8). I would NEVER pay R$ 15 for iced tea in Brazil, no matter how delicious. But during trips money doesn’t seem to be a problem and we actually expect to spend more for things we don’t even buy in our hometowns, even though afterwards, when calculating the damage, we think “How there hell could I have spent so much money?? On what??” Now I know: water and iced tea.

The way back to the hotel was through Parque de las Esculturas (Sculptures Park), and the name is pretty much self-explanatory. The amazing thing about it is that among many of the sculptures that were there, some of them having been awarded national prizes, only ONE was spray-painted. If the same was in Brazil, there would only be the wholes on the ground marking where the sculptures used to be. Also, it’s a park for couples. I felt pretty bad walking along the pathways and seeing all those couples in love enjoying a nice day out… Ugh.

Parque de las Esculturas, Santiago

Parque de las Esculturas, Santiago

Parque de las Esculturas, Santiago

Parque de las Esculturas, Santiago

Parque de las Esculturas, Santiago

Finally, we went to the supermarket to buy some things to make the good old ham and cheese sandwich, since things had become pretty pricey, as you could see by the water and tea prices… I also kept my promise to my post-grad classmates to bring a bottle of pisco for us, and bought not only one, but two pisco sour bottles. Lime-y!!!

And below are some pictures from the third day. What I did was to write about my impressions at the end of the day, but on Wednesday we went for beers and I got to the hotel not feeling like writing anything down.

During the city tour in Santiago. Nice obelisk!

City tour in Santiago. Can’t recall what this building is…

This is Palácio La Moneda, the government building. The Changing of the Guards happens every other day at 10a.m.

More guards. The band played pretty nice tunes!

There was a protest going on when we were there…

People hanging out in front of La Moneda. Some protesting, some touristing, some walking to work, it was nice!

More historical buildings.

Old congress building.

View from Cerro San Cristóbal (more of these in the last post about Chile.)

Hot guy on the subway, Line 1. Btw, he was NOT with that woman, but sitting right next to a person in an empty carriage seems odd to me…

At the end of that street there is a market called Los Dominicos (at subway Los Dominicos, west end of Line 1) for traditional local art.

Entrance of Los Dominicos.

On the way back from Los Dominicos. Later the carriage got a bit crowded and there were two guys standing in front of us. When we stood up to get off at our station, they didn’t sit down, they let two women take the seats. We saw that happening a few times in Santiago, waaaaay different from Porto Alegre…

Chile (1)

My holiday had finally arrived. I voted early in the morning and it was interesting to see the election results at the airport. The airport, by the way, one of the dullest experiences ever. We ended up finding the Starbucks corner with free wi-fi and stayed there checking out the elections coverage and seeing drivers get confused by this absurd sign. Many, MANY drivers couldn’t tell which way to go.

We arrived very late in Santiago and were ready to do the city tour Monday afternoon, but decided to take the suggestion of doing it Wednesday morning. However, on Monday morning we got contacted by the travel agency saying that we WOULD go later in the afternoon, so we went for a little walk in Bella Vista and came back to wait for the tour, only to find out one our later that they WOULDN’T pick us up that day. Lunchless at 3.30pm, we went to one of the shopping malls (which I had planned to do that day, but in the evening.) We took the subway in rush hour on our way back to the hotel and it was almost like Tokyo, four to five rows of people waiting to get on the train but without the guards pushing people into the carriages.

The subway price system isn’t the best. There isn’t a weekly pass like London and NYC. EVERY TIME you ride the subway you have to buy a ticket, and the system is divided into three categories: peak, normal and low. Peak fare is 700 pesos, normal 640, and low 590. So you get to ride the subway paying a reasonable price ONLY after 20:45, when you pay 1,180 pesos assuming you are buying return. There is a card that you can top-up and it is the only accepted currency on the bus, but you can use it on the subway, too. As I didn’t want to pay for the card (I believe is a fare of 1,200 pesos, plus the amount of money you wish to spend) and I wouldn’t get the bus anyway (because why take the bus if there is subway?), we ended up having to get in line to buy the ticket every time.

First day is to get acquainted with the city, walk around the neighbourhood, learn where the supermarket is, see bars and restaurants nearby. First impression: good impression.

A little square (plazuela) near Pablo Neruda’s house in Santiago, barrio Bella Vista.

Plaza de la Aviación in Providencia, near the hotel. At night the fountain is all lit up in different colours, but I didn’t catch the show.