Santiago

After I woke up from my New Years' slumber, I walked as much of the city as I could, basically retracing my steps that I had taken the night before.  Santiago is actually a very navigable city, with the river and a string of parks, which extend through the center of the city, providing a nice landmark.  And if you lose sight of these landmarks, you have Mother Mary at the top of the hill in the center of the city to guide your way, especially at night time when she was lit up.  I would count myself as one of the geographically retarded, but I did not have to rely on my google maps one bit when walking back to my hostel New Years Eve, as illumine-scent Mother Mary guided my way through the night. 

The people of Santiago, and I suspect most of Chile, run the gamut of colors, ranging from midwestern white to black, although the Asian population is not well represented here.  So there is a strong European influence, and I suppose an African influence, as well.  Honestly, I did not know what to expect.  Traveling through Central America, as well as Peru, I was used to a monolithic look that is strongly influenced by the pre-Columbian native population.

Before I traveled to Santiago, I had always said that Southern California has the best overall weather in the world, but Santiago rivals Southern California.  It has a dry sunny climate, which makes sense, since it is almost at the exact latitude as Los Angeles, but on opposite sides of the equator.  Even the water temperature is the same, a bit cold at first, and takes a bit to getting used too.  The water comes up from Antartica, just like the water comes down from Alaska in California.  

The series of parks that extend through the center of Santiago are well-architected and manicured, and in some ways, have a European feel.  I learned later on in a city tour that a French architect designed the park system in Santiago, which is now used for a variety purposes, including jogging, working out, coupling up so to speak, dancing, etc.  Here are some photos.

Working out at the outdoor gym

Makeshift water park

I would have to say that if Paris is the City of Love, then Santiago is the City of Love South.  There were so many couples in the park, just hanging out on the grass in whatever shade they could find, and they are not adverse to PDA at all. 
   

Lot of people coupling up in the park

Also, there is a bridge that crosses the river, where people place locks on the railings to dedicate their love for their significant others.  I've seen this before, but not to this extent.

Yes, those are all locks on the vertical bars of the railings

While walking in Santiago, I bravely ventured into one of the local markets.  I needed soap, shampoo, and sunscreen, and something to eat. 

I approached a kiosk that appeared to have the household items that I needed, and patiently  waited for the vendor's attention as he was talking to someone.  It appeared like he was ignoring me, which I'm thinking is a misperception on my part.  I looked over my right shoulder at a kiosk that was more fully stocked, but I didn't want to go there quite yet to avoid upsetting the first guy.  Once I got his full attention, I asked him "tienes jabon?", which I'm pretty sure means "do you have soap?"  He said no.  I was like hmmmmm, it sure looks like a place that has soap.  So then I asked him if he had shampoo.  I didn't know how to say shampoo in Spanish, so I made the gesture of washing my hair when I asked him.  He said no.  Now, I'm staring at a bottle of Head and Shoulders as I am asking him for this shampoo.  Undeterred, I asked him if he had any sunscreen.  No.  I cocked my head to the side, and saw a package of chiclets.  Tienes chiclets?  He said no, and walked away.  I promptly did a 180, and bought the soap, shampoo, and sunscreen from the other guy.  I have only experienced this in one place, and that was Hanoi, where a very small minority of vendors will not make a sale to Westerners.  I found this understandable, given what happened in the past, but I was completely puzzled, and still am, about the first vendor's dismissal of my request to buy household items from him.

I then proceeded upstairs and had lunch, where I was treated like a VIP.  Or maybe they just thought I was retarded due to my comprehension problems, so they treated me special.  But that was a much better experience. 

On one of the days I was in Santiago, I wanted to see if I could hike up to see Mother Mary, one of the things that I couldn't do New Year's Eve, as it was dark and I couldn't find the entrance.  

So this time, I googled how to get there, and diligently followed the directions.  Along the way I saw a really nice part of Santiago, with fairly nice apartment and office buildings.  And I started thinking to myself, wow I could really live here if there was not such a language barrier.  This is my type of city.

As I approached the hill, I saw trams going up and down.  It was a hot day (about 90 degrees), and I wasn't quite up to the challenge of hiking up, so I decided that I should further explore the option of taking one of these trams up.  Perhaps I could take the tram up and walk down.  So, I went to the ticket booth, and tried to tell the girl there that I wanted to only go one-way.  I said "una via," thinking that that meant one-way, because I could have sworn that I've seen that written on one-way street signs.  Apparently, it is just nonsense, because she looked at me with a puzzled look, and gave me a round-trip ticket.  So, I took a nice leisurely ride up the mountain.

And I did see Mother Mary, and a great view of the city, although only a very small portion of it.

I took the tram down, and instead of going back the same way I came, I decided to talk this walk path around the hill.  It was pretty hot out, and I came across a guy selling homemade popsicles.  I bought one from him (fresa or strawberry), and I brought it up to my mouth, it kind of looked like it was wrapped in a condom.  It even had a reservoir tip.  But he sold it to me for 50 cents, so there was no way this dude would be in possession a hundred or so condoms.  So I just went for it as I walked along the hillside, and it was the best popsicle I have ever tasted.  I wish I had bought two of these condom popsicles.  I even emptied out the reservoir tip where all of the melted popsicle had collected.  I didn't waste a drop.

So I went on my merry way, around the hillside, and got some more pictures of the city from a different vantage point.

Then I went back to the hostal, and called it day.   But I didn't call it a night.  The five days I was in Santiago, I somewhat established a routine.  Do stuff during the day (perhaps until 5), and then go to the Starbucks downtown and work until close to midnight.  The cool thing about Santiago is that everything closes very late, so I can do my thing, and then go eat.  In fact, it does not get dark here until after 9pm.  

This picture was taken from Starbucks at 9pm.

It may have something to do with the fact that it is Summertime down here, but I believe the primary reason is that their timezone is a bit skewed for whatever reason.  Lima, Peru is 2 hours behind Santiago even though it is directly north of Santiago.  But, being a night owl, I love it.  

The nightlife in Santiago is awesome, akin to Madrid.  There is a ton of energy, but not crazy irresponsible energy--just people having a great time eating and drinking until way past midnight.  Also, it is when all of the beautiful people come out, and that is certainly an extra bonus.  I found this great square of eateries and bars that has a great vibe.  

I even made friends with a Brazilian guy named "Helder," and we went out for some drinks (various versions of Pisco-based drinks) and appetizers, and hung out until 2 in the morning.

I did manage to go on a city tour of Santiago a few days after I really should have, but it was great to get the historical perspective of Santiago.   My favorite part of my tour was eating Dunkin Donuts . . .

. . . and hanging with the Pope.

Overall, I really liked Santiago, and would rank it one of my favorite cities, if not my favorite city.  The only negative is the amount of people that smoke here.  I can handle the tattoos, but there seems be inordinate about of people who smoke here relative to California. 

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