Santiago de Chile - City of the Americas

Northern Santiago from Cerro San Cristobal


If I were to go off everything that I had heard, Santiago de Chile was dirty, dangerous, and offered little for American tourists such as myself. Story after story about the thick smog, pickpockets, and stolen mountain bikes had prepared me for the worst. Yet, what I discovered was a delightfully metropolitan American city full of huge, California-style super malls, forested hills overlooking skyscrapers, high-rise apartments, and luxury hotels in a city with a vibe much more Latin American than Europe-obsessed Argentina.


Providencia, one of Santiago's upscale neighborhoods



Eating an awesome vegan meal at El Huerto, one of Santiago's all-vegetarian restaurants



Urban art in downtown Santiago (there's only one real person in this photograph)



Chilean Orangutan


We took an overnight bus from Mendoza, arriving in the early morning. In this part of the world, where destinations can be a long ride apart, overnight journeys are a good way to travel. Not only can you more easily sleep through the ride, but also save on a night in a hostel. We were more tired than usual after this particular trip since we were awakened mid-trip to adda a new stamp to our passports. When we got to Santiago, we checked into the Bellavista Hostel--voted one of the best in Latin America--and slept until noon.


Joel and Paulina



Streamers hanging in a museum under Chile's capitol building


There's always the trouble of locating vegan food hot spots in each new city or town. Lucky for us, Little Palestine was a few blocks away. We stuffed our aching bellies with falafel and eggplant, just happy to be eating something other than pasta.


Acensor leading to Cerro San Cristobal



Larger-than-Life Virgin Mary



Flowers and candles rest at the base of a cross on Cerro San Cristobal



Taking the sky tram to the eastern suburbs


Fully satiated, I called my long-time neighbor from Farmington, Joel, who had moved to Santiago to wait on his wife's American visa (it came through and Joel and Pauline are moving to Utah in April. Congrats you two!) For three days, Joel and Paulina proved to be more than hospitable, taking me to the modern, SoCal-style super mall in the wealthy eastern suburbs to look for a new camera (mine is lost, maybe forever, in the bureaucratic ball of yarn that is Argentinean customs), then to all of Santiago's few tourist attractions. We soared above the city on Mt. Cristobal's sky trams, humbled beneath the larger than life virgin Mary, toured the executive government section of downtown (the legislative branch was moved to Valparaiso in 1980), strolled through O'Higgins Park (the "Central Park of Santiago"), and were welcomed into Paulina's grandparents' lovely home in the northern suburbs.


Santiago's modern subway system is efficient and expansive



Strolling through O'Higgins Park south of city center. Once the bastion of the rich, O'Higgins park is being transformed into the "Central Park" of Santiago.


Joel and Paulina's local knowledge made our time in the Chilean capital far more worthwhile and interesting. It's true that there's not a whole lot for tourists in Santiago, but the city, full of Native American and Colonial history, beats with its own unique vibe. Before this point I thought that American culture was largely limited to, and defined by, the United States--that we had the genuine style and attitude that everyone else emulated. After walking the streest of Santiago, it's clear that we're not the only ones who get it. Unlike in Argentina, where the style is blatantly European, here I felt comfortable, at home. Sure there's a Latin flare, but no more than southern California. We also found that there are some elements that need improvement, such as the large class divide perpetuated by the classist educational system. It appears that even though first worldy, Chile is having some adolescent growing pains after shedding its military dictatorship of the 1980s.


Colonial fort sitting atop Cerro Santa Lucia, where Santiago's founders held their ground against hostile indigenous peoples. The more colorful structure was built in the early 1900s to promote tourism.



The Catholic church on top of Cerro Santa Lucia


There's a prevailing attitude across the Americas that binds us all together. We journeyed to these lands, apologetically displaced native peoples, cut a new life from the wilderness, fought European super powers for autonomous governance, and created new cities and cultures according to our own wants and desires. Being in Santiago I welcomed this realization, which brought a fondness for my American Chilean kin. Had I listened to those who harangued me about Santiago's faults, I wouldn't have seen it for what it really is, a metropolitan New World capital with a population etching out a unique identity in a globalizing world. Welcome to Santiago de America.


Dogs roam the streets all night long and sleep through the day



Recovering from a late night in Bellavista, Santiago's party district