What a fun day!!! We decided to do a free group tour that was highly recommended (thanks Tripadvisor!) We met at Plaza de Armas. Phillipe was our guide and he was wonderful! Native to Santiago, and an actor by trade, he did the tours for some stable income. He was interesting, engaging and fun!
Plaza de Armas is the 'heart of the city.' It was the first thing build by the Spanish when they arrive to the valley of Santiago. The Catedral Metropolitano was the second oldest cathedral in the area and started in the 1500s and completed in the 1700s. Several renovations had been done due to earthquakes. One hit around five years ago and was a 7.9!
Correo Central is on the square near the Catedral and is where the presidents used to live. Now it's the post office, and the fanciest one in Santiago. The yellow building next to it was the courthouse but is now the national history museum.
The plaza is usually bustling with people- priests, entertainers, general people. On Tuesdays they show opera and on Thursdays have salsa dancing. Today was very slow as it was drizzling and a Sunday.
Don Pedro de Valdivia arrived in 1541 seeking the golden city of El Dorado, and founded Santiago. He moved here from Peru also because he was having an affair and wanted to get away from the power of the Catholic Church and the Inquisition. The Church and Inquisition did eventually call him back and made him give up his affair. There was an Inca settlement in the valley, so his people settled on top of it. The Mapuches are the native tribe in much of Chile and represent around 10% of the people now. Many of the other tribes are gone now though 1 million Mapuches live in mostly southern Chile. There are 6 million in Santiago and close to 15 million in Chile.
Congress is now housed in Valparaisso, though used to be in a building in Santiago. The members are complaining about the 1.5 hour drive, so it may be moved back in the future.
We walked past the Museu Chileno de Arte Precolumbian, one of Phillipe's two favorite museums in Chile and on list. Unfortunately we learned the museums in all of Chile are closed on Monday, and that was the day we will have the time to go. So.. we'll see!
I learned that there is a local drink called chicha. There is one in Peru that is corn-based, and one in Brazil that is different too.. the one in Chile is apple cider (alcoholic.) Yum! In search of chicha!
We walked past Café Caribe and Café Haiti. They are among the group of cafes called Café con Piernas, or cafes with legs. The owners pay women to wear short skirts and entertain the business men who frequent the café. At times they will close the café to have the women dance. Generally the women are foreign. They have been around for more than 20 years and are throughout the downtown.
We walked to Moneda Palacia and La Plaza de Constitucion, the Presidential Palace. It used to be the mint (moneda is coin in Spanish.) The current president is a woman named Michelle Bachelete.
There is a statue of Salvador Allende in the Plaza. He was the first socialist elected in a Democratic way. He did much for the country in the 1,000 days in office including nationalizing copper (there are large mines in northern Chile) and made primary and secondary schools free. He was a friend of Castro but much loved by the populace. Unfortunately for him, he was not loved by the wealthy in the country and they forced an economic collapse. On 9/11/73 the presidential palace was bombed and he lost power.
We were lucky to see the changing of the guard, which only happens every couple of days. It was impressive and went on for well over 30 minutes. It started in the courtyard with a small group, then a marching band led by horses arrived from the street to join them. Among the marching band-style music were other pieces that sounded like they were from a symphony. The band was quite impressive. The music differs each time and usually is more brief over the weekdays.
There has been a fairly extensive police presence in the city. Phillipe said it’s not usual and he thinks maybe something is going on to call for it. He said crime is low in Santiago but has risen a bit, so some of it is to stop that.
Behind the palace is the largest flag in the country, and one of the largest in the world. Citizen square has many fountains/water features and celebrates the 105th anniversary of Chile as a nation.
Pinochet took over after Allende. He was intended to rule for one year in a transition government, but held power for 17 years until he was voted out. This military dictatorship held power through fear, and many were killed for not supporting it. Many people left and went to Sweden (100k), also Canada and Australia. Pinochet was arrested in London in 2005 and finally brought to Chile for trial, but he died before he was brought to justice. There is a Human Rights Museum that Phillipe said is one of his two favorite museums and worth seeing, about this dark time in history.
We then walked down Alameda street, the main street in Santiago. We passed the main building of the University of Chile and the Santiago Stock Exchange, at the end of "New York Street."
Phillipe talked about some of the issues living in Chile, especially the large gap between the rich and the poor. He said a living wage in the country is $950/month and minimum wage is around $450.
We passed Teatro Municipal (opera house) next to Subercaseaux, the French Palace.
We then arrived at Santa Lucia hill, close to where we are staying and walked around it. It was originally a pile of rocks and a sacred place for the Mapuches. Many were killed there when the area was being controlled. It later became a park built by prisoners. We walked to Lastarria, where we ate dinner last night. It has many restaurants, a theater and is considered a cultural center of Santiago. We stopped in a restaurant called Mulato for a break and enjoyed a pinot empanada (chopped meat, onion and olive.) Very good! They served it with a spice called merkem, served in a mortar and pestle. It was smoky and spicy and very good. One of the girls in our small group got a pisco sour and let us try it. It was the best so far!
We walked through Parque Forestal, a large park in the center of the city and crossed a main road to get to the Bella Vista neighborhood. You can see San Cristobal from the entrance to this neighborhood, the highest point in the city. We walked by the German Fountain, a gift for the 150th anniversary of the country and a memorial of German immigration. In the distance we could see the Italia Square, which held large celebration for the world cup win—the first time in history Chile won.
Bella Vista is a very diverse neighborhood with many bars, dance clubs, restaurants. A lot of students are in the area and there are two large Universities. We walked through Patio Bella Vista, a large area of many restaurants and some retail shops. Phillipe pointed out many recommendations, several of which were on my list to try. He did suggest we make sure the prices are listed on the menu, or we might be charged more than is fair.
We walked past Castillo Rojo, a German building that is now a very expensive hotel, and ended to tour at Pablo Neureda’s house, La Chascona. He was a much-loved poet who won a Nobel price (only one of two Chileans with this honor, and interestingly, the other was also a poet.) He was a friend of Allende and considered a threat to Pinochet. He was believed to have died from cancer, but there was speculation that he was poisoned. More later about La Choscarra..
We decided to go to the top of San Cristobal as the weather cleared a bit and though it was cloudy, it was bright with no rain. We took a funicular up and the views were amazing! This city is quite huge, and seems every bit as large as Paris, though I know that’s not possible. It seemed to extend in every direction for as far as the eye can see! At the top is a large monument of the Virgin Mary and a small simple but beautiful church.
When we got down we decided to tour La Chascona, which means women with wild hair/a lot of hair. Pablo Neureda was married, but had a mistress whom he named the house after. He carried on the affair for some time, then left his wife for her and lived with her for the rest of his life. The house was their private residence, then became a museum. He had two other houses, one in Valparaiso, where we will be in a week. The house consists of several buildings, one included a bar and dining room, another a living area, and sleeping quarters, and another a summer bar (why have only one bar?), a library, and a writing room.
The house was interesting. Pablo was a collector and had an incredible amount of pieces including pottery, paintings, glass, sculptures and books, some of a lot of value. The grounds were beautiful.
After that we headed back to the patio Bella Vista to see if two of the people from the tour were there still, but they weren’t. We got a drink and people watched a bit, then went to Galindo for dinner. It’s a famous Chilean food restaurant and was packed the few times we walked by. It was very affordable but I was a little disappointed.. I ordered spicy shrimp. The waitress came back to ask if I wanted anything else as it was only shrimp, so I got a salad. There were few small shrimp, no spike and the salad was ok but nothing great. Oh well! Kim got steak with grilled onions over French fries.. a large plate.
We decided to stop for desert, and went to Emporio la Rosa, recommended as the best ice cream in Santiago, on our way home. Phillipe recommended a honey ice cream called miel de ulmo so we both tried that with another flavor. It was ok but not very creamy. Both of us figured that if this is the best that Santiago had to offer, we would try other desserts.
We made it back to our place, almost 12 hours after we left,
tired and happy. Quite a fun day!! Internet is quite painful tonight so loading these is taking forever. And our phones have very limited internet.. it's mostly when we have wifi access in the room, and then it's patchy. Given that Kim paid for access and I am supposed to have it while in Chile, it's a bit of a pain. thankfully all is well at home so there's no urgency.
Alright, hitting the hay. I'm tired and a bit achy from walking so much tonight. Hoping the weather will improve from the day of showers expected as the musuems are closed!
night, all!
s
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