Santiago, Chile - September 2005

Table of Contents

The Journey Down

I took a few pictures on the way down, but it is hard to do justice to the switchbacks. You really have to see those in person.

Looking down the valley, below the snowline.

A waterfall.

First afternoon in Santiago

I arrived at my hotel in Santiago (the Hotel Plaza San Francisco ). It was a great hotel, centrally located. I dropped my huge bag off in my room, and wandered out into the city.

I headed towards the Plaza de Armas, a broad square in the center of the city.

A local folk band at the Plaza de Armas.

Santiago was beautiful, both for its surroundings (the Andes) and its architecture. It had a combination of modern buildings (some very unpleasant, but some that blended better), and an assortment of older colonial-era buildings.

Looking across at the Palacio de la Real Audiencia (Museum of National History).

The Metropolitan Cathedral.

I headed northeast, through town towards the Barrio Bellevista district. This gave me some views of the Parque Metropolitano, with the large statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of the hill (Cerro San Cristobal).

Looking up from the city, you can just see the statue at the top of the hill.

Barrio Bellavista was a cool part of town. There were a number of fashionable shops and restaurants. Sadly, none of the restaurants were open (I had arrived after lunch but before dinner), so I had to wander around for a bit longer.

This was a cool house near the base of the Cerro San Cristobal.

The base station for the funicular railway leading up the hill.

I had dinner at a very average restaurant. My Lonely Planet guidebook had highly recommended it, but I found it very touristy. If you go to Barrio Bellavista, look around a bit before settling on a restaurant. There are a lot of good options.

Last Day in Santiago

After dinner, I took a cab back to the hotel, and crashed for the night. Early the next morning, I got up and stowed my bags at reception. At breakfast, I ran into a few people I knew from Valle Nevado--small world!

The first thing was a walking tour of some of the main government buildings in the center of town. I didn't take many pictures, mostly because it was hard to get good shots in the tight streets, but it was an enjoyable walk.

The Ex-Congreso Nacional (now the Foreign Ministry).

The Ex-Congreso Nacional again.

Statue at the Plaza de la Constitucion.

There was a small demonstration at the Plaza de la Constitution, but I couldn't quite make out what it was for. The police nearby didn't seem too perturbed.

Looking south at the Palacio de la Moneda.

At this point I visited the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art (Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino), which the guidebook recommended as one of the better museums in Santiago. I had to agree--it was fascinating.

Some of the descriptions were fairly tortuous. For instance, this was the caption for a large urn: the artifacts were "impressive for their ability to irradiate [sic] the mystery of the sacred." I think a straightforward, unmodulated description would have been more powerful.

But the artifacts themselves were amazing to look at, more for what they told of the cultures behind them. One depressing fact: most of the timelines for cultures ended around 1500, right when the European conquerors arrived.

Every pre-Copernican culture has myths about how the sun travels around the Earth, and one Andean myth was particularly memorable: the Sun Lord Kin Ahau soared in the heavens during the day. At night, he travelled through Xibalda, land of the dead, fighting other dangerous gods in his passage through the underworld. In the morning, he would emerge victorious in the East.

In another section, there were relics from cultures whose terrifying gods wore suits of flayed human skin.

On one wall was a sample quipu, a series of knotted cords used for communication and record keeping. The display consisted of a cord, and the many smaller cords hanging off it, wrapped around so that it filled a large picture frame. The geek in me was impressed: it was a simple, recursive structure, with obvious data encoding. It almost qualified as an example of a space-filling curve, and I wondered what its fractal dimension would be.

Apparently I'm not the only geek who has encountered the quipu .

There were several large, intricately carved statues for the dead. A poorly-executed funeral could have disasterous consequences. If not properly buried, the deceased would be trapped by a witch, and become an evil spirit.

At one point, I found a collection of golden spatulas. How cool! I was looking forward to telling my brother, since anyone who has seen UHF is familiar with Spatula City .

However, these spatulas weren't used for turning eggs. They were used by royalty, for purging their stomachs before ritualized consumption of hallucinogens. Wow.

If you've read The Third Chimpanzee you are already familar with some crazy rituals of the Mayans, and this was definitely in the same vein.

After the museum, I walked outside, back to the Plaza de Armas.

In the midst of downtown, looking up at 19th century churches and the Andes.

More crazy architecture mixing: 19th and 21st century buildings side-by-side.

I went to the Museum of National History. It had brief coverage of pre-Columbian times, and focused more on colonialism and the birth of the Chilean nation. I was a little burned out on museums, and there were a lot of schoolchildren running around, but several of the exhibits were worth a look. I particularly liked the colonial exhibits.

From there I walked over to Cerro Santa Lucia, a large park (and hill) in the center of town. It was gorgeous, almost baroque in its ornamentation.

Large fountain at the entrance.

Climbing up Cerro Santa Lucia, looking across town at the Andes.

Near the top is a small chapel.

The path up the hill continues next to the chapel.

Near the top, they had a small garden dedicated to Darwin. How cool is that?

Darwin's garden.

The very top of the hill was crowned with a small turret.

Looking up at the top of Cerro Santa Lucia.

View from the top--looking west.

View from the top--looking east.

View from the top--looking north.

Heading down the south slope.

As I headed down, I passed a large cactus with hundreds of engravings.

Engraved cactus.

I had a sandwich at a small vendor's cart near Darwin's garden, and rested a second.

Looking back up at the top of the hill.

North of the top of the hill, there was a good vantage point, looking north towards Cerro San Cristobal.

Looking east again.

Looking up at Cerro San Cristobal.

Cerro San Cristobal (zoomed back).

Walking back down to street level, the park was very green and secluded, even though it was in the middle of the city.

Looking back up the hill.

Looking up at a small statue.

From there, I walked back over through Barrio Bellavista again, to the funicular railway. I bought a ticket, and was soon on the train heading up the hill at what feels like 45 degrees.

On the funicular.

Looking up as we approach the station.

Looking back down.

From the station, it was a short climb up to the top of the hill.

Looking back towards the hotel (Cerro San Lucia is the green hill in the middle of the picture).

Looking up at the Virgin Mary.

Looking west across Santiago.

From there, I took the funicular back down, and caught a taxi to the Museum of Natural History. Whenever I visit a large city, I try to visit its Museum of Natural History. Some of my favorites are in Paris and Washington DC.

Santiago's was housed in a beautiful building, but the exhibits hadn't been updated in a long time. Even so, the exhibits on Chilean ecology were amazing. Chile spans some curious habitats, from the world's driest desert in the north (even though it's right on the Pacific!) to the cold, wet Tierra del Fuego.

If (when) I return, I'll take more time. I'd like to rent a car and drive the extent of the country.

I left the Museum just as it was closing. According to my guidebook, the quickest way back to the hotel was via taxi. However, I walked over and hit upon a brand new metro station, so new that my guidebook didn't know about it. I bought a ticket, and was whisked to within a block of my hotel on Santiago's subway.

I had an hour to kill, so I wandered down to the hotel bar. I ran into the same people I'd seen in the morning, from Valle Nevado. They were Brazilians who were also just killing time. They were due to fly back to Brazil the next morning. Fortunately (like many people in South America) their English was excellent, so we talked for a while.

From there, I collected my bag and flagged a taxi. The taxi driver and the bellboy spent a few minutes figuring out how to get my bag into the car. Finally, the driver managed to find a way to fold down a seat to fit the snowboard bag. The front passenger seat had to be pushed way up front, so I sat in the back seat.

We had a bit of traffic in Santiago, but before too long we were clear and I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Lounging in the airport I met yet another person from Valle Nevado (!).

After a few long flights, and a few hours spent in limbo at the Dallas airport, I returned to Seattle.

Back home.