Santiago

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Santiago, Chile

Day 19

Upon arriving in Santiago just after 9am and a journey that started at 11am the previous day we faced our first day of sunshine in sometime. Exhausted, hot and buckling under the weight of our backpacks we set off in search of our next hostel, Hostel Mery as recommended by footprint. 30 minutes later we discovered the mint green art deco style building in the bohemian student district.

With only 1 full day in Santiago we decided to make the most of it and set off to explore this smog filled city.

We took a stroll down through the oldest street in Santiago which like every other street was home to a college, this time of music so our ears were filled with a very talented piano player.

After which we headed to the Palacio Cousino, a stunning French Rococo style mansion. So precious to Santiago is this mansion that not only are you forbidden to take photos but we had to wear large floppy slippers over our shoes. This family were rich and had very oppulent tastes to show this. They would be seen as the family in this modern day to have and show off all the latest modern gadgets, which, in their time (1870-1878 mansion was built) meant they were the first family in South America to own a camera, have the first working elevator and the first working generator to convert their mansion from gas to electricity. The mansion was a very eclectic mix of styles from Paris, England, China, Amsterdam etc. This family are still alive today but no longer own the property and its 1 ton, 13,000 crystal chandelier, they are quite happy producing their successful wine label, Cousino.

After lunch at Nacional Bar No.2 and some local cuisine consisting of stews and maize we wandered around the Plaza where the street artists were exhibiting their work and of course into the local grand church.

We then decided to take in some culture and headed off to the Museum of Chile, home of Pre-Columbian Art with over 3000 items on show of ceramics, textiles, paintings and sculptures that show the history and development throughout South America. This collection is said to be the most important permanent collection in the world.
It was pretty interesting too and fortunately for us the English translations were excellent, being both informative and interesting to read. So much so, that we found ourselves becoming annoyed at 2 loud tourists disturbing our peace.

Our slow stroll back to the hostel only set to confirm our previous suspicions, South Americans love music from the 80´s and 90´s......we have heard this everywhere....none of the typical, latino or pipe music (depending on which country you´re in) but Europe, Rick Astley and Debbie Gibson.


Day 20 - Antofagasta and San Pedro de Atacama bound

Today we flew off from Santiago and its smog filled districts to land in Antofagasta, just a stepping point for us before we took our next 7 hour bus journey to arrive in San Pedro de Atacama late that night and at our first altitude of just under 2500mts above sea level.

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Comments

[P. Schulz]

something new
michelle, you should change your job and become a writer! for the most you two are doing the same we (Guni, Thomas and myself) did, at least up to Barriloche. Now (blog 3) there are some new things to me as well. Keep on writing. How are the finances with all this expensive hostels??? And flights...! Good luck from Peter