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Published: December 14th 2012
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..No more buses, but a direct plane ride this time to Santiago. Or at least, that's what we thought. We were a bit annoyed when after only 1 hour we were asked to turn off our iPads.. Why?? The steward explained we were landing. Landing? Already? Were we on the right plane? It turned out our direct flight apparently had a stop on the way, Iqueque. Everyone had to get off, and go through border control. How annoying!At least so we thought.. But there turned out to be an upside to it too! No one asked Stephen for the reprocity fee of 132 USD that he had ready to hand over (exact cash, as requested). Apparently the fee is only payable if you enter the country through Santiago (which we thought we were.. but apparently not). So that meant extra wine-budget 😉!Traveling in Santiago was a world apart from our travels through Peru and Bolivia, and not only because I could now go up the stairs without getting out
of breath (though that was a very nice change). We immediately had more of a 'city trip feeling' than a 'backpacking in South America feeling'. It doesn't require too much imagination to think you may as well be in a city of Spain (just with a growing rather than declining economy 😉). Suddenly we were traveling by metro, staying in the suburbs, visiting lots of museums and other historical buildings, and going to the cinema (newest James Bond movie, I wasn't too impressed though..). Oh, and having nice food and wine, of course. Overall, I'd say although Santiago has no really impressive sites, it's a very pleasant city to spend some time in, and I'd imagine also to live in. We were staying in Providencia, a more residential part of town (although some offices seemed to be nearby too). The streets around our hotel were packed with restaurants, cafes, shops, and, somehow, loads of pharmacies, beauty salons and health shops. So I can guess what the better off folks in Santiago spend their money on..One of the more impressive museums was the recently opened
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, which tells the story about the period under Pinochet rule, and the work done afterwards to dig up as much as possible of the truth about this period. I found in particular the live recordings of Salvador Allende, his speech on the radio as the government building was under attack, and the testimonials of his aids very impressive. I also really enjoyed our visit to one of the homes of Pablo Naruda, a Chilean writer who also used to be ambassador to France. He had designed the place himself, in quite a funky style - part of it is built like a boat, another part as a high tower, and the library comes with a large outside bar (latter was Steve's favorite). You can imagine what a great it must have been when the house still was one of the few buildings in the area, and had a completely free view on the surrounding landscape. Unfortunately most original furnishing and artifacts have been removed during the Pinochet area (Naruda was a friend of Allende's), but the
house has been restored with the contents of the other houses (he had 4 and was planning on building a 5th one).It wasn´t just museums and other inside stuff though. Santiago is not a very green city, but there are some noteable exceptions. The smaller cerro Santa Lucio, and the large Cerro San Cristobal park (which doesn't really feel like a park anymore, more like a forest-y area neighbouring the city) are both located on hills and provide great views over the city. It reminded us a little bit of Hong Kong..! And as the guidebook already warned us, all parks have lots of lovebirds making out on the benches or lawns, probably hiding away from critical parents´ eyes..And of course there were the culinary delights (and I am not referring to the Subway sandwiches, although it was nice to also have the option for healthy and cheap fast food again ,)). Stephen couldn't stop marveling about the sushi lunch we had on our first day. We hadn't
had proper sushi for a while, and hadn't expected it to be this good (although thinking back, the combination of a significant number of Japanese immgrants and the availability of lots of fresh fish helps the odds). So guess where we had lunch the next day 😉.One of our best dinners of this trip so far was at Astrid y Gaston, a high-end Peruvian restaurant with several locations across South America. It was located somewhere in a residential neighborhood, so I expected to get to a small, intimate restaurant. But as soon as we entered, we realised this was serious business.. The menu also looked promising.. One of the options was a 5 course tasting menu, which compared to any of the good restaurants in London was a bargain, so we figured, why not! And it turned out to be a great choice.. Go figure, things like seafood ceviche or llomo saltado are very tasty to begin with, but when prepared by a top chef.. Yum! And paired with generous portions of nice Chilean wine (too generous for me, despite my Dutch nature of not wanting to waste good food or wine, and yes, it was hard to leave those still partially filled glasses..), it made our evening. We spent the whole walk back to our hotel marveling at the great price-quality proportion, and at how lucky we were to be having such amazing meals so far away from home. You know, these ´Life rocks, and we are soooo lucky´ kind of moments..But of course, there is a time for five course meals and wine, and a time for exercise and fresh air. And what better way than hiking through the Andes.. Stay tuned ,)
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