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Published: August 19th 2006
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So here we are 90 days later, 8,200 miles travelled (as the crow flies) and writing this blog in Santiago airport looking out over the illuminated runways, whilst waiting for our flight to Auckland. We've said the proverbial goodbyes to this continent and we take with us some fantastic memories but we're both in agreement that we're ready for a change and in particular the opportunity to put down our bags, say goodbye to bus journeys and make a home (if only for short period) in New Zealand. We have something of a blog backlog so we're attempting to chew through it now. By the time you read this, you'll probably have the rest of the garb we're putting together.
As well as a "Goodbye South America" piece, we need to mention our final destination and Chile's capital, Santiago. We actually had two bites of the cherry in Santiago, first visiting it briefly, before veering away from Chile into Argentina. In total, we only spent three days in Santiago and by the end of the third day we were just discovering its charms. In fact, we may have missed out a bit as far as Santiago goes and it is
The Old & The New
Modern skyscrapers and colonial buildings in the Main Plaza. the one place we leave South America feeling we might not have given it as much time as it deserved.
Our first visit to Santiago put us in Barrio Brasil, a university area in the west of the city that was overcrowded with chain-smoking students. We didn't really have time to do any touristy sight-seeing as our visit was primariliy administrative and starts the first chapter in the HSBC bank card saga. Only read the next paragraph if you are interested in our rant (or if you are an anti-capitalist looking for ammo against the banks).
In the north-eastern region of
Las Condes, an area referred to as Sanhattan, the business distict begins. An area that loosely resembles Canary Wharf in London (without water), numerous flashy glass covered skyscrapers litter the skyline amongst numerous cranes signalling that others are to follow. HSBC Santiago has its offices in the area and that's why we were there, to collect a new card. HSBC cancelled Laura's perfectly good Maestro card as they thought it had been stolen (compromised they called it). Apparently some good for nothing was using it to obtain cash and buy woollen blankets in Bolivia (now who could
that be..?). Laura had informed them that she'd be travelling beforehand, the "customer representative" listened but did he make a note - of course he did, he wrote it on a yellow post-it-note no doubt, a reminder to pop it in the system after the weekend! So, after lots of expensive international phone calls, we reached an agreement. HSBC were to send a new card to Chile where Laura was to pick it up in person and everything would be sorted. So there we where in Las Condes, we probably wouldn't have gone if it wasn't for this mission. The card was there, all looked good and we marched expectantly to the nearest ATM to give it its virgin run. Alas, disappointment! A big wad of Chilean pesos were not presented to us but instead a host of Spanish "commiseration" messages - "sorry buddy but your card isn't worth the plastic it's printed on". Anyway, this story has many more chapters and even now, the final conclusion hasn't been written - yes we're still waiting for a valid card. HSBC it would appear, like wasting plastic having now produced four useless cards which they've scattered around the world.
Despite
Clean Plates
Nothing survived the onslaught, when we tucked into the veggie curry! HSBC proving to be a real pain in the derriere, we did at least get to see Las Condes and the nearby Suecia district with its amusing themed nightclubs and bars. We also had one of the nicest meals we've had in South America, and it was veggie! We stumbled across the restaurant whilst looking for an English language bookshop (we were trying to lay our hands on Lonely Planet Argentina). We had an amazing Indian-style dish and I think our cravings for curry were well and truly quenched. We still talk about that meal now!
Fast-forward a month (approximately) to Santiago part two - "Santiago Strikes Back". This time we had no desire to see anyone from HSBC, in fact by this stage, the meer sight of that red and white kite logo, insighted a rage in Laura that only I have witnessed before, after repeated washing-up failures! No, we stayed clear of banks and instead took to the hills on gloriously sunny days (remember this is the height of Winter) to enjoy the vistas with a bottle of pop and some Pizza Hut delights.
From Cerro Santa Lucia, a large 630m high, grassy knoll in the
General Bernardo O'Higgins
Riding across Plaza de la Libertad towards the Palacio de la Moneda. middle of Barrio Santa Lucia, 360 degree views of the city are available to all. We devoured our pizzas and Sprite, in the beautiful surroundings of this hilltop sanctuary (plebes) and enjoyed the views of Santiago, sadly a little spoilt by the constant smog that hangs over the city but still impressive, from the castle turret on the top of the hill. Then we caught the glass elevator (yes, that's what I said) back down to street level before heading into the centre of town for a walking tour of the Centro Civico and its plazas, green spaces and colonial architecture. As it happened and just by luck, as it was a Sunday, we got free entry into all of Santiago's museums and so never wishing to turn down a freebie, we aimed to tick them off one-by-one! Our favourite was the Pre-Columbus Museum with ceramics and textiles from the many native South American civilisations. After 3 months spent on the continent and numerous archaelogical site visits, it's nice to see a "round-up" (so to speak) of all the different stuff we've seen from the various civilisations; Moche, Nazca, Inca, Wari, Chimu, Tiwanaka etc...
Santiago can be explored fairly
A Quiet Corner
Within the urban heart of Santiago you still find tranquil and pretty corners like this in the Terraza Neptuno. easily on its fairly new and swanky underground, which puts London's to shame (not that hard). We relied on it to get us around, it's not crowded, it's safe and... well it's great, what else do you want? We also stayed in a fantastic little hotel right in the heart of things - we decided to spend a little more than our usual budget limit but seeing it was our last accommodation bill in South America, we felt we deserved a bit of luxury. Needless to say, we emptied the mini bar and the bill started to climb steeply! Eating out in Santiago is fairly expensive but the cuisine is very good and our meal on our first visit was not a blip. It isn't Argentina though and even the best fancy-pants restaurant in Santiago is no match for one in BA. Both Laura and I agree that Chile suffers a bit from having such a high-value currency. As everything is so expensive and not entirely relative to earnings, Chileans have to make their pesos go as far as they can. As a result they tend to buy low-quality goods (usually Chinese) whereas Argentinians seem to have an economy where
We Need More Flags!
Santiago's Plaza de la Constitución. everything is a bit more on par and wealth seems to be more comparable. Basically cost of living in Chile is high which seems to paradoxically cause a lower quality of life - the complete opposite of the Western world. Surely the Chilean peso will collapse eventually?!
So there you have it. Santiago in a nutshell and like I said, perhaps not explored to its entirety - maybe we'll have to return one day to finish the job. That said, we are both of the feeling that Chile will not be at the top of our lists and any return to South America will involve further exploration of the east - those fat steaks of Argentina will probably be the major draw! For now, it's onto NZ and Winter fun in the snow. Our plane leaves fairly soon so I must bring this waffle to an end - we have 20 hours of flying ahead of us which amaounts to over a day when you take into account time zone changes. We leave today on the 30th July and arrive 1st August - the 31st July will barely even happen for us as we cross the international time line.
Statue in the Plaza de Armas
Another one dedicated to Simon Bolivar - liberator of much of South America. If only it was a paid work day!!!
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