Santiago

Well I left Cordoba on Saturday evening with Eileen and Rob, on the overnight bus to Santiago. We got to Mendoza by 6 in the morning before crossing over the Andes, arriving in Santiago at around lunchtime on the Sunday. The Andes were absolutely spectucular, almost like a different world. There was no foliage on them whatsoever (once you got up past the scrub line), their surface was solid brown rock. In places there had been landslides of gravel down the sides of the mountains, which from a distance made them look shiny, smooth and surreal. Once we had got our Argentine exit and our Chilean entry stamp, and had all our bags x rayed and prodded we were able to drive down the Andes, down this rather perilous double lane road that zig zagged countless times down the mountain, the hairpins so fine that the bus was forced to take up both lanes. Looking down you could see trucks and buses and cars all working their way up and down the mountain. On the Chilean side of the Andes the scenery changed quite a bit, with cactus and shrubs scattered on the hillsides, though the rural communities didn´t look really any different to their Argentine counterparts.

My first impressions of Santiago was that it was qutie a desolate place. But really, I should have thought about it a bit more. A catholic country, on a sunday at lunchtime is generally pretty quiet, but Santiago I suppose was eerily so. We caught a taxi (which was handy, as I had absolutely no Chilean currency on me) to a hostel just outside of the city centre where I met one of Eileen and Rob´s friend´s from BA spanish school, Madelaine. Taking a walk around Santiago, our impressions were of a clean, organised city. I suppose that was partly because it was so quiet, but the park that runs along each side of the ´river´ that runs through the middle of the city is quite beautiful, with well manicured green grass and park benches along the windy path, under the shelter of some lovely trees. We were hungry when we got in, so we took a walk and ended up finding a bit of a bakery, where we bought a couple of empanadas to eat in the park (I don´t call them empanadas anymore, I call them mmm-panadas!). Unfortunately though, this park is what you could describe as a ´kissing park´, perhaps because its just so nice that people feel compelled towards it. Nevertheless, its a great place to people watch.

The city of Santiago is surrounded by snow capped Andean peaks, which would be really quite beautiful if you could see the mountains through the smog. Unfortunately you can only make out a faint outline of where the mountains are due to the haze that sits over the city. In the middle of the city there is a large hill, used as a city park, on top of which is a statue of the Virgin Mary. There is also a gondola that runs up to it from the base, and as we were feeling rather lazy on this late Sunday afternoon, we shelled out our 1600 pesos (I know right, big money, 4 dollars) and jumped on board, soaring to the summit as the sun was setting over the mountains to the east of the city. I managed to fill up 3 memory cards (almost) with photos of the sunset, which was truly spectacular. I then took a few more hundred shots when the city lights came on. After walking back to our hostel through a wealthy suburb, with some rather fetching lamposts, wide footpaths and angry dogs behind high fences, we went to the supermarket to get some eats. It ended up being (surprise surprise) spaghetti, but Eileen did a pretty wowswer of a job with it. Our sunday afternoon just seems to go on forever, doesn´t it, but that evening we decided to go out to Bella Vista, a suburb just across the river (the one that bisects Santiago) near to to the base of the Virgin Mary mountain. After a volley of waiters lept out of their bars to offer us a place to drink we ended up on the footpath, on some nice plastic chairs drinking Pisco Sour. The following day we found out that Bella Vista was a bit of a shady area to visit at night, but I didn´t really get the sense that it was.

On Monday, after a bit of a sleep in we ventured into the city for a bit of exploration with out new found breakfast friend Ishmail. We went for a walk, exploring more of the parks that follow the river, as well as venturing into the centre and having a poke around Plaza de Armas, the main square. In South America it seems that Monday is the day that all museums are closed, so I had to postpone my museum plans for later. We were so good and organised that we even went to the bus station where I bought a ticket for Antofagasta! In the late afternoon we went to a park right in the middle of the city (alas! another kissing park) where we climbed many a stair to reach the peak, where there was a little turrent from which you could look out over the city as the sunset. Two sunsets in two days, and I was a happy chap.

The next morning, after a good sleep, I was very excited about the three museums I planned to visit. First up was Las Chascona, Pablo Neruda´s Santiago residence. In Bellavista, a quick walk from the hostel. Neruda´s house is now a museum, with as many of his original belongings intact. His house was ransacked by the army after Pinochet´s coup in 1973, but quite a few things were saved and were held in secret for the 17 years under Pinochet. Neruda, the famous poet, was a bit of a playboy and was very popular amongst the people, and collected pretty much anything. Las Chascona, a house he built for his wife, is designed to resemble a ship, with different rooms separated by hilly garden paths. His wife had curly orange locks, and chascona is chilean slang for messy hair. Neruda was friends with a great many famous people from around the world, with works by Picasso and Rivera (Dali´s husband) still hanging on his walls. The main living area is made to resemble a lighthouse, and it looks out across Santiago towards the city centre and the Andes behind.

After that intriguing look at Neruda´s place, we went to the Contemporary Art Museum, filled with some great statues and works. I headed off next to the Salvador Allende Museum, but when I got to where it was supposed to be I found a half derelict building and a sign saying that the museum had since moved. I was feeling a little deflated until, on my walk back to the metro station, I came across the Santiago Library. Of all the libraries I have been to in Canada and South America, this one was the strangest, in that it didn´t feel like a library at all. There were books, sure, and people reading them, sure, but the building felt more like a laboratory than a library. One of the funnest things I found was the 18+ room, where any books about sex, homosexuality, or Germaine Greer were kept - far from the immature eyes of 17 and a half year olds.

That night, after a dinner of delicious guacamole, salad and roast chicken, we went out again to Bellavista to meet up with some friends of Rob and Eileen. We ended up at this bar, where some live music was playing, called something along the lines of the ´Anti-Imperialist Bar´. It was alright, but I nearly fell asleep in my non existant drink before we walked back home to the comfort of bed (this hostel is great - real beds and real doonas!).

This morning I finally got my chance to go to the Salvador Allende Museum, and after waving off Madelaine (who was going back to BA) we caught the subway, and (hoorah!) found it. Naturally, it was all in Spanish, but we managed to watch a video with english subtitles that was quite touching, about a group of photographers who protested against Pinochet through their photographs. It was quite touching, though I didn´t hear any mention of Allende himself. After meeting back with Rob at the hostel we ventured into the city again, and had a walk around before I came to this internet cafe to write my blog. I´m leaving tonight (in a couple of hours) to Antofagasta, a fair whack away. I get to meet up with Sandy, though it would be good if he sent me an email before I left telling me a time and a place. Oh well, she´ll be apples.

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