Santiago and Valparaiso

---

We had low expectations of Santiago, but were pleasantly surprised. It seemed a relatively nice place, although it was a shame you couldn´t see the sky due to the smog.

I had the unfortunate experience of being wedged on the subway into town. Ben shoulder barged some old ladies to get off at the right stop. However, he pushed them in my direction and, despite my pleas in rather average spanish, I could only watch as the doors of the train slid closed and the train took off. Ben didn´t seem too alarmed and patiently waited for me to find my way back.

We believe we came across a possible scam. (Well, if we have already been scammed, we are still pleasantly unaware!) Some nice young ladies approached us and handed us a poem, saying they were students from the university. They were about to sit some exams or something and were apparently demonstrating because the government didn´t give them enough money and naturally wanted a contribution from us.

Without any particular organisation or website, we were quite sceptical about the truth of what they were saying. We wished them luck with their cause and once it became clear that we were unwilling to part with any significant sum of money, they stormed off out of the square. I noticed they didn´t hand their poem to anyone else - no one else looked like a tourist!

We had heard that Santiago was full of stray dogs. We didn´t see any. In fact, this might well be the first place in the whole of South America where we haven´t been followed by at least one dog. Bliss! Having a dog following you instantly pegs you as a tourist. We have a theory that the dogs speak English and so follow those speaking in their native tongue.

We felt we had done enough in Santiago within a day. (To be fair, I´m sure there is heaps more to do, but we wanted to get away from the terrible air). We did a day trip out to Valparaiso. We met a Chilean guy who had been to Wellington, and he said Valparaiso was very similar. It was one of his favourite spots in Chile, so we thought we would check it out. It is a bad idea to go somewhere with expectations and we were a little disappointed with the comparison.

We got the creeps walking about the centre of town. As we were eating lunch, we watched a drug deal going on, and were approached by a homeless guy whose only English was ´I want money´. Sigh.

We did enjoy wandering around some of the crazily steep streets up on the hill. These reminded us a little of Mount Victoria. The houses were cute and colourful and the sidewalks needed steps. We found little more to detain us though and jumped back on the bus relatively early.

---

Photos

Kak, choke, cough, splutter
There are some more mountains over there somwhere - the Andes?

Winding streets of Valparaiso
Check out the wiring!

Comments

[james st. james]

the poetry of money
actually you were not being scammed by the poem-wielding student. as a chilean, i can tell you these students also try to get us to give them money too, but foreign tourists are especially appetizing to starving students. this may be a "scam" but it had nothing to do with you in particular. and yeah, it sounds like you missed out on most of santiago and valparaiso. the center of valparaiso is a bit shabby (as is the whole city i suppose) but valpo's true charm lies in its hills, not the flat central city. if you were disappointed, you were in the wrong part. outside of santiago, this is my favorite city in chile (and is also the favorite of most gringo's i've met). maybe you should plan your visit better or try getting some info from the tourist office. good luck with the rest of your trip. cheers!

[Kat and Ben]

Cities
Thanks for your comment. It is actually nice to know they were probably students. As a tourist, you get constantly bombarded by such things and it is very hard to figure out what is genuine and what is not and so you are always on your guard. Perhaps they are going about things the wrong way? As for Valparaiso, no doubt we were in the wrong part. We have heard lots of nice things about the place since. Its the old problem of so much to see, so little time.