Thursday, 11 April 2013
Santiago de Chile

After a tasty lunch of two ham and cheese croissants and one very strong café con leche in the hotel restaurant it’s time to take a walk and smooth out the kinks from nine hours of plane travel.

The Sheraton Hotel stands in lovely park grounds just north of the central city and provides commanding views of the city panorama spread out to the south and east.  There would be a magnificent view of the Andes if it weren’t for the fog, mist, and pollution that provide an impenetrable screen, even when the sun is shining in the other directions.

Santiago is a tale of two cities.  The central area contains the older business and commercial districts, as well as whatever historic sites remain (not too many from prior to the 20^th century).  The district to the east, known as “El Golf”—for obvious reasons—is densely packed with newly-built skyscrapers in the most blatant Post-Modern varieties.  There is a miniature Chrysler Building, as well as imitations of most of the well-known buildings of New York.  In fact, the area is also known as “Sanhattan,” and clearly its inhabitants strive to the heights of egotism of their northern sister city.



Friday, 12 April 2013

I sing, O Muse, of the glorious Chilean tomato,
Plump, and red, and round . . .
And totally unlike the weak specimens in Tucson.

After a fine buffet breakfast (included in the hotel package), including excellent coffee and magnificent grilled tomatoes, at 9:30 I hop on the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus in front of the main entrance to the Sheraton.  First stop is the Bellavista Area, home to many artists and students.  The primary place of interest here is the Plaza Bellavista a mufti-level indoor-outdoor area of craft shops, bars and restaurants.  I’m told it hops at night, but this morning most everything is closed and quiet—although there are many outdoor sculptures and other works of art to enjoy.

I walk to the nest HH bus stop, only a few blocks away, at the center of Bellavista and the entrance to City Park, the largest in the Santiago area.   The park climbs upward to a height of 3,000 feet and offers fabulous views southward over the city (the Andes are still refusing to come out) as well as a large statue of the Virgin Mary giving her blessing (a very popular figure throughout So America).  Fortunately, I don’t have to climb the hill because there is a funicular which goes to the top—with a midway stop at the Santiago Zoo—fir $2.50 round trip.

After riding down the funicular I take a brief look at one of Pablo Neruda’s many houses in Chile, this one painted red in honor of his mistress’s hair.  Then back on the HO-HO bus to the next stop at the Belles Artes district, home of the very traditional Fine Arts Museum.  From here it is a short walk through streets teeming with shoppers, businessmen, and tourists, to the center of the old city, the Plaza des Armes, a huge square anchored by the Cathedral of Santiago, built by Italian architects in traditional European Baroque style.  Yesterday, this area was the scene of a huge protest about education that ended in the traditional police action and rioting.  But today has returned to normal commercial activity and there is a large police presence.

From here the HO-HO bus goes to the Central Market, along the Mapocho River.  A large steel, glass and concrete building, the market houses a cornucopia of magnificent Chilean produce—much of which is exported to the US—as well as fish and seafood.  This is a very popular lunch stop and there are restaurants in every corner and cubby-hole of the market.  It’s not quite time for lunch, so I take the next HO-HO to the Santa Lucia area, which stands underneath a small hill with a fortress on top. I stop for lunch at a small pizza and Pepsi shop.

Because Santiago is spread over a wide geographic area, I ride the HO-HO bus through the eastern part of the city, variously known as “El Golfo” or “Sanhattan” with row after row of post-modern high-rise buildings in imitation of the Chrysler, Empire State, and other well-known Manhattan landmarks.

The Ho-Ho bus takes me back to the Sheraton (for a 2-hour rest), before I walk to the nearest Metro station (four blocks away) and ride three stops back to El Golfo, to get a better sense of the area on foot, even though by now it is dark and dinner-time

Tomorrow we head for Valparaiso and the ms Veendam.  Bags will be collected from our rooms at 8am and the first bus is scheduled to leave at 9:15.

So good night to all . . . and more tomorrow.