Hello lovely people: the second of my occasional blogs from Chile – Argentina – Chile

Impressions of Santiago de Chile

Fairly fleeting impressions it has to be said as we have only spent an evening and one full day: impressions garnered from three sources: our taxi ride from the airport and hotel check-in; our evening explore; our full day hitting the streets of small areas of Santiago

From the airport: charming cab driver; relatively quiet multi lane highways and underpasses, but the driving did not feel frenetic, nothing like India or even Rome! We did not spot any colonial style buildings other than a few dilapidated ones and the architecture along the route was, I would suggest, brutalist modern. Lots and lots of graffiti, lots of litter, lots of disrepair. What appeared to be a colony of people sleeping rough in one park we passed. The hotel staff are charming and the area seems pleasant. After lunch and a siesta (it sounds so much better than a nap!) we walk the few hundred metres to Plaza des Armas, intending to get cash from an ATM and buy a local SIM. We are too late, all the shops and malls are closed or closing (it is approaching 8pm) and we are somewhat discomfited by the streets – every shop front closed off with metal shutters or metal sheets, evidence of lots of missing glass hoarded up, and so, so much graffiti. No available ATM because presumably they are all internal. We sit in a cafe on the edge of Plaza des Armas. There are people sitting at tables in the square playing chess and draughts, that looks good. We almost come unstuck because the menu has to be scanned and we have no functioning mobile but the charming waitress provides us with a hot spot to her personal wifi. Fed and watered we walked back to the hotel thinking Santiago has not got us hooked

The next morning, clear blue skies, hot sun (around 30 C) and low humidity sees us retracing our steps from the previous evening and what a transformation. Shops un-shuttered and open, pavements full of street traders, (really full, as many people trading from street stalls as shops); people out and about. There is still graffiti, and still lots of hoarded glass, but the city (this bit of it) feels alive and welcoming. More charming people at the mobile shop (the local SIM an absolute bargain at US$8 for 100 gb, for 30 days, Chile and Argentina) and at the cafe where we sit, for longer than I care to think about, getting the SIMs to work with ancient, potentially sacrificial phones we brought for that purpose. We re-visit Plaza de Armas and look into the very grand cathedral. We walk north to find the river (why???), the fish market – full and fascinating, and retreat fairly hastily back to our “our” side – Lastarria, put off venturing further afield into Bella Vista because it was so dirty, dilapidated and we were approached twice by women telling us to be careful, the area was full of thieves and pickpockets and we had to have eyes everywhere. Even with our barely-there Spanish with their mimes the meaning was clear!

That said the location of our hotel in Lastarria is delightful. Two nearby parks, interesting buildings and so much cleaner than other parts we visited. After an early evening walk through Cerro Santa Lucio, a park on an extinct volcano with many steps and great views of the city, we walk a few more streets into the self-styled Barrio Gastronomique, buzzing with life: restaurants, bars, street sellers the latter of whom all appear to be in their early 20s creating, repurposing and up cycling accessories, clothes and art. A huge buzz in the area and also a fabulous dinner

After a shaky start, Santiago has grown on us enormously and we are looking forward to another day here in a week’s time before we fly to Buenos Aires

But, before our pictures, have you noticed? Charming. Whilst I admit I need to interrogate the thesaurus without exception, everyone in Chile with whom we have interacted so far has been polite, helpful, courteous, accommodating of our execrable (or non-existent) Spanish, really just very – nice. So, for now at least, charming

Until next time, adios amigos

Alison