Farewell Santiago

A wide smile simultaneously appeared on the faces of both Nina and I as we woke on our final day in Santiago to the warm autumn sun. Having experienced Santiago’s freezing winds and low temperatures the past few days we were grateful to be able to shed a layer and comfortably move around the shady regions of the city.

After a big day at Valparaiso on Tuesday, Wednesday we decided to hop on the metro and venture back into the city to check out some of the art galleries we had been shown during the walking tour.

Another great thing about Santiago of which I am yet to mention, is the reliability and frequency of the city trains. Not once have I (or Nina for that matter) had to look at the metro timetable, instead each time we descend the stairs to the platform there seems to always be a train either already stopped or just pulling in to the station. Also, the ticketing system works in a simple manner- you buy a card, top it up with money, and it subsequently allows you access to any stage of the railway. It also has the other nice feature of making you feel like more of a local.

The first stop was the Cultural Centre in the heart of Santiago. It is a fascinating building hidden underneath the grand entrance to the parliament house. The most interesting exhibition inside the centre was a collection of works from artists affected by the recent devastating Chilean tornado which claimed over 500 lives. The exhibition was designed to support the needs of the survivors with the profits going towards necessities for day-to-day living. The collection was inspiring to say the least, with an impressive array of creative techniques including weaving, knitting, jewellery design and clay works on display.  

When we had finished in the gallery, it was lunchtime (3pm). We found a fantastic little restaurant ‘El Naturista’ in the middle of the city, in between the rows of office buildings. We later discovered we weren’t the only ones attracted to the restaurant as we slid behind an already extensive line of people stretched out the door. El Naturista is an incredibly well run business with what appears to be over 15 staff catering for the needs of the thousands of diners that pass through each day. In the time we sat in the restaurant there was never less than 10 people waiting in line to eat.

The menu offered an extensive list of vegetarian foods including homemade pasta and lasagne, salads, risotto, and a number of other Chilean delights. Nina and I were so satisfied with the quality of the food (and the reasonable prices) that it became our lunch hotspot for the following two days!

We spent the afternoon soaking up the sun in the park in the centre of the city. After an hour or so of rolling around on the grass laughing and studying those who passed by we were called over by two policemen. We first thought their intentions were to remove us from the grounds, but instead they simply wanted to know about Australia and our experience in Santiago. This general friendliness of the city police in Santiago seems to be widespread, and is a likeable feature of the city.

The next two days we continued to discover new parts of the city and navigated our way around the metro. Nina and I took a great liking to Lastarria, a groovy suburb filled with gourmet cafes, off the street galleries and niche clothing stores.

One of the best features of Lastarria is the interesting gallery inside which we viewed a great photography exhibition about the historical military coup of 1973 in Chile. More fascinating though is the gallery itself, the exterior is uniquely designed with the façade of the building made almost entirely of rusted metal. The bright orange of the rust is very unusual for a contemporary building, however it looks fantastic in the sunlight.

We also visited the second house of Pablo Neruda, “La Chascona” which is cleverly built into the hill behind Bellavista. The tour costs little and gives a great insight into his life and also into the history of communism in Chile.  

Our time in Santiago has been an interesting one. The best way to sum it up is to paraphrase a passage that stood out to me in my Wallpaper guide before I left for overseas… “Get there quickly before others cotton on as Santiago is one of South America’s best kept secrets”.