I love Santiago right away. The city feels a lot like Madrid to me with european-style architecture, leafy avenues and green parks. However, the trees seem to be on a gigantic tropical scale! I am staying in a pretty part of town called Bellas Artes which seems to be walking distance to everything. Altiplanico Bellas Artes Hotel is a simple and classic place to stay and is adjacent to a square filled with flowers, the Museo Bellas Artes and another Botero statue (I saw many of these chubby statues whilst in Colombia!)
The Parque Foresetal is a narrow park that runs along the river and is a scenic route to navigate different parts of town. I feel very relaxed walking around alone for many reasons.
1) With such a european vibe, I feel close to home (Brexit aside!)
2) No indigenous Zika woop woop! Chile eradicated the Aedes aegypti mosquito species in 1961 on its mainland and the World Health Organization has said it does not expect the Zika virus to spread to either continental Chile and Canada (it may well spread to the rest of the Americas.)
3) The city is more developed and feels so much safer than Bogota from where I have come. There are lots of couples hanging out in the park (er, a few need to be told to get a room!), mums pushing prams and young women walking solo.
4) The city is easy to navigate from my central location with a map from the hotel, even for a person like me who has lost all natural sense of direction since the introduction of iPhones.
5) The sun is shining and the sky is so blue!
After feeling proud of myself for completing some essential admin (buying water, handing in a bag of laundry to a small laundrette nearby, having a nap having not slept on the flight) I wander to Bellavista, close to a big university and full of bars and restaurants. Although I typically do not like eating alone at restaurants, I enjoyed some sushi in Patio Bellavista… picture menus and english make ordering very easy!
The next day, my “Flash Pack” tour begins. This is a relatively luxury tour company marketed at solo travellers in their 30s and 40s and I think I came across it whilst googling something like “group travel 30 year old not for retired people or gap year students”! I suspect I will write more about this tour group experience once I complete my 2 week tour of Chile.
I meet our group of 10 and some of us go for lunch before a 3pm walking tour with a cheeky and fun guide called Sergio (Sergio.Gestionturismo@gmail.com if you happen to be in Santiago.) My roommate is a fellow 30 year old called Elisa from New Jersey. Having been alone for the past few days, I am like an excitable puppy in the company of other people. I have so many words I want to say… my calls to family were not long enough and it didn’t feel right to start talking to myself. Our group consists of 9 girls and 1 guy. Perhaps the low point for him is when we start talking about manicures and shellac.
I am in awe of the Plaza de Armas close to our hotel. This is the main square of Santiago and it is lively with musicians and locals relaxing under the shade of GIGANTIC trees. Some of the old fashioned (somewhat basic-looking) department stores around the square actually sell great clothes. I need to buy a baseball cap for trekking but end up getting a very cute top too!
Other highlights of our walking tour are getting delicious gelato from Emporio la Rosa. Rosa looks a bit like Anne Frank but the fresh passionfruit and raspberry flavours I sampled were delicious.
We walk up the hill to Santa Lucia which allows for views across the city including “Sanhattan” as they call the high rise area of town and Terraza Neptuno.
We also check of Palacio la Moneda (presidential palace) and some streets named London and Paris that were designed by architects that studied in those cities. We conclude our tour in a hidden bar in a courtyard with Chilean flag bunting. They love their flag here, even as much as the Americans I’d say. Pisco sours here are so good… I think they beat the expensive ones that you get in places like Coya in London (although Coya is still close to the top of the league table for ceviche in my eyes!) I will have to compare to the Peruvian version when I go to Lima.
We have dinner at Mulato in Lastarria, an area with lots of boutique shops, bookshops and cafes. The food is tasty, beautifully presented and good value for money. The seafood ceviche and the salmon mango tartare stand out!
In conclusion, My 2 days in Santiago were very relaxing. A great city to stroll around in the sunshine. Just take something warm for the cool evenings once the sun goes down… Londoners will be used to this during our summer month.
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