Santiago

Back to Antofagasta to return the hire car and catch our late evening flight to Santiago. Antofagasta airport is pretty small but even so, there was a huge queue at the check-in desks. We dutifully joined the queue, puzzling as to why it was so full of men, but very few families or women. After a while we learned that the bulk of the queue was actually for a charter flight (although we never did learn where to, or why this charter flight was solely populated by blokes). We gratefully jumped the queue, had a seamless bag drop, and waited for the plane. Arrival in Santiago was timely and without mishap, however, a faulty airbridge resulted in a taxiing around the airport in the plane until a working airbridge was found, and we disembarked about 45 mins late.

Santiago is similar to Buenos Aires, being divided into areas with their own “personalities”. We’d opted for Bellas Artes, small streets, park areas, plenty of sights close by and a slightly bohemian feel. Our apartment was, thankfully, lovely, and situated very close to an abundance of coffee shops and restaurants (a bit of a shame really as having an appartment we were planning on some self-catered meals, but nice to use occasionally).

The first day was sunny and hot, and we enjoyed wandering around our local area enjoying our first views of mountains from the top of the Santa Lucia park, and then visiting the National Museum of Bellas Artes to admire the architecture.

And……. what a difference a day makes: Day 1 – temperature in upper 20s, clear skies and sunshine. Day 2 – cloudy, temperature not even making the ‘teens’ and later in the day, torrential rain.

And so day 2 was used as our first foray onto the metro, ‘Bip!’ cards at the ready. Like London’s Oyster, ‘Bip!’ allows journeys on both metro and bus. The metro lines are pretty easy to navigate actually and somewhat like London underground – crowded and badly lit.

Heading towards the river (via the main train terminus – in case we exit Santiago on a train) we ended up at the Mercado Central de Santiago (a huge fish market, dating back to the 1800s, with many eateries trying to tempt us in to eat their fish specialities). The same area allowed us a quick visit to Estacion Mapocho Cultural Centre, which was the main train station years ago, and a centre for hosting the arts and events. There was a university recruitment fair underway so we were unable to go into the main area, but the foyer was a good indicator of the building’s impressive architecture.

By this time the rain was bucketing down so we headed back down onto the Metro and then to Plaza de Armes de Santiago to visit the Catedral Metropolitana de Santiago, the seat of the city’s archbishop. It was very different to most other churches and basillicas we have visited so far. Much more ornate, gilded and grand.

The following day dawned sunny and chilly. A good day for getting to a high point and catching some views. We walked to Cerro San Cristobal with an altitude of 880m at the top, 300m above the rest of Santiago. There are three ways to get up – cable car, funicular and a variety of walks. We walkes – and it turned out to be a busy route. It was also a challenging as the walk wove steeply up the hill. About 45 breathless minutes later we arrived at the summit, and to some fabulous views, and a better understanding of the size of Santiago – stretching out in all directions to the foothills of the Andes.

The main draw for visitors to the hill, in addition to the views, is a large statue of the Virgin Mary dedicated to the Immaculate Conception

Further exploration, however, revealed that the hill was also home to the Manuel Foster Observatory. Only open for a few hours each weekend, we were fortunate enough to be there at the right time. It no longer functions as a working observatory but is used as a teaching tool for the University of Chile AstroPhysics students, who are tasked with showing tourists around. Our guide a second year PhD student and thankfully spoke perfect English – AstroPhysics in Spanish would have been totally impenetrable!

The observatory was built in 1903 by the University of California, which wanted an observatory in the Southern Hemisphere, and has been used in many important observations and discoveries. It sparked the beginning of astrophysics in Chile. For those interested, it does have a website. Suffice to say, we thoroughly enjoyed our short tour, and were impressed that although the observatory is no longer used for observations of importance, it is in pretty much the same condition it was when originally built and fully operational; we were able to see the telescope and dome moved in exactly the same way they would have been122 years ago. It was definitely worth the walk up that hill!

Our final reward of the day was a fabulous sunset sky – appropriate given our day’s entertainment.

Our final day in Santiago (for now) was again sunny and with faith restored in decent weather, we headed over towards the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos – a museum dedicated to raising awareness of human rights violations committed by the Chilean State between 1973 and 1990 in the hopes that these events will never happen again. It was a sobering reflection on recent history and an insight into what must still be very current for many Chileans.

The museum is situated on the edge of a large park and we felt a stroll in the sunshine would help to lift our spirits after the museum. We’ve noticed that Chileans love their parks and seem to spend much of their spare time in them – enjoying strolling with family and having fun with their children. It’s heartwarming to see.

The park was in a focus for several museums and although we opted not to visit any others, we were impressed by the architecture of the Museo Artequin

and by the Basilica of our Lady of Lourdes, which also has a Grotto of Lourdes in which an outdoor service was taking place. This allowed us the opportunity to wander into the Basilica itself and admire the beautiful stained glass windows and the impressive dome, which is over 70 metres in height.

Tomorrow will be back to travelling – once again over the Andes into Argentina…