Santiago, Chile

I did not really have enough time in Santiago to get a feel for it. You might be surprised to know that Argentineans do not always speak positively of their neighbors on this side of the Andes. So I arrived with a bit of bias. I have heard many travelers declare a preference for Buenos Aires over Santiago. However, since arriving in Chile I have met plenty of foreigners who have spent more than a few weeks in Santiago and love it. To be fair I need to give Santiago more time before I can comment.

My arrival in Chile coincided with annual week of Independence celebrations, known as the "Fiestas Patrias". This explained the flags on every vehicle and building. This is meant to be one of the worst times to travel in Chile. Either everyone is trying to get out of the city or come in for the long weekend. The 18th and 19th of September are the actual holidays, which fell on a Monday and Tuesday.

The heart of Santiago is the Plaza de Armas. The Plaza and the blocks around it make up the old part of the city, which includes the financial district and various government buildings. However, legislative branch now sits in Valparaiso, about 100km west of Santiago, on the coast. There are a number of pedestrianised streets around the centre, which always are jammed. The centre of the city is not all that big and is therefore easy to walk around in little time.

Towards the south and west are the more working class and industrial barrios. Where as the east of the centre are the more affluent middle and upper class neighborhoods. I met with a friend in an area called Las Condas. Walking around Las Condas I could have been in a prosperous suburbs of any European or US city. I even came across a Starbucks. The lure of a "Grande Chai Tea" was too great to resist, so I have to admit I did go in. I never came across a Starbucks in Argentina. Maybe this says something about how seriously Argentineans take their coffee.

Some basic observations:
1) A real cup of coffee is not easy to come by in Chile. It is all Nescafe, unless you go to a proper coffee shop, and these are not all that prevalent. SO I have been drinking a lot of tea.

2) Everything is more expensive on this side of the Andes. I did expect this, but as I mentioned before, Argentinean prices have turned me into a cheap backpacker. Prices of everyday things in Santiago are fairly close to those you would find in New York City. But it does vary. Accommodation I found to be anywhere between 50% to 100% more than what I had been paying in Argentina. Only five years ago Argentina was the most expensive country to travel around. The data in my guide book is probably 2 to 3 years old, but prices I have encountered are certainly double what are quoted.

3) Speaking of money, it appears that Chileans have much more faith in their currency than the Argentineans have in theirs. Major items are not paid for in US Dollars here, nor do people have bank accounts in Dollars as is common in Argentina. Though, going from my guide book, perhaps inflation is a problem in Chile.

4) I found Santiago to be very tidy, at least around the centre and eastern parts of the city. And it has the cleanest metro system I have ever seen. I do not think this has to do with the Chileans themselves as I have seen them drop enough rubbish to compete with the best litter bugs. It is thanks to an army of sweepers and cleaners that things are so tidy.

5) You do not find panaderias on every block, and the ones you do find do not have such a rich selection of little pastries. Perhaps the Chileans do not have such sweet tooths'. Though hot dogs are very popular. I have found chains of fast food hot dog restaurants all over. Chicken and, of course, fish take up are larger portion of the Chilean menu compared with red the meat dominated Argentinean diet.

I am sure there are more things that I have noticed, but that I cannot recall at the moment.