Yesterday it hit me that I'm not in the mood for a big city but here I find myself in Santiago so I must suck it up and do the tourist thing. After Salta, Tilcara, and Atacama, all smallish towns, the crowds and traffic and noise and too many choices of Santiago don't sit well with me. And the heat bugs me more here than in Atacama. So last night I was glad to go back to the apt and settle in with a glass of wine or three, my book, and an occasional glance at the television for the amusement of watching foreign language programs.
Today I feel better about Santiago. It's the more livable city of the two large cities visited on this trip. I think Buenos Aires is for a one night stand, Santiago is for marriage.
We started early before it got hot and headed east through Barrio Bellavista which has many interesting old buildings and lots of murals. I love murals. The murals' artistry, colors, characters, and occasional alien (space-, not illegal-) spice up the neighborhood.
Next we rode the funicular to the top of a hill (869 m) in Santiago's largest park, Cerro San Cristobal. At the top is a large statue of Mary, an open-air church, and a regular enclosed church decorated inside like a stone grotto. The grounds have piped in meditation-encouraging church music. There are also odd looking tile-covered rectangles where you can have ashes interred.
The park is large and popular with bicyclists. The views of the city and surrounding mountains would be great if it weren't for the cloud of brown smog that is trapped in the bowl of the city. I read somewhere that the smog is the main complaint Santiagians have with their city.
On a nearby hill, also in the park, is a decommissioned observatory, the Lick, who's name reminds me of the Lick observatory in Northern California. Turns out it is the same Lick—the observatory was put up by UC Berkeley. Berkeley still sends students to Chile to study the stars, only now they go to Atacama. On the afternoon I checked out of the hotel in Atacama I talked to the young woman who managed the accommodations for their astronomer guests and learned that Berkeley shares a nearby observatory with astronomers from Europe and Japan. Go bears!
Tonight we had a delicious and cheap Indian dinner at a place called New Horizons. I like cheap food: my philosophy of dining out is the more I spend the less satisfied I am, sort of a law of diminishing returns.
Then we headed out to explore the neighborhood. Barrio Santa Lucia is full of street-side cafes which are packed in the evening. It feels very European and very safe. Even the drivers are well behaved here. At a street corner I stop to let a cab go through. The cab driver stops and leans out to tell me that I have the right of way. Weird. And I thought BC drivers were polite.
I'm back in the apt writing this with the help of some Chilean cabernet. Pleasant eastern European music is wafting in from a neighborhood cafe. Tomorrow is our last full day in Santiago and I need some culture so a museum or two will be on the schedule.