Santiago is the capital of Chile, home to over 6 million people. The city is nestled in a valley between the Andes mountains, and the surrounding hills dipping towards the west coast. Fortunately, my grandpa’s cousin (on my mom’s side), Karin, lives in Santiago, and after connecting on Facebook, she kindly opened up her home to Ryan and I for a visit. After picking us up at the airport, she took us to her home in the suburb of Penalolen, where we settled in and enjoyed some breakfast. Her house is an adorable 2 story building filled with nick-nacks from the around South America, making it feel both homey and exotic in a quirky sort of way. Staying with someone you’ve never met is always a bit awkward, but we sort of all worked together to minimize the initial uncomfortableness, peppering each other with questions.
As an introduction to the city Santiago, we headed to pick up Karin’s husband from a meeting, and then drove up the San Cristobal hill, which is the largest green space in Santiago. Because it was Sunday, the car slowly weaved in and out amongst the numerous runners, bikers, and walkers alike. The slow ascent was worth it after we saw the incredibly view of the city, which stretched for miles in every direction, reminding me slightly of a less threatening version of Quito in Ecuador. Unfortunately, the giant Andes mountains trap in the unsightly smog of the city, making the view significantly less appealing to anyone looking on. After enjoying the view of smoggy Santiago, we made our ascent slowly back down, and headed to the adorable area of Bella Artes for lunch at a quirky politically savvy restaurant called The Clinic. We bonded over a mutual love of wine and good food, before heading back to Penalolen for the evening.
The following morning, we headed out bright and early to take a bike tour of the city with Bicicleta Verde. The tour was an excellent way to see the city, as we made our way through Bella Artes, stopping to see the beautiful fine arts musuem, and then into the Bella Vista neighbourhood to see the famous poet, Pablo Neruda’s house. We made a stop at the central market to try the locally made pumpkin bread and fresh fruit juice. We continued through the centre to see the Plaza de Armas, before finishing up the tour. Throughout the tour, we learned about the dramatic history of Chile, which I had no previous knowledge of. Although the country is highly economically developed with nice roads, good restaurants, and a high standard of living, the country had a dictatorship in the 70’s, and divorce wasn’t legalized until 2004. Because of the history of political turmoil, the country has many people who have very strong political opinions and involvement.
Once we had finished our bike tour, we met up with friends from language school to try the famous drink called “terremoto”, which means earthquake in spanish. It is made of white wine, pineapple ice cream, and a sickly sweet, pink liquor. After drinks and catching up, we parted ways, and Ryan and I made our way up the Santa Lucia Hill, which is significantly smaller than San Cristobal, but gives you a nice view of the smoggy city. From there, we made our way back to Penalolen to visit with Karin and her family, and to learn more about each other’s lives. She told me about growing up in Chile, and the story of how her father immigrated to Chile, which was all very interesting to learn about.
After checking a calendar, looking into buses to our next destination, and looking ahead at Machu Pichhu plans, we decided that we would stay in the Santiago area for a week. I generally don’t like spending this long in a big city, but having someone to show us around made it much more pleasant, as well as much easier to escape the city. On Tuesday, we did just that, and after getting up early to have breakfast, we made our way to the adorable city of Valparaiso. On our way there, we drove through Vina del Mar, and stopped to breath in the fresh ocean area, which was wonderful. Although Vina is now a popular summer and tourist destination, Karin told us about how she used to go there as a child, and how the town was full of one of a kind, old, adorable houses. Unfortunately, only a handful of these are left now, as most of the area has been taken over by hotels and condo buildings. The coastal road from Vina to Valparaiso is small and windy, but has an unreal view of the ocean the entire way.
Upon reaching Valparaiso, we drove to one of the higher points to get a view over the harbour, and over the surrounding area. The houses are built up the side of the mountain, and into the hills, which gives the city a unique look to it. On top of that, the older houses on the hills are extremely colourful, and there is amazing graffiti every which way. I immediately fell in love with the colours and adorable feel of the entire area. Later in the afternoon, we picked up Karin’s youngest son from university and went for lunch at a nearby restaurant. It was interesting getting to know this distant relative of mine, and how different our lives are. After lunch and ice cream, we said our goodbyes and made our way back to Santiago.
On Wednesday, we had the opportunity once again get out of the city, and we began by heading to the famous Concha & Toro vineyard for a tour and wine tasting. The winery is the second biggest in the world in terms of area and production, and it was nothing short of impressive. We visited the old house, which looked like it was out of a movie, and then visited the edge of the vineyard to sample the grapes. The vineyard stretches for miles and miles, and there are grapes as far as the eye can see. We also received a tour of the cellar where some of the wine is stored, and then had a chance to sample a few of the wines. I obviously enjoyed the entire experience immensely! After the winery, we headed into the mountains to have lunch at Cascada de los Animales, which is a park area deep into the Andes. We ate traditional Chilean food, overlooking the Maipu river and the massive mountains. Although I loved the afternoon out of the city, I really loved the drive back, as the sun setting over the mountains lit up the sky in a beautiful pink hue. One of my favourite views is the sun setting over the mountains.
Thursday was a public holiday for Santiago, so most of the city was shut down. We made our way downtown anyway, and although Karin was frustrated that she couldn’t show us much, we were happy to enjoy the quietness of the city. There wasn’t much to do, so we had a late and long lunch at one of the few open restaurants with Karin’s oldest son and a long time family friend. They insisted that we needed to see the city on a busier day, so we made our way back to the city the following day to explore a few of the museums and run some errands. We went to the Visual Arts museum, which was pretty cool, although I have to admit that my appreciation for art still isn’t quite there yet. One day! After running around the busy city (I prefer it quiet, for the record!), we headed to a yoga class in the center. It was a cute little studio called Om Yoga on the 3rd floor a building near the Visual Arts museum, and we practiced Iyengar yoga, which I’m not quite as well practiced in as Hatha. We did a lot of stretching using chairs and bolsters, and handstands against the wall. It was definitely the type of class that you feel in all sorts of weird places the next day.
We had a bit of a disaster getting back to Karin’s place that evening, as we didn’t realize that the trains only stopped at some stations during rush hour. We missed our stop, got off at the next one, and assumed that we would be able to catch a train back. As it turns out, there are NO trains that stop at each stop, and the station we were at didn’t have any wifi. We ended up taking a train back towards the centre to a station stopped for both routes, got off and caught the other route to the correct stop. Once we arrived, we couldn’t get wifi or figure out the pay phone, so we walked to the closest supermarket to try and get wifi. Normally, we would just take a cab, but I only had Karin’s address on Facebook, and I didn’t have access without wifi. I was feeling dumb and frustrated by this point, and after asking a kind gentleman how to use the pay phone, we were finally able to get home. As it turns out, you have to dial 0 to use the pay phone, information that is not on the phone itself. Apparently I need a lesson on pay phones…
By the time we made it back, I was long overdue for a glass of wine, and we enjoyed a lovely homemade meal, wine and chocolate before heading to bed full and content. Our final day in Santiago was once again spent outside of the city, as we made our way about an hour outside of the city to an adorable little town that makes earthen wear products. From there, we headed to the beautiful coastal town of Isla Negra, where a second home belonging to Pablo Neruda is located. Unfortunately, his house was closed for a private event, but we had a great view from the beach. We walked along the beach, watching the insanely huge waves splash against the shore before heading to the town to enjoy a delicious sea food lunch. Before heading back to Santiago, we stopped at San Alfonso del Mar, which is the largest manmade swimming pool in the world. Unfortuantely, it is housed in a condo complex so you can only see it from the beach, but it was still cool to see. The pool is massive, and we could see multiple paddle boats on it. Karin’s husband thought we were crazy for wanting to go, but I thought it was worth the trip! From there, we made our way back to Santiago to get packed and ready to head to Mendoza the following day.