|
|
TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
|
|
After 11 weeks in New Zealand, James and I went seperate ways. James flew to Los Angeles, where he stayed with a friend for one day, and then continued onto Santiago (and spent 26 hrs on the plane in total). I had the luxury of flying directly into Santiago (11 hrs) and this turned out to be luxury indeed as I was upgraded to business class..
Getting from the airport to the centre was easy as there are direct buses to Metro Los Heroes (20 mins - CLP 1.200 (1 USD)). From there I walked about 30 mins to Barrio Brasil, where I had booked 2 nights in an 8-bed dorm. I had forgotten how heavy the rucksack was after having a rental car in New Zealand and it seemed that the rucksack was heavier than ever (although it weighted 2 kilos less than when I left home, I guess I got weaker during our travels!).
Happy House Hostel is apparently one of the best hostels in South America and I can say that it was better than most of the hostels we stayed at in New Zealand (and more expensive - USD 18!). The next two days I spent exploring the town, practising my spanish, finding out about the local dishes and how to get from a to B.
Santiago is a very nice city with many nice parks and pleasant areas such as the trendy Bellavista and Barrio Brasil, the students' neighbourhood.
Although Chile is one of the more expensive countries in South America, the food is pretty cheap. You can have an almuerzo (late lunch) for USD 3 (3 courses), a good coffee for less than USD 1.50, a metro ticket will cost you USD 0.75 and a bottle of beer USD 1.50. I was very aware of the fact that there are not that many tourists in Santiago and often felt looked at. We warned for theft and other forms of crime in the city and I did not feel particularly safe on my own at night. On my second day students were protesting on Plaza Armadas, wearing gas masks and carrying pocket knifes, so I avoided that part of the city.
On the very early morning of the third day I got a 6am bus to the airport to pick J up from his flight from LA/Atlanta. Apparently he had had a great day with an old friend of his parents who lives in Orange County. They went to Laguna Beach, had a nice dinner and relaxed.
From the airport we picked up my luggage from Happy House and had a coffee at the bistro/coffee shop downstairs. The most expensive we will ever have in SA (USD 4/GBP 2)! It was clear that we were ripped off and the coffee was horrible.
We checked into Hostal Forestal, right next to the Parque Forestal, opposite the Bellavista area. We would have liked to stay at Happy House, but is was way too expensive.
The rest of our time in Santiago we wandered around and visited quite a few nice places. One of them was beautiful San Cristobal, a conic hill at the end of Bellavista which can be accessed by funicular, with a statue of Virgin Mary at the top. As we were here on Good Friday they walked the Via Cruz in various places (one person carrying the cross whilst many people follow singing and playing musical instruments). From the hill (300m) you have beautiful views of Santiago with the snow-capped Andes chain in the background. This is when you realise how smoggy Santiago is (as you can tell from the pictures).
In the end it turned out that Hostal Forestal was a dirty and noisy hostal with people smoking weed and playing the guitar at 3am. I guess we will have to pick our next hostel with a bit more care (although the location could not have been better).
We also had lunch at the Mercado Central (the original fish market in the center), walked up the ruins of Parque Santa Lucia, had a parradilla in Bellavista (a mixed grill enough for 4 people) and tried out some more of the local beers and dishes.
previous travel blog entry
Would you like to comment or ask a question?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).