Santiago and Valpariso : 12/30 thru 1/2

We spent virtually all day Saturday traveling from Stanley to Santiago. When our taxi left the airport in Santiago, it took about 10 seconds to realize how different it was from Buenos Aires. 

The view from rooftop patio

More of Las Condas

This is a city on the move: the parallels to Toronto and Vancouver (throw in a little Miami) were so obvious to us. The Economist decribes Chile as the tiger of South America and with good reason. Its healthy GDP growth is evident almost everywhere. New parks, well maintained streets, busy people, and nice, safe neighborhoods. Business getting done. My kinda town. 

Our hotel was in the Las Condas community, a mile or two NE of the "Centro". Here is where many multinationals have their offices and while some may say it lacks the cool grittiness of the older inner city, the residential areas around us were places we'd love to live. The train ran right through it. There were places to run and great places to eat. It was safe; safer than much of Atlanta for sure.

Only one problem: Our 1st day there was Sunday. New Year's eve was the next day and New Year's day followed. In other words, not much was open for 3 of the 4 days we were there. South Americans take their holidays seriously.

Sea Bass Tartare - YUM!

Eat Here!

Not a problem! On Sunday we ran in a linear park, walked to the centro, visited a small museum, had an unbelievable lunch in a great little wine bar and just explored. 





On Monday, we ran another park and had lunch in a restaurant that I'd found on Loogares, the Chilean version of Yelp. Then went to the monstrous 6-story mall in Providencia (at least it was open!). Our observations there could fill another post. No, I didn't buy a thing. 

Tuesday, New Years Day, was more of a disappointment. We took the train to the bus station hoping to go to Valpariso for the day. Silly Americans, you can't expect to get a ticket back to Santiago at the end of a holiday weekend!! So we opted for plan B and walked up and around Cerro San Lucia, a hill in the center of town containing Fort Hidalgo, with fountains and lookouts that were built in the 1800s. We returned to the hotel, and wandered the neighborhood some more. 

Cerro San Lucia

The view from the top

The View from Fort Hidalgo.

We had dinner at the hotel since the only thing open for miles was (get this) Starbucks. Tapas and this drink that looks coincidentally like an iceberg were outstanding. 

On Wednesday we made another go at Valpo. It's a smaller but bustling city. A UNESCO heritage site, we walked the hills and neighborhoods, had lunch with the locals in a busy plaza and returned to Santiago in time to grab our luggage and head to the Airport.

A Cerro Alegre street

The view toward Vina Del Mar