Santiago

Santiago to Buenos Aires

I’m finally going on this trip with G Adventures. Check it out at Highlights of Chile & Argentina in Chile, South America – G Adventures. I had it booked for spring 2020, and we all know what happened then. Cancelled due to covid!

When rebooking as soon as I could in early 2021, I switched to a trip to Italy. Europe started their covid adventure months before South America, and so came out of it much earlier, and I made the right call. So now it was time to get back to the original plan.

The trip starts in Santiago, Chile, and ends in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have been to Buenos Aires before, on a trip from there to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And again, when I went on a trip to Patagonia, in the south parts of Chile and Argentina. I had not done everything I wanted to do in Rio, so at the last minute I added a flight and nights in Rio at the end of the trip.

Santiago, Chile

I flew in to Santiago, the capital of Chile, at the end of January. It’s the hottest month of summer here on the other side of the equator.

Arriving in the afternoon, I activated the e-sim on my phone, and connected on What’s App with the driver sent by my hotel.

TIP: I normally ask the hotel the price of a pickup from the airport, and if it’s the same price as an uber or taxi, I take it. It’s nice to have someone looking for you when you arrive in a new country! Pre-arranged transfers with the travel companies are usually outrageous prices.

Walking tour

I met a group of G Adventurers travelers in my hotel lobby going on a guided walking tour (not my group). I was invited to join, so went along and saw some of the sights.

Back at the hotel, the restaurant there looked nice and I could sit outside, so I had dinner. Which wasn’t that great. A friend who lived in Chile for a while told me to find Peruvian food if I could, it was way better, and he was right! A tarot card reader was included with dinner, so I had my cards done. The guy spoke good English so I completely understood him, but he missed on all three questions. Interesting though.

I had a day on my own, so visited the two hills, or cerros, of the city that are tourist attractions, with a museum stop in between. I used uber to get around since it was very reasonably priced.

Cerro San Cristobal

Cerro san Cristobal presides over the city, topped by the statue of the virgin Mary. Below the statue is a chapel, and an amphitheater for religious ceremonies. I went up by cable car, down by funicular, for some great views of the city and surrounding mountains.

La Chascona museo

Very close to the funicular station at the foot of the mountain I found the museum that was once the home of Pablo Neruda. He was an important poet, winning the Nobel prize in literature, and diplomat. A narration provided tells his story, and that of the home. He built it for his secret love, the muse for his most famous poems. His nickname for her was La Chascona, translated as messy haired woman.

He was a supporter of the socialist Salvador Allende, who came to power in 1970. The home was flooded and destroyed by supporters of the dictator Pinochet when his military junta overthrew the government in 1973. His funeral became the first major rally against Pinochet.

Several buildings on different levels on a steep foothill of Cerro san Cristobal make up the home. Long galleys and furnishings are meant to resemble a ship. I found this museum very interesting.

Cerro Santa Lucia

After that I called an uber to get to Cerro Santa Lucia, a smaller hill near the town center. The hill is the remnants of an ancient volcano. There’s a beautiful fountain, a fort, and a castle as you climb up the hill for views over the city.

I walked the city streets back to my hotel for about an hour since I’m not good with maps – it should have been 40 minutes.

That night I met my travel group, and tour leader from Argentina. The group is a big one at 16, and we are from Canada, US, Australia, UK, Germany, France, and Russia. We went for an excellent dinner at an Italian restaurant – many Italians emigrated to South America after world war II and fortunately they brought their recipes with them.

Museum of Memory and Human Rights

In the morning, we went with a local tour guide to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. Here we learned the story of the human toll of the 1973 coup by Pinochet.

On that day, the socialist leader Allende died in La Moneda, the government palace, after giving a farewell speech on live radio. He was reported to have died of suicide, but two bullet holes were found in his head. This seems to be a still hotly debated topic.

Thousands of citizens were jailed, tortured, executed, or disappeared. Hundreds have still never been found. The lower floors of the museum are offices for researchers, who are still looking.

Our guide’s mom was given a plane ticket, and told to use it or go to jail. She took the ticket to Germany and met his dad there.

Plaza de Armas

The Plaza de Armas is the downtown square, with a beautiful cathedral and towering palm trees. The trees are anchored to keep them supported during the frequent earthquakes here. The biggest earthquake ever was just south of Santiago.

We walked around downtown seeing some more sights, then stopped for an empanada on the street.

Back at our hotel, we got ready for an overnight trip to the colorful port town of Valparaiso. It’s only a hundred kilometers away, so it shouldn’t take too long…..to be continued!