Santiago and Valparaiso

The first two things you'll notice flying into Santiago: 1) The incredible Andes, including Aconcagua (if you're lucky), and 2) the horrible pollution. Unfortunately the pollution is a fact of life in Santiago throughout the warm months.

The neighborhoods of Las Condes, Bellavista, and Providencia are beautiful places to stay, with resturants, nightlife, shops, arts fairs, and accommodations. I stayed downtown, which was a little bit of a walk to get to any of the entertainment districts. The city parks (Cerro San Cristobal, for one) are good and central places to get away from the traffic and noise.

Quick Tips:

As mentioned above, downtown is not the most exciting place at night. Be sure to visit the mercado central - you find original art, cheap t-shirts, leather, clothes, postcards, and all kinds of other knick-knacks. When I was there, however, I say very little in the way of Mapuche arts and crafts; if you're looking for Mapuche items and lifestyles, you'd better head south (at least to Temuco.)

Best Way To Get Around:

You'll need to take a minibus from the airport to the city - the airport is at least 30km from the city center. There are frequent and inexpensive buses that will take you to the main bus station, which is right on the subway line. The subway is clean and safe; you'll find it very useful for getting around the city. The cabs were clean and comfortable.

The Hotel Vegas is in a historically preserved part of downtown; evidently this area of the city was very chic in the early 20th the century, then fell into disrepair. It''s just recently been restored. It''s not particularly close to any restaurants or bars though, so you''ll either have a long walk or a short taxi ride when you want to go out.

The Vegas, while pleasant, was not really my kind of place. The outside is very charming, but the inside definitely feels like a hotel. The rooms were comfortable and clean, although decorated with late 70s/early 80s colors and furniture. The attached bathroom was sparkling. Noise was fairly minimal - be warned, though, that Chileans in the city love their car alams, and they''re ALWAYS going off. There are city guides and restaurant brochures scattered throughout the hotel. The hotel does have historic significance - Pablo Neruda was a frequent guest, evidently.

This is a great place to get lost and wander for a few hours. You'll find original art, shoes, leather items, crystals, Che Guevara posters, knickknacks put together by traveling hippies short on money, old LPs and books, and just about everything else you can imagine. Prices, of course, are very negotiable. If you're looking for Mapuche goods and crafts, however, you won't find much here.

During my stay in Chile, I took an hour and a half bus ride from Santiago to Valparaiso (Valpo for short) for a quick side trip. Valpo is slightly seedy (like a lot of port towns); its historic center is crumbling, and there isn''''t too much to see, but some of the neighborhoods and the views from the hills are wonderful.

I stayed on Cerro Alegre in the excellent Hotel Prat (it''''s the big yellow house on the edge of the hill looking down on the town), which had a great view from both the outdoor cafe below and the room windows above (but the noise at night was horrible - there''''s a bar at the base of the hill that is extremely loud). The hotel also had a nice bar on the bottom floor.

The funiculares are an easy way to get from the downtown area to the hills - they''''re essentially outdoor elevators that take you up and down the steep hills for a very small fee. They''''re also protected by the UN as a World Heritage Monument. The nicest hill neighborhoods to wander were Cerro Concepcion and Cerro Alegre, where you''''ll find small shops, homes, and children playing in the quiet streets.

The Cafe Turri on Cerro Concepcion serves an excellent dinner, with stunning views of the bay.

Pinochet returned to Chile while I was there. The front page of one of the major papers headlines was "Dead Man Walking" - he was released from his prison in exile in England because he was "physically unfit to stand trial" and had to be taken to the airplane in a wheelchair, but when he landed in Santiago he walked off the plane and waved vigorously to his supporters. The reaction in the city was not a forceful as I thought it might be - there was a heavy police presence around the Palacio de la Moneda, but few protesters.

That night, I did see a large student rally in downtown, with bands, banners waving, and many students shouting anti-Pinochet slogans. There was also a rally planned at the university for the ''''disappeared,'''' those who went missing during Pinochet''''s rule. There was a lot of criticism of the current president for letting Pinochet enter the country like a triumphant general, but little else was made of it.

In all, I think people were subdued because the history of Pinochet''''s atrocities was not as distant at the history of the military junta in Buenos Aires. The feeling on the streets in B.A. was lighthearted and free; the feeling in Santiago was much more wary.