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Santiago has been our home for almost three weeks. Each and every day, we have awakened to sunshine and temperatures in the upper 80s and mid-90s. It is steamy, sultry, friendly, busy, and fairly inexpensive. It has a nice subway system, and hopping a ride to anywhere in the city – even the most distant stations – costs just 75 cents. The Hard Rock Cafe is just down the block. We ordered the same meal here that we had in Reykjavik this past summer. The cost here? $23. The same meal in Reykjavik? $100.
We visited the Bellavista Arts District, and saw beautiful street art, highly decorated restaurants, and many (American) chain restaurants. We visited the great Chilean poet’s home in Bellavista, Pablo Neruda’s La Chascona. It gave us a better sense of him, his life, his work, and his place in Chilean history. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971. Probably his most iconic line/quote is: “I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.” His home was quirky and…complicated, in that it was on many different levels connected by outdoor staircases, even though he started construction when he was getting older, when most of us would think twice about having to walk up and down stairs every day.
A free guided walking tour of the city gave us insight into Santiago’s past and introduced us to some of its more famous buildings. The city’s beginnings were in and around the Plaza de Armas, where today you can find the Cathedral and other government buildings. It is a lovely park with fountains, sculptures, benches, cafes, restaurants, and stores. Each time we visited, it was full and very lively.
The Plaza de Armas has a rich history. In 1541 the Spanish were attempting to quell a Mapuche Indian rebellion. The Spanish lost control of the entire city, except for the Plaza, where the last of the defenders remained. The situation looked hopeless for the surrounded and greatly-outnumbered conquistadors. There are various versions of the story, but according to one, a conquistadora, Inés Suarez, took control of the situation and personally cut off the heads of seven prisoners, throwing them at the Indians outside the Plaza. The audacity of the act, combined with the idea that the screaming red-headed woman was a demon, caused enough confusion and panic that the Spanish were able to reclaim the city. Supposedly the room where the decapitations took place is now occupied by a tourist information office.
Another highlight for us was visiting the General Cemetery of Santiago, the Cementario General, where 2 million people are buried. There are grand mausoleums built to resemble chapels, Roman temples, and ordinary houses. There are “streets,” where the buildings are lined up as if in a neighborhood, with trees, flowers, and benches to rest your weary feet (the cemetery consists of over 200 acres!). Some structures are very modern, pristine, and well-cared for; others are facing the ravages of time and look a bit dilapidated. But we realize that some families still have descendants to care for a grave and decorate it with flowers, while for others, their family lines may already be gone. It is humbling and interesting to visit cemeteries. Compared to others we have visited around the world, the General Cemetery was fairly busy. There are thriving flower businesses before you enter the grounds, and many people were walking, driving, and bicycling while carrying flowers to visit graves.
So, would we return to Santiago? Yes! We saved some of the tourist sites for the next time we are here, and were able to relax and do a lot of reading. We discovered two interesting new friends from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, Karen and Jonathan, and talked through the world’s problems and history over several days. And during our walking tour, we met the fabulous Coco and shared a delightful lunch with her. All in all, it has been a wonderful place to stay. And now it is time to move on, as we always must.
Building of the Fire Department of Santiago, a National Historic Monument, dating to 1895.
Main fountain in the Plaza de Armas in the center of Santiago.
Monument to the Indigenous People (1992, Enrique Sandoval). The Mapuche people fought the Spanish for 350 years. The sculpture is in the Plaza de Armas.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago. A weekday Mass was being held when we visited.
The lovely Santiago Central Post Office. Dating to 1908, it too is located in the Plaza de Armas.
This is the beautiful glass ceiling in the post office.
Nobel Prize Winner Pablo Neruda’s home was a highlight in Santiago. Construction began in 1953 on this house for his secret love, Matilde Urrutia.
The dining room was filled with sculptures and art from around the world.
Upstairs was another dining area, a small nook with cutlery in a hallowed-out television set. You can see by the porthole that a boat was the home’s inspiration.
For a man who was already 49 years old in 1953, the home was built as a “compound” with lots of outdoor staircases connecting bedrooms, the library, bars, and the living spaces.
In one bathroom, this creepy trio of dolls watches everything you do in the bathroom. (The first one, on the left, even has legs long enough to reach the hot water faucet to scald youin the tub!) Can you tell we are horror movie fans?
Neruda’s poetry is quitelovely and romantic, and he is considered one of the 20th Century’s most revered and romantic poets. BUT – this quote of his, on sale in the bookstore, says, “I like when you shut up!” (The salt and pepper shakers that you see were his joke for friends who dined with him: they were labeled “Marijuana” and Morphine.”)
It took us a few days of having breakfast in our hotel to look UP at the ceiling. When we did, we were rewarded with these fabulous portraits.
Another highlight of our time in Santiago was a visit to the Cementario General, a beautiful park where 2 million people are buried and all but three of Chile’s past presidents.
There were neighborhoods in the cemetery, and this miniature church was in fact a family’s mausoleum.
This was the most festive area that we saw, filled with color and remembrances.
We often visit cemeteries when we travel and have been impressed by them many times. This one reminded us of a city more than any other, with mausoleums that looked like apartment buildings and single-family residences. This is one of the “streets” in the cemetery, with mausoleums lining both sides. There were lots of benches around, as the cemetery covers 210 acres.
Another “street” that ended in a chapel, in the distance.
Some grand mausoleums, like this one, are falling apart and in disrepair, perhaps due to the descendants having died off…
…while others, like this one, had live green plants that were thriving, was clean and tidy, and had flowers that appeared to be just a few days old.
This one of the mausoleums constructed like an apartment building, with small slots for cremains.
This was a grave from the early 1900s in the Catholic Cemetery, across the street, which had a grieving man whose hat had fallen near his feet. Even though the grave is about 120 years old, the man is still covered in fresh flowers.
On our way to lunch with the fabulous Coco, whom we met on our walking tour, we passed people in a line that stretched for about two miles, winding around the Plaza de Armas and up and down surrounding streets. We finally asked a woman why they were all standing in line, and she said it was to pay respect to Chile’s past president, Sebastian Pinera, who had died in a helicopter crash at age 74 while we were here. According to Wikipedia, he was interred in a cemetery a few miles from Cementario General.
This is the Neptune Fountain (right), and the stairs lead up to Castle Hidalgo.
The Municipal Theater of Santiago, the main performing arts theater. It seems to be too early in the season, though, as there were no ballet or orchestral events that we could attend.
The original Stock Exchange building, with a pretty fountain outside. This area is called “Wall Street,” although it is very small.
We never did pass a building with a tower clock that had the correct time! One building had a clock on all four sides of a tower – and all the times were different, AND none were correct! (We know the time was correct twice a day, of course!)
This is the original Mint Building, later the Presidential Palace. In 1973, it was the site of a violent coup by Augusta Pinochet that killed thousands of Chileans and resulted in the suicide of Salvador Allende in this building.
The Bellavista District had lots of art, lots of funkiness, and pretty buildings like this one.
A wild and crazy restaurant that had a little of everything.
A gorgeous street mural.
A fun mural at a beauty salon.
Bellavista also had half-naked wooden women hangin’ out above doors.
A vibrant restaurant that just invites you in.
In the mall…..check out those eyelashes! And those lips! We asked the salesman why her lips were SO big! HE said – Duck Plump! WE said – Botox?
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