Exploring Santiago de Chile

After flying for only 2 hours from Buenos Aires, we arrived in Santiago de Chile, the capital of our neighbouring country. Spending five days in the city of the craziest rush hours, smoggy skies, colourful street art, sweet Terremotos and incomprehensible Spanish, was like visiting another world. Although we did not even leave the continent, only 1500km from Buenos Aires, still hearing and speaking Spanish, Chile is so distinct from what we’re used to in Argentina that at some point we simply stopped counting the differences, and just enjoyed the alternation and little changes from our temporary home, Buenos Aires.

The city of Santiago is divided into several different barrios (“districts”), and each one has its own style and characteristics. Having some coffee in a small courtyard in Barrio Italia, going out at night for the “MiércolesPo” student party, or enjoying some ice cream and street art during the day in Bellavista, walking towards the Plaza de Armas and grabbing a delicious waffle at Buffalo Waffles on the way through the Barrio Lastarria, or shopping some cheap sportswear at the ADIDAS or Nike outlet stores, close to Plaza Ñuñoa – the possibilities are endless. And though it might sound as if all we did was shopping and eating, there are also many options for hiking, little walks, and excursions that we went on. Cerro San Cristóbal and Templo Bahai are probably the most common things to do when visiting the city, and also easily accessible. While the Christo is more or less in the middle of the city, reachable through Barrio Bellavista, you need to take a 30 minute bus to the bottom of the hill on which the House of Worship lies. There are 8 ‘Bahai Temples’ in the whole world – one on each continent -, and the one overlooking Santiago de Chile is the most modern one, being completed only last year (2016).

So while those 20-30 minute hikes were merely to run off some of our daily waffle or ice cream treats, taking on the mountain of Manquehuito was a whole different deal. Although this hill is only the little brother of the actual Manquehe, we were already pretty proud of ourselves to have planned this 2-3 hour trip. After the usual pushing and cramping of the hora pico (“rush hour”) – which is way more intense than anything we’ve ever experienced in Buenos Aires -, we met at the subway station Escuela Militar, and two bus rides and a 15 minute walk later, we arrived at the gates to Manquehuito – or so we thought. We did inform ourselves beforehand about how to reach the little one of the two hills, and so we were waiting for the path on the right hand side that would lead from the main trail to our destination. After an hour of sweating, enjoying the beautiful nature and amazing view, wondering when the path on the right would finally show up, and growing more and more concerned about the increasing difficulty of the hike, we finally ran into another hiker who told us that we were actually climbing the big mountain, Manquehue, instead of the little one. Since we had already reached the height of Manquehue, and the upcoming path did not seem doable without the proper equipment, we decided to call it a day, eat our apples in the sun, and enjoy once more the stunning view and surroundings that kind of reminded us of a day in the alps.

MY TIPS & RECOMMENDATIONS

go to Valparaíso for a day – busses to the colourful street art town leave every couple of minutes (it takes 2 hours) and a ticket only costs around €4
Hostal Providencia (€14) – really big, centrally located and great atmosphere
get the bip! card to use public transportation – one ride costs $650 pesos chilenos (€0,90)
don’t miss out on the giant 2-for-1 Magaritas at Teclados
chose for one of the savoury options at Buffalo Waffles – they’re only slightly more expensive than the sweet ones & are way bigger
have cocktails at the cute rooftop bar of Azotea Matilde in Bellavista
brunch at Le Fournil in Lastarria – a bit pricy, but the french bakery goods, omelette, and yoghurt will be worth it (full brunch menu, incl. coffee and juice for €15)
try a Terremoto cocktail (iconic Chilean drink) – a type of sweet fermented wine, served with pineapple ice cream