Santiago is the capital city of Chile located in the central valley surrounded by mountains (Andes on the east and Chilean coastal mountains on the west). It’s a growing metropolis of about 7 million people, and is broken up into barrios (neighborhoods) with their own local government, police and school systems. Downtown is it’s own barrio called Santiago, but the entire metropolitan area is also referred to as Santiago so when I use “Santiago”, I’m referring to the entire metropolitan area and neighborhood could refer to the official neighborhood with its own government or just a neighborhood – it was honestly hard to tell. We used Santiago as our hub for getting around (to/from San Pedro de Atacama and Valparaiso).
I chose Santiago to visit some family friends who have been living there for about 2 years – they live in Vitacura, outside of the Santiago downtown, and I stayed in the next barrio over Los Condes. Both Viticura and Los Condes are like the wealthy suburbs of Santiago – they have nice houses and apartments, are very clean and safe. This area was less crowded and more relaxing to stay in, but also pretty easy to get around because we stayed close to the Manquehue metro station.
We went to a bunch of museums and walked around – since we had split says and were in and out, I don’t have a very well thought-out itinerary, but generally if I were to do it again, I would map everything out and lump the things close together to do in a day. Here are some random things that stood out:
Bocanariz – we ate most dinners in Santiago at the house of our family friends, but to get a taste of Chilean wine, we went to Bocanariz. This restaurant’s menu organizes the food by the type of wine that would pair well with it and specializes in Chilean wines. We chose to go with their pre-fixe dinner that automatically includes the wine pairing. All of the waiters are sommeliers and we got to look into their cellar after the meal.
National History Museum – all in Spanish, I didn’t really get much out of it but it’s free and fun to walk around, there are a lot of fun old things and pictures in there and it’s right next to the Plaza de Armas.
Museum of Human Rights – We spent over 3 hours at this museum and probably could have stayed longer but it was closing. There was so much in depth information and heartbreaking stories from the Chilean dictatorship but such a meaningful place to learn of the country’s history. Almost all of the museum is in Spanish, but they have an audio tour where the pieces or sections have numbers that you press and play a short video clip – this was great because it gave you autonomy to go at your own pace or skip things. My biggest complaints were that some of the numbers were hard to find and the entire audio was probably several hours – I wish they had a system or designation for the amount of detail you wanted. But overall, I really liked this type of audio tour.
Funiculars – The main funicular starts in an area called Bella Vista. That area is really cute and we could have spent more time wandering or eating at a restaurant. We took the funicular to the top of the San Christobal statue, then took the gondola which was closer to our family friend’s house to get back. It was a national holiday and the end of the day, so the lines were really long, but I think otherwise, much better.
Taxis – On our way back after the gondola ride, the taxi driver gave our money back and asked for a bill that wasn’t ripped – we were really confused and replaced it …but totally got ripped off! That is one of the common scams. Oops! Lesson Learned. Thank goodness it didn’t risk our safety or cost us too much. But it made me so mad because taxi drivers gang up on Uber drivers by blocking them in, or intimidating them. We even witnessed this when we were getting an Uber after going to a restaurant – the driver cancelled the ride because the taxis were blocking them. But Uber is cheaper and you don’t run the risk of getting ripped off. Also, for me, since my Spanish is terrible and I don’t know the city, I can’t direct a taxi driver where to go so Uber is really the only option.
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino – The main descriptions were in English and the museum was fun and lots of things to look at – the prehistoric art was so intricate and complex!
Artisanal Los Dominicos – at the end of a metro line, was this charming little artisan craft market in an old mission – I didn’t buy anything but it was fun to browse.
Tipping – At restaurants in Chile, they add 10% tip and ask you if you’d like to add it – we just say yes every time. Every time, the waiter acted super appreciative and happy, even though I think that this is pretty standard, but it was still nice.
Friends Cafe – The name says it all! Ha! We had to go here just because of the commodity of a cafe being dedicated to friends. The two televisions playing different episodes and the dirty cafe couches were not the ideal cafe vibe but the cinnamon roll was homemade and the sandwiches were fresh.
