Santiago de Chile - Part I

Day 1: Arriving in Santiago de Chile

The ex-congress house

Santiago de Chile is the country’s capital. When we got to the bus terminal we immediately rushed to the metro (tube) station nearby as we had read that the taxis in this bustling city can cost an arm. Walking was ruled out because of the sheer size of this metropolis: Santiago is big, no huge and is home to 7 million people i.e. 40% of the country’s population. We went to the EcoHostel which prides itself to be environmental friendly: sorting bins, environmental messages everywhere, a board for guests to leave comments on, etc. 

I think I will seize this opportunity to comment about some of the improvements they could easily do to save heaps of water. Investing in a dishwasher instead of letting each and every guest  wash up will reduce this consumption by about 10 and fix their showers because in the current state of affairs it takes about 2 minutes to reach the balance of temperature again resulting in about 40L of water loss. Anyway they’re trying… 

A metro Station in Santiago

We put our bags down and immediately headed out to the ticket office downtown to get tickets for two very important events : Chile vs Paraguay WC2014 qualifyers and the Pearl Jam concert. We took the metro there and back. It’s amazing how this metro resembles the metro in Brussels. They must have been built around the same time and using the same model. When we reached home we flung by the supermarket to stock up on food and booze!

People playing chess in Plaza de Armas

Day 2 : Beer festival

Enjoying a dark beer - refreshing and comforting!

With Roxana taking care of the organization there was no way that we would miss any happening in this city. So, sure enough she read about the annual Beer Festival going on in Santiago’s select country club in the week-end. Chile welcomed a sizable German influx after the second world war. They did not only bring leather shorts and 6-hour long operas but also a big beer tradition. The festival takes place every year exactly 2 weekends after the Chilean “Oktober Fest”. In any case we sampled about 30 different beers and headed back into town a little bit “intoxicated”. We met François and Capucine at the Plaza de Armas and went on a stroll in the arty part of town called Lastarria. We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and had a drink to unwind from being constantly on vacation! Even though it was happy hour and Roxana had a Pisco Sour, I only had a Sprite …

More pictures of Santiago Beer Festival

Of course Belgian beer is also present

Day 3 : Free Walking Tour

La Moneda filled with history and symbolism

On the third day we showed up in front of La Moneda starting point of one of the two Free Walking Tour of Santiago. It was a four hour long tour starting at 10am which would take us to all the interesting and important parts of town. Our guide, Francisca is a theatre actress with a great all round knowledge of Chile, it’s history and socio-economics. She also had a keen eye for the bars and restaurants in town. So we got the tour and excellent advice of where to go out and what to eat in Santiago and Valparaíso.

We saw and lot of Santiago and understood a little more what had happened on 9/11 1973 when a successful coup from General Pinochet ousted democratically elected Salvador Allende. We also walked through the university areas and stopped in front of Pablo Neruda’s home.

Street art are very common in Santiago

After the tour we climbed up to the Virgin of Santiago to have an incredible view of the city. That evening we went to an all you can eat Chinese buffet. It was finger licking good: the colours, the aromas and taste. They also had a BBQ station as well as Sushi and Ice Cream stands … I wish I could have gone with some of my cousins from Mauritius, we would have made them reconsider their commercial strategy!

Day 4 : Pablo Neruda’s home and Football

 

Pablo Neruda´s home in Santiago

Pablo Neruda is one of the greatest poets the world has known. Although he could not swim, he was passionate about the sea and built all 3 of his houses in the form of boats. The interior design also reminds that of ships. He even created an artificial pond around his house in Santiago to further enhance the impression of a sea faring vessel. He wrote thousands of poems about the ocean and received the Nobel prize for literature in 1971.



Mural Art close by Neruda´s house

As a member of the communist party he has had to live long years in exile while Chile was under military governments in the 40-60’s. He lived in Italy, Romania and France where he studied and taught French. When he returned to the country he was celebrated nationwide and the President (and long time friend) Salvador Allende bestowed upon him the important task to explain to the world that the socialist revolution going on in Chile in the early 70’s was not of the same nature as the ones that swept through the communist block in Europe or Cuba. He was therefore sent as ambassador of Chile to France. Unfortunately ill health forced him to return and the coup of General Pinochet and the heroic suicide of Salvador Allende that day finished to overcome this great poet. He died 12 days after Chile fell once again to a military dictatorship.

This huge sandwich would make any football fan happy!

That evening we were in for a treat as we went to the Estadio Nacional to see Chile cross swords with Paraguay for the 4^th leg of the 2014 world cup qualifiers. But before we went for a traditional sandwich in the center. I will quote the travel guide we´re using here regarding Chilean food: "What Chile lacks in spice and diversity it compensates in abundance". Spot on dear guidebook writer!

The qualifiers have rarely been so close. Brazil is already qualified as host nation and Uruguay (current South American Champions) is leading the pack. But behind 5 teams sit within 2 points of each other with this year Ecuador and Venezuela have shown that they are in contention too. It’s going to be tough for Chile especially after losing 0-4 to Uruguay (3½ goals from Suarez!) only 4 days before. 

Just before the game the tension is palpable

We took a metro to the stadium and immediately started soaking up the atmosphere. There had been a lot more red shirts in the city that day but this was something else. This was a red tidal wave, every one was chanting and street side vendors were selling cold beverages, grilled sausages in bread and all kind of unofficial merchandise: shirts, caps, wrist bands, you name it. Private citizens living close to the stadium were out on the street, trying to rent parking spaces for spectators who had driven there. Most of them were successful.

We entered the stadium and after a very slack body and bag search, we climbed to our section. There were no designated seats so we had to look for the best we could get given our position relative to the field. I think we did alright.

The Chilean goalkeeper fending off the opposition

The goalkeepers were already warming up and later when the Chilean national team trod onto the pitch the roar was impressive. The Chilean supporters are known to be the most devout in South America and they truly lived up to their reputation. The game was underway and Chile was playing well. But Paraguay was equally good on the deck and even better in the air. By the 30^th minute Chile had been pushing long enough to be rewarded with a goal. It was as if one million volts of electricity had gone through the stands, the atmosphere was INCREDIBLE. After a fairly eventful 2^nd half during which Paraguay could have leveled the score, Chile sealed their victory with a late second goal. We left the stadium and ran to the Metro station to beating the crowd to it. Surely the celebration must have gone on well into the night at Plaza Italia. 

More photos of Chile vs Paraguay

Day 5 : Museo de la Memoria and Pearl Jam

Listening to Allende´s last speech minutes before dying

We could not miss the Museo de la Memoria which collects all the elements of the General Augusto Pinochet’s Regime and masterly blends them into a superb ensemble. The Chilean people want to remember and want to share testimonies of this terrible period with as many people as they can, especially the younger Chilean generations. This is also why they make it a point to keep a free entrance to this museum. School parties visiting the museum may be seen everyday.

There are posters and texts that explain what Pinochet and his accomplices did to foment a successful coup. There is a timeline minute by minute of the 5-6 hours that fateful day of September 11, 1973 when Chile slipped into one of the worst periods of its history qua human rights violations and political freedom. They also present the findings of the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" which worked on the Chilean case.



Exposition on fascism

All in all that was one of the best museums we’ve been to.



The beautiful Estadio Monumental

That evening we went to something completely different : a Rock concert. We had booked those Pearl Jam tickets a long time ago over the Internet and picked them up from the ticket office in Santiago. We took a metro to the Estadio Monumental and we’re impressed by how it looked from the outside. Beautifully lit and ultra modern. Because of it´s roof, a section of it looked exactly like the Jacques-Chaban-Delmas Stadium in Bordeaux, France.



Eddie Vedder giving the hell of a show

We went in and 40.000 red hot fans were already clapping for the artists to come onto stage. When they did the crowd went crazy but when Eddie Vedder, a bottle of Chilean wine in his hand, addressed the crowd in Spanish we could barely hear his voice over the microphone! That’s how loud they cheered. The whole concert was a great experience and the South Americans live up to their party reputation. They knew the lyrics to each song, and jumped ALL the time! I can’t even imagine how it must be to watch a Latino superstar such as Ricky Martin or Shakira perform live here.  It must be an experience from another world. After the concert we took a bus that swiftly got us home and we were in bed by 1.30am.

For more Pearl Jam Pictures