Santiago, Chile. POP 5,883,000
It may well be ‘just another big city’, but Santiago has so far been my favourite. Loads to see and do; safer than Rio; easier to get around than Buenos Aires; special.
My hostel, Casaltura, enjoys an excellent location from which to explore the highlights of this magical city. Their roof top terrace has panoramic views, and provides a wonderful place to take shade during the middle of the day, and to relax and meet fellow travellers at the end of the day.
On Sunday I met up with Dana (from Sydney) who has been travelling in Peru and Bolivia for the past two months. Our rendezvous point was Plaza De Armad, where we joined a 4-hour walking tour. Our guide was excellent and a mine of information. In the evening we shared a lovely meal in a local restaurant.
It was during said meal that I found out that Dana had lived in England. I was interested to know where. It transpired that she had worked at PGL in Shropshire, near a village called Baschurch. It also came to light that she went drinking in a pub called The Bridge Inn – Ruyton-XI-Towns. Ironically, I was living in Ruyton-XI-Towns at the exact same time that Dana was there!
Of all the places to visit in Santiago, museum de la Memoria y Los Dereches Humanos is a must see, but It’s not for the faint hearted!
During the dictatorship years of Augusto Pinochet (September 1973, until March 1990) 28.000 people were tortured, 2.279 were executed and around 1.248 became the disappeared. In addition some 200,000 people suffered exile and an unknown number went through clandestine centres and illegal detention. The museum focuses on this difficult period in Chilean history.
It is very easy to be critical – I had a very ‘uninformed’ opinion of the Pinochet years, prior to my arrival in Chile. This piece from the Telegraph sheds a different light:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1536533/General-Augusto-Pinochet.html?fb
Next stage: Santiago to Puerto Montt to Puerto Varas by bus – 12 hours.
