Chile

 Shortly (4 days) after returning to Costa Rica after the holidays, I took off to Santiago, Chile for a week of work! Chileans like to say that they are from "the end of the world." And indeed, they are! From Costa Rica it was an hour flight to Panama and then 6 more hours to Chile. It was a 10 hour flight for my colleague from Santiago to Dallas - so it is very far!

Santiago was absolutely beautiful. It is a very cosmopolitan city that has a very European feel. Everything was very clean and modern, and it was very safe. While my trip was mostly work, my colleague Al and I had 1 day free to take a 4 hour walking tour of Chile. Most of the pictures below are from that tour.

We stayed in the Las Condes neighborhood of Santiago. This is primarily a business district, but there were a lot of great restaurants within walking distance and the subway was very close to the hotel as well. Our hotel, Plaza el Bosque, was very nice and had a beautiful outdoor terrace on the 17th floor where Al and I could debrief after our work days. It is summer in Chile, so the weather was absolutely beautiful. While it could get up to 80+ degrees during the day, it was a very dry heat and there was always a nice breeze blowing. Think of perfect weather, and that is pretty much how it was.

 Al and I debriefing...sometimes debriefing requires a glass of wine...

 View of the Andes Mountains from the terrace.

 Panoramic view from the terrace.

On TripAdvisor I found a free walking tour called "Spicy Chile." It is ranked as the #4 thing to do in Santiago! This company is operated by young back packers that love to show off Santiago. The tour is free and the guide works for tips - so it is nice to tip generously. Our guide Fran was an actress in Santiago and she spoke great English. Which was key, since our tour group was full of folks from the US. It just so happens that a cruise was leaving the cost of Chile the next day, so our group was full of what I like to call "cruisers." Needless to say, I was the youngest in the group...

 The cruisers...

So we set off on our 4 hour walking through Santiago. We met in front of La Moneda, which is where the President and government do their business daily. We just so happened to be there on a day when the changing of the guard was taking place. It was an interesting ceremony with soldiers, horses, and a full-fledged marching band.This isn't the best shot. I took a video, but for some reason it did not come out well.

Changing of the guard. 

The tour continued throughout the city. Santiago has a lot of dogs that live on the street and everyone kind of takes care of them at different times. The dogs in this picture were enjoying their day chasing cars. I've never seen anything like this. They would wait on the sidewalk while the light was red. Once it turned green and the cars started moving they would pick a car and chase it for a few hundred feet. Then, they returned to the sidewalk to wait on the next car.

 Dog days.

The largest square in the city was bustling with activity on a Friday morning. There were lots of tourists like us, but also Chileans just going about their business. The mining accident in Chile last year really brought the country to national attention. Luckily, all the miners were rescued. And now, Chile uses this incident as a source of pride and tourism. There was a guy in the square dressed up as a miner for tourists to take their pictures with. 

Cathedral in the large square in the city.

Dancers on a stage in the square. 

One of our stops was in front of Cafe Haiti. When I first looked inside, it looked like a regular coffee shop where most people stood up while drinking their coffee. Our tour guide explained that this was a "Legs Cafe." Basically, the women that work there wear very short skirts (everything else they wear is very modest.) So the business men come in to have a cup of coffee and enjoy the view. Very interesting...

Legs cafe.

Santiago was a very green city - in which I mean there were lots of parks, trees, grass, and just general green spaces everywhere. One thing that was interesting was there were quite a few buildings that had grass growing on their walls. I have no idea how they do it, or how they mow it, but it was very cool. 

How do you mow the grass!??

 Street cafe.

 Park.

 City view.

 Mural.

So again, Santiago is beautiful. I could see myself living there, if only it weren't so far away from everything else. I would definitely recommend a trip there - especially during their summertime.

<3,
Amber