For part of next week I will be in Santiago, Chile. I haven’t been there for nineteen years. What should I do?
Addendum: Seth Roberts sends me this interesting link on travel.
Santiago bleg
Previous post: The most obnoxious blogger in the world
Next post: Feldstein on Fiscal Policy
It seems that it would be topical to check out the bus system, maybe take a ride on the new bus which has the accordion partition.
Oh, one more thing. There is an entry VISA of ~110$ US, which you must pay right after leaving the plane (as of 2006). Bringing cash to pay this is your best option.
Don’t talk to any dictators.
You can pay the airport entry fee (ca. $118) with a credit card.
According to Mike Munger I would not suggest taking the public transit system, also refered to as the transSantiago cluster . Perhaps an investigation as to the changes implemented and the effects of the changes on the transit system would be interesting.
I was only there once for under a week about two years ago, but I greatly enjoyed taking a walk up Cerro San Cristobal (aka San Cristobal Hill). The gardens and views of the city are very beautiful, the cable cars are kind of nifty to ride, and it was an all-around thoroughly pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
I studied in Santiago a few years back. I’d definitely also suggest Cerro Santa Lucia. And grab a drink of some chicha dulce at La Piojera if you have a free moment some evening – it’s near the Mercado Central (another good place to check out). La Piojera is a bit of a dive, but also a place where anyone (politicians, socialites, university students) can go and enjoy a drink with some company. Keep in mind that they don’t have menus (I’d suggest going with a local Chilean, if possible). Let us know what you end up checking out. Enjoy!
Visit Plaza Nunoa, in the neighborhood Nunoa (along Ave. Irarrazaval). It’s a beautiful small park surrounded by cafes, shops and small homes. It’s far enough away from the downtown so you don’t feel like you’re in the city, but it doesn’t have the blandness of the upper-middle class neighborhoods like Las Condes that are farther west. Fuente Suiza has great empanadas and is less than a block from the Plaza.
You must definitely go to Mercado Central for lunch on a weekend and have excellent and fresh seafood.
Go to “Fuente Alemana† a sandwich diner with a couple locations to try their excellent “lomitos.†
Try the (somewhat) recently built private toll roads, including the one that goes under the Mapocho river; it will cut your trip from the airport to the east side of the city to 20 minutes (instead of the 60 minutes it took before).
Go to the Santa Rita Vineyards right outside the city, take a tour and have lunch at their excellent restaurant of Chilean food (you need to make a reservation with time).
If you have time to go outside of the city, go to Valparaiso. You may also want to visit Isla Negra to see one of Pablo Neruda’s houses (the other two are in Valparaiso and Santiago, but these are not as interesting as the one in Isla Negra (and the one in Valparaiso is better than the one in Santiago)).
And talk a lot about how Chile needs to continue liberalizing its economy to go back to the path of development, which has been abandoned recently with the consequence of slower growth, higher unemployment and unhappiness (despite the fact of the record prices of copper, our main export).
And say hello to my brother, if you see him.
A bus trip into the mountains. Takes about an hour to get to 10,000 feet. Great views (like California but more dramatic) and an escape from the city’s smog.
Don’t talk to any dictators”
for that he would need a medium
Make sure to eat some hot dogs, or as they are called “completos” at “Domino’s”; the best one is downtown. Also, ride the public transit system…the metro is very nice and riding on the Transantiago should be very interesting. BTW, I was born in Santiago so I know what I’m talking about.
I second Plaza Nunoa. Very interesting area that I heartily enjoyed jogging through. La Fuente Alemana has good sandwiches as well.
I would like to hear if you agree with Mike Munger’s assessment of the new bus system.
What you should do is get out of Santiago.
You can have typical Chilean food anywhere in Chile. The problem is finding anything but typical Chilean food.
Comments on this entry are closed.