First impressions of Santiago

First impressions are always a bit risky, but having arrived in Santiago, Chile, after quite a long flight and limited sleep, I needed a stroll to stretch my legs and get a sense of where I was. So it was a pretty aimless stroll around downtown (ish), with some aimless snaps of things I don’t yet understand. But you have to start somewhere, I guess.

There’s always a few things to do when arriving somewhere new, such as finding an ATM (and checking that my cards work), getting a metro card, looking for easy landmarks to find my way home, working out which map to use, making sure the phone works, checking out food and beverage sources and local shops, getting a sense of language, etc. etc.

My very first impression was out the plane window as we descended, reminding me of how close to the Andes the city is – and indeed, all of Chile is. Even on the ground, in the bus to the city, the nearby mountains were evident.

I have had some trouble successfully arriving at places recently, so this time I was more careful with my planning and the bus I chose got me to my AirBnB without any problem. Except that I was anxious about luggage and, since nobody else seemed to put luggage under the bus, I assumed that it was insecure; when a nearby chap asked me something in Spanish I didn’t understand I kept moving in the line: in hindsight, he was probably offering to put my case underneath. So I took it on board and was embarrassed for the entry trip at being a self-indulgent tourist, taking up an extra seat for his case! I at least learned how important Spanish is going to be here!

Strolling around the block in which I am living, I took the photo at the top, which technically counts as my first impression of actually living in Santiago. Some colours, some greenery, some graffiti, some people, … Feels a little edgy for the night, but feels perfectly safe for the daytime. Phew!

I bought a metro card and went a couple of stops to make sure I could do it, and came out near a palace, with police guards and lots of flags around. In the course of my stroll, I saw many flags, so Chileans (like many others) are fond of their flag. I’ll have to find out what it symbolises. I will also find out what he palace is later. I also saw lots of traffic along the Alameda (a main road through the city, called Liberatador Avenida Bernado O’Higgins, which sounds a little odd for a Chilean patriot, but I already had heard of him.

There were many police around town, not just at the palace, all very armed and conspicuous. I’ve never quite known whether seeing lots of police makes me feel safer (because I’m protected) or less safe (because people think I need protection). We’ll see. …

I also heard lots of music as I walked around; there was even a band on my short metro trip, reminding me of New York subway. (BTW, I also noticed that Chilean pedestrians have the same view as New Yorkers regarding traffic lights, regarding them as suggestive or adviser, but not coercive. When in Rome …) The chap below was on a stage in Constitution Square, behind the palace. I’m not sure what was being celebrated.

Buildings in this part of town had a distinctly European look, with many neoclassical examples, such as those below. It was also very clear that the church is important in Chile, with some large church buildings evident.

The cathedral above is prominent in the large Plaza de Armas, the historical and cultural heart of the city, while the reddish church above (whose name I’m not yet sure of) also looked lovely. I went into each of them briefly, and found typical Spanish churches, with many decorations, statues, pictures and not a lot of light (so it takes time for the eyes to adjust). The snapshots below give you an impression.

There is clearly a level of excitement being generated with the impending visit of the (Latin American) pope early next year.

The large corner building above is a fine arts museum, which I wandered briefly into. I was very impressed, as those of you who know me would understand, to find a large statue of a potato outside the building! This is clearly a very civilised country I am going to enjoy!

Around the museum there were some lovely green spaces … and indeed I saw lots of greenery on my stroll. I’m sure I’m going to enjoy walking around these sorts of places and it certainly didn’t feel unsafe to do so.

The Plaza de Armas itself was interesting to wander through, again just getting a first impression. It was large, with many seats, most of which were occupied. I could easily imagine lots of political events happening here over the years and was not too surprised to see a couple of events going on. One chap was giving an impassioned speech about something (again, my lack of Spanish fluency is a clear problem!), without having too many listeners, while the large circle of men was listening intently to a man in the middle. I was struck by the gender composition of it all: most of the people seated and most of the people at these two events were men. That may be an important first impression; who knows?

Around nearby streets, there was a hustle and bustle of commerce, with lots of people (not obviously tourist people, as I think it’s early in the season).

The little booths selling cigarettes, magazines, sweets, etc were reminiscent of many European cities and the street stalls reminded me of Asian cities as well. I saw lots of shoe-shiners, too. I was surprised to see the large stand-up coffee parlour below, however, as well as other stand-up places. I’ve not quite seen something like this before – at least as big as this one – although this was clearly not rush hour.

One thing that was hard to miss as I wandered around was the amount of graffiti. Don’t misunderstand me: I think some graffiti is attractive and it’s a legitimate art form, but other graffiti just seems a bit senseless and damages, rather than improves, an environment. Sometimes, there’s a fine line between street art or wall art (murals) and graffiti, too. I’m expecting to see more, of course, so will reserve my judgement for now. It would also help to be more fluent in Spanish, of course.

I spotted many statues as I strolled around; the following two were along a park along the large Alameda. The statue of the heroes below is important for me, as I am living near the station called Los Heroes (which I have had to carefully re-learn how to say in Spanish, quite different from English!); I will have to find out who they are and why they are heroic, however. The Easter Island statue nearby was interesting too. I’m note sure why it is there (yet). So much to learn …

I passed the University of Chile, en route, with a large banner outside proclaiming support for a law to strengthen state universities, reminding me that the problems of Australian universities are not unique to Australia.

It also reminded me both of the importance of having your say, and also of the need I have to improve my command of Spanish! No doubt over the coming days, I will improve my understanding of the problems of Chileans having their say over recent years and the reasons they needed to do that.

I’m looking forward to the adventure, and maybe of correcting some of my first impressions!