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Santiago, Chile (article)
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Haven’t been there myself, but here’s an interesting article if Cile is on your list:
The New York Times
December 21, 2003
WHAT’S DOING In Santiago
By LARRY ROHTER

A recent poll found that Santiago now ranks just behind Miami and São Paulo as the destination most visited by travelers doing business in Latin America, and that traffic is sure to increase after Jan. 1, when a new free-trade agreement between the United States and Chile takes effect. It is worth remembering, though, that the Chilean capital also offers plenty of attractions for the tourist who has come to spend rather than make money.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Andes, Santiago, founded in 1541, has been transformed over the last decade or so by Chile’s booming economy into a dynamic, self-confident and prosperous metropolis. Besides the burst of national pride that the trade accord has encouraged, the new year will also bring the centennial of the birth of Pablo Neruda, the national poet, and Santiago’s designation as the Cultural Capital of the Americas, with events marking both occasions once summer vacation ends in March.

Still, the start of summer is a good time to explore the capital. The smog lifts, leaving the magnificent snowcapped mountains to the east visible on most days, and the frenetic rhythm of life in a city increasingly focused on accumulating wealth slows a bit, as many residents head off to relax at resorts, weekend houses and beaches on the Pacific Coast, barely an hour’s drive away.

Getting around the sprawling capital is easy thanks to a subway that is modern, efficient and safe. Neighborhoods at the eastern end of the No. 1 line, like Providencia, Vitacura and Las Condes, are so clogged with fashionable shops, clubs and restaurants that Chileans have taken to calling that area Sanhattan.

Compared with its Andean neighbors, Chile seems expensive, starting with the $100 entry fee that Americans pay when they land at the airport for the first time. Thanks largely to the stable economy and the imminent free-trade accord, the peso has strengthened by more than 10 percent against the dollar since September, bolstering Chileans’ conviction that they are at last ready to join the developed world.

Events

The Providencia Jazz Festival aims to encourage people to stay in the city during the summer, with artists from countries as distant as Poland and South Africa scheduled to perform this year. Representing the United States are the fusion pianist Rachel Z and Clifford Adams, trombonist, formerly of Kool and the Gang. At Parque Balmaceda, Jan. 5 through 9. Admission is free, with shows starting at 9 p.m.

Spanish royalty, politicians and investors have flocked to Chile recently, but the most welcome visitor is surely an exhibition of works by the Catalonian artist Joan Miró on loan from the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid. Most of the pieces are Surrealist lithographs, but his lesser-known experiments with sculpture are also represented. Till Jan. 25 at the Sala de Arte Fundación Telefónica, Providencia 111. Closed Monday; free.

With its collection of artifacts ranging from Aztec to Inca civilizations, the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, downtown at Bandera 361, is perhaps the most interesting and best organized in Santiago, and thus always worth visiting. But a special exhibition that runs through April 2004, called "Quipu: the Inca Art of Counting by Knots," explains in fascinating detail how the Incas were able to administer their vast empire without a writing system. Admission is $3, at 637 pesos to the dollar. Closed Monday. Call (56-2) 688-7348 for information.

For decades, the highlight of the Southern Hemisphere summer has been the Viña del Mar Music Festival, in the beach resort of the same name, an hour’s drive from the capital. This season’s edition runs from Feb. 18 through 23, and while the list of performers hasn’t been finalized, artists ranging from the pop balladeer Luis Miguel to rock ‘n’ rollers like Fito Páez have performed in the recent past. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster, (56-2) 690-2320, with prices ranging from $13 to $85.

Sightseeing

To get the feel of Santiago and its people, there is no better way to start than a stroll along one of the two bustling pedestrian walkways that bisect downtown, the Paseo Ahumada and Paseo Huérfanos. Both streets are lined with shops, cafes and ice cream parlors and crowded with santiaguenos, as residents of the capital are known, doing business or just relaxing. An obligatory stopping point is the Plaza de Armas, which is flanked by the Metropolitan Cathedral and several colonial buildings.

When Santiago residents want to get away from the noise, especially on weekends, their favorite refuge is the Cerro San Cristóbal and the adjoining Parque Metropolitano. Crisscrossed by bike trails and hiking paths, the park is topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary that offers a commanding view of the city. Access to the summit is by cable car (not recommended for those with a fear of heights) or by rail from Bella Vista, with a combined ticket costing $3.60. Transport available until 9 p.m. on weekends, till 8 weekdays.

With the city’s gentrification, whole neighborhoods now swarm with exercise academies, tanning salons and cigar and sushi bars. But Bella Vista, the district lodged between San Cristóbal and Santa Lucía hills, has managed to preserve part of its bohemian charm. Pablo Neruda lived there, at Calle Fernando Márquez de la Plata 192, in a house that is now a museum; admission $3. At night the area comes alive with restaurants, bars, nightclubs and theaters, and during the day shops selling lapis lazuli are a lure.

Chile is renowned for its wines, and since many of the leading vineyards are just south of Santiago, a visit to a winery makes a perfect day trip. Leading vineyards such as Concha y Toro, Virginia Subercaseaux 210 in Pirque, (56-2) 476-5000, or Cousiño Macul, Quilín 7100 in Peñalolén, (56-2) 351-4100, conduct weekday tours by appointment, but it is probably easiest just to sign up for a group tour. Agencies like Turistour, (56-2) 488-0444, www.turistour.com, have full-day packages to the main Maipo Valley vineyards for as little as $17.

Where to Stay

The Hotel Carrera, Teatinos 180, (56-2) 698-2011, fax (56-2) 672-1083, www.carrera.cl, is the elegant doyenne of Santiago hotels, an Art Deco masterpiece that has enjoyed a privileged downtown vantage point since 1940. The 305 rooms are spacious, many overlooking Plaza La Moneda and the presidential palace. But its days are numbered: the Carrera is scheduled to close for good on Feb. 28 to become the new home of the foreign ministry. Until then, bargains are available: a double room starts at $118, including breakfast at a 16th-floor restaurant with a spectacular view of the city.

The Santiago Park Plaza, Ricardo Lyon 207, (56-2) 233-6363, fax (56-2) 233-8521, www.parkplaza.cl, strives to be quiet, cozy and tasteful, with 104 rooms furnished in a polished English country style. Some of the rooms may be a tad small, but others have fireplaces and Persian rugs, and the location off a main street in Providencia near leading shops couldn’t be better. Doubles from $125 a night, breakfast included.

Budget: The Sheraton Four Points, Santa Magdalena 111, (56-2) 750-0300, fax (56-2) 750-0350, or www.fourpoints.com, is conveniently located in the heart of Providencia, just a block away from Los Leones subway stop on the area’s main shopping street and nearly as close to popular stores, restaurants, and the bars and nightclubs of Avenida Suecia. A favorite of airline crews and businessmen, with 128 rooms and prices starting at $99 a night, breakfast not included.

Luxury: Of the hotels that have sprung up in the fast-growing Las Condes area east of the city, the Hyatt Regency, Kennedy 4601, (56-2) 218-1234, fax (56-2) 218-2513, or www.santiago.regency…, probably offers the most amenities, including tennis courts. The only disadvantage is that it is quite a way from downtown and the main tourist sites. There are 310 rooms, with doubles starting at $150.

Closer in, near the Tobalaba subway stop, the parks that line the Mapocho River and Los Leones Golf Club, is the Radisson, Vitacura 2610; (56-2) 203-6000, fax (56-2) 337-3111. Business visitors make up much of the clientele, since the hotel adjoins the Santiago World Trade Center, but the convenience of being a short walk from top restaurants and shopping malls draws others. Many of the 159 rooms have sweeping views east toward the Andes, with doubles from $150 a night, breakfast included.

Where to Eat

Santiago still lags far behind São Paulo and Buenos Aires as a center of gastronomy, but Osadía, Tobalaba 477, (56-2) 232-2732, fax (56-2) 231-4738, represents a big step in that direction. The restaurant’s name means "daring," and that attitude is reflected both in the very postmodern, hip atmosphere, with holes in the wall and lamps that look like snakes, and in the innovative menu, mixing ingredients like Thai shrimp and Inca corn in the same dish. Lunch and dinner Monday to Saturday. Dinner for two with a medium-price bottle of Chilean wine, about $100.

With nearly 3,000 miles of Pacific coastline to explore, it is no wonder that Chileans have a reputation for eating everything that swims or floats. Santiago abounds in restaurants with good seafood, but one of the most picturesquely situated is the Camino Real in the Parque Metropolitano; telephone and fax (56-2) 232-1758, www.eventoscaminorea…. A typical meal, at a balcony table looking toward the Andes, starts with a tuna or salmon carpaccio, followed by a rich caldillo, or stew, of conger eel and shrimp. Lunch and dinner daily. Meal for two, with Chilean wine, about $80.

Santiago’s greatest concentration of good eating places in one location may well be the complex called Borde Rio, at Monseñor Escrivá de Balaguer 6400 in Vitacura, much like Harbor Place in Baltimore or Bayside in Miami, with restaurants on two stories on both sides of a central walkway. Fine restaurants with Spanish, Italian, Peruvian and Japanese cuisine can be found there, but for typical Chilean dishes, from Easter Island tuna to Patagonian lamb, the place to go is Ibis de Puerto Varas, (56-2) 218-0111, fax (56-2) 218-0112. Lunch and dinner daily. Dinner for two with wine: $65.

Visiting heads of state in search of a quintessentially Chilean experience are often taken to lunch at Donde Augusto, (56-2) 672-2829, fax (56-2) 696-8069, one of the many excellent fish restaurants in the wrought-iron Mercado Central at the corner of San Pablo and Paseo Puente. The stews are deliciously fresh, made with ingredients that come from fishmongers in nearby stalls; unusual dishes ranging from abalone to sea urchins are also available. Lunch only (to 4 p.m.) for two with a pisco sour, the national drink, $60.

A cheap, quick and convenient place for lunch or dinner is Gatsby, (56-2) 233-0732, near the Pedro de Valdivia subway stop at Providencia 1984. An all you-can-eat buffet, with main dishes ranging from chicken to paella, is open daily noon to 4 p.m. and 7 to 11 p.m., with dessert and nonalcoholic beverages included in the weekday price of $8 for adults and $4 for children (slightly higher on weekends).

LARRY ROHTER is chief of the Rio de Janeiro bureau of The Times.