Santiago de Chile

Santiago, home to some 5 million people, and capital of Chile. I stayed with the family of Rodolfo, a Chilean friend I'd met a few months ago in the Amazon, in a large house in a nice residential area of the city. Hanging out with Rodolfo and friends, I learnt to get by with some of the Chilean slang ("buen carrete huevón, ¿cachai?"), and had a couple of interesting evenings out.

Here in Santiago, I felt that Chile is slightly different from other countries in South America, a rich nation struggling to emerge at the cost of some of the cultural aspects found in neighbouring countries. The city centre at lunch-time was milling with people in suits, their stress felt somehow contagious and reminded me of my old life in Madrid. Luckily I found a small bar to escape the crowds, ate some porotos and drunk some wine, followed by a vermouth. Just the right recipe for stress.

The following day I went up the Teleférico in the metropolitan park, the largest urban park in the Americas. From the sanctuary at the top of Cerro San Cristóbal, some 860m above sea level, the view of the city sprawled out below to the foot of the mountains in the distance. Shutting my eyes, I could feel the noise of the city, a faint but constant hum of tires on concrete, textured with occasional sounds of a motorbike, a dog barking or an ambulance. It had rained last night, clearing the smog and revealing the snow-tipped peaks of the Cordillera in the distance. Although I'd forgotten my camera this day, I felt grateful for having the opportunity to see the city in it's natural context.