Arrival in South America...

We are in Santiago because our Antarctic cruise company wants us here! It's our first visit to Chile, and Santiago is a convenient destination because Qantas flies here directly from Sydney.

Magnificent interior of the huge Santiago Cathedral

One of the prettiest buildings in Santiago, seems to have been rebirthed for some other purpose.

Blue skies and a modern backdrop behind this church near Santa Lucia

Chile imposes an extremely annoying Reciprocity Fee on arrival. We paid it on entry in US$ but it amounts to about AUD300 for the two of us. Why is it annoying? Because only Mexicans and Australians are required to pay the fee and we imagine that it is required because the visa for Chileans visiting Australia must cost about that much. It is after all a reciprocity fee! No country wanting to encourage tourism, including Australia, should charge anything more than a very nominal amount for a visa.

Central Station in Santiago was designed in steel by none other than Gustav Eiffel!

According to the guff we have read, Santiago was founded in 1541 and is the capital of what must be the longest & skinniest country in the world. Its population is over 6 million (the whole country, 18 million), but it doesn't give the impression of being such a big city. High rise is modest, most of it in the Las Condes region. There may be huge surburban areas that we're unaware of and the density is probably greater than we realise. The skyline in all directions (except to the west coast) is mountainous, but even in our short time here, the nearby Andes are often obsured by summer smog or soggy clouds. The sight of them, snowcapped, in clear winter air must be spectacular.

In this Pedro Lira painting, the founding of Santiago takes place atop Santa Lucia Hill

The Spanish conquered the Amerindian natives of Chile in the 1500. Apparently, the peace-loving northern and central Incas were easily defeated, but the southern Mapuche tribes offered much more resistance. Because of the extra distance, the massive immigration which later transformed Argentina and Paraguay was much less on the west coast. That said, recent census reveal that 52% of Chileans are European, 44% Amerindian and 4% African ethnicity. Chile declared its independence from Spain in 1818.

The spectacular and modern arts centre, Centro Gabriela Mistral, provides shaded space for relaxation and socialising

The 30km taxi ride in from the airport was along excellent freeways, and included, we think, the 1.8km San Cristobal tunnel, a major engineering achievement, which opened in 2009. Some of the route followed the fast flowing and very brown Rio Mapocho, and we saw lots of shanty towns which no doubt account for much of the city's population, and remind us that poverty is a common blight in South America.

Santiago is a bustling city. The historical old city, which centres on the Plaza de Armas, literally buzzes with pedestrian crowds of office workers and other locals. There are tourists, but not many, and most are Speakers, by the sound of it. Cars are mostly excluded from this area, enhancing its attractiveness immensely. Magnificent buildings, dateing from the 1800's, are everywhere, and those in bad repair are getting expensive looking makeovers. Weekends, and Sundays in particular, are a different proposition altogether. All the street shops are closed, the crowds largely disappear, and the whole ambience begins to resemble a rundown area of Detroit. Museums are open though (they close Mondays) to give the residents some culture to absorb. Also open exceptionally, and very crowded, are the large ultra-modern shopping complexes, like Costanera, near our hotel. These new developments must be giving street shops a bad time.

Santiago is laced with lovely covered shopping arcades.

New and old are frequently juxtaposed in Santiago downtown.

Street performers extract tips from photographers near Santa Lucia.

The Cafe Mosqueto is really popular with office workers at lunchtimes.

Our French must be better than we realise, because it no problem for us to read the language and converse in basic restaurant language in French speaking countries. Here in this Spanish speaking country, it is very different - signage is often hard to decipher, and we cannot understand or make ourselves understood with non-English speakers. We acknowledge that this is our problem, not theirs, but the difference is quite notable to us. There are not that many tourists here, and many locals are clearly as monolingual as we are. They try hard, and are very friendly and helpful, but it's sometimes quite a battle.

Opera makes for popular busking in Plaza de Armas.

Low level security presence in the Plaza de Armas.

A magnificant classical building houses the Tribunales de Justica

The National Congress overlooks a modern & spacious plaza.

Carabinieri escorting a VIP from the National Congress

We bought BIP cards (similar to Opal cards) and loaded them with Pesos so we could use Santiago's subway and buses. Give our non-existent Spanish, this process was mainly hit and miss and involved hastily handwritten notes and demonstrations on a calculator. We probably spent more Peso than we needed, but in the end, we concluded a transaction with the patient Transantiago lady. And the BIPs work fine, as does the clean, efficient and crowded Santiago underground metro system which we made good use of.

Neuva York is a gated pedestrian walk serviced by a line-up of shoe shine barrows.

Magazine kiosk in the Ahumada shopping mall.

Stand-up espresso at Cafe Haiti is the way to go for a caffeine hit.

You have to be careful ordering capuccino, or, too much milk and cream may arrive!

We became prey but not victims of thieves on our very first full day in Santiago. Someone squirts a vile bird-dropping substitute over you from behind, points it out, then offers to assist you with clean water. They then rob you when you let go your belongings. We know about this scam and were on to it straight away - we told them (a couple working in tandem) to go away, firmly and quickly. They were persistent and kept coming back to point out the mess on both of us, but we only survived unscathed by rejecting their advances and not ever putting anything down. We had wet-ones to do our own clean up, and the damage does not appear to be permanent. Other than that incident, we feel quite safe in Santiago. A heavy security presence is evident everywhere we went.

The Museo de Bellas Artes is a magnifient building in the Parque Forestal of Santiago

Is it David in the Museo de Bella Artes?

Cubano Mohitos hit the spot at the end of a hot afternoon

We spent all our free time wandering around the streets of Santiago, using the metro to get between major villages and back to our hotel. The photos show what we saw. One large highlight which we stumbled upon because it didn't even feature in our pre-reading for Santiago was Santa Lucia Hill, and the fortifications and Castillo Hidalgo on top. This rocky outcrop, an old volcano apparently, commands fabulous views of the city and is involved in much of its history.

One of many piazas near Castillo Hidalgo on Santa Lucia Hill

View towards the modern city of Las Condes from Castillo Hidalgo

It's a steep climb to the uppermost lookout, an ex fort, on Santa Lucia Hill

View of Santiago and the Andes from Santa Lucia Hill

From atop Santa Lucia Hill

The Santa Lucia Hill top lookout was packed with visitors taking selfies, but this one was actually capturing the view.

Canon near Castillo Hidalgo

Few locks but much graffiti to document your love on Santa Lucia Hill.

Outhanging lookout posts in this hilltop fort remind of similar in Old San Juan

Spectacular terrace dedicated to King Neptune in Santiago

Our hotel in Santiago is the Hilton Doubletree in Av. Vitacura in Las Condes. It's ultra-modern and is still having some teething problems, but our room is spacious and very comfortable. It's within 2 minutes walk of the huge Costanera shopping mall, and 5 minutes from the Tobalaba metro station.

An Andes peak and a vertical garden catch the eye looking up Av Vitacura in Las Condes

After sunset from hotel window in Las Condes, the pedestrian bridge simplifying access to the Costanera shops.

Santiago is in an earthquake zone, and indeed we felt a brief but strong tremor whilst on the 13th floor of the Hilton. The hotel assures us that the new building is constructed to the highest standards, and indeed, while some guests were disturbed, no alarms were set off.