Santiago de Chile

Wednesday 27th April 1988

We arrived in Santiago de Chile just after dawn at 06:30 hrs. and walked out into the city through an eager mob of porters and taxicab drivers. Santiago, also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the centre of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region. The city is entirely in the country's central valley. Most of the city lies between 500–650 metres (1,640–2,133 feet) above mean sea level.

Founded in 1541 by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, Santiago has been the capital city of Chile since colonial times. The city has a downtown core of 19th-century neoclassical architecture and winding side-streets, dotted by art deco, neo-gothic, and other styles. Santiago's cityscape is shaped by several stand-alone hills and the fast-flowing Mapocho River, lined by parks such as Parque Forestal and Balmaceda Park.

The Andes Mountains can be seen from most points in the city. These mountains contribute to a considerable smog problem, particularly during winter, due to the lack of rain. The city outskirts are surrounded by vineyards and Santiago is within an hour of both the mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Santiago is the cultural, political and financial centre of Chile and is home to the regional headquarters of many multinational corporations. The Chilean executive and judiciary are located in Santiago, but Congress meets mostly in nearby Valparaíso. Santiago is named after the biblical figure St. James.

We walked south to the wide Avenida del Liberador General B. O’Higgins and then east to the red San Francisco church and the Residencial Londres hotel on Calle Londres. Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme 20th August 1778 – 24th October 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque-Spanish and Irish ancestry.

Above: Inside the Residencial Londres hotel in Santiago.

Although he was the second Supreme Director of Chile (1817–1823), he is considered one of Chile's founding fathers, as he was the first holder of this title to head a fully independent Chilean state. He was Captain General of the Chilean Army, Brigadier of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, General Officer of Gran Colombia and Grand Marshal of Peru.

The city was a pleasant mixture of imposing colonial buildings and modern tower blocks. A multitude of buses sped along the wide Avenida turning the hazy air grey with their exhaust fumes. The Chilean people were of pale complexion, and it was difficult to believe that we had not been magically transported to Europe.

We left our bags at the Hotel Londres and were told to come back at 11:00 hrs. when our room would be ready for occupancy. It would cost us 1,100 Chilean Pesos per person. We had coffee on the pedestrian precinct of Paseo Ahumada, picked up a town plan at a Tourist Kiosk and sought out the main Post Office where I picked up a letter from Beatriz Dougal, a Chilean colleague from BP Research.

The Post Office was an impressive old pink building. The Central Post Office Building (Spanish: Correo Central de Santiago) is a historic post office building on the northern edge of the Plaza de Armas. It is adjacent to the Palacio de la Real Audiencia de Santiago and is located on what was the land lot originally owned by Pedro de Valdivia and where he built his house.

The site also was occupied by a building that served as Presidential Palace until 1846. Construction of the current building began in 1881 and was designed by Ricardo Brown. Its current appearance dates to 1908. It was designated a National Monument of Chile in 1976.

We then went on to the Argentine Consulate to apply for a visa for Argentina. We found it on Avenida Vicuña Mackenna (This avenue arose from the project of the mayor Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna to make a "waist road for the city".) and with a minimum of fuss we filled in a short form and paid 2,340 Chilean Pesos for a 10-day Transit Visa. A 90-day Tourist Visa cost twice as much.

We had to pick up our passports at noon the next day. We then went back to claim our room in the Hotel Londres. It is a fabulous, characterful heritage hotel with a wealth of dark polished hardwood and antique furniture. Today it would be badged a boutique hotel.

Our triple room had ornate wooden beds, a massive mirror-fronted wardrobe and a balcony overlooking the street which looked like one of the mews in Belgravia in London. We stocked up with goodies in the supermarket and had a picnic lunch in the Plaza de Armas. A pleasant bottle of Chilean red wine, with a cork that was reluctant to leave the bottle, cost only 119 Chilean Pesos.

The afternoon was spent in wandering the pleasant city streets between the Plaza de Armas and Avenida O’Higgins, changing money, buying camera film and enquiring at travel agents about internal flight costs in Argentina.

At 15:00 hrs. we went back to relax a bit at the hotel. I had a cold shower in the huge bathroom with its Victorian bathroom suite which included a bidet. In the evening we had chicken and chips on the busy Paseo Ahumada, washed down with a disgustingly sweet fruit drink before joining a massive queue at the cinema to see “Dirty Dancing”.

Wednesdays were half-price days at the flicks so the crowds rolled in. The film was an average “Saturday Night Fever” job, or could even be an update of an old Elvis film. Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, it tells the story of Frances "Baby" Houseman (Grey), a young woman who falls in love with dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) at a vacation resort in the summer of 1963.

After the film we walked through the still busy streets to a café for Coca Cola before returning to bed. People on the streets are well dressed in the latest Western fashions and the shops are all crammed with the latest consumer goods.