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| Pool atop tower A |
I've been in Chile for 3 weeks now, and the one-bedroom furnished apartment I found on Craig's List has proven a comfortable little retreat. It's in the heart of old Santiago, although I expected more colonial buildings and fewer skyscrapers. Some of the older buildings were damaged by earthquakes and torn down, and because of Chile's rapid growth in the past decade, the hum of construction can be heard day and night. My apartment is in a 22-story high-rise with 4 towers, one of which has a pool on the top.
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| Lookout on Santa Lucía Hill |
As you can see from the background photo, there are small hills (ancient volcanoes) around Santiago, which were turned into places where the public could go to see different vistas of the city. My windows look out onto Cerro Santa Lucía, a small hill where Pedro de Valdivia's troops kept watch over the town after the conquest in the 16th century. Later, Fort Hidalgo was constructed in the early 19th century, and a little later, fountains and pathways were built so the public could enjoy the views. A bronze plaque on a boulder commemorates Charles Darwin's visit when he passed through Chile after visiting the Galapagos.
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| Patio Bellavista |
There's supermarket beside my building and a traditional market several blocks away. The neighborhood is filled with small outdoor cafes and restaurants, where people still eat because of the unseasonably warm temperatures of 80-90 degrees during the day. The evenings cool down to 60-70, but the retailers are despairing of selling their fall clothing lines because of the heat. Besides national and Spanish goods and services, there are galleries on the first floor of many older buildings, filled with stalls the specialize in a certain trade. One day I wandered into a gallery for waxing and hair removal, and there were about 20 small businesses with women vying for attention by calling out their prices for this or that service - very funny! Other galleries have tradespeople like tailors, jewelers, or leather-workers; it's nice to know that these skills haven't been lost yet.
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| Dog snoozing on bench |
One of the sad aspects of Santiago is the number of homeless dogs on the streets. There are pure- and half-breed large dogs that sleep on the sidewalk or wander around cafes and restaurants looking for scraps. They run in packs in the park at night and tear the garbage bags apart scavenging. Some have scars from fights over food or territory, and it makes walking around the city heart-rending. If I eat out, I always take what I don't finish away with me, even it it's only bread. When I feed a dog, he looks at me as if he wants to be petted, which I do if he's not too dirty.
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| Dogs on pedestrian street |
I've asked several Santiagueños about it, and they say that people abandon their dogs when they get too big to fit comfortably in their apartments - or small business owners have dogs for protection that sleep in the business at night, but wander the streets by day. The dogs aren't neutered, so they keep reproducing and the problem keeps multiplying. There is one week a year when veterinarians and vet students go out and give rabies shots and neuter the dogs they find, but that makes only a small difference in the situation.
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Dancing the 'Cueca'
[Click on photos to enlarge] |
Aside from that, life here is interesting and fun. People are polite but friendly, so if you sit down on a bench in a park or pedestrian street, they talk to you. I've gotten all sorts of information about cultural events and customs from just sitting and chatting - or stopping a person on the street when I want to know something (like the 'Cueca' dance contest that was going on in the
Plaza de Armas the evening I arrived.) So I'm happy and very much enjoying
mi tiempo en Chile.
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| Sliding down... |
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| Climbing up... |
