Return to Chile (Santiago, Chile)

I arrived in Santiago late in the evening as the bus from Mendoza was held up by long delays getting through the border in to Chile meaning that the seven hour journey took closer to eleven. Although Santiago doesn't seem to have a great reputation with other travellers as a place to visit, I spent an enjoyable four days there, and found it to be much cleaner, greener and safer than Buenos Aires, the other South American city I've visited so far. The city was smaller than Buenos Aires, so despite having an efficient metro system I was able to do most of my exploring on foot, with my hostel in the trendy Barrio Bellavista district acting as my base.

As some of you know, I´d been to Santiago before as a 15 year old when I attended the World Scout Jamboree in 1998, and had always wanted to return to Chile. Suddenly fourteen years had slipped by and I returned to the country excited to be back again, but under rather different circumstances. In truth, the trip to Chile had been so long ago and our movements at the time limited to the Jamboree campsite and a single day visit to the surrounding area that it actually didn't feel very much like a return visit. Nevertheless, my previous visit had left me with an affinity for Chile and perhaps a greater interest in its history, culture and people than the other countries I will be visiting in South America. I was therefore really looking forward to coming back to Chile but also to seeing a lot more of the country.

On my first morning in Santiago, I joined a free walking tour which gave a fantastic overview of the city and taught me a lot about the history and culture of Santiago. Our guide Felipe was an enthusiastic, knowledgable guide and spent over four hours guiding us round the main sites in the centre of the city, including the main square, cathedral, presidential palace, opera house, several museums, and one of Pablo Neruda's houses. He also pointed out the best place in Santiago to get ice cream and recommended some great places to get a cheap lunch, which proved very useful over the next few days!

Plaza das Armas - central square in Santiago

La Moneda (presidential palace)

For me, one of the most interesting parts of the tour was when Felipe told us about Chile's recent political history and the military coup of 1973. The coup saw the overthrow of the socialist goverment led by the President, Salvador Allende, and instigated a period of 17 years of military dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet. When I learned Spanish at university, our slightly eccentric Spanish teacher had often spoken to us about Allende (he was certainly a fan) and the events surrounding the 1973 coup so I knew some of the details, but my time in Santiago gave me an opportunity to find out more. In addition to the tour, I also visited the Museo de la Memoria, a fantastic museum dedicated to the events of 1973-1990 which gave a fascinating and moving insight in to the events surrounding the coup and the military dicatorship that followed.

Allende had become the first democratically elected Marxist president in the world in 1970 and moved quickly to implement a series of socialist policies to redistribute wealth in Chile, including the nationalisation of the copper and banking industries and a rapid expansion of social security. However, Allende´s victory had been a narrow one (he won 36.2% of the vote in a three-way split) and his policies were to prove divisive, with Allende facing constant battles with Congress and uproar from the business and land owners who were adversely affected by these policies. Allende´s bold socialist policies coupled with increasingly close ties with Cuba also attracted the interest of the USA and in particular the CIA, who have long been accused of interferring both in the Chilean economy and the coup that was to follow. After an aborted military coup in June 1973 and a series of strikes prompted by high inflation and opposition to further nationalisation of industries, events came to a head on 11 September 1973 when the navy seized control of the port of Valparaiso and the army began attacking the presidential palace.

The musuem included incredible video footage of the presidential palace being bombed while the president was still inside the building, as well as an audio recording of Allende's final radio broadcast to the Chilean people, given by Allende over a telephone while crouched underneath a desk as bombs rained down on the building. Allende could not bear the thought of living in exile and so refused offers of safe exit from the country, determined to remain in the position to which he had been elected. When the army finally entered the palace later that day, Allende was found dead from gunshot wounds. Conspiracy theories have abounded for years that he was shot by the army, although these were largely solved when Allende's body was exhumed and confirmation given that he had committed suicide. The museum also included the first television broadcast by the military junta at which they spoke (not particularly convincingly) of how difficult it had been to take this action and how hurt they were that it had been necessary for the good of Chile.

Statue of Salvador Allende in front of the presidential palace

Newspaper from the day after the coup

The museum also covered the period of the Pinochet dictatorship during which time the economy stabilised, but 3,000 political opponents were killed or ´disappeared´and many human rights abuses occured. The military junta had originally only intended to rule for a short period before holding free elections, but it was not until 1988 that a referendum was finally held, with Pinochet losing narrowly as the Chilean people voted for a return to democracy. Moving video footage showed evidence of the brutal suppression of protesters throughout the 1970s and 80s, as the country became increasingly divided, and it was strange to then walk out on to the streets of Santiago and consider how recently these events had taken place in what now feels like a relatively thriving, united country.

Another highlight of my time in Santiago was a visit to the Cerro San Cristobal, a viewpoint overlooking the city. While not quite as spectacular as Table Mountain in Cape Town, this hill just outside the city gave a great view across Santiago and out to the Andes mountains. The hill also contained a series of hiking trails so I spent a couple of afternoons walking above the city and also visited one of two huge open air public swimming pools on Cerro San Cristobal which seem to be very popular with Chilean families at this time of year. There was a free bus running to to the top of the hill, but I decided to get some practice in ahead of the trekking I´m planning to do in the south of Chile and walk to the top of the hill - twice!

View of Santiago from Cerro San Cristobal

A statue dedicated to the Boy Scouts of Chile which seemed apt given my previous visit to the country

One of the open air swimming pools

On my final day in Santiago I met up with my friend Andy from back home, who was coincidentally in Santiago for a business meeting with a Chilean airline. It was great to see a friendly face from back home and catch up over lunch, before quickly showing him round a part of the city before he had to head back to work. I´m obviously in the wrong job as business trips to Santiago sound like a pretty good perk to me!

I´ll be returning to Santiago again in a few weeks, but after four days of exploring the city it was time to move on and I caught an overnight coach south to Pucon to begin exploring the southern half of Chile.