Santiago, Chile

From Mendoza, I crossed the Andes and for a small extra fee, I secured a seat in the upper section of the bus right next to the front window. The decision paid off because the ride over the 3,000 m high pass was a real visual delight in the best weather. The road wound its way up the slopes of the Andes peaks to the border station, and I slowly got a real sense of the power of the mountain range, which stretches from north to south across the entire continent and separates Chile from the rest of the landmass. I was able to catch a glimpse of Aconcagua, the highest peak on the continent at 6,961 m. My seat neighbor, a 70-year-old South Korean, was also an experience. In meticulously choreographed movements, he turned everyday human activities into a real spectacle for the neutral observer. The intervals of his recurring head movements and drinking from a stainless steel bottle seemed to be timed down to the second, and I had to make sure several times that I wasn't sitting next to the latest generation of robots from Boston Dynamics. It sounds funny, but it was an incredibly bizarre performance. The gentleman's large supply of fruit was eaten in several sessions and immediately upon arrival at the border station. He seemed to be well aware that the transport of fruit to Chile is strictly prohibited, and the precise timing of finishing the fruit seemed to have been calculated in advance. Good luck on the rest of the trip, unknown man!

Upon arriving in Santiago, there was a wild hustle and bustle at the bus station, and I immediately realized that I was in a different environment again and that I needed to sharpen all my senses. I took a taxi to the hostel and upon arrival, I had to gather myself and get used to the new surroundings. This was relatively easy, as a relaxed guy at the reception warmly welcomed me and gave me a lesson in German grammar right away. Cesar from Venezuela has been in Santiago for 7 years and besides Spanish and English, he also speaks German at a high level. Respect for that and for the good start. After I had taken a seat in the courtyard, Cesar played music to my taste and I immediately felt well taken care of. A good start and the beginning of a series of evenings at the hostel with all sorts of interesting characters, music, beer, card games, and sports events on the big screen (yes, the European Championship and Copa America were about to start).

Santiago is quite relaxed, but also a hot spot, at least according to the stories of various locals and travelers. The area around the hostel, Bella Vista - the party district, is said to have a rather dubious reputation after dark: theft, robberies, shootings, and other typical activities of the underworld are apparently not uncommon here. However, I didn't experience any of this during my time in Santiago. Even walking at night and using public transportation, I never felt that any situation could be strange. Of course, there are strange characters everywhere, but in Santiago, I generally felt quite safe.

The city center of Santiago gives a rather tidy impression, and especially the area around Gran Torre Santiago, the tallest building in South America at 300 meters, is very clean and structured. Here, you have the feeling of being in the city center of a European metropolis. The observation deck on the 62nd floor of Gran Torre was not visited, as there are two cheaper and more authentic options to get an overview of the city: Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal. Both hills were visited, Cerro Santa Lucia being the smaller one and located right in the city center. For free admission, you can admire several fountains and fortifications at a height of 69 meters above the city. The hill has a park-like character and fits in very harmoniously with the surrounding high-rise buildings. A pretty interesting contrast, as you feel like you are in a park between the concrete buildings. The hill was declared a national monument in 1939, and traditionally, a cannon shot from the hill announces noon every day at 12 o'clock.

Cerro Cristobal, on the other hand, is a real colossus with a height of 880 m. Only a 5-minute walk from the hostel, you can take a cable car to the summit for a small fee. I visited the mountain twice: the first time, I was able to enjoy the sunset over the city, but it quickly became dark. So, I wanted to get another view of the city in daylight and float over the slope with the Metrocable. Since there were very few sunny hours in Santiago during my stay, I took advantage of one of the few sunny days to make the climb again afterwards.

As the cable car slowly fought its way up the hill, you get a lasting impression of the enormous size of the city with each meter of altitude. It's an impressive sight, this incredibly huge metropolis, the sparkling traffic arteries, and the massive peaks of the Andes in the background. You constantly think that the mountains are so close, partly because you can see details and structures with the naked eye. However, the distance to the snow-covered giants is about 40 to 50 km. The dimensions only become clear when you consider that the city center is at an elevation of about 570 m, while the background mountains reach a height of about 5,000 - 5,500 m. A tremendous difference in altitude over a relatively short distance, which makes the snow-covered peaks appear so close.

Although there are still many museums and some interesting neighborhoods, the city does not offer a wide variety of tourist attractions.

Of course, I also watched football, but getting tickets in Chile turned out to be a real problem. In most cases and at all major clubs, it is impossible to buy a ticket without a Chilean credit card. In addition, you need a Chilean identification number (RUT), which is not easily obtainable for a foreigner who is only temporarily in the country. In plain terms, this means: no ticket without a Chilean contact. Fortunately, during one of my last visits to my friend Toon from Enschede, I got the contact information of Kris. Kris is Chilean, living in Santiago, and he and Toon have been good friends for a few years. So, I contacted Kris before arriving in Santiago, and the issue of ticket procurement for me turned out to be no major problem. Kris even insisted on paying for all the tickets I got. For Colo Colo, the most popular club in the country, we were even invited to the VIP box through connections. Food and drinks were served, and we had the best view of the field and the surrounding mountain peaks. Of course, in a comfortable leather seat. Normally, this is not my preferred area in a stadium, but in this case, it was a really cool experience. Thanks, Kris! And also for the nice evenings, the drinks, the snacks, and everything else. What a cool person. Every attempt on my part to pay for something was vehemently rejected. No chance, but that's just the way it is, and after all, I don't want to complain, although the enormous helpfulness was sometimes a bit uncomfortable for me.

Towards the end of my stay in Santiago, I somehow lost a little motivation. Despite the really cool people at the hostel, a certain demotivation set in. This was probably mainly due to the cold weather that spread over the city and the constant rain. Multiple days of heavy rain flooded various neighborhoods, and at some point, it felt like it was raining all the time. Eventually, it became impossible to leave the hostel without walking through the neighborhood like a wet dog. Frustrating and annoying at the same time. Furthermore, the gas supply in the hostel ran out, and every evening, we could only sit in the common area bundled up in multiple layers with a hat on. Not a nice setting for conversations with other travelers, card games, and beers. Towards the end, I didn't even have the motivation to change locations anymore, it just felt like a prison of rain and cold. It may sound stupid, but I really had to force myself to book a bus ticket to somewhere else, that's how frustrating the situation was. I found a fellow sufferer in Colin from Texas. We had been traveling for a similar amount of time, on a similar route, and were similarly demotivated. Well, correction: even more demotivated. In the end, I simply bought Colin a bus ticket to northern Chile, and we left the hostel together in pouring rain. I'm pretty sure Colin would still be sitting there if I hadn't "evacuated" him - it has even become a running joke between us.

By the way, originally I planned to travel north in Argentina to explore the regions around Salta and Jujuy. However, the bus ticket from Mendoza through those two regions to my next destination, San Pedro de Atacama, would have cost more than four times what I paid for a similar distance in Chile. So, it was a relatively easy decision to take the route in Chile, and another example of the economic madness that is currently happening in Argentina.