Santiago

View from Cerro Santa Lucia

I will not attempt to summarize, just share a few experiences. Many family and friends of very different professional and political backgrounds showed me around the city, offering contrasting opinions on why things are the way they are.

Monasterio Benedictino, Martin Correa & Gabriel Guarda, 1950´s

Edificio Posgrado, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Peñalolen

The Santiago transit system is slowly putting itselft back together after a catastrophic failure due to a poorly planned and politically motivated modernization scheme called Transantiago. I´ll only add that it is a very popular conversation topic. On a metro I saw this ad:

It sums up well one of the many tensions that exist in this city. La Dehesa (pictured below) looks like most American suburbs, except the fences are twice as high and electric. As a good friend of my father put it: Santiago se esta comiendo los cerros. Now I must admit that I write these words just a few weeks after having enjoyed multiple asados at my uncle´s house in los altos de Lo Curro, zipping to a from downtown on la Costanera Norte (the new private highway buried beside Santiago´s defining Rio Mapocho).


There is much more to say of course and while Santiago has its negatives, its downtown is wonderfully vibrant, the parks are beautiful and mountains are so close.