Santiago de Chile - An unique city

After 2 month in Brazil, I headed off to Chile in order to study there.

I arrived at 10 P.M in the night on the international airport and some friends of mine picked me up from the airport. It was actually fucking cold (I have to express it that dramatically) and remembered a quote I had heard somewhere before:

"Chile is not a warm country. You do not need a tropic helmet there and you will not find wild animals".

Well the second thing I remember from that day was the efficiency of its public transport system. It is unbelievable how fast you can move in Santiago de Chile, but it is also quite expensive.

This first 3 weeks, where I actually did not know a lot of persons I had enough time to go through Santiago. The city is beautiful. Unlike Sao Paulo, where many people do not care a lot about historic buildings, Chile puts a lot of effort in maintaining their colonial style buildings. The city is also very clean, organized and although it is huge, it seems like you live in a village due to its rectengular organization of streets.

The only problem I had in Santiago in these early days and actually nearly throughout all my stay was the climate. Although Chile is not as cold as Austria, Germany, Norway or Finland, its houses are made for summer. Therefore being there in winter includes suffering from cold as heating system are only available to very rich people and housing isolation is not that good. So everybody freezes and everybody catches a cold, especially foreign students who do not expect this kind of extreme climate.

A further interesting fact about Santiago is the demography of the city in terms of individual buying power. Unlike Sao Paulo where rich and poor live so closley that a guy from a favela is used to watching men in Armani Suits and know all luxury car brands by heart in Santiago everything is very very seperated.

In the south of the city live the poorer people. Plaza Italia (Italian place), which is in the middle of the city is the geographic seperation point between middle class and upper class. Although this is not 100% true, it reflects the basic situation. In the north of the city live the rich people of Santiago and at the same time of Chile. Mostly people from strong European descendent, white with Spanish, but also German, English, Croatian and Arabic names, which reflect the immigration waves. One can observe this fact by taking a ride in the metro from south to north of the city. It is very easy to obeserve how the way people look, talk and behave will change dramatically.

Not only people change, but also the city seems to change. The north of the city looks totally different than the south of the city. The wealth in Santiago is very unevenly distributed.

Concerning security, I have to say that Santiago is definitley the most secure big city in Latin America, but you have to behave prudently like in every city in this region. One problem might be that unlike in Brazil everybody immediatly knows by looking at an American or European, that he/she is not from Chile. This has also a lot of good sites as Chileans like foreign people a lot. I will write about my experiences in this sense in another post. However you feel observed sometimes, especially when you go alone in the night, but I have to say I have never had a security problem in Chile.

The people of Santiago generally are different than in other parts of Chile. From my experience they are more serious and more stressed, although Santiago is not such a fast city like Sao Paulo.

Santiago is also a party city and going out in Santiago is still quite cheap. So you can have party all the time and every day.

Santiago is also a city full of cultural events. A lot of cinemas and theatres are scattered throughout the city. The quality of the performances varies a lot, but entertainment is generally quite cheap in Santiago.

I will dedicate a specific post to my culinaric experiences in Santiago and some more about the things I have learned from the people there.

Warm Regards to my dear readers,
Patrick