Living in Santiago by Cameron

When I first envisioned the idea of living in Chile, I pictured us somewhere in a coastal town overlooking the Pacific Ocean, a reasonable notion considering Chile has 3000 miles of coastline. I did not imagine living in the center of nearly 6 million people, and I know this to be an understatement for Debbie also. While neither of us could ever fathom living in this environment indefinitely, we are enjoying the cultural experience.
Santiago is very modern, clean and safe by South American standards. The center of the city is the most authentic and aesthetically pleasing, with cathedrals, plazas, statues, museums, and parks. Many apartment buildings can even be appreciated for the architecture. Surrounding Santiago Centro are lively barrios like Bellavista, Brasil, and Providencia, each with its own identity. To the northwest, in Las Condes the city loses it character to an increasing amount of high rise buildings, shopping malls, fast food restaurants and modern cookie-cutter architecture. We commute through this part of the city to get to work each day, but fortunately our campus is on the edge of the city in the foothills of the Andies, above the smog layer and out of the chaos. Violent crime rates are low in the city, but bag snatchers/pick pockets are a constant threat, especially in crowded areas and on the metro. It is also not a good idea to walk alone late at night. Higher poverty and crime rates exist in the outer reaches of the city. Common sense and awareness are important, but there is no need to be defensive. The majority of Chileans are very kind, trustworthy and friendly.
While the city looks modern and organized on the outside, we are often amused and sometimes frustrated by the inefficiency of a developing nation. For example, service in restaurants, organization in the work place, and behavior at metro stations and bus stops leave mush to be desired. I have heard Chile described as “the country of tomorrow” for the tendency of the people to be very relaxed about time constraints, so it seems ironic that so many people are quick to crowd, push and shove to catch the next train or bus. More on mass transport problems in a later entry…
We live in Plaza Italia on the east edge of Santiago Centro (see map where Ave O´Higgins meets the river), directly across the Rio Mopocho from Barrio Bellavista, and across the street from the west edge of Providencia. One of the busiest transfer stations in the city, Baquedano, is directly below our window. On the bottom floor of our building is the Universidad de Chile Theatre, a bakery, a Bar, a small store and of course the corner restaurant where the manager, Jose, happens to be our landlord. (We pay rent at the cash register). Around the corner there is a gym, barber shop, pharmacy, and international jazz school. Across the river there is great night life on avenue Pio Nono in bohemian Bellavista, and a ten minute walk along the river brings us to a massive outdoor fruit market called La Vega (the river is more like a gutter so it is best to not walk along its edge if you have a weak stomach). From Bellavista we can also catch the funicular up Cerro San Cristobal to the Virgin Mary statue that overlooks the entire city. On our side of the river, a long strip of trees and grass called Parque Forestal follows the river in both directions. Along this path we can walk to restaurants in Providencia, or to famous landmarks in Santiago Centro such as the Bellas Artes Museum, Mercado Central (fish market and restaurants), Catedral Metropolitana (Santiago’s most impressive Cathedral) or Plaza de Armas (artists and National History Museum).
Our apartment building has the characteristics of an old hotel and our furnished apartment on the 6th floor of the 8-story building feels a bit like a hotel suite. It is comfortable and spacious for two, with great views of Cerro San Cristobal, The Andies, and the Plaza below. Of course, it can be a bit noisy at times, especially during rush hour, though dog fights, sirens, and shouting party-goers can be seen and heard at all hours. We have a cleaning lady, named Ernetina, who tidies up for us every Thursday. There is laundry and wireless internet access on the second floor. Rent is $400 per month, a very fair price for this part of the city. Nervous friends and family members fear not, there are three separate locked doors between our space and the plaza below, and there is constant police presence in the plaza.
Chile is not a cheap place to travel, and as we have learned more recently, it also is not cheap to eat/drink out in Santiago. We are living on an upper middle class income in Chile (not saying much), but it still requires us to make sacrifices that we did not make in Seattle. Of course, we take public transportation that tends to be very chaotic, impulse buys of more than $3 don’t happen, and the definition of “I need” only lends itself to things like toothpaste and soap. We can not afford to go out much, and even cooking at home we are learning to sacrifice quality for quantity. Still cooking at home is the way to go. Grocery stores are fairly cheap, especially wine ($2 bottles support the habit). We hope a gym membership is in the cards, due to the abundance of carbs and fat in Chilean cuisine. It is rare to find a Chilean dish that does not have a generous helping of meat, bread, and dairy, yet another reason why it is best to buy fresh food to cook at home. Considering that most Chileans in the city live on 1/3 our monthly income, we should be able to afford the occasional weekend trip or night on the town. Until the first of the month we are still drawing from our meager savings accounts, so it’s difficult to say just how comfortable we are living right now. I’ll let you know after the month of April…
As it turns out, living in Santiago is the best option for traveling around Chile and abroad. We are ninety minutes from the beaches and two hours from the boarder to Argentina by bus, less by car. Like Seattle, there is access to a variety of outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, climbing, surfing, rafting, and skiing (including the legendary Portillo). The tour buses are cheap and plush, with great leg room, reclining seats and movies on board. In the last three weeks we have traveled by bus to the beach towns of El Tabo ($6, 1.5 hrs) and Pichilemu ($10, 3.5 hrs), and across The Andies to Mendoza, Argentina ($18, 7hrs with long wait at the boarder). By plane it takes less than two hours to arrive in the Lakes District/Northern Patagonia, and three hours to Buenos Aires, Argentina. There are also direct flights from Santiago to most major cities across the continent. Round trip tickets are very reasonable (though the declining value of $US in our bank accounts makes big trips less likely). We plan to continue taking short weekend trips within our monthly income budget to the beaches or mountains. We also plan to visit Buenos Aires on a long weekend, sometime before we travel north to Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador on our way home.

Here are some pictures from our apartment window and Plaza Italia below.