On my second trip to South America, I visited Chile twice. I had a round the world ticket, so I could fly from Europe to New Zealand, then on to South America. Santiago is the entry point to South America for flights from Australia and New Zealand.
From Santiago, I visited Valparaiso and Vina del Mar on the coast. Then it was back to Santiago and on to Mendoza in Argentina over the Andes. I travelled around Argentina and Brazil, then back to Chile to the Atacama Desert. From there, I took a tour in a 4×4 to the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia.
Santiago
Santiago is the capital of Chile and the largest city with a population of around 7 million. It is the economic center of the country. It is sunny most of the year round, with views of the Andes, but suffers from smog.
A couple of good friends of mine lived in Santiago. One of them from NZ was there for a year, but the other lived there for 10 years. My NZ buddy lived there teaching English for a year. He said it was ok for the experience or to date latin girls, but one year was enough. The good thing is the year round sunshine and proximity to the mountains, so you can get out skiing or snowboarding.
Apart from that, it’s a really boring place. It’s a horrible big city with no tourist attractions, no cool neighbourhoods and nothing to do. It’s just a business city. Chile is the richest and probably the safest country in Latin America. Still, Santiago is not safe. I stayed near the downtown and didn’t feel safe wandering around during the day.
My other buddy lived here for 10 years. But his circumstances were quite different. He escaped Serbia while it was being bombed by NATO. It was quite an adventure. He arrived with nothing and had to learn the language and get a job as a software engineer. His experience was quite different and I think once you know the language it can open a lot of doors for you.
This was my second trip to Latin America. The first was 3 months in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. I went with no Spanish and it was quite stressful relying on my friend from Chile to translate all the time during our extreme camping trip in the Amazon jungle. This trip, I was determined to improve my Spanish and had been studying ardently for a month in New Zealand with books and apps.
This proved to be completely in vain as the Chileans speak the worst Spanish in the whole of Latin America. In Argentina it’s also pretty bad. Imagine the north of Scotland or England. In Chile, people often omit the ends of words or leave out words entirely.
In Santiago, I had booked a cheap room in a guest house run by an old lady. She didn’t speak any English and I could hardly understand a word she said. I would just have to repeat “No enteniendo” over and over again, but she didn’t get it. What I did pick up was her constant ranting about how tourists should try and learn Spanish. Fair enough, but please try speaking it yourself first.
I tried to find some interesting neighbourhoods to hang out it. There aren’t any. I found one street with some colourful houses. I went to the alternative, cool bar area. I met another friend of mine there. There were some upmarket restaurants, but nothing special. A few kids with tatooes.
One good thing to do is walk up the hill to a lookout over the city. This is a popular thing to do with locals and many people go jogging up the paths to the top. But watch out you don’t take a wrong turn and end up on some trail somewhere and get mugged. This is an unfortunate reality of living in Latin America. You can mugged in broad daylight especially in places a bit off the beaten path. They’ll be waiting for you there.
Vina del Mar
Vina del Mar is Chile’s premier beach resort. It is only an hour’s drive away Santiago and therefore easily accessible. It’s pretty tacky and has a lot of high rise hotels and apartments. It’s the go-to beach location for rich locals coming from Santiago, so expect a lot of noise and beach parties throughout the summer season.
Personally, I would avoid the place.
Valparaiso
A much better place to visit is Valparaiso, about 20 minutes drive down the coast from Vina del Mar. It’s a really cool, artistic place with a really great vibe. It was once a prosperous port, but lost its strategic value once the Panama Canal was opened and ships no longer had to circumnavigate the treacherous waters of the straights of Magellan.
These days, it is a cool town with many of the older wooden mansions painted brightly colours. Many of the doorways are artistically painted. There is street art everywhere. You can wander the backstreets and travel by funicular up the steep rock faces. There are many cool bars and cafes and weed is smoken openly on the streets at night.
I stayed in a local guesthouse in the old town. Cruise ships stop here and many of the passengers come onshore and stay for a night in one of the colourful houses, often family run. One day, I was sitting in the entrance talking to the owner. Suddenly a bunch of tourists arrived from a cruise ship with the suitcases on wheels. I greeted every one of them, with “hola” and was ignored. I tried “hallo” also in vain. Finally, I worked out. I said: “bonjour”. Suddenly a bunch of them were dazed and confused looking for the source of the person who said “bonjour”. They found me then said “aha, bonjour!”. Only the French.
Atacama Desert
I had an open-jaws round the world ticket. I had 3 months to get from Santiago to Lima. Then I had a flight from Lima to Costa Rica. I had to make a huge call – travel south to the Lakes District and Torres del Paine, or go to Argentina and Brazil. My New Zealand buddy advised me that the landscapes of the Lakes District were not too dissimilar to New Zealand, so I decided to go for Argentina and Brazil.
That means, I ended up doing a loop from Chile to Argentina, on to Brazil, back to Argentina, then finally back to the north of Chile to see the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Desert is a must-see on any trip Chile.
The small town of San Pedro de Atacama is small village which serves as a starting point a tour to the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia. You can also make several day tours from San Pedro itself. You can visit salt flats, valleys with lunar landscapes, and geysers.
The town itself is quite expensive. This is because of its popularity and location (in the middle of the desert). I booked a small single room and it was very expensive. I changed to a cheaper place, but it was horrible and the staff didn’t give a shit. Beware of scouts at the bus station who will take you to the worst place in town.
They hold raves in the middle of the desert. This is pretty cool, but to be honest, you have to get up pretty early for many of the tours and partying was not really on the agenda.
The town is at around 2700m, so it’s advisable to chill for a few days to acclimatise upon arriving.
