Santiago - an unexpected pleasure

   Santiago gets a mixed reception.  Some of the people we’ve met have described it as “just another South American capital”.  Others have talked about what a lovely place it is to stay for a few weeks.  The guidebooks tend to go on about the smog.  All of these accounts have some merit.  Luckily we arrived with low expectations and had a pleasant few days there. 

   Not having any real highlights was the highlight of Santiago.  We climbed Cerro San Cristobal (in the funicular railway, admittedly) and enjoyed the afternoon in the shade of the Virgin Mary.  We were in no hurry; we just sat about taking in the smog-obscured views over the city and out to the Andes.  We took a long lazy lunch (at ridiculously good value) in Belavista because there was nothing to rush off to.  We walked across town on each of our three days to a place with wonderful ice cream, because we really liked it. 

   All those sorts of things we would have felt guilty about if there had been something else to do.  Most Santiaguinos exuded a similarly relaxed and cheerful air.  Their most striking characteristic: their determination to colonise every green open space for public affection.  There was another hill, Santa Lucia, on which I would have been embarrassed had I not had Kizzy by my side.  Everywhere you looked there were young couples joined at the lips.  It is a heritage site and they don’t charge but they do take a register of people entering the park.  I suspect that half of it is so that they can call up a girl’s parents.  “You were on Santa Lucia and you were just enjoying the scenery?  And you expect me to believe that!”  It’s a pleasant site, but none of the locals paid any attention to the scenery.  I suspect they all live with their parents.

   It was good that we could relax while we were there as our inbound journey was a pain in the neck.  We boarded the bus in Pucon at about 9pm.  After 90 minutes we were just nodding off when we pulled into Temuco and were woken up to be told we could get off for 15 minutes. We were then woken up again and told that in fact we must get off for 15 minutes while the bus was filled with petrol.  We arrived in Santiago at 6:30am grateful to have a wonderful hostel where they were let us show up half asleep (so were they) just after 8am.  After dropping off our bags we ventured into town to find a fry-up, or its closest Chilean approximation.  We promptly found a place that looked like a greasy spoon café and served rubbish greasy food at really inflated prices.  Exactly the sort of thing you do in an underslept state.  It is in fact a very good reason for not doing overnight bus journeys that disembark at any time before 9am. 

   Foolishly we did not fully learn this lesson until we left Santiago for Mendoza.  The overnight bus included a border crossing at 2am and arrived at 4:30am.  Hanging out in Mendoza bus station until it was light enough to safely cross town and politely arrive at our hostel ranks as a low point in our travels.  They got upset whenever we looked like we might doze off.  The seats were really uncomfortable, probably so that sleep is impossible.  The first café didn’t open until 7am.  The coffee was really expensive and the medialunas were rubbish, which is quite a feat.  This is not a complaint in search of sympathy; it is meant to be informative.  Do not do the overnight bus between Mendoza and Santiago.  You will regret it.  You will want to bicker with loved ones and station staff.  And you will end up sulking over a rubbish breakfast.