A Soggy Saturday in Santiago
For some, a rainy day on vacation is a downer. For us, not so much… we simply adjust and keep going! Our first day in Santiago, Chile was the only rain day we experienced on the trip, but it was packed full of fun nonetheless.
We had arrived late the evening before on a jet from Lima. It was only late in the local time zone because Santiago is two hours ahead of Lima. So, what would have been a 9:30 arrival was now close to midnight local time. Because it was still early evening to us, we didn’t yet feel sleep-deprived. After getting our luggage, crossing through immigration and customs, and sitting in airport traffic due to evening construction, we didn’t get to our AirBNB until almost 1 am. Fortunately, our host’s parents were there to welcome us in and ensure that we got checked in safely.
We were up surprisingly early… I think the adrenaline of being in a new place is largely responsible for that. Kami and I took a quick walk to the corner market where we purchased some staples for our stay – eggs and tortillas for breakfast, fruit and other snack-like foods, some drinks and miscellaneous goods. We save a significant amount of expense by purchasing a few things to fill in the gaps.
We had seen the forecast for rain, and considered several options to shuffle our plans around. Given the mostly outdoor nature of our itinerary, there wasn’t much wiggle room that would have kept us any drier so we stuck with our plans. With everything within 1.5 miles of our AirBNB, we opted to walk since the rain was a steady, light rain with no threat of severe weather. Armed with raincoats and umbrellas, we struck out around 10:30 am.
We strolled down the Bandejon Central de la Alameda – that is, Central Park of the Alameda – a greenway that runs down the middle of the Central district of Santiago. It was nice to have this greenway park because we didn’t have to walk right alongside the curb where cars and buses could splash us. It was well-landscaped and scenic. Some of the sights that we saw along the way are below.
A fun fact for those of you wondering… Chile does not share the same flag as the great state of Texas, though they are remarkably similar. If you know the difference, add it to the comment stream on this post!
Our first “official” sight was the Palacio de La Moneda. It gave us a glimpse of the wonderful architecture that we first experienced in Lima. Much of this was obviously influenced heavily by European architecture and design. We didn’t go in because it was a Saturday and most government offices were closed. But that didn’t prevent us from enjoying the building which encompasses an entire city block.
Our path took us alongside a shopping mall so we ducked in to get out of the rain for a few minutes and to grab a quick refreshment. Our daughter likes to frequent Starbucks in these foreign lands to grab a caramel macchiato and a quick selfie, and Kami and I stopped by a little place called Doggi’s for a chocolate malt. By itself, that wasn’t worth a comment except that we ran across this group playing board games like PokeMon, Magic, YuGiOh and others. Recalling the group in Lima that was playing chess and cards at night, it seems as if our South American neighbors haven’t yet lost the art of interacting with one another.
The next destination was Plaza de Armas. Many South American cities have a “Plaza de Armas” and Santiago is no exception. This is essentially the town square.
This is where we visited the Metropolitan Cathedral. It is a very ornate, beautiful structure both inside and out. Best of all, it is free and open to the public, so we took a walk inside to capture some stunning images. Enjoy those below.
Next, we visited the National History Museum, also free and located across from the Metropolitan Cathedral. We were unable to take pictures inside as restricted by rule. This is a worthwhile stop, but just be aware that most of the signage is in Spanish only so it will be helpful to have someone in your party who can read Spanish.
Our liquid refreshment was quickly wearing away so we needed some lunch. We came across a South American chain called Fruitos, which looked like it had a nice selection of fresh foods with some greenery mixed in (because one thing we definitely lack on vacation is fruits and vegetables). It was located inside of a food court, many of which were available in this part of town. We headed back out into the rain, which had not relented all day, and made our way to Mercado Central de Santiago, Mercado de Flores and Mercado de Abastos Tirso de Molina. All of these were very cool markets selling all sorts of items. The neatest, perhaps, was the fresh flower market. This explosion of color and smells was a wonderful, bright pick-me-up to what otherwise was a gray, dreary day.
By this time, we were just about waterlogged and ready to go get dry. We walked back just a little bit to get out of so much traffic, hailed an Uber from my phone and called it a night. Kami and I walked down the street from our AirBNB to pick up a couple of pizzas and we spent the rest of the evening doing some laundry and relaxing. I was liking Santiago so far and looking forward to what the next day held in store.