Today is my last day in Santiago. There are two mega-malls in Las Condes, Parque Arauco which is next door to the Marriott Hotel and Alto Las Condes, which on the map appears to be a fair way away. Most visitors to Santiago that go to Alto Los Condes either take the tourist bus or a shopping bus that is put on by the mall to get the punters out of the city centre. I decide to see how far it is on foot to Alto.
As I leave the hotel, I notice that crowd barriers have been established, and there is a small group of teenagers waiting patiently under the gaze of a couple of carabineros. I realise that they are waiting for the group of hip-hop boys that have been slouching around the hotel lounge for the last couple of days. No idea who they are, but there seem to be a lot of them (ie around 10 of them).
The walk to Alto Los Condes mall is quite a pleasant walk alongside Avenida Kennedy, albeit hot on a 32 degree Celsius day. It takes me a little less than an hour, so I would estimate it to be around 4km. The mall itself is a smaller clone of Parque Aracuo, as it doesn’t seem to have an icerink! Shopping bores me rigid, and there is nothing that distinguishes this mall from any other upmarket mall in the Western world, so I decide to test the coffee outlets.
The first is Bonafide, a specialist coffee and chocolate vendor. I order a Cappuccino Italiano. It arrives in true Italian style, in a glass with a handle, a good level of foam, and with shaved chocolate on top. On the side is a small glass of water and a chocolate-dipped wafer biscuit. 10 out of 10 for presentation. The biscuit is delicious, the coffee a little bland even with the melted chocolate shavings. The total cost is $1900 pesos, or about $AUD4, which is quite expensive by Australian standards. After another turn around the mall, I stop at Cory – Pasteleria Austriaca. This I work out is an Austrian cake shop. I order the same drink – cappuccino Italiano. As with Bonafide, it too arrives with a (shortbread) biscuit and glass of water. Overall, the presentation is not as classy as Bonafide, but ironically the coffee tastes better, and is marginally more expensive at $1.990 pesos. I have to rule in favour of Bonafide on the basis of aesthetics and a superior biscuit!
Unlike Parque Arauco, Alto has put its Christmas decorations up, mostly red velvet sashes and the obligatory mistletoe wreaths, but with what appears to be a local variation of stuffed toy squirrels, rabbits and deer adorning the three storey tree.
Rather than walk back to the Marriott (the only transport at Alto are the buses or a taxi), I decide to walk to Pueblito Los Domenicos, an artist colony at the end of Metro Line 5. According to the map, it should be less than half the distance I covered to get to Alto Los Condes. As with the mall, tourist buses are needed to get shoppers out of the city centre to this pretty market next door to the Domenican church with its Moorish copper domes and whitewashed exterior. A young couple see me photographing the exterior of the church, and politely ask me in Spanish to take a photo of them in front of their (new?) car on their mobile phone. I had noticed them immediately when I stopped out side the church as the man had that startling burst of Scottish red hair that still makes its way to the top of the gene pool in South America. He must be the fourth red-head I’ve seen in the last four weeks – a higher rate than you would think given 3 of the 4 weeks were spent on a ship in the Southern Ocean!
The artisans at the market are selling everything from original paintings, lapis lazuli jewellery right through to pot plants. Each has their own space under well-shaded patios, so it is a pleasant place to wander on a hot day. There are remarkably few visitors mid-afternoon, and the first Asian tourists I’ve seen so far in Santiago materialise at the entrance to the market.
Having become quite proficient in using the Santiago Metro, I decide to take a long ride on Line 5, changing at Los Heroes to Line 2, and fall out of the station at Punto Cal y Canto, in front of the former Estacion Mapucho. I had photographed the exterior of this French-designed grand old station on my first trip to Santiago a few years ago. It was Christmas-time on that trip and the now Cultural Centre was closed for the holidays, so I hadn’t been inside. Today, the station is heaving with visitors to the 30th annual Santiago Book Fair, which runs for 2 weeks. The entry fee is $2000 pesos, which I pay and wander in with a broad cross-section of Santiago residents – well-dressed women, men in jackets, families with strollers, the occasional bemused Australian traveller. The book fair occupies the entire station, and has an extension into a marquee at the back. All of the books are Spanish language, ranging from medical textbooks, comic books and fiction. The most eye-catching title as I wander, if I’ve translated it correctly, is Memoirs of a Gynaecologist. The basement of the building has a small exhibition of black and white photographs that the document the building of the (now decommissioned) tram system in the early 20th century. Did you know that the police force in Santiago used to wear a white uniform complete with pith helmet?
Wandering back past the Mercado Central, which is closing for the day, I make a right turn and keep walking south until by complete accident I reach the Universidad Chile Metro stop, which happens to be on Line 5, saving me a transfer between Metro lines. I have gotten off the Metro at Manquehue three times now, and have found three completely different ways back to the hotel!
Tomorrow is the start of three weeks in Peru. Hasta luego Santiago, te echaré de menos
