If you are lost in Santiago and do not know any Spanish, then your journey has just began. Luckily for us, we have the right word in our pocket (English-Spanish phrase-book) it is really helpful specially in this city where signs are written in Spanish. But do not let the language spoil your stay. Like any other city, Santiago is a proper metropolis. While your in Santiago things to do/see are minimal. There are ski-resorts, an hour bus ride from the city. I am not a skier so I cant give you any review with regards to skiing perspective, what I can tell you though, is the beautiful scenery of the Andes. As I have said, Santiago is just like any other city were business takes place but Chile as a country is "extraordinaire" as all the authors of travel books writes, its the country where you start your journey in the dessert and end it in the Antarctic or vice versa. Either way, it will be a promising snap shots for your scrap book.

I was only there for three days. I really liked the Cerro San Cristobal and Santa Lucia. I also went to Palacio de la Moneda, but there was some kind of protest and the "carabineros" told us to leave. I didn't think much of the shopping area, but perhaps I didn't get to see the best part of the city. The food was very nice, plenty of fish and seafood! Chilean wine is also pretty good. I prefered the south of the country . People were much friendlier and the scenery is amazing!

I lived in Santiago since the age of 10 til lthe day before my 17th birthday, My dad was one of the engeniers designing the rail road inside the copper mine Chuquicamata and later build the Pan american highway leading to the southern most part of the continent to a location called Ralun. Chile is an amazing country, I was lucky to see the whole country thanks to my dad's work at a time when everything was wonderfull. We left in 1967 , a few years later Allende killed and the dictatorship of Pinochet ensued. i have fond memories of chile, to this day I have many friends, mostly artists. The food, the music, the people, the beachs, the mountains everything from arid desert in the north to an amazing landscape of lakes and trees and rivers in the south couple by the amazing beaches on the pacific Ocean. I am told that santiago today is an super modern City that boust a very nice metro. May someday soon I shall go back