Suburban Santiago

Thursday 3rd April

I decided to see what the suburbs looked like, especially the big two that the Lonley Planet glossed over (it is the LP for South America, the Chile one gave a little more detail). I went to Los Condes, using the very efficient metro service. I say efficient because I was never more than 1 minute waiting, and loads of people were using it. And the directions, especially for transfering from one line to another, were very clear.

However it doesn´t go all the way to the Los Condes part of town, although from the maps the system is always being extended. But for now it was about a 20 minute walk to the main big shopping centre in Los Condes from the end of the line. I could have gone looking for the free shuttle bus, but I think I came out the wrong entrance. Anyway it was a nice walk. The area is a bit like the IFSC, or maybe all the new apartments around Dundrum, on steroids. The buildings are all a fair bit taller. But they are the buildings we should have, and not just because of their height. They look good, and from the descriptions on the for sale signs, the apartments are all a lot bigger than the ones we get at home, up to 4 bedrooms, big balconies and so on. The Chileans have learnt how to build apartments from the European continent, pity we didn´t.

Anyway the shopping centre was a direct match for anything we have at home. And it did contain some of the same names as well, Sony Centre, Addidas, Laura Ashley, names I hadn´t seen in the city centre the previous day. There are still a load of local shops, but it does feel more familiar.

After that I went back to Providencia, an older suburb. Because it is older the buildings are not as high rise, and I guess they are more pricey. Because of this it has a lot of nice restaurants and pubs, including an Irish pub. Naturally I had to stop and have a beer instead of passing on by. A pity I had eaten in the food court of the shopping centre because the food looked good in the Irish pub.

However neither of the suburbs had gotten me closer to my real goal, a sleeping bag. Now I could have brought one, and carried it for 10 weeks (and inevitably lost it), or I could have bought one in New Zealand, but they seemed quite expensive there, so I took a gamble and left it until Chile. The gamble looked like failing, as it was looking hard to find, and Lonely Planet informed me that camping gear can be quite pricey in Chile. But I had one place left to go, Paris. This is a big department store chain, a sort of Dunnes I guess, which has a big store on the main street. So I went there and they did have camping gear listed on their menu at the front, on the 6th floor of 11.

However when I got up there I nearly missed the camping section it was so small (I guess it could be seasonal) but luckily there were sleeping bags (in fact that is all there was). And they did cost a lot, I think it was 6 euro. For some reason I had to pay by card, not cash, so I think the charges on the transaction will cost more than the bag itself. If it lasts me the 6 or 7 nights I´m going to need it here, it will be the bargain of the trip.

In the evening I went to the suburb that was closest to where I was staying, Brasil. It had looked dead enough when I passed by it the previous day, but just a the centre closes down at dusk, it was only beginning to open at 7pm. I found a bar that served me a giant tortilla. It was the size of a large pizza and twice as deep as a normal deep pan. I couldn´t finish it all, which is unusual for me. The place was nicely packed with local girls, who are generally quite good looking, although they all were smoking in this place. Of course I did pick a table in the smoking zone.

Showing how much better the suburbs were, I also found an internet cafe that was open until midnight, so I was able to blog away, and organise my trip to Valparaiso.