All good things must come to an end. However, we deliberately left some sites unexplored since I had fallen in amor with Santiago and envisioned myself someday living there. A leisurely stroll, or uphill climb rather, through a magnificent park filled out the last morning of the trip. The Cerro (hill) Santa Lucía is a vertical labyrinth interspersed with various statues, lookouts, ponds, murals and ruins of a Spanish fortification. It dates back to when the founders of the city established a settlement under the hill so they could fend off enemies. In 1872 it was transformed into an atypical green space with hanging gardens and fountains. At the very top there is a impressive view of Santiago. Too bad it wasn’t clear enough to see the Andes that day but others have been quite lucky.
Halfway up Cerro St. Lucia
On to Santiago’s General Cemetery which was founded in 1820. Over two million people are buried there, including the majority of Chile’s presidents. Unlike what I’ve seen in Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, the Cementerio General contains luxurious tombs but also the most humble amidst the flowering trees and lush gardens. Most constructions are from the 19th century, everything from Gothic and Muslim to Egyptian styles. Also of note were the concrete slabs and the tiny toys and beloved objects that were buried with the niños.
Cementerio General de Santiago
Very different from Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.
Cemetery Toys
It's good to honor your loved ones, but this seems a bit much.
Soon, it was time for a coffee break. A few years back, if you were a businessman in Santiago you would most likely get your coffee at a caffeine joint with blackened out windows and neon lights. The concept, called Café con Piernas literally translated as “coffee with legs” became popular in the 1990s in Santiago as a way of reviving the café culture; the scantily clothed women lured the businessmen in for a cortado and the concept, as seedy as it sounds, is a perfectly natural part of the working day. I tried the coffee at a tamer version of café con piernas, called Café Caribe.
According to Chilean connoisseurs (of both coffee and legs), the best coffee in Santiago can be found accompanied by legs.
