We're spoiled now. For the last week we've been staying at a friend's very nice place in Santiago. We have our own room, separate bathrooms, hot water even from the sinks, and can take a shower without wearing sandals! Extremely luxurious by our traveling standards. We've been threatening to give them good ratings on tripadvisor, or squat and never leave.
We came back to Chile (third time this trip!) to meet up with a confluence of friends for the Copa America final. Friends from DC (Alan and Andrew) plus other friends living in Santiago (Sam and TK). We've been having so much fun hanging out and catching up that we're behind on posts.
The Copa America final was held between Chile and Argentina here in Santiago on the 4th of July. Most of the nations of South America participated in the group stages over the past month, and we've had a great time watching matches during our travels. Santiago was noticeably gearing up in anticipation, and Chilean flags and swag quickly approached critical mass leading up to game day. The noise after Chile's dramatic victory from PKs was deafening: we saw crowds of exuberant Chileans fill the streets with flag-waving and honking. The next morning was like 28 Days Later as the whole city slept it off until noon.
Our 4th of July was pretty American: six of us Americans, breakfast pancakes, later watching the final at a Ruby Tuesday (I swear the non-chain local bars were full!) followed by a trip to Wendy's, with all of our red, white and blue from the Chilean revelers.
With the rest of our time, we saw pretty much every sight in Santiago. The typical Plaza de Armas, miradors, parks, markets, and museums, but everything here is very nice. The Precolombian Museum is the best we've seen on the continent. Plentiful artifacts covering both Americas, restored to look like new in fancy well-labeled climate-controlled displays.
A must-see is the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos. The museum covers the civil rights abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship during the 70s and 80s. The museum covers the military junta that overthrew President Allende in 1973 (including the bombing of the presidential palace), the oppression of years of military rule, the torture and murder of thousands of dissidents, and the resistance which eventually led to free elections and a return to democracy in 1990. Should be noted that during the dictatorship the national stadium (where the Copa America final was held) was used as a prison camp and torture center, and was also the site of the celebratory rally once democracy was restored. To this day a section of the unrenovated stands are reserved empty in memorial. A powerful and moving place, a symbol of Chile's long healing process.
We'll do a separate post on our overnight trip to Valparaiso. Today we're back to Argentina again, this time towards Buenos Aires.
-Peter
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