Chile
Santiago | Valparaiso | Chiloe
A land of dramatic landscapes, great wine and diverse cultures
Chile boasts some of the world's most varied and dramatic landscapes squeezed between the Pacific Ocean and the base of the Andes, one of world's great mountain ranges. To comprehend its diverse geography, imagine a single country stretching from Baja California through California, the Pacific northwest coast and up to the Alaskan Panhandle. Chile's length—including the entire length of its jagged coast and islands—is an amazing 12,606 km in all, making it the 19th-longest country in the world when measured by coastline, and the second-longest in South America.
Once thought of as remote beyond the reaches of most travellers, Chile is now one of the most modern and convenient travel destinations in South America, with contemporary infrastructure and comforts, and an outstanding reputation for safety. Combined with its booming economy and strong peso, that also means prices are high in comparison with the rest of the continent. Among Chilean specialty tours are those focusing on wine production, desert flora and fauna, trout fishing, stunning Patagonian landscapes and geology.
Modern Chile reflects Spanish, Basque, British, German and Croatian ancestry, but the bulk of the population is mestizo. Even so, there are still a million indigenous Mapuche in the south, a nation that remained autonomous until the late 19th century.
Santiago
Santiago, like Chile in general, has enjoyed a renaissance of cultural, intellectual and especially commercial activity for two consecutive decades. The Andes Mountains overlook Santiago's eastern edge, and their snowy peaks provide good hiking, skiing, rafting and kayaking—and the beach is only a short drive away. Small wonder it is the country's capital and largest city, and one of the largest urban metropolis' on the continent.
Santiago Centro (downtown Santiago) is still dotted with Spanish colonial buildings and old churches. Other neighborhoods house international restaurants, upscale boutiques and lively nightlife. Tourist areas are compact, and the resident Santiaguinos are pleasantly helpful. The city has a certain efficiency to it that is not found elsewhere in Latin America, and an obvious prosperous feel to it. The major drawback is that ongoing development and traffic congestion have created air pollution and smog, and the shanty towns on the outskirts appear to be growing (albeit in a controlled state).
WHEN TO TRAVEL to Santiago
Santiago, due to its position in the central region, has a Mediterranean climate with well-defined seasons. Spring, between September and November is mild and is probably the best time to visit Santiago, December to February, is dry and hot. On the coast the temperature drop can be much more extreme. In winter, mornings are cold, some as low as -2º C and although the temperature rises at midday it rarely exceeds 15°C.
Valparaiso
Founded in 1536, 120 km northwest of Santiago, the port of Valparaiso was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its distinctively spontaneous hills' neighborhoods and their vernacular architecture, including more than a dozen ascensores (funicular cable cars) that connect the port with its surrounding heights.
Specific sites include the Church of La Matriz, Plaza Victoria, the Naval and Maritime Museum, and especially La Sebastiana, one of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's many eclectically decorated homes, located high above the harbour; dedicated urban explorers could easily spend several days there. Also consider a visit to Neruda's home at Isla Negra, on the sandy shoreline south of Valparaiso. (Though it's called Isla Negra—Spanish for "Black Island"—it's not an island at all.) The house contains a museum with items belonging to the poet.
Santiaguinos have begun to rehabilitate many of Valparaiso's historic houses and turn them into stylish hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants and cafes, so much so that the city now overshadows the traditional holiday destination of nearby Vina del Mar. It has also become a major cruise-ship destination; a sparkling new metro system connects Valparaiso to Vina.
Chiloe
Southwest of Puerto Montt, about 1,095 km south of Santiago, Chiloe is an archipelago of dense evergreen forests with a fascinating history. The Amerindians who lived there were among the last to be defeated by the Spanish (and, subsequently, its inhabitants were the last Spaniards to hold out against an independent Chile). It was also among the islands visited by naturalist Charles Darwin, who explored what is now Chiloe National Park.
Castro, the capital on the main island, is an old town with lovely palafitos—houses built on stilts—along the shores of an inland sea. With its fading banana-colored paint job, the Iglesia San Francisco de Castro, dating from 1912, is unmistakable; it contains particularly gruesome representations of the Crucifixion. As a whole, Chiloe's shingled Jesuit churches and chapels are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Though the weather is often foggy and cool, the climate adds to, rather than detracts from, Chiloe's atmospheric beauty. Linked to the mainland by ferry, the longitudinal Panamerican Highway runs the length of the island. Chiloe is also a good place to shop for woolen pullovers and is the ideal location for trying fresh seafood dishes—in particular curanto, a steaming cauldron of shellfish, dumplings and meat.