City streets and mountain views by TheWanderingCamel
With so much of the city being quite new or heavily restored as a consequence of the disastrous earthquake of 1960, and its generally conservative appearance, Santiago doesn't give off much of an air of excitement or an historic past. It's a pleasant city to walk in, the Metro is clean and very efficient, there are lots of wide avenues and attractive plazas, lots of restaurants, nice parks, smart shops, a few fine old buildings and some interesting museums. Sitting in a bowl as it does, there are plenty of days when the pollution is really bad - but it isn't the only city in the world with that particular problem. All in all, it's another attractive, modern city going about its business - you could be just about anywhere. But then you see a little girl in Indian dress walking ahead of you in the street - a face straight out of the Andes. You look up, and there are the mountains, so close that some days you feel you could touch them.We flew to Santiago from Buenos Aires, into the sunset. Crossing the Andes was so beautiful - the snow turning the rosiest pink beneath the plane and the Pacific Ocean ahead of us golden in the light of the setting sun. An unforgettable sight.