I have ever been in, it seemed huge to a little girl from Idaho. After the 6+ hour bus ride we luckily found where we needed to be, got set up in a pretty decent hostel, and started our adventure!Above: The city is nestled down in between the mountains, but you can't even see it from this high because of the smog!
We went skiing the first whole day we were there, it was amazing! I'm not really into skiing or snowboarding, I hadn't skied since I was 12 I think, but I couldn't pass up a chance to ski in the Andes. The ride up to the mountain was a bit terrifying, the road was very steep and windy and barely wide enough for 2 cars, I didn't enjoy it. But the scenery was beautiful, it was interesting to go from mountains covered in cacti to snow covered peaks. Another thing that blew my mind was the smog! Of course you can't really tell when you're in the city, but from way up there we could see actually how bad it was. We could barely see the ou
tline of the building, as you can tell in the pics. The outlines got fainter and fainter the higher we went. I had read about it before I came, but I was still amazed at how bad it is. Anyway, skiing was lots of fun, I can't even explain how awesome the view was, the pics don't do it justice at all. You all just need to come see it for yourselves:)
tline of the building, as you can tell in the pics. The outlines got fainter and fainter the higher we went. I had read about it before I came, but I was still amazed at how bad it is. Anyway, skiing was lots of fun, I can't even explain how awesome the view was, the pics don't do it justice at all. You all just need to come see it for yourselves:)We happened to be in Santiago on a very important date for Chile, September 11th. Of course I had 9/11 on my mind because I'm American, but it's a huge day in Chilean history also. Here's why: In 1970, Chile was a socialist country, with Salvador Allende as president. Allende did a lot of good things for Chile, he increased social assistance for health, housing, education, and child assisstance programs. He also increased wages. But he socialized certain industries which led to horrible inflation and economic decline. The US was strongly against Allende, but very quiet about it, they feared Chile would become a Communist country under him. Finally in 1973, all of the conflicts came to a head and the military overthrew Allende. The Navy took over Valpairiso, the port nearest the capital, the Air Force bombed every radio and tv station in Santiago, every branch of the military were against the president, Los Carabineros, Air Force, Navy, Army, even the Investigations Police. Presiden
t Allende refused to resign or flee from La Moneda (equivalent of our White House) even under threat of bombing. So, the Army attacked, killing all of the socialist resistance outside, and eventually bombed La Moneda, alledgedly killing Allende. But there is still some debate as to whether he committed suicide before the bombing. The Armed Forces took anyone in support of the government as prisoners, there were thousands killed in the first month of the military regime. Over 40,000 were imprisoned and tortured in the World Stadium in Santiago. Basically there were concentration camps all over the city for so-called political enemies. They don't even have a total estimate because there were so many that disappeared and to this day no one knows what happened to them. So needless to say, this is a huge day for Chile, a very emotional day. And since the US funded and supported this miltary coup, we weren't exactly regarded fondly on this day.
t Allende refused to resign or flee from La Moneda (equivalent of our White House) even under threat of bombing. So, the Army attacked, killing all of the socialist resistance outside, and eventually bombed La Moneda, alledgedly killing Allende. But there is still some debate as to whether he committed suicide before the bombing. The Armed Forces took anyone in support of the government as prisoners, there were thousands killed in the first month of the military regime. Over 40,000 were imprisoned and tortured in the World Stadium in Santiago. Basically there were concentration camps all over the city for so-called political enemies. They don't even have a total estimate because there were so many that disappeared and to this day no one knows what happened to them. So needless to say, this is a huge day for Chile, a very emotional day. And since the US funded and supported this miltary coup, we weren't exactly regarded fondly on this day. The night of September 11th we were told not to go out, there would be lots of demonstrations and protests, and that it can get dangerous. But we figured it would at least be safe to go out to dinner. Everything was fine, no one was as friendly as usual, but nothing drastic happened. Then when we were almost done the workers in the restaurant lit candles all over and turned the lights down. Then the music stopped and they played a broadcast from that day September 11, 1973. Some people kept eating and talking, but others stopped to watch the candles, others, older people, were crying. It is a very emotional day for those people who rememb
er it, and I did feel somewhat disrespectful, being an outsider. I was glad to be able to witness the reaction of the people, but I felt like we were intruding on a sacred thing. We happened to be staying a block away from what was a concentration camp, there were bricks in the road with names of the few among those held that they had information about. On our way back home people in the street had lit candles all around the bricks and were watching some sort of documentary in the street. We headed quickly back to our hostel because we weren't sure how people would react to a couple Americans out on that night.
er it, and I did feel somewhat disrespectful, being an outsider. I was glad to be able to witness the reaction of the people, but I felt like we were intruding on a sacred thing. We happened to be staying a block away from what was a concentration camp, there were bricks in the road with names of the few among those held that they had information about. On our way back home people in the street had lit candles all around the bricks and were watching some sort of documentary in the street. We headed quickly back to our hostel because we weren't sure how people would react to a couple Americans out on that night. The next day we set out to explore the city, but about a block away from our hostel we walked by a man laying in the street, at first I couldn't tell if he was just a homeless guy sleeping in the street, or a hung over protester from the night before, but then I noticed blood on his mouth. So I stopped and pointed out to Chris that he was vomitting up blood. So we ran to get help, but no one seemed to think it was as urgent as we did. The lady in the hotel closest got up to look at him through the window, then decided to try the ambulance, but there was no answer. So she tried the emergency police number, and they were supposedly on their way. We wanted to wait to make sure he got help, all the while people just walked by and did nothing. The maids in the hotel just watched him try to move and try to get up, but he couldn't, he was in bad shape. I wanted to help him, but I couldn't touch him because he was covered in blood and I didn't know if it would be safe for me to approach him, and I didn't know where to take him to get medical help anyway. So we continued to wait for the emergency police, who never came. There was a carabinero (branch of the Chilean police) around the corner giving out parking tickets, so we ran to tell him the situation thinking he would help. But he did nothing. I guess writin
g parking tickets is more important than helping out another human in dire need. I was frustrated to the point of tears. We kept asking the lady in the hotel what else we could do, she said nothing. She finally told us to leave and it would get taken care of. I was torn, I wanted nothing more than to get away from that situation, but at the same time I was afraid if we left he would lay there all day bleeding. But when we came back a few hours later he was gone, so I'm hoping he got to a hospital. That kind of put a damper on our day of exploring the city, but we still saw a lot of cool things. We visited lots of monuments, churches (there is a ridiculous number of churches in Santiago), cool buildings. It is a really cool city. At the end of the day we went to La Moneda and the monument of Pres. Allende and there were still flowers there from the day before. I was glad we got to visit the city when there was so much political and cultural stuff going on.
g parking tickets is more important than helping out another human in dire need. I was frustrated to the point of tears. We kept asking the lady in the hotel what else we could do, she said nothing. She finally told us to leave and it would get taken care of. I was torn, I wanted nothing more than to get away from that situation, but at the same time I was afraid if we left he would lay there all day bleeding. But when we came back a few hours later he was gone, so I'm hoping he got to a hospital. That kind of put a damper on our day of exploring the city, but we still saw a lot of cool things. We visited lots of monuments, churches (there is a ridiculous number of churches in Santiago), cool buildings. It is a really cool city. At the end of the day we went to La Moneda and the monument of Pres. Allende and there were still flowers there from the day before. I was glad we got to visit the city when there was so much political and cultural stuff going on. I loved my time in Santiago, especially because I learned so much. There was basically a holocaust here in Chile 30 years ago but we never learn about it because our govern
ment backed the entity that made it happen. It really makes you feel helpless to know horrible things like this happen all over the world and there's no way to prevent it, it's happening now in other countries around the world. It made me proud of these people I have been surrounded by for the last month, they have endured a lot. I feel a little more Chilean after experiencing some of the emotions their history inspires. At the same time this trip made me grateful to be American, where people don't lie bleeding in the streets.
ment backed the entity that made it happen. It really makes you feel helpless to know horrible things like this happen all over the world and there's no way to prevent it, it's happening now in other countries around the world. It made me proud of these people I have been surrounded by for the last month, they have endured a lot. I feel a little more Chilean after experiencing some of the emotions their history inspires. At the same time this trip made me grateful to be American, where people don't lie bleeding in the streets. 