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Santiago is a city of simple beauty. I am here on a Waldorf School student
exchange, and I am staying with the family of a girl my age. Santiago is one of
the largest cities in South America and is located in the northern half of
Chile. I expected it to be industrial, gray, and from what I'd heard, not a lot
else. It took me about a week here before I felt that I had a good sense of the
city, and my expectations were exceeded.
There are a variety of neighborhoods, all different from anything in the
United States. The air is pretty polluted, but only blocks the ability to see
large distances. Santiago is in a valley between two mountain ranges, and when
the air is clear enough to notice them it is quite remarkable to look up and see
the Andes rising from the sloping edges of the city.
In the residential areas, the streets are lined with big leafy trees.
Wrought iron fences and gates or adobe walls separate the houses set back from
the sidewalks. The nicer houses are old-fashioned and European-styled, while on
other streets the houses are flat, painted adobe. Stone apartment buildings and
modern glass high-rises grow from the center in the downtown district of the
city. This district is busy with wide streets and always many people. Throughout
the city, kiosks stand on most of the corners where vendors sell magazines,
candy and cigarettes; smoking is much, much more common here than in the U.S.
For those lacking time to stop at one of these stands, vendors wind through the
stopped cars at every stoplight, selling chocolate bars and beverages. Jugglers
and street performers can often be spotted as well at intersections.
Public transportation is very much used, although the entire metro
and bus system was recently changed, and the new "Transantiago"
is reportedly a disaster. As the city is mostly flat and has wide sidewalks, the
bicycle is a great alternative to avoid the congested crowds that are a result
of the new methods.
Chile has a culture of warm,
friendly people who always greet each other with a kiss on the cheek and talk
with a entire vocabulary of slang words completely unique to this long skinny
country. Santiago has a dusty, natural dirtiness
about it, but it doesn't really feel unclean. It's not elegant and glamorous the
way Buenos Aires is, but I find it to be a beautiful
city.
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