Things to do in Santiago Chile: 6 Secrets of Santiago

Visiting Easter Island – a territory of Chile, 2000 miles off into the Pacific – is one the  most special things to do in Santiago Chile.   But what about Santiago’s music, and politics?  And desert?   What about skiing?   Check out my 6 Secrets of Santiago, for off-the-beaten-track things to do in Santiago Chile!

SNOWY things to do in Santiago Chile

You probably know that a giant stretch of Andes lies in Chile, but did you know that, if you’re looking for things to do in Santiago Chile, skiing is right outside the city limits?

Valle Nevada is less than 1 hour  from Santiago – vertical distance, that is!  You switchback from the city streets, straight up to 12,000’, traveling “above the cactus line” to the complex of 3 resorts that service the mountain.

From the top, the mountains roll on and on, one behind the other, like endless waves from a shore.

And the space is hard to fathom --  here is Dan skiing down

 

And down

 

And down.

 

 What about all your equipment?   I know an outfitter who can set you up with skis/snowboards, and even coats and mittens – AND deliver you to the lift!

SANDY things to do in Santiago Chile

The Atacama Desert – the driest place on earth! – is just north of Santiago Chile.  You might know the Atacama from the tragic miners' story in 2010.

An unforgettable thing to do in Santiago Chile is to sidetrip into this desert.  There are ancient mummies,  crumbling ghost towns,  active geysers,  landmarks of sand dunes like Valley of the Moons, and lagoons full of flamingos.

(Political) SCIENCE  things to do in Santiago Chile

The story of the Pinochet regime – the threatening years from 1973 til 1990,  shaped Santiago Chile in a way that’s complicated and profound.   A day spent with a political history guide is heavy, but so worthwhile, in order to learn the history and also to gain some insight into how modern-day Chileans continue to process this. 

Start in the city, before the Presidential palace, and hear what happened the day of the coup, when Pinochet’s planes air-raided the palace.

Follow the history out to Villa Grimaldi, where the Regime "disappeared" people during its reign.  Thankfully, today, it is a Peace Park.

SONG things to do in Santiago Chile

This club oozes atmosphere with different types of jazz featured throughout the week -- blues this night, dixie the next, progressive on weekends.  Out of all the musical and cultural things to do in Santiago Chile, this  famous club is a top choice -- it's show you famous as well as local acts!  Check out the celebrities:

It's called Club de Jazz de Stg, and here's where you'll find it: 

SAPPHIC  things to do in Santiago Chile

Well, if not exactly in the Sapphic meter,  Nobel-winning poet Pablo Neruda wrote poetry from his home in Santiago Chile.   When you visit his home, imagine him sitting at his desk, taking inspiration from the art on his walls and scene outside his window, to write his verse.

Here's one of my Neruda favorites:

I want you to know
one thing. 

You know how this is: 
if I look 
at the crystal moon, at the red branch 
of the slow autumn at my window, 
if I touch 
near the fire 
the impalpable ash 
or the wrinkled body of the log, 
everything carries me to you, 
as if everything that exists, 
aromas, light, metals, 
were little boats 
that sail 
toward those isles of yours that wait for me. 

Well, now, 
if little by little you stop loving me 
I shall stop loving you little by little. 

If suddenly 
you forget me 
do not look for me, 
for I shall already have forgotten you. 


SEASHORE things to do in Santiago Chile

One of the easiest daytime things to do in Santiago Chile is a bus ride to Valapraiso.

This small coastal town clings to the cliffs over the harbor about 1 hour west of Santiago Chile.  You can board a skiff for a harbor tour, or ride the funicular up the hill for fantastic views.

There is colorful street art,  and yummy orange juice to buy from street stalls... charming neighborhoods to explore and ceviche to sample.   We hit a local parade on the morning we were there.  

But while you're choosing between things to do in Santiago Chile, don't forget Easter Island -- you'll never regret it!   Check out last week's blog to read more on the Moai!

TRAVEL TO EASTER ISLAND: the mystery of the Moai

MEET THE MOAI when you travel to Easter Island

Standing 20-40’ tall, on the cusp of the south Pacific,

Each unique, representing the natives’ forebears.  This one has an earring, that one a  heavy brow

They’re typically in groups, on their Ahu, or platforms,

And the native Rapa Nuians worship them, as conduits to the gods.

When you travel to Easter Island, spend sunset with the moai.  Sit on the grass before them.  Absorb the heat of the sinking sun, and together, let the darkness fall around you, as one more day closes on this tiny speck in the Pacific.

HOW DID THE FIRST PEOPLE TRAVEL TO EASTER ISLAND

Historians debate this –

Did they paddle from Polynesia? The shape of their dwellings, fishhooks,  and double-blade paddles are all Polynesian, and one early English sailor reportedly spoke to them in a dialect from Bora Bora.

Or did they travel to Easter Island on tradewinds from the coast of South America?   Their precise stonework clearly looks Incan, and their rongo-rongo tablets (wooden tablets that record history) are also found in Peru's southern reed islands.

They arrived around 400AD.

HOW WILL YOU TRAVEL TO EASTER ISLAND

You can travel to Easter Island either eastbound from Papeete Tahiti or westbound from  Chile.   One bonus of travel to Easter Island is the stop in Santiago Chile, where you’ll find the closest skiing, the driest desert, international jazz and some of my favorite poetry from Nobel-prize-winner Pablo Neruda.  Check out next week's blog to read 5 Secrets of Santiago.

WHAT’S THE LODGING WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO EASTER ISLAND?

I know a pair of guides whose guesthouse is ensconced in a bougainvillea-d garden…  who’ll make you fresh guava jam for breakfast… and whose ancestry is almost as storied as the moai themselves.

Her granddad was the archeologist who headed moai restoration in the ‘60s.

His grandmother was the last baby born in a native settlement on Ovahe Beach before the British arrived.

They’ll give you the inside scoop when you travel to Easter Island. Their sister owns a restaurant by the harbor where you can try ceviche!

Their cousin’s a woodcarver whose moai statues, sculpted from the local chinaberry tree, make incredible touchstones to this magical experience.

WHAT’RE THE ACTIVITIES WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO EASTER ISLAND?

Jeep around the island.  Learn ancient history, and hear stories of modern island life (imagine living 2000 miles from a hospital!)  Walk through the quarry – some of the last moai were abandoned there, and one, at 69’,  was simply too large to move!

Pick bananas in the lava tubes  where natives used to grow small crops,sheltered from trade winds.

Rent a bike.  Travel to Easter Island is safe, and you can strike out of your own to explore the sea caves.

Walk around the ahus. The moai tower over your head, detailed with amazing tattoos, Tim-Burton-esque fingers, and fancy headwear.   Watch their faces – they stare straight out, yet feel so present.

Swim in a turquoise bay encircled by dark lava rocks.

When you travel to Easter Island, take a day on horseback along the remote north coast.  5 hours in the saddle is the only way to see the archeological remains in this road-less area.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO EASTER ISLAND

It’s a microcosm of world history – populations over-consuming limited resources and falling into self-destruction.

Easter Island had abundant seafood and fertile soil, so populations boomed!  Originally ruled by a kingdom set up along the NW coast, the remainder was divided like a pie, with each tribe getting a wedge.   Their “crust” was the coast where they had access to fish, and they crossed each others land only to access the quarry, Rano Raraku, to carve and excavate their Moai.

Trees were cut down to make charcoal for cooking, and also sleds (which were used to roll the moai as many as 50 miles, to their resting place on the ahus, in each settlement). In the ongoing tribal one-upmanship, the moai got bigger and more numerous, until the island was eventually deforested.

Competition created wars. Tribes toppled each other’s moai and even killed.   By the 1700s, when the first colonial ship arrived on Easter Sunday (thus the name), only about 2000  Rapa Nuians remained.

In the 1920s,  England took over the island for sheep herding.  All remaining natives were relocated into a single town, called Hanga Roa, which is where you’d lodge today.   The island’s entire remaining shoreline was left bare, natural, and strangely undeveloped!

Easter Island remains the most remote, continuously inhabited island, on the face of our earth.

HOW MANY DAYS SHOULD YOU ALLOCATE FOR TRAVEL TO EASTER ISLAND?

Easter Island is officially part of Chile, 2000 miles and a $700+ airplane ticket from Santiago.   So, stay 3 or 4 nights. It’s a quiet, small, but thought-provoking place.  You’ll want some time to soak it up.

DO YOU NEED A VISA TO TRAVEL TO EASTER ISLAND? 

No Visa, nor special immunizations, needed for travel to Easter Island. 

An appetite for seafood would be useful, though.

Easter Island...a long but worthwhile trek

Easter Island – Rapa Nui in the native tongue --  is a minute volcanic island in the South Pacific with a history magnificent enough to captivate any imagination.  

It holds the designation as the most remote, continuously inhabited island in the world, 

and its most storied occupants are the Moai, great carved beings who are representations of the people’s forebears.

 Your host guides welcome you into their guesthouse at the edge of town, and serve as interpreters for the ancient as well as modern history of their island– 

and then introduce you to a vaquero, or Chilean cowboy, to explore the lava tubes and ruins of the remote northern coast--

 or you can choose to rent a bike and strike out on your own.

Sunset is mellow – around the  cove of  sun-faded fishing boats and overseen by the stately moai, Ahu Tautira. 

And at day’s end,  there’re lantern-til taverns waiting for you, with batik-covered tables full of pisse (pronounced pee-see) straight from the sea and lemony-sharp chilean ceviche.  

All that’s left is a night of wind-blown solitude on your speck in the Pacific.