Over the Andes

The flight into Santiago from Sao Paulo is spectacular. You cross the Andes from the Argentinian side in the East and then drop into a valley with the Andes to your left and the Chilean Coastal Mountain range to your right.

Somewhere in the smog is Santiago

About 6,000,000 people live here, which is around a third of the entire population of Chile. The city lies in the center of a large bowl-shaped valley surrounded by mountains, the highest of which is the Tupungato volcano at 21,500 feet (6,570 Metres). Because of its geography, high levels of smog get trapped close to the ground, making this one of the most air-polluted cities in the world.

That said, Santiago is a pleasant enough place, and I´m quite taken by it, particularly the district of Bella Vista which I visited earlier today. Bella Vista contains the Parque Metropolitano, with panoramic views of the city (or what you can make out of the city through the smog), and also one of the homes of Pablo Neruda http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/neruda.htm which I also visited. On one of the walls there was a photograph of him with Tom Jobim who wrote "Girl from Ipanema". Too much of a coincidence really.

Wall Art, Bella Vista

The Rio song has gone! I watched a football match on TV last night, and when it finished, someone put this on the jukebox:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY7wuV_C1oI

Bob Smith displaces Nesmith.

I hire a car and leave Santiago tomorrow, heading for Valparaiso on the Pacific Coast, and then down to the Chilean Lake District. Judging by some of the antics I´ve seen on the road over the last couple of days, this may be an interesting journey.......... 

Wall art 2, Bella Vista

Wall art 3, Bella Vista

Wall Art 4, Bella Vista

Pablo Neruda´s House

Rio Mapocho

Arch, Centro

London/Paris