What to do and where to go in Santiago.

Santiago is quite a big city with many places to visit, but in my opinion is not the kind of city where I would like to spend my holydays. During most of the year the air quality is very pour, and almost every winter the authorities declare the city in a condition of environmental emergency. In summer, the temperatures reach so high degrees, that you actually don’t feel in a good mood to go somewhere. Even so, if a foreigner tourist is planning to visit Chile, I will recommend spending few days in Santiago (perhaps a week) to visit the main attractions of the city and the natural surroundings of it, like “el cajon del Maipo”.

In a hot summer day visit the museums became a really good option. In my opinion, The Pre-Columbian art museum is the most interesting of them; the exhibition contains several pieces that you won’t see in another type of museum. The other one that I like is the “MAC”, the contemporary art museum, because always has a different, attractive and fresh exposition. The last museum is located at the “forestal” park, a nice place with many trees to go for a walk. Near of it is the “emporio de la rosa”, a little and nice coffee shop where they make ice cream with special flavors, like Chili.

To taste some Chilean food, having lunch at the central Market can be a nice but not so cheap alternative. In the same area is placed “La Piojera”, a typical bar where you can enjoy a nice “terremoto”, a drink made with a kind of white wine called “pipeño” and pineapple ice cream. If that is not enough to fill the culinary curiosity, I recommend eating a “sopaipilla” with “pebre” at the Mapocho`s river bank, but this can be done just by people who have a strong stomach.

Those are some of my favorite places in Santiago, it will be a nice surprise to find them in a touristc guide of Santiago.