Santiago Day 1: Gran Torre Costanera

I can see the Andes from here!
Of course, you can see the Andes from just about anywhere in Santiago as long as the fog/smog isn't too thick.

The final extremely touristy thing I did today was visit Gran Torre Costanera. Of course, I'm a tourist. I do touristy things. Because that's what we tourists do. 

The Gran Torre Costanera is the tallest building in South America. It's 300m tall, which translates to 980 feet. Which translates to: damn that's tall. Especially since this is a country known for having some of the most massive earthquakes on the planet. (Only Japan and Alaska really compete with Chile for the power of their seismic activity.)

The Santiago modern business district has a "Sun Belt" feel to it, meaning the buildings are spaced apart, campus-like, even though they are skyscrapers. This is the Los Angeles or Dallas way of doing things. It is not like an East Coast city, or a European skyscraper district.

And that's part of the reason why Chile and Santiago definitely has a "first world" vibe. Lima was a third world city. That's not a criticism. I would be direct if I were criticizing Lima in this way. But in Santiago, the streets are paved smooth. Traffic is quiet even when it is thick (and the thick traffic is limited to rush hours). Lanes are respected. (I've read that this us called "lane integrity." Santiago has it.)

The Gran Torre Costanera is an office building and a shopping mall. To ascend to the observation deck near (but not at) the top, you walk through the shopping mall section, not the office building section.

And the shopping mall part of the Gran Torre Costanera has a gi-normous "Hello Kitty" store. Yes, we are in the upscale part of the world.

You pay your money -- about $18 dollars U.S., or 18,000 Chilean pesos -- 1000 Chilean pesos is about a dollar -- close enough for "in your head" currency conversion -- and you get on the elevator and are whisked up 61 stories. The elevator opens to this:

A model of the building you are in.

It is not always this sunny in Santiago, so if I ever was going to go the observation deck of the Gran Torre Costanera, today would be the day. And the views were great.

The problem, however, with being this high up, is that you can't really make out details in the buildings below. I can see Cerro Santa Lucia, which is the hill near my hotel. I could see Cerro San Cristobal and a glimpse of the giant Virgin Mary statue at the top of that hill. But even if I knew the architectural features of Santiago better, I don't think I could find them. And the names of various sights are even listed above the windows!

There still was a few more stories of building above the observation deck level. But this was high enough for me.

Of course, there was an "open air" deck one floor up. Should I brave it? I've already come this far.

Turns out: the "open air" deck is not all that "open air." The air is noticeably cooler than on the climate-controlled observation deck floor below. But it's not "open," with maybe fencing or a cage-like structure like I was fearing.

Thank God there are no plexiglas balconies here.

The views are nice from the "open air" deck, but they are not really all that different from the fully-enclosed floor of the observation deck below. Look! There are the Andes. And that was the best part. The Andes were quite visible on this sunny autumn day, but not any more visible in the crisper air of the "open air" deck.

Truth be told, however, with the glass of this particular "open air" deck extending up about five or six more stories above the top of my head, this was my kind of "open air" observation deck.

And here I am in case you thought that I really would not go to the top of a skinny 1000-foot tall skyscraper in earthquake country. 

I look like I'm having the time of my life way up at the top of this skinny 1000-foot tall skyscraper in earthquake country. Say, aren't those the Andes just over my right shoulder?

Santiago Day 1: the Japanese Garden

Gran Torre Costanera as seen from the Japanese Garden

A short walk uphill from the Oasis Aerial Tram Station is another interesting section of Santiago's Parque Metropolitana: the Japanese Garden. I'm not usually a "Japanese Garden" type of tourist, but why not?

The aerial trams were overhead walking to the Japanese Garden.

And this was to let me know I was in the right place.

Cat on a hot tile roof.

Actually, even though it was sunny, the temperature was, at most 60 degrees -- that would be 15 if you are tracking in Celsius -- so it was more like "cat on a 'warm enough for a mid fall day' roof."

And we will end with a visit to Turtle Island:

I didn't see any turtles. And you can't really visit there since that would require walking through the pond and walking through ponds in a Japanese Garden is verboten. But it was an island. Next stop:

This teasing about the Gran Torre Costanera is about to end. After a half-hour walk It's farther than it looks.

Santiago: I Ride a Funicular, Then an Aerial Tram. Can Life Be Better?

At the "Oasis" teleferico station

I am in Santiago de Chile. For the second time in six months. Why? Because it's a great city with lots of things to do and I only had two full days/three nights here back in November. And I wanted more. More Santiago de Chile, por favor.

It's a cool crisp fall day in Santiago. I was expecting, based on its latitude, Atlanta type weather. It's more like Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., in November. This definitely is a city of four seasons. 

And there is water in the Mapocho River even those spring melting season past long ago.

Anyway, I only scheduled a couple of days in Santiago during my Chile trip last November because everyone on the internet -- including Chilenos -- said it was boring and dangerous. One or the other is bad enough. But both? I scheduled the minimum amount of time to give the city is a quick look-see and found out that is neither. There is a lot to do. There are great restaurants and wines. The people are very friendly. Prices are cheap. Other than the fact that, being so far south, it's a long flight from the USA, I don't understand why everyone does not want to be here. Oh, did I mention that it is lightly touristed on top of all the other pluses.

This is Santiago's Bellavista, just north of the Mapacho River. This is a major world capital and just a little north of the central core things are peaceful and quiet. It is really hard to believe Santiago is lightly touristed when I reach my first destination of my first day in Santiago: the funicular.

I love a funicular. 

I did ride this the first time in Santiago because if a city has a funicular, that is usually my top tourist priority. If there are any cities I've visited and I've not ridden its funicular, it is either because I did not know it was there (Quebec City) or I heard it was a waste (Zagreb, Croatia, perhaps the shortest functioning funicular in the world).

The Santiago funicular is so nice I've now ridden it twice.

Why a second ride up the mountain side on the fun-icular railway? (A) Do you need a reason? (B) It was the best way to get to the aerial tram traversing Parque Metropolitana de Santiago from high atop Cerro San Cristobal.

It's not a long trip up the mountainside. And, oh by the way, did you know that next year, 2025, is the centennial anniversary of the Cerro San Cristobal funicular railway. Perhaps I should re-arrange my vacation schedule for next year.

At the top of the right, the first sight to see is the Santuario Cerro San Cristobal and the tall statue of the Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepción, the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, which is visible in Santiago when it's not too foggy/smoggy.

Today was a clear day, relatively.

It is a climb from the upper funicular station.

After paying my respects, it was time to move on, to the Teleferico.

The "Teleferico" is the aerial tram that traverses a big section of Parque Metropolitana. It is an alternative route down the side of Cerro San Cristobal. The slope is more gentle given that it is a whole lot longer.

I do understand the old aerial tram car being outside the uppert station of the tram line. I'm not sure the reason for the Big Chair. It can't be perspective, since the chair is really big. Edith Ann sized at least, if Edith Ann were in a giant, over-sized Adirondack chair.

Time to get on board.

Rush hour on the tram line:

The tram is mostly traversing the open park land of a huge green space just on the north side of Central Santiago and its business district.

Soon the tram car reaches the "Oasis" tram station.

Activity, but it's not like it's lousy with tourists. The area around the Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepción was lousy with school kids. And, despite the signs around the Santuario San Cristobal saying "Silencio," the school kids were loud. As school kids are wont to do, being school kids. Maybe they did not understand the directive "Silencio." I heard schools don't teach foreign languages much anymore. (That was a weak joke. Very weak.)

The view at the base of the aerial tram route, which still was a but elevated, was very nice. The Gran Torre Costanera against the backdrop of the snow-covered Andres Mountains. But that is for later.