Santiago

As you fly into Santiago, the setting is dramatic. You fly over incredible snow covered mountains for nearly an hour, and then land very suddenly in the city, which is just at the feet of the Andes. Up close though, Santiago shares with mexico city (although not in such an extreme way) the problem of being in a smog-covered bowl. Apparently on a clear day you can see the andes in Santiago. Today, however, was not apparently one of those days.
The city is of medium size, about 5 million, and looks like a typical western hemisphere creation: sky scrapers and straight streets. It is apparently not a tourist destination: I saw/heard no other foreigners on my excursion today.
The city seems a bit up and down. The architecture is pretty generic, kind of like la defense or canary warf, but all over the city not just in one region. There is little historical stuff. I am staying in las condas, a particularly soulless region that is truly an overgrown la defense. There are starbucks on every corner and lots of guys in suits barking into their phones. That said, my hotel is amazing. I have an enormous studio flat, complete with kitchen, living room, and a huge balcony. The place is both bigger and better equipped than my place in London. My flat is very high, which means I am in an ideal position to spy on all the neighbours. Through this mode of enquiry, I can see that some people in this city have truly amazing flats. Some have huge garden patios on their balconies, which are big enough to host a huge party on. Others, further down on the street level have gated gardens bigger than my huge flat, sealed off from the world by enormous palm trees. The climate is such that now, even in autumn, I can sit outside on the balcony comfortably in a tank top, watching as people have their family dinners below. People are sitting out in their palm-lined gardens drinking what appear to be very enticing cocktails, smoking and chatting.
furthermore, even I, a confirmed urban troglodyte, must concede that there are some incredibly beautiful parks. I spent an hour or so today wandering through st lucia and was amazed at the things that kept turning up (natural stuff like waterfalls, as well as numerous lovers who appeared to have no where else to go to make out). Perhaps the rocky and mountainous nature of the park appealed to my troglodyte soul, or maybe it was the wonderful views of the skyscrapers, but I did enjoy the excursion. The other thing about Santiago is that it seems incredibly safe. There were no catcalls or hooting as I walked around, there are public dustbins everywhere, and when I accidentally walked out of a shop without all my change, (about 1 pound) the woman who worked there came running after me. Today I made an investigation of the centre. I wandered aimless for several hours, ending up munching an enormous ice cream at plaza de armas. A satisfying day.