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Next stop after Valparaiso was Santiago, only 90 minutes away by bus. Tom and I were both heading to the capital so got a bus together and went to a hostel which had been recommended to me, that Tom had booked but I hadn't- luckily they had space! I was in a female dorm, first time on the trip I think, and being back in a dorm after having had my own room for over a week was fine; I actually slept pretty well and mostly didn't even really hear people getting up- either they were really quiet or I was just really tired!
The first afternoon there I got the chance to do 2 things that I hadn't planned on at all- go to a football match and go to a concert as there were a few people going from the hostel who kindly invited us along. Firstly the football- it was a local derby, 2 of Santiago's top first division teams- Colo Colo vs Universidad Catolica. Checks on entry to the stadium (once we found our entrance, took a while!) involved having my bottle of water and bottle of coke (potential missiles?) and the 2 pens in my bag confiscated (potential weapons?) confsicated and thrown in the bin, a bit annoying but understandable I guess! It ended up being a draw 1-1 but we missed both goals as we arrived late and missed the second whilst walking behind people to find seats! Never mind though, as always I enjoyed the atmosphere of being at the game (whereas I find football on TV a bit boring!). The fans were very enthusiastic and lively and it was interesting to see how the away fans were within an enclosure at one end- lots of fencing and barbed wire too. I think probably a bit like English stadiums used to be like before the Hillsborough disaster. There were riot police in there too and at one point it looked like the fans were getting too excitable but then calmed down. The away fans were kept behind at the end to allow the home fans out first- to avoid any trouble I expect.
We went straight from the football to the concert- a concert in memory of the victims of the military dictatorship in Chile, "un canto para no olvidar" - a concert to not forget. The stadium where the concert was held, at the time that the dictatorship started, was used to hold people who were rounded up and tortured there, which also resulted in deaths. The idea behind the concert was to make sure they are not forgotten and to help ensure it never happens again- "nunca mas". There was a mixture of music, different groups, mostly Chilean, who I didn't know, but liked a lot of the music. A moving event and I am glad we had the unexpected possibility to go to the concert. After the concert Tom and I went to a sushi restaurant, I've never been that keen on the idea of sushi so ordered noodles, but did try some of his- it was ok so I will have to give it a try in future!
Sunday I didn't do quite as much as walking as I planned due to aching legs (from standing at the concert I think!). I started my day at the 'Museo de la Memoria" where I was able to find out more about what happened just before and during the military dictatorship. It was a very sad but interesting museum. It was shocking to see that over 30 countries have had commissions investigating the loss of and violation of human rights in recent years during times of dictatorship or unrest. It is sad to hear how people have just 'disappeared' in these countries and to realise how recently these things have happened and are still happening in some countries. Chile was under military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990- during that time people were arrested and tortured, sometimes killed or disappeared. Even today it is not known what happened to all of the missing people :-(
Santiago is a big city but the central area doesn't seem too big. It is manageable on foot and you can walk between different parts of it, although there is a good metro stysem. Whilst in Santiago I walked around different areas, barrio Brasil and barrio Bellavista. I wandered in the Parque Quinta Normal near the museum where lots of families were enjoying the Sunday afternoon sunshine, the pedalos and the water fountains. I also took the funicular up Cerro San Cristobel for views of the city, which were good but it's a shame that Santiago is covered in smog so the surrounding mountains are kind of covered in smog too.
I went to see the changing of the guard one morning and another day managed to catch the welcoming of the Canadian Prime Minister, lots of what looked like secret service agents around for that, as well as police and the guards and band. I also went to a mall as I needed to buy a few things- it just reinforced my thoughts of what do bigger women do for clothes here? Clothes do not go up to a very big size and I ended up buying men's XL trekking trousers……I am not the biggest of the big so what do the people here do?!
Earthquake!
Just before 1am on Tuesday (17th) there was an earthquake near Santiago- Tom asked "is the earth moving?" and actually it was! As soon as he had said it those of us who were sitting chatting on the ground floor realised that the windows and building were shaking. I was glad to have still been up as I think they felt it more upstairs on the 3rd or 4th floor and it would have been a bit scary to be asleep and be woken by it. It turned out that its epicentre was only 26 miles from Valparasio where I had been previously, 73 miles from Santiago and had a depth of 26 miles. It measured 6.7 on the Richter scale which is luckily not as high like previous quakes such as the one in 2010 which was 8.8 and caused a lot of damage. It only lasted two minutes but you could definitely feel it and I wouldn't want to experience anything stronger.
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