Unknown Attractions and The Biggest Mall In Latin America : Santiago de Chile : Day 3 : Thurs 27th Feb

We get up foundered. The temperature dropped away in the middle of the night. It's like a desert climate up here, scorchingly hot by day and cold by 10pm. I haven't often had to wear trousers to breakfast on this trip, today is an exception.

Still raging from last night, I think we are so bothered because, of all the countries we have visited, Chile is supposed to be the most civilised. Maybe we have just been really lucky up to now. Its boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, just to cheer us up.

On our map from yesterday we have another walking tour, this one winding through the streets of Barrio Brazil, to Plaza Yungay, finishing over near Parque Quinte Normal. In between we have churches, shops and squares that no tourist normally goes near. Will it provide some sort of definite guide to the typical life of a Chilean in Santiago?

Who cares. We have a big bag of laundry to drop in to our local lavaderia, where a very cheerful woman suggests Sarah head to the Costanera shopping centre to get the new sandals she so desperately craves. That ought to make up the latter half of our day.

The view down Avenida Brazil. Unusually devoid of traffic, but you can see some of the palm trees that line the central reservation.

Plaza Brazil. Pretty typical stuff... except these climbing frames and slides, which are a cut above.

This is the local school for teachers.

The approach to Plaza Yungay had a few classic homes to look at, this being one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Santiago, where all the creative / scientific types gathered and wrote clever things. Two days later we are sitting in a Chinese restaurant (being poisoned) and discover a gas leak in a kitchen has destroyed five houses round here.

The neighbourhood was created in honour of the brave (common) soldiers who fought against the Peru / Bolivia alliance.

You cannot escape pigeons.

Not many cats down here, so when you see one it inevitably is doing something pretty relaxing, like this.

This marvellous French barbers has existed in this neighbourhood, though not always this location, for a couple of hundred years now. It looked like that inside too.

Sometime around here we stopped in a little cafe for lunch, a sandwich or something. It was a sandwich in the sense that it was half a bap with something in it. So long as that ham or cheese didn't have any tests performed on it to make sure it actually was what it was described as. Still, about a quid for a bap with fake ham and cheese in it (butter was extra).

We made it through that tour, having little to no idea what we were looking it. Lonely Planet isn't particularly helpful in that respect.

We attempted to visit the Museum Of Contemporary Art but it looked deserted, like everyone had packed up and gone somewhere else a year ago. A stray golden retriever lounged at the front door. In the Parque Quinte Normal large gangs of dogs roamed, hollering and whooping and revving their motorcycles. We are nearing the wild side of the town, I suppose. Across the road is a big green building we figure might be the new Contemporary Art Museum. It is, rather, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. Could this be the cheerful establishment to brighten our day?

Of course not. No cameras allowed, naturally, and once you get in you are treated to a fine display of countries who have needed to introduce an Office for Peace And Reconciliation, and the outcome of their findings. Most reports have been filed away in private and never released to the public, and certainly never acted upon. So that was uplifting. There's a photo display of all the monuments to victims of state terrorism here in Chile, and at that point you go upstairs and wallow in the awfulness of Chile's recent history.

You have video of Allende's last radio message to the Chilean people before his death, of the joint heads of the military's first speech to the public after the Junta took power, the bombing of La Moneda palace, plenty of historical documentation of the world's opposition to the oppression of the Chilean public by an increasingly paranoid regime, plus video interviews with survivors of torture. Its all very interesting but very heavy. You are also aware that there are a lot of people who do not exactly look upon this interpretation of history favourably. For those who consider the Junta to have been shameful part of Chile's history, that persecuting your own citizens regardless of their political beliefs, and who may have survived the experience, never mind the hundreds of thousands who fled the country, then its a story told well here. The museum is also funded by donations, which is a good way to get you in the door. We exit to a blazing heat and head to the Metro. It's time to go east.

Beside the Tobalaba Metro stop we indulge in a quick McDonald's lunch, served by two of the surliest girls ever encountered behind the counter of the famous burger chain. One stands, hand on hip, scowling at everyone. The other has clearly partaken of a few burgers in her time. Love, if the denim of your jeans is fraying because your thighs are rubbing together when you walk, its time to remember the motto of the successful drug dealer; don't get high on your own supply.

Never mind that, we were assaulted by a particularly scabby pigeon whilst we ate, and we lashed out in anger at the diease-ridden bastard time and again. Our fellow patrons joined in, and soon we had a hate mob on our hands, lobbing empty burger boxes and salt sachets at the winged rat. I think we all felt better when we triumphed and it flew to the top of a kiosk, glaring at us with its gammy foot.

Sarah's salad was also horrid, and my wrap had been rolled in salt. We are not doing too well here in Santiago. Think we maybe ought to just stick with bread from now on. In a country where 40% of the population smoke (compared with 27% in Argentina and 17% in Brazil, or 20% in the UK) there mud be an awful lot of dead tastebuds.

We get a bit lost trying to find the Coastnera centre thanks to our ineffectual map, but that means we get some decent photos. This is clearly the end of town where all the money is, new money anyway.

There's another mile of so to go from this spot to the mountains, but the city almost completely stops at this point.

After a walk we track the Costanera Centre down. Sure enough, its massive.

Sarah finds a nice pair of sandals in Ripley, the HOF of Chile, almost the first pair she looks at. Impressive going. We mosey about for a while, but unless you have money to spend then so what? It seems that Chileans do have the cash, as the centre is busy, and we don't see many stores without some shopping going on. On the 3rd floor is a single cinema screen dedicated to showing footage from previous Lollapalooza music festivals in Chile in the run-up to the next one at the end of March. A nice touch. However I can't find a single shop to sell me a USB cable (connector mini-B) so we beat a retreat about 7.30pm or so, before it gets dark.

Lonely Planet does some complaining about the prevalent mall culture here in Chile, by which you might assume there are a large number of these super-shopping-centres. Rather, these malls could better be termed galerias, which in English might be 'arcade'. Alleyways between two main streets, they can stretch up a floor or three but not usually, more often just a single strip of tiny shops, more often than not selling phone covers for iPhones. It's actually quite a pleasant change from the usual high-street shop culture, with lots of little pruck shops hidden, behind the scenes, near their big and famous neighbours. It does, however, reinforce the sensation that Chile's First World status is entirely determined by the ability to buy a variety and a lot, rather than anything to do with actual standard of living.

Postscript: back in the hostel I get into conversation with a couple who have visited the Concha Y Toro wine factory today. Is it worth it? I enquire. Their answer puts me off going. At thirty quid, you'd be looking for a few vintages in the tasting mix, a real insight into industrial scale wine making,  something above the standard wine tasting benchmark. Sadly, it sounds like we might have to wait until Mendoza to get a better value-for-money experience. A shame, but then we've discovered the fine wines of Misiones De Rango, who knock out an excellent Carmenére reserva for £4. I guess that's one that doesn't get a chance to make it to the UK market. Even bog-standard CYT isn't available here, you have to go straight to the Casillero Del Diablo, which is acceptable, but at a quid a bottle you feel like you can upgrade.

We spend a night with a big bowl of pasta and aforementioned Carmenére throwing more photos up on the internet.