WHAT TO DO / WHERE TO GO IN SANTIAGO

Santiago is one of the most important cities in South America. There are many interesting places for foreign tourist, many places to visit and many many activities to do. Really, Santiago is a fun city for tourists.

Personally, I recommend to foreign tourists visit the historic city center: the central square (“Plaza de Armas”), and the old colonial buildings located around the cathedral. Another place interesting to be visited is the Santa Lucía hill and the San Cristobal hill, where are beautiful roads, one cable car system and the metropolitan zoo. Other places to visit are the government palace (La Moneda), The Municipal Theater and the Museum of Fine Arts. Equally, the Pre-Columbian Art Museum, in the downtown, and the Natural History Museum, in the “Quinta normal” garden. Finally, a necessary place to be visited by a foreign tourist is the the central market, near the mapocho estation (an old railway station) and the ahumada walk, a typical urban area in Santiago.

In addition to these visits, a foreign tourist can not fail to visit the Bellavista neighborhood (typically area of Santiago's bohemian) and the bio bio popular market, near Metro station Franklin. In Bellavista, the tourist can visit and attend parties bars, where they touch all music styles. In the case of bio bio popular market, tourists can buy all sorts of items, at cheap prices. Finally, I recommend to foreign tourists go to the central station, where can buy a train ticket and go to another chilean cities.

If you ask me, my top 5 list of activities for a foreign tourist is: 1-the visit of the central square, cathedral and de historic city central, because of its cultural and historical importance. 2-the visit to Santa Lucía and San Cristobal hill, because of the beautiful roads. 3-the visit to “Quinta normal”, because it is a park with over a hundred years old. 4-the visit to bio bio popular market and 5-the visit to central station, because they are a typical popular area of our city.

SEPTEMBER 18TH

Hi everyone, this week on my blog I will talk about the September 18th. This date indicate the celebration of the creation of the first government joint in 1810. In other words, the creation of our first national government. Some people think that on 18 September we celebrate our nacional independence. They are wrong, our national independence was not conquered on September 18 of 1810. On the contrary, our independence would be conquered in 1818, several years later. However, September 18th is significant because it marks the beginning of oue fight for the national liberation. That is, the first steps of our journey as an independent republic.

For almost two hundred years, Chileans celebrate September 18th as a national holiday. In this day are performed dances, dinners, parties and all kinds of celebrations, in honor of our national indepedent. Usually, many people consume food and alcoholic beverages in these celebrations. We eat empanadas, chicha and drink chicha, a famous chilean grape brandy. Traditionally, September 18th is celebrated in the famous "Fondas", spaces where we dance cueca and other typical dances. In the nineteenth century, the "Fondas" called "Chinganas". However, today in the fondas are other types of dance dance; for example, cumbia, regueton (“perreo”) and other exotic dances.

Personally, I celebrate on September 18th by a barbecue and drink chicha. I prefer the traditional celebrations! However, at night go out with my friends, not necessarily to fondas. This year we will travel to Valparaiso to attend a party at a bar... And I think we take more beer than chicha.