Quite the city. Nearly 7 million inhabitants (40% of the country), a thriving economy (building cranes everywhere), polite motorists (pedestrians actually get the right of way, very few horns beeping and yellow/red lights are respected).
Our day centred on the hop on/off bus to see two major sections of the city. Like many urban centres there are areas of the haves and have nots. There are huge swaths of residential areas where the housing can be described as ramshackle at best. Then there’s the haves with attractive homes and gleaming commercial towers.
Our tour began in the Las Condes district which is an eclectic mix of very modern towers and attractive neighbourhoods. Interestingly every private residence is encircled by a wall with additional electric wires, spike tops and other defensive measures. Given the tremendous amount of vegetation everywhere, it doesn’t look as ominous as it sounds
Santiago is built in a wide valley with mountains on both sides. The Parque Metropolitano occupies a hill peninsula that protrudes from the Andes westward into the valley with the city radiating outward in three directions. The mountains, urban sprawl and massive vehicle population means a terrible smog band hovers above the city. Fortunately today the air quality wasn’t bad enough to impact us.
We took a cable car to the top of the Parque which allowed a panoramic view of the entire city. 
At the top of the mountain is a church and 22m tall statue of Mary. This is probably the most popular tourist spot in the city.
The trip down on the west side is via an old funicular (circa 1925) leading to the El Centro (downtown) district.
The old town contains the major government buildings, cathedral, markets, main plaza and shopping district. Unlike the open and flowing feeling elsewhere, these streets were jammed with vehicles and people. Our bus took 40 minutes to go nine blocks so we got off and spent the rest of the day on foot. Many of the buildings have graffiti denouncing the government and police. The word Libertad (liberty) was prominent. We presume this was the result of the recent civil unrest and demonstrations two months ago. Other than this spray paint there wasn’t any evidence of discord anywhere.
Then we hiked back to the funicular, up the mountain, back down in the cable car and finished off with a couple of Kms walk to our hotel. Our reward?
The Bennetts On Tour 