We had heard unenthusiastic reports about 
Santiago from a park on a hill, Cerro St. Lucia, in the centre.
There’s no shortage of restaurants and bars, there were lots of interesting streets to explore either in shopping districts or more bohemian artsy areas.
Inside the underground cultural centre, beneath the square in front of the parliament building. 
A gypsy punk band made up of teachers. They were playing in the main square in Santiago to promote the launch of an initiative to improve teaching and education standards for all by the year 2020. They were good.
We really enjoyed the cultural side of 
The modern art museum, horse sculpture by Colombian artist Botero. 
Mural outside Neruda's house.
La Chascona means something like ‘the frizzy haired lady’. Neruda built this house in 1962 originally for his mistress, who had frizzy hair. The affair went on for years in secret before he eventually divorced his wife in the 60s and moved in with his mistress, who he lived happily with until his death just after the Chilean military coup. Thousands attended his funeral, seen as one of the first occasions that people displayed en mass their disapproval of the military regime. Neruda, like most artists, was not a fan of fascism! The military flooded his home from the canal that ran through the garden whilst he lay in his coffin in the house. His partner drained and repaired the property and lived there for another 20 years.
The house was split over many levels and had lots of wonderful, quirky 'surrealist' touches like these giant shoes in the bar.
Shoeshining in the main square at lunchtime. The bandstand in the background was full of men playing chess.Maybe Santiago is lacking some obvious landmarks or monuments to capture people's imagination, but we found it to be an interesting, modern and friendly city and it was easy to get a feel for its politics and cultural scene.
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