Santiago: Santiago Private Guide (March 2017)


We booked a 3-hour afternoon city tour called “Santiago Essentials” with a company called “Private Guide Santiago” for approximately $150 per person. Our guide Jeanette was personable and interesting as she and her driver led us on a tour of Santiago’s best sights. After they picked us up at the Holiday Inn, we drove downtown to take a short walking tour of the historic area, including the “Plaza de la Ciudadania” (‘’Citizenry Square’’) within view of the giant “Bandera del Bicentenial” (Chilean “Bicentennial Flag”, which resembles the flag of Texas because a US Envoy suggested its design), “Palacio de La Moneda” ( “Palace of the Currency”, which is the presidential palace), “Plaza de la Constitucion” (“Constitution Square”, with its smaller flags and the statue of Presidente Salvador Allende), “Palacio de Tribunales de Justicia” (Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and the court martial court for the army/air force/police, with a condor standing on an open book with the word LEX [Latin for law] sculpted over the portico, with Montt Varas Square in front), and the “Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino” (in the “Palacio de la Real Aduana” [“Palace of Customs”]). Note that with our limited time, we did not enter any of the aforementioned structures; we only viewed them from the outside. We were able to pause for a bit in the “Plaza de Armas” (the “Main Square” to watch some street performers [musicians and dancers]), and we went inside the beautiful “Catedral Metropolitana de Santiago” (which took over 50 years to build and was completed in 1800). Afterwards, we walked towards our pre-arranged meeting point, passing the “Sede de Santiago del Congreso Nacional” (former “National Congress” building, where the governing body met until Salvador Allende's socialist government was overthrown by Augusto Pinochet's military coup in 1973) with its “Jardines del Recinto” (“Enclosure Garden”; because the Congress building has a cross within a square plan, it creates four courtyards, including this one), and the “El Palacio Club de Septiembre”/”Academia Diplomatica” (“Edwards Palace”/“Diplomatic Academy”).

Although we were very pleased with our private guide Jeanette, we experienced an issue with our driver. While we walked through the downtown area with Jeanette, our driver seemed to be running an Uber-type service. He made us wait for him for nearly 45 minutes as Jeanette telephoned him repeatedly and he gave her one excuse after another. When we re-entered the car, we noticed an electronic keycard from the Singular hotel on the back seat, yet there was no card there when we initially entered the car at the Holiday Inn, leading us to believe that we waited for him because he was driving someone else instead of waiting for us. When he finally showed up, we loaded into the car and drove through the distinguished neighborhoods of Barrios Bellavista, Bellas Artes, and-Lastarria. (One neighborhood would have sufficed; after the third similar area, it grew repetitive.) We finished our tour at “Cerro Santa Lucia” (“Santa Lucia Hill”), where the city of Santiago was founded in 1541 and which contains the fort Castillo Hidalgo (from 1820). We climbed up a meandering path on the mountain (unexpectedly through the Nam food festival) and down the other side through the gorgeous “Terraza Neptuno” (“Neptune Terrace”) with its 1903 “fuente” (“fountain”) that was built in an attempt to beautify the city. The fountain includes a bronze sculpture of the god Neptune seated and holding a trident. Two parallel winding staircases lead to the arc of triumph adorned by columns and other decorative details. (Personally, we would have preferred to approach Cerro Santa Lucia from the fountain side because of its dramatic scenery rather than to end our tour there.)

After our tour, our guide and driver transported us back to the Holiday Inn. 































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