Mapocho Train Station

This is the Mapocho Station Cultural Center. It was built between 1905 and 1912 and served as a train station until 1987 when, due to its state of deterioration, it was closed. The works of restoration ended in 1994 and the train station was re-opened as a Cultural Center. An interesting and beautiful aspect of the restoration is that the roof of the building is now covered in copper, to reflect the importance of Chile as the worldwide leader in copper production.
As you can see, the International Fair of the Book chose a nice location

Dancing Girls

This year, the tenth region of Chile is the special guest in the International Fair of the Book. These girls came from Valdivia (approximately 1.000 Kms south from Santiago), to show some german dances to the attendants. It was a very nice act and they received a lot of applause.

A lot of books

Today I visited the 26th Feria Internacional del Libro de Santiago (International Fair of the Book). It's located in the old Mapocho Train Station and you can find many different kind of books. This year the guest of honor is Perú and they have a special stand in the Fair.

M.A.C.

The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Museum of Contemporary Art) is the "Zoo" where I found the Gazelle I showed you in my previous post. It was founded in 1947 and is located in the opposite side of the Museum of Fine Arts in the Palace of Fine Arts.
The weather in Santiago is still a little unpredictable...

The Gazelle

I found this sculpture in the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's the work of Pablo Rivera and its name is "Gazelle". I doubt that with all those plastic cans (which contained dialysis solution) the bike can reach the speeds an actual gazelle does. Contemporary art is quite subjective... Only the author knows what it means.

Pain Resistance

I found this statue in Apoquindo Avenue. It represents a person walking over spikes, and I couldn't help thinking of a Fakir or one of the characters of the movie "Honey, I shrunk the kids"...

The Indian Square

The Plaza de la India (Indian Square) in located in the Santa María Avenue. There, you can find this monument, which honors Gandhi, Nehru and Tagore. It was made by Claudi Tarragó in 1968.

Lazy Sunday

Today was definitely a lazy sunday. The weather reached 25ºC (summer temperatures are near) and was perfect to rest quietly. The lion in the picture represents the favorite activity of many "Santiaguinos" on weekends...

La Parva

This is La Parva. It's a Ski center located 50 Km from Santiago, in the Andes mountain range, at 2.700 meters above sea level. It has beautiful landscapes and it's definitely a "must" if you come to Santiago. Spring is already here, so there's no much snow left. I hope next year I can show you a more snowy picture.

An ode to a door ?

This suggestive sculpture is called "Puerta del Agua" (Water Door) and it was made by Raúl Valdivieso (1931-1992) using three blocks of rock. It definitely called my attention and I felt forced to show it to you...
You can see it during your next trip to Santiago in the "Parque de las Esculturas".

Yellow seeds

If you see my previous post you'll find, at the end of the park, a group of yellow sculptures called "Semillas" (seeds). They're quite big and weird, and I got this effect taking the picture through a hole in the steel net.

A place to relax

This is the "Parque de las Esculturas" (Sculptures Park), a very nice park located alongside the Mapocho river. What makes this a special park is that it has 17 sculptures made by chilean artists, mainly with cement and steel. In the picture you can see "Verde y Viento" (Green and Wind), a work that simulates a huge handful of grass. Pity it's a little rusted.
You can find more info about the park and its sculptures here.

Graffiti Advertising

I was walking on a small street yesterday and I saw this graffiti on the door of a house. As you may have seen elsewhere, this kind of art is becoming quite popular and your wall could become the canvas of a masterpiece, like it or not...
Anyway, if you follow the link on this graffiti, you'll be impressed to see that it's not just art, but a very strange choice of advertising.

Sunday lunch

The objective of this post is to produce envy among readers! I just wanted to show you a very popular sandwich in Chile: The "Churrasco". It's made of a thin cut of steak, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, dill pickles and mayonnaise. Really delicious!
Anyone sinning of glutonny?

A town made of clay

As I told you here, there's a town near Santiago called Pomaire, which is very famous for its clay pottery. In the picture, taken in an handicraft shop in Pomaire, you can see a piggy bank made of clay. They're quite popular in Chile. The sad part is that you have to break it to get your money...
While I was looking for some info for this post, I found this very nice chilean restaurant located in New York, called "Pomaire".

The Last Gate

This is the main entrance to the Cementerio General, the cemetery I showed you earlier this week. It’s located at the end of La Paz avenue and the square in front of it is sometimes used for cultural activities!

Close Encounters in Santiago

Yesterday I couldn't post my Daily Photo because, as a DP "correspondent", I was covering the concert Robbie Williams gave in Santiago, as part of his Close Encounters Tour.
I can only say the concert was great. It's a shame they said cameras weren't allowed... I could only use the mobile's one.

Egyptian tomb

In the Cementerio General you can see many obelisks and even a pyramid. It's interesting to see different architectural styles when talking about mausoleums. This one is quite pretty and got my attention.

Guardian statues

These statues are located near the entrance of the Cementerio General, the most important cemetery in Santiago. It was founded in 1821 and has a lot of beautiful (and some strange) mausoleums that I'll show you in the next few days. It's a really "nice" place to visit and you can even take a night guided tour!

The True Cross

The Veracruz Church is located in José Victorino Lastarria street. It was built in 1855 by the french architect (again...) Claude Brunet Des Baines, as an approach sign to Spain, after the battles that led to Chilean independence.
It was named Veracruz, that means "True Cross", because inside the church is kept a wood chip that is supposed to belong to the cross where Jesus Christ died.

The Catholic University

The other day (see here), I showed you a courtyard from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, founded in 1888. Today I want to show you the front of the university's building, because my younger brother succeeded in the oral exam to achieve his degree in laws. Congrats! (sorry for the personal comment, but I'm very proud...)

Don Diego de Almagro

This statue shows Diego de Almagro, credited as the first European discoverer of Chile. He also paticipated in the Sapnish conquest of Peru. It's located in the Almagro square, and as you can see, not everybody cares about our history...

The dome

The Basilica de los Sacramentinos (Sacramentinos Basilica), declared National Monument, is the work of the architect Ricardo Larraín and was built in 1922. It is located in the Santiago disctrict. Any similarity of its dome with the one in the Sacré Coeur Basilica in Paris is not a coincidence.

So many beautiful gardens

For the next five months, I'll be working a few days every week in Quillota, a city located 100 Km north from Santiago. I'll do my best to keep showing you more places and people in Santiago, but sometimes I will show you some beautiful things in Quillota, like this garden, which once belonged to a traditional farm.

Theme Day: ¡ Taxi !

This is a typical Chilean taxi. They're normally Nissans or Daewoos, painted in black with a yellow top. You'll never see a Mercedes turned into a taxi in Santiago (or anywhere in Chile), as European DP bloggers showed us...
Prices can vary, but they usually charge $200 (about US$ 0.37) when you take the cab and then another $80 (about US$ 0.15) for each 200 meters. Taxi drivers are usually friendly.

Please take your time and visit these City Daily Photo, to see how taxis look around the world:

1 (Porto ) -2 (Albuquerque ) -3 (London ) -4 (Seattle, WA (USA) [Kim] ) -5 (Edinburgh ) -6 (Stayton, OR ) -7 (Greenville, SC ) -8 (Budapest ) -9 (Antigua Guatemala ) -10 (Alexandria, VA ) -11 (Manila ) -12 (Twin Cities ) -13 (Szentes ) -14 (Paris ) -15 (Portsmouth ) -16 (Ryde ) -17 (Sydney ) -18 (Oulu ) -19 (Singapore [keropok] ) -20 (Santiago ) -21 (Melbourne, Aust ) 22 (Dubai UAE ) -23 (Bandung (Indonesia) ) -24 (Copenhagen ) -25 (Sequim ) -26 (Singapore ) -27 (Tenerife ) -28 (Sharon, CT ) -29 (Tuzla, B&H ) -30 (Jakarta (Indonesia) ) 31 (Rotterdam ) -32 (Brussels ) -33 (Stavanger (Norway) ) -34 (Aliso Viejo, CA ) -35 (Oshawa, ON, Canada ) -36 (Vantaa, Finland ) -37 (Trier (Germany)) -38 (Newcastle upon Tyne ) -39 (Hong Kong ) -40 (Shang Hai ) -41 (Brussels ) -42 (San Diego, CA (USA) ) -43 (Sydney (Nathalie)) -44 (St Paul (USA)) -45 (Delta, USA) -46 (Trujillo, Peru) -
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