Santiago's historic centre

A fascinating and enjoyable Sunday afternoon can be had strolling leisurely around Santiago's historic centre.

First, there is none of the awful, frenetic, ear-blistering traffic that thunders (well, thunders slowly due to the congestion) through the city, engines droning in the background and the air punctured by repetitious blasts of beeping horns. Second, for a capital city, the streets are more or less deserted, so like a miracle you suddenly notice the wonderful architecture - all grecian columns and colonial arches rising serenely out of the now absent chaos.

There are some spectacular buildings in this area; from the imposing Ministry of Justice, with two flights of columns and intricately carved stonework, to the extremely well-preserved Museum of Santiago, located in a red-bricked colonial mansion with enormous thick wooden doors, dated from 1769.

Dancing cueca in Plaza de Armas

And then there is Plaza de Armas, as I have said before, the city's beating heart. This square is where the city (and indeed the colony) was founded in 1541 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. It is the place from which all distances are measured in Chile and boasts some fine architecture, including the Metropolitan Cathedral, the former seat of congress and first town hall (both now museums).

But what these grand monuments enclose is the life and soul of Santiago. The square is brimming with artists, craft stalls, musicians, marching bands, people dancing cueca (the national dance), itinerant preachers, old men playing dominoes and chess, tourists, street sellers, human statues painted copper (a miner, of course), nuns, vagrants, stray dogs sleeping in the shade, migrants sleeping on the benches... To take a moment in Plaza de Armas on a sunny Sunday afternoon is to breathe (downtown) Santiago in all its forms.

www.flickr.com jaynescarman's Plaza de Armas and around photoset