The Sights and Sounds of Santiago Chile Part 2

In Part 1 of The Sights and Sounds of Santiago Chile, I gave you a tour of what I encountered during my short 11 layover on my previous trip. This was my fourth time visiting Santiago, Chile and I’ve seen pretty much everything that a tourist should see. I’ve always wanted to visit the Western part of the capital which is also known as the ghetto part of Chile. I had a short 10 hour layover, so I needed to make the most of time. My journey took me to Parajitos, Las Rejas, Ecuador, San Alberto Hurtado, Universidad de Santiago, and ending at Estacion Central.

I took the CentroPuerto bus from Santiago’s International Airport (SCL) and I got off at the Parajitos metro station.

Parajitos is in a dodgy neighborhood full of graffiti and street vendors hawking their wares.

I was amazed to see gambling going on in a shop called Juegos Electronicos. These are basically mom and pop shop mini casinos and they only have slot machines.

I tried my luck and actually won a little bit $5 USD worth! The machines only accept coins, so you’d have to change your bills at the cage (the owner). 100 Chilean pesos ~ ($0.17 USD or 17 cents) is the minimum bet which is pretty cheap.

I continued walking to Las Rejas metro station which featured the Instituto de Santiago (Institute of Santiago) building.

There were also various paintings and artwork being sold outside.

I walked east towards the San Alberto Hurtado metro station which featured structural spires.

Nearby were several bus stations such as the Terminal de Buses Estacion Central and Terminal Alameda.

There was a food court inside the bus station terminal along with small shops.

I couldn’t believe there were slot machines located in the bus station itself. There was a moneychanger wearing green who would change your bills to coins and vice versa.

I stumbled upon the Universidad de Santiago metro stationwhere there was a left luggage service called Custodia de Equipajes.

There were several shopping centers near the metro station including Avenida Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins (an indoor flea market), Mall Plaza Alameda, and Paseo Arauco Estacion.

My favorite part about this 20 minute walk from Parajitos was reaching the Estacion Central metro station. Estacion Central is also a building and has an indoor food court.