Chile Things to Do

This Calle Bandera, or Flag Street, just off Plaza de Armas, has always been a magnet for Santiago’s hipsters and artists. In its heyday, writer Pablo Neruda, musician Diego Munoz, poet Alberto Valdivia, and all their groovy friends hung out at the calle’s inexpensive bars and restaurants, collectively known as Chinatown.

It’s been a rough year for tourism professionals trying to promote Chile’s Patagonia. Last winter’s ash-cloud eruption of Puyehue Volcano tangled flight schedules and undercut the ski season, starting things off with a fizzle. Then, the unusually hot, dry southern summer exploded into wildfires, temporarily closing Torres del Paine National Park.

Not far from enigmatic Easter Island is another, lesser known island paradise, long uninhabited and a safe haven for the wildlife that has been all but exhausted around its more famous neighbor. Just 390km (242mi) northeast of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Isla Salas y Gomez rises above the water, the apex of a volcanic undersea range off the coast of Chile.

International tourism to Chile’s spectacular slice of Patagonia is on the rise, and there’s a brand-new bilingual magazine covering the region. It’s operated by respected travel writer and journalist Jimmy Langman, who has written for dozens of established publications, including Newsweek, National Geographic, the Miami Herald, and The Nation.