This is wealthyville – where people with plata build shiny glass buildings, line avenues with trees, wear expensively understated clothing and drive modern vehicles. The chileans have a word for it – cuicos. The term is laden with socio-economic significance and could be roughly summarised as – south yarra. Vitacura has a bright, upbeat cleanliness and boasts well tendered parks and gardens. Tucked away at the back of Santiago it affords its residents a more gratifying vista of the city.
Parque Bicentenario on the banks of the Río Mapocho is in the comuna of Vitacura and it is a lush expanse of grass dotted with trees and sun umbrellas under which one can sit and relax out of the February sun. A winding path cuts a course through the park and ends in a reed-lined lake with swans, which, for 100 pesos (about 20c) can be fed from one of many swan food dispensary thingies.
If you would rather feed youself, you have to cross to the other side where a restaurant offers a prime view of the park from its lakeside balcony and lunch for the very reasonable price of …. price on request.
