Dear Santiago

Well.. Santiago is a beautiful city, even though the most of their citizen thinks that is an ugly town. Is true that it has a lot of smoog, and the air is very poluted by buses and factories, but it also has amazing parks, villages and historical areas that remind us the past of the city. That's why I recommend to all foreigner tourist that go to visit the down town, plaza de armas for example, where you can see and feel the reminiscense of a colonial glorius past, over there they can found the antique catedral, the museum and the central area where people, old people actually, gather to play chess, talk about anything or just take a break of the fast pace of Santiago. Is curious that the blocks that surrounding plaza de armas are occupied by immigrants from Peru, who have taken that area like a place where they can express their culture.
Near of there, the neighborhood of Lastarria offers a spot of bohemia and literature, where the people related with theater or any other artistic expression get together to experience this cultural environment, also the tourist might find some stands that sold books or ordinary junk. This are places that reflect the diversity of the people living in Santiago, because the center of the town is a space where you can see popular people and opposite people from high suburbs.
An other nice point which is close of there is the Santa Lucia's hill, which offers a beautiful view of the center of the town and also shows the importance of conserving the natural areas.
The foreigner tourist usually take an enormous bus that passes for all the typical areas, but I sincerely recommend a quiet walk all over the city, Santiago is a city of contrasts, because above plaza Italia you will see all the better communes, but under it is a completely different reality.
But despite of that inequality, there are interesting places to visit, for example the Bellavista neighborhood, where the tourist can go to party, drink some beer and watch the eccentric characters wandering the bars, they could be drunks or crazy but anyway they are a fun attraction.
Finally there is a last place where the foreigner tourist can go to visit, Parque O'higgins is a nice and big park where people can sit on the grass to contemplate the nature, have a picnic or just escape of the rudeness of the capital. Over there you can cycling because is a very big park, or you can elevate kites as whell.
With all this been said I think that Santiago is a nice city to visit, the tourist can observe the beautiful nature, look at the range and the hurry life of our capital, is a contradiction between modernity and traditional practice, but that is the precise feature which makes it so interesting.