Chile – March 2018

I gained an appreciation for street art a few summers ago in London. It started with a tour with a local artist that took us to Brick Lane, where we learned some history and context. This led us to look up other areas of London known for their street art. We now search for street art when we travel, seeing what’s nearby and worth a visit.


This is true for a free day in Santiago. I found a tour with a company that runs tours with as few as one person, and we are pleasantly surprised when we meet our guide, and it’s just her and us. We head to the metro and on to San Miguel, where the Museo a Cielo Abierto is located, which is Chile’s largest street art collective. Meaning “Open Air Museum,” the museo is a vibrant collection of murals that transforms an often-unexplored area into a blossoming outdoor art gallery.


In the 1960s, the neighborhood was built for working-class people who moved in as it rapidly expanded. The people who lived here endured poverty and the political turmoil that arose after a 1973 coup. Years of pollution and neglect left many of the houses in rough shape. In 2009, two locals had the idea to use street art to refresh the buildings and bring new life to the neighborhood. The first mural was unveiled in 2010. Now, more than forty line the streets, each one becoming an artistic backdrop to everyday life.


Along with revitalization, the project also aims to educate, featuring murals that address themes such as workers’ rights in Chile, and to involve the neighborhood’s residents, who provide input on the murals. The artists involved in this project are diverse in their backgrounds, styles, and nationalities. Local artists from Santiago and regional artists from southern Chile share the streets with international artists from other countries in South America and Europe.


Our tour over, we head back to Santiago and share a drink with our guide at a local cafe. We mention we’re headed to Easter Island in two days, and she lights up. Turns out she lived there for 9 months and provided us with a list of places to see and some to avoid. “Overpriced,” she warns us about one restaurant. “Tacky,” she tells us of another. She’s also heading to Europe in the fall, so we offer her some dos and don’ts of our own.

Intel exchanged, our guide orders us an Uber, and we’re soon back to our hotel. We’ll be back at the same hotel when we return from Easter Island, which turned out to be a good call, as the only flight out is delayed by hours due to maintenance issues. Most with connecting flights will miss their connections. We’re able to skip the stress and grab a taxi to our hotel, where our room is upgraded, and I can get a late checkout before returning to the airport the following afternoon.

This travel tale is included in my collection, Can’t Get Here from There: Fifty Tales of Travel. Buy it on Amazon.

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