First thing I thought when coming into the Santiago Metro was: Paris! This smells like the Paris Metro.

I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but I feel every city has a distinct smell in its public transport system – and I don’t refer to a potential pee problem.

The smells are hard, or impossible to describe… but London’s tube is clearly distinct from the Paris Metro, or the Berlin U-Bahn.

The smell is apparently depending mostly on the trains – metal or gum tires, the oil used to keep everything running, the brakes… all these materials give micro particles in to the air and create a unique mix that you will smell.

My Parisian impression was even reinforced when I stepped into one of the carriages of line 5. The design and construction of the train was nearly identical to the old trains running in Paris.

From the lights, door handles, advertising space… only the door lacked the handles and opened automatically, and the usual ‘strapointin’ seats were gone.

And bingo! Made in France in 1973.

The Santiago metro is the biggest in South America (if you count Mexico as north). Indeed, the grid is extensive. I have only used a bus once or twice as the metro basically brought me close to everywhere I wanted.

I got a bip! card on the first day, that opens all doors and busses. A trip is pretty cheap, 640 Pesos, less than a Euro.

The Metro is modern, and clean! I am really impressed by the cleanliness of South America’s public transport. 7 million people in this city, 2,3 million rides a day, and not a paper on the floor…

Some of the lines have more modern trains, with air conditioning. Otherwise, huge fans in the stations blast cool air, every other minutes mixed with a tiny mist of water. You see Santiaguinos standing right in there and enjoying the refreshment.

The metro is widely accepted. Apparently, some years ago the city rearranged its bus services, so that busses mainly service as a way to bring people to the metro hubs.

This also explains how crowded the Metro sometimes is. In certain hours, you might have to wait for two or three trains to pass by to find a spot to squeeze in.

Which sometimes is also due to Santiaguinos preferring a spot close to the door, so that the sides are not as packed… still you can’t get on the train.

This little quirk left beside, the Metro is a perfect way to get around. Currently, 5 lines are operating, while line 3 and 6 are still being under construction and should open in 2016 and 2017.

I used the busses only once or twice. Surely as efficient, but the Metro just did it for me in Providencia. General traffic however is massive, and especially the pollution.

On some days I could hardly see the Andes mountains behind the city, hidden behind a grey veil. I though Chileans are pretty ok drivers, traffic as a whole was pretty civilized.