
I took a Metro ride into the Yungay barrio on Saturday.
A new friend, Alvaro, wanted to show me this area and then take me to the Museum of Human rights, that memorizes the military coup and the following nearly two decades of dictatorship.
Yungay is a beautiful area. I would not have had it on my list of things at all, that’s why it is so vital to meet the locals and follow them.
It’s pretty calm and residential, the houses smaller, maximum two stories high, and old, dating from the start of the 20th century.
The area has a lot of protected houses and is currently in the process of being renovated and re-claimed by its citizens. It had a lot of abandoned places, but the city has launched a plan in order to help with renovation projects.
Street art is prevalent, the usual stencils but also some major sophisticated murals. The houses are colorful too, bright yellow, blue, green and red greet from all sides.
Two streets are notably markable, as they still have the original cobblestone, Hurtado Rodríguez and Adriana Cousiño. The latter even has no cars at all. Along the street trees grow in the middle and you can only walk on a tiny path along the houses.
I visited the museum of education, that portrayed the efforts of several Chilean governments at the start of the 20th century to make education universal.
I found a little gem of an art gallery turned antique shop turned restaurant, Espacio Gárgola. On three floors you have a number of antique and modern furniture, some art exhibitions all over the place and in the light court in the middle there is a tiny cute restaurant, where I stopped in the afternoon for a late lunch.
Great salads and postres. Try their ice-cream, harina tostada was my favorite, a kind of toasted bred-crumbs ice-cream with a light sweet hint of cinnamon.
Yungay has even more to offer: beautiful Parque Quintal Normal, that houses the Museum of natural history of Chile, its railway museum, science museum… Close-by are city’s Library and the Chilean Mint, where print all those colorful pesos.
It also houses the oldest hairdresser in town, ‘Peluqueria francesa’ which has preserved all its old chairs, mirrors and electrical equipments. They display the prices in both today’s Pesos (a men’s haircut coming in at 10000 pesos), and the original prices (at a time when you could get it done for 17). I think I just might get my hair cut there…
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