Smoggy Santiago from Cerro San Cristóbal

Today I decided it was time to get up to Cerro San Cristobal for the first time this year. It had been raining all weekend and stopped late last night. Being Santiago is smog central during the winter and the only relief comes after rain, I knew I had to get up there while I had the chance.

Santiago suffers from thermal inversion which ensures there is almost always a heavy blanket of pollution just overhead. This sounds horrible, and in a way it is, but here in Santiago Centro I don't see it effecting my life like people in blogs all over the web complain about. Sure it's unsightly and probably doing some silent damage to my lungs, but if it's not in my face crappy, I just forget about it. I find it much easier that way than obsessing and worrying over something that isn't going to change and I certainly can't control.

A photo from 2009. The view was better today.

Anyway, I woke up nice and early and ran the approximately 8km from my apartment to the top of Cerro San Cristobal. For those who don't know, it is the hill in view from most of Northern Santiago with The Virgin Mary perched atop. Aside from spectacular views of the city, the mountains and miles and miles of smog, it also offers some decent hiking trails and momentary escapes into nature.

Heading up the dirt trails on the western side of the hill I almost felt like I was truly in nature, as long as I ignored the views of urban sprawl off to one side of the trail. Chile has an incredibly diverse number of trees and plants and even hiking up Cerro San Cristobal you are reminded of what is out there. The smells alone are overpowering (in an entirely good way). It reminded me of being in the hills of northern California during the spring. It was easy to temporarily forget about the pollution and grime of city life. Then you arrive to the top for expansive views and the slowly forming smog. Getting there quite early I did get to see farther and cleaner views than usual. But while sitting up there for about 30 minutes I did notice the smog forming over certain areas and thickening by the minute. It is less than ideal, but this is just how it is here in Santiago, so deal with it I say.


This photo is entirely unrelated to smog, but I just took it from my little balcony and figured I'd throw it in because a blog post with only one photo is a little boring eh?

An old man waiting for the bus