On our free day Shelby, Serena, and I took the longest trip ever to Maipu. It’s a suburb southwest of the downtown area. We took a 1 hour cramped metro to the bowels of Maipu. We expected to come out of a subway to a barren land far away from the main city, but inside we were delightfully surprised. We arose from the depths of the metro to find a bustling plaza. Cars, people, and busses were speeding in every direction. We made our way to the mall first to grab food. We stopped at a small shop, where I had some of the best food I’ve had so far on this trip. Then we hiked over to the Church of Maipu. We were greeted with a circle of barren land. The church was surrounded by a colonnade, and the structure erected high into the sky. Inside, the breathtaking interior bled colorful light into the tall space through the stain class Windows. We stayed there and sketched a little until the tower museum was opened. We traveled around 200 feet into the air to get to the balcony of the tower. There we met our tour guide Martinez. He told us about the symbolism of the structure and how it was to represent the Virgin Mary with her arms stretched out. This church has been my favorite site so far, and I really enjoyed talking with Martinez about all the symbolism and meaning the church had for Maipu.
The church from the central gathering space.
That is really cool that you got a chance to explore beyond the heart of the city of Santiago. I wish I had had the time to go out and visit the places where most of the residents of Santiago lived. From the past, I have noticed that that is where you can truly understand the daily lifestyle of the persons living in that country and/or environment.
It is also very cool that you chose to go see architectural sites beyond the ones which were scheduled for us such as the Maipo church you mentioned in your post. I believe it must have been so beautiful from the inside, especially with the towering stained-glass windows! Did you find it to be similar in design to the cathedral we visited at Plaza de Adams? Personally I feel quite overwhelmed when I visit churches and cathedrals because of all of the structures and paintings on the walls (overwhelmed in a positive way). We also visited Maipo but we ended up going to the Vineyard, which was situated further away from the suburb, but I’m glad I got to learn a little piece of what was probably just a hope, skip, and a jump away from it!
That is really cool that you got a chance to explore beyond the heart of the city of Santiago. I wish I had had the time to go out and visit the places where most of the residents of Santiago lived. From the past, I have noticed that that is where you can truly understand the daily lifestyle of the persons living in that country and/or environment.
It is also very cool that you chose to go see architectural sites beyond the ones which were scheduled for us such as the Maipo church you mentioned in your post. I believe it must have been so beautiful from the inside, especially with the towering stained-glass windows! Did you find it to be similar in design to the cathedral we visited at Plaza de Adams? Personally I feel quite overwhelmed when I visit churches and cathedrals because of all of the structures and paintings on the walls (overwhelmed in a positive way). We also visited Maipo but we ended up going to the Vineyard, which was situated further away from the suburb, but I’m glad I got to learn a little piece of what was probably just a hop, skip, and a jump away from it!