| SANTIAGO DE CHILE, THE BEST PLACE TO GO IN 2011, ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORK TIMES! Undaunted by an earthquake, a city embraces modern culture. Less than a year after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc in Chile, its capital, Santiago, has largely recovered, the economy continues to grow, and tourism is in an upswing. Though the quake, which caused hundreds of casualties, was centered more than 200 miles away, many of Santiago's older buildings were damaged, including the Museum of Fine Arts. But the earthquake last year — and another in Chile last week that caused more panic than damage — seems to have only briefly paused a cultural shift that had begun to take hold in the city. Known as a buttoned-up place, Santiago has in recent years added modern museums, smartly designed hotels and sophisticated restaurants. The city has become decidedly more vibrant. This year, it has even been chosen as the first foreign city to host a rather unbuttoned event: Lollapalooza. The 20-year-old American music festival picked Santiago for its first overseas outing because of its open space and the variety of cultural offerings, and because locals have a passion for contemporary music, said Lollapalooza's founder, the musician Perry Farrell. The festival takes place in April in O'Higgins Park. This musical awakening owes much to the government's investment in the arts. The new Centro Gabriela Mistral, for example, a 200000-square-foot center made of glass and weathering steel, has a ... |
