boomtown gayland oooh la la...

Most of Santiago de Chile downtown reminds of Paris. When freed from Spanish, Chilean oligarchy felt ashamed of everything that resembled "hispanic", so they started destroying sistematically almost every colonial building (fortunately, there were not such magnifiscent ones here, as in Lima, Peru). Embedded from French-slanted and newly-acquired Cartesian rationality, Chile's new Republican order prohibited -until present day- bull and cock fighting, and nobiliary titles. They were also specially keen on choosing French neoclassical styles for every relevant public building excepting La Moneda Palace (the House of Government), the only survivor of this frenchy-frenzy. Late 1900's urbanism was also almost completely "á la mode francaise", and many french architectes had to settle down here, because the demand for houses "á la pied á terre", was, at moments, unmanageable. Little spots of gothic Europe started dotting Santiago's mainland everywhere. So, urban oligarchy lived here as if they were in their beloved Paris ("see Paris and die", they said). Most Boomtown Gayland settled down in what previously had been a fantastic parisian-shaped neighbourhood, including a wide "perspective" avenue; a classical park shaped "á la Jardin de Luxembourg" (Forestal park), with a twin train station, cloned exactly from Paris'Gare d'Orsay ("Estación Mapocho"). The buildings there resemble very much similar ones in Paris and Buenos Aires. Sturdy masonry buildings built to last almost forever, a park and even a rarity small hill converted into a gardenesque fantasy ("cerro Santa Lucía") that dates from the 19th century craziness of former mayor Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, whose intention was to re-create famous Babylon's hanging gardens, with hints of Versailles. He did it so succesfully.