S A N T I A G O
          The conquistador Pedro de Valdivia is said to have forgotten his tortuous journey to Chile from Peru when he gazed upon the valley at the point where the Mapocho and Maipo rivers descend from the Andes on their journey to the Pacific Ocean. Surrounded in all four directions by peaks rivaling the Alps, Valdivia knew he had found the right place for a settlement. Today, the conquistadors might not recognize Santiago, the smoggy home to 5 millions of Chile's 12 million people, but it has a charm unmatched in South America.
          Valdivia marked the center of Santiago with the Plaza de Armas. It served as a market and public hangings. Today this clean, tree-lined square, remodeled, is a haven for old men, shoe shiners, vagrants and lovers. The pink Correo Central, which houses the most efficient postal service in South America, has an impressive iron skylight that illuminates the central corridor. Next door, the excellent Museo Histórico Nacional in the Palacio de la Real Audiencia traces Chile's history from its pre-Columbian roots to the present. On the west side of the square is the country's largest church, the Cathedral, with an impressive baroque interior.
          Two blocks away on Calle Catedral is the Congreso Nacional, a neoclassical structure that was home to Chile's legislative branch until it was closed in 1973. The federal courts are across the street. The imposing Palacio de la Moneda is four blocks south on Calle Morandé. It originally served as the mint, but later became the presidential palace, where President Allende was killed in the 1973 military coup.
          Paseo Ahumada, a pedestrian mall linking Plaza de Armas to the Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, is the heart of Santiago, offering a human collage of business people, street vendors and money changers. Across the Alameda, the city's major east-west artery, is the imposing, chalky-red Iglesia San Francisco. The church has interesting touches of Arab influence remnants of the Spanish. Alongside is Barrio París-Londres, where mansions from 1920s border sinuous streets. Uptown from Ahumada, three blocks along Calle Augustinas, and past the 17th century church of San Augustín is the Municipal Theater, built in 1857 and one of the finest on the sub-continent. Plays, concerts, and other cultural events are held around the small, dimly lit Plaza Mulato Gil.