RED HOT CHILE

Lastarria is considered to be Santiago’s bohemian neighbourhood. “The barrio is known as the Little Paris of Santiago,” says my guide, Mauricio. “Up the road a bit is Little Italy, while the area around the Plaza de Armas, the city’s historical heart, is known as Little Peru. “Chile is a country of immigrants,” he continues. “The Spanish came here first, ahead of the English, who moved to Valparaiso and then to the mining areas of the Atacama. The Germans and the Swiss went to the Lake District, while the Croatians settled in Patagonia. But this is where they all mingle – here, in Santiago. And everyone meets in Lastarria.”

From being the original site of Spanish settlement (at the foot of nearby