Mark Briggs is an aspiring journalist who spent the first four months of 2011 in Santiago. While there he wrote for the local English language newspaper (The Santiago Times) and produced a travel guide (for Essential Guides, available soon on the itunes App store). He has been published in The Big Issue and has written for numerous sports blogs. He began writing for Sounds and Colours in the summer of 2010. Read his Santiago Days column to find out more about his time in Chile.
Website: soundsandcolours.com/content/columns/santiago-days
The city of Valparaiso is suffering a problem of identity. What to do when your trademark becomes unprofitable? Referred to as “The Jewel of the Pacific” much of Chile’s second city sits aside steep hills, offering stunning views... Read Article
Take one international hero. The liberator of a continent. A man venerated to the point of deity. Add one populist leader of the people. Add a dash of paranoia, a sprinkle of delusion of grandeur. And cook together... Read Article
In many ways Santiago is a patchwork city. Each commune, or barrio, with its own architecture and atmosphere. The modern chic Providencia and Los Condes, air conditioned shops, boulevards and sky scrapers, filled with those benefiting from the... Read Article
They are the smallest nation to ever win the World Cup. And they’ve done it twice! They also boast the record for most Copa America wins (15 in total!) If you treat all international tournaments equally they are... Read Article
As I write this I’m sitting in a Sao Paulo airport waiting for my flight connection heading home from my time in Santiago. I’ve slept two hours of the last 24. I smell strongly of perfume, after the... Read Article
I have, over the last couple of weeks, had the opportunity (and legal necessity) to get out of Santiago and see some of the rest of this part of the world for a bit. Of the two trips... Read Article
The first time this giant of American entertainment leaves its natives shores, Chile was chosen as the destination. In many ways this made a lot of sense, a stable affluent South American country, obsessed with rock music seems... Read Article
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of the most famous Latin American authors of all time. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982 and is best known for the novels One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love... Read Article
Firstly my condolences go out to any one involved in last week’s earthquake in Japan, which at the time of writing potentially includes eleven Chilean families whose kin have so far remained out of contact. Memories of last... Read Article
Born in Paraguay in 1917 he fought in South America’s bloodiest 20th century conflict. He lived in exile in Argentina and France before, in 1989 he received the Primero Cervantes, Spanish language’s highest literary award. Sounds and Colours... Read Article
In the couple of weeks since I last blogged a couple of strange things have happened. Firstly, it rained! I have not seen a cloud since I arrived (no, I’m not trying to wind you up), then last... Read Article
Santiago Days is a new column by Mark Briggs, taking a magnifying glass to life in Santiago, Chile. This week he is going to bring you some of those little bits of life that tell you you’re in... Read Article
