Chile Forum

Can anyone give me info about this area? Is it safe? Pollution problems? Feedback would be helpful!

There are a few areas in Huechuraba that are considered good, namely La Piramide (foothils of the La Piramide hill, next to Ciudad Empresarial) and A. Pedro Fontova/Guanaco Norte area. I'm not personally familiar with La Piramide, but could comment on the second area. Lots of Chilean style "condominios" with all alike houses with tiny backyards, all surrounded by ugly yellow hills with scarce vegetation. Selling prices for new houses start from UF3200. I think by Chilean standards residents are something like upper middle class.
The rest of the comuna is just awful.
Oh, and the air is pretty bad everywhere in Huechuraba, although some residents would try to convince you (and, probably, themselves) that they moved there running from the air pollution of the inner city.

Kia.Kruse wrote:Can anyone give me info about this area? Is it safe? Pollution problems? Feedback would be helpful!

It would be inappropriate to use the English word "commune" - bad translation for the Chilean case and further proof that dictionaries are no substitutes for translators. It's a comuna. But there is no simple translation for a comuna because of the range of sizes of comunas. The size can range from a few dozen square km to extensions larger than some countries, several thousand square km. But a comuna is not a commune. We tell newbies that a comuna is an "administrative district similar to a US county." And within comunas you have to consider further subdivision to get any sort of sense of conditions affecting a choice for living. In the case of this comuna, the La Pincoya section would probably be a bad choice since it is a dangerous, low-income neighbourhood with considerable drug use, violence, and a general source of criminals who are known to roam the district. On the other hand, neighbourhoods such as Santa Rosa de Huechuraba and Bosques de la Pirámide tend to have high income families and the bars on the windows and electronic security systems against crime tend to reflect better style and taste.

If you consider that charges against the local clergy for sexual abuse of children is typical for Chile, then Huechuraba is as normal as they come. It's in the northern end of the Stgo basin which is known for a high crime rate. It's in the Stgo basin so the air quality is unhealthy much of the year.

Its a middle class suburb, but what makes it handy is its very close to viticura, las condes, and providencia by taking the moterway and tunnel,

i wouldnt live there because of the air quality, and the traffic within the area is a nightmare, i use to try and take the back streets through there as a shortcut home from work when the motorways were broken from the earthquake,

i wouldnt put it high on my list of places to live,

Im looking for a new place out of santiago at the moment, and considering south of the city (my new office is on the south)

Why Huerchuraba? Just curious - it's an odd place to find an expat. Like most said, suppose to be upper chilean middle class type area (I find it ugly), bad air quality, has one mall (plaza Norte) It's not bad, I have been there many times, they are constantly improving it. Approx 10 min to Santiago Centro by car. It's basically where the people that can't afford to live in Vitacura, Las Condes & surrounding areas go.

Where are you coming from? Might help if we knew to give you more of an accurate comparison.

I will be departing from Dusseldorf,Germany. I chose this are because a 4th generation of German Speakers have a nice room for rent.Now I am a bit reluctant!

Kia.Kruse wrote: I chose this are because a 4th generation of German Speakers have a nice room for rent.

Which sector do they live in ? What was the description of the area that they gave you? We might be able to tell you if they were chamullando more like Chileans than Germans.

Kia.Kruse wrote:I will be departing from Dusseldorf,Germany. I chose this are because a 4th generation of German Speakers have a nice room for rent.Now I am a bit reluctant!

Well put it this way, if you found Italy to be overrated I would recommend not coming to Chile at all. Your going to be in for a shock.