El Monumento

jbars · #1 09-06-2007, 12:34 PM

I know there was some discussion a few weeks back about the completion of the renovations to the Monument. Could anyone tell me if they have finished or know of the definite finish date. I will be in Santiago 9/24 - 10/1.

tilinmarte · #2 09-06-2007, 01:09 PM

Yes they fixed it it's a little better the only difference is they put up copper statues on top and some landscaping and they are charging cars to go to the top 30 pesos. It 's cleaner but don't expect significant changes!!

Luperon · #3 09-06-2007, 01:18 PM

The renovations are of very poor quality. I think some of the stuff is made of paper Mache, especially the swords which are breaking off already. I took the tour up the monument (50 pesos for gringos, less for Dominicans), it was nice. I hope they keep the place clean; it certainly is much nicer than it used to be.

mariaobetsanov · #4 09-09-2007, 05:03 PM

I hear that the landscape wash out the day after the its dedication , what up with that?

Berzin · #5 09-09-2007, 07:58 PM

We'll have to wait for AZB or Chip to fill us in and post some pictures about the condition of the monument now that the renovations have been officially completed.

mariaobetsanov · #6 09-19-2007, 08:10 AM

The so called renovations, are no more than a half-ass paint job, the monument is painted up to the niddle. The statues are fiberglass paint in copper color. The work done is a not up to pass any standard of quality since here anything takes more money than it actually was spend. I in this twenty first century expect retaining walls in a steep incline before planting mature trees which are being held up by muletas
trees branches. Apparently there are no trained tree /nursery specialist, tree are planted and it takes several years, lanscape ages in place.

Daflysta · #7 09-21-2007, 11:15 AM

50 pesos luperon? damn, i should've taken the trip up.

yeah, the statues were pretty poor quality. i kept a distance from the statues to get a better sense of how they looked. i didn't sense anything was wrong until i saw the 'sword' held together by masking tape!

the planting of the landscaping was done in bass ackward manner too. didn't seem that there was enough runoff channels either. 1 week of strong steady rain is gonna turn it into a mudpile. :-(

the fri & sat night cruiser scene around the monumento was pretty funt to watch though :-)

D