Parque Quinta Normal

This guide to Parque Quinta Normal in Santiago starts in 1841, when the government set aside this ground not as a garden but as a testing site for whether foreign trees and crops could take root in Chilean soil. It follows the pines and giant sequoias shipped in from abroad, and the 1875 Chilean International Exhibition that later turned the whole park into a stage for a different kind of hunger. You'll hear how one of that fair's grand buildings still stands at the park's heart. Grab a spot at one of the free public grills near the entrance.