Although the city has no electrified street car system, its horse cars are a duplicate of the Santiago and Valparaiso trolley cars. They have double decks, the top being reserved for those who prefer to travel second class. In other means of transit there is nothing to boast of. The hacks are antiquated, closed black wooden boxes, while the saddle horses at the livery stables are of the antediluvian variety.
The main streets are well paved with cobblestones, but the side ones are poorly paved with small smooth stones, very distressing to walk upon with thin-soled shoes. The buildings are well built and red brick is more common than in the cities farther north. However, there are in Chillán frame houses, which in the neighborhood of Santiago are conspicuous by their absence. There are several plazas, but the principal one, O'Higgins, is the best, and in my estimation is the loveliest in Chile. It has no grassy sward but its great trees give a delightful umbrage that is refreshing during the heat of a summer day. In this respect it is not unlike the Plaza Pringles in San Luis, Argentina. A military band plays here thrice weekly at night and it is then a treat for tired eyes to watch from a bench the procession of well-formed girls in the latest creations pass by in review on their corso around the octagonal park.
Street in Chillán
The market place, paved with pebbles, is a broad area, bustling with life. Nearly every known variety of vegetable is represented, and of such a quality that I know nowhere else where they are excelled unless it is at the market at Belgrade, Servia. Chillán is the greatest onion mart in South America, and here are seen cartloads of that nerve-soothing vegetable heaped on the ground. Many marketeers come to town Sunday afternoon and sleep that night in their stalls so as to be alert with their wares and produce at daybreak on Monday, on which day the place is thronged. On the fringe of the area are canvas booths. Here sit toothless hags and buxom virgins offering for sale at fabulously low prices, quirts, riatas, hobbles, spur-straps, and other leathern productions of their deft fingers.
Market Place, Chillán
Regarding hotels, Chillán has some good ones, but unless the prospective lodger telegraphs beforehand, he is likely to find shelter beneath a shade tree for the rooms are in constant demand. This speaks well of the city. In the summer the natural trade is augmented by the tourists en route to and en retour from the Termas de Chillán (Baths of Chillán), a watering place, who spend a night or two in the Ñuble metropolis in transit. At the exit of the old-fashioned railway station, a runner meets the stranger and touts for the Hotel Central, a large new building, a block from the center of the city.