Santiago is the capital of Chile and was founded by Pedro de Valdivia on February 12th 1541. This is a cosmopolitan city on the banks of the Mapocho River. It is a vibrant city in its urban geography, surrounded by picturesquely traditional villages and full of modern buildings of futuristic architecture.

Congress Site

The conference will be held at the University of Santiago de Chile in the vicinity of Santiago city center, besides of “Estación Central”, the railway station of the city. Two underground stations at tube line 1 are suitable to reach the University of Santiago de Chile: “Estación Central” and “Universidad de Santiago”, we recommend to use the second one for plenary lectures attendance (see AMagna_access).

The opening ceremony and all plenary presentations will be held in the “Aula Magna” of the University of Santiago de Chile (Av. Ecuador 3659) (see AMagna_access). The regular sessions, special sessions, (oral presentation and poster sessions) will be held in the CENI of the University of Santiago de Chile. CENI installations are designed for the congress and meetings celebrations to reach CENI installations from the Aula Magna (see Aula Magna_CENI map). To reach the CENI installations from the “Estación Central” underground station (see CENI access)

Arrival

There are several ways to find us. If you are an expert traveling man you can click in the How to reach us. To find the CENI installation you must fill the dialog box in the web page with the following information:

Nombre Calle (street name): Las Sophoras

Número (number): 175.

Comuna (district): you must select Estación Central

Click in the button “Buscar”

The system will generate a map to find CENI, you need to zoom out to see a more general map with reference points like “Estación Central” station, for instance. For this you click in the minus button (Alejarse).

Public transport in Santiago

In Santiago of Chile there are 5 subways and 290 bus lines that cover all the city plant. Because the surface network is rather complex, see, for instance click here we recommend, at last in the first stay days, to use the underground transport system (Underground network).

The main building and the CENI of the University of Santiago de Chile could be accessed by the subway line 1 (red line) "Estación Central station".

Tickets are available at the subway stations. We recommend to buy the "Bip card" in the subway station counters. It is an intelligent card and itmust be used in all means of public transportation in Santiago. It could be loaded with any amount of money that you want. The cost of the card is approximately 3 US$ and each trip has a cost of about 1 US$. Please remind 1 US$ = 630 pesos.

Language

Spanish is the official language in Chile. The conference language is English. No translation facilities will be provided at the conference.

Climate

Santiago (543 m. AMSL) has a pleasant Mediterranean climate. Santiago's climate is temperate, with some continental features. In summer -December through March- temperatures can reach 30º Celsius, while in winter -June through August- there are heavy but short rains.

Currency

The currency in Chile is the PESO (630 PESOS is about 1US$). The airport and in the shopping centers have exchange desks and money is available at numerous cash machines, prepared for major international cards. Hotels, restaurants, and many shops and travel agencies accept all major credit cards or cash cards.

2009 ICU International Congress on Ultrasonics
January 11 - 17, 2009, University of Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Physics Department, USACH
ICU home page: http://icu2009.usach.cl
e-Mail: icu2009@fisica.usach.cl
President of the ICU Board: Prof. Luis Gaete-Garretón

- Last modified : Jan. 8, 2008