The Virgin, the Australian Embassy and a Kiwi Restaurant

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Well, apparently where we were yesterday wasn't the highest point in Santiago - although it felt like it at the time. We climbed the mountain with the huge statue of the Virgin today and I'm fairly sure that was it! It wasn't totally intentional but the funicular wasn't going to open until 1pm and there was no Starbucks at the bottom.
I had spent the morning travelling to the Australian Embassy and filling in the appropriate forms in order to get my emergency passport sorted. It all went very smoothly and I was back at the hostel hurrying everyone up so we could spend our last day in the sun doing something fun. The walk up took just over an hour (escorted by one of the local dogs of course) but the views were definitely worth it. The Andes loomed amidst the smog on one side and the city sprawled around the remainder. The outside chapel (Pope John Paul II said mass there in 1984) was lovely and we rewarded ourselves with Alfajore Magnums. We then caught a cable car down the hill (what with all that walking up, the walk down just seemed a bit too much) and I bribed the girls with promises of vanilla lattes if they accompanied me back to the Australian Embassy to pick up my passport.
Passport in hand (and me obsessively checking it every 5 minutes) we decided to dine in "one of Santiago's best restaurants" with a New Zealand theme - yes that confused us too. The food was delicious and beautifully presented (and I do have photos) and of course pisco sours were to be had in three different flavours. Afterall, this was a "Gala Lunch" to farewell Chris. Overall a fabulous afternoon but possibly Elizabeth's quote: "I'm so glad you lost your passport so we ended up here" was probably taking it a bit far...
After a brief interrogation by the International Police, I was allowed to leave Chile! Bring on NZ!!! :-)

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