Santiago

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We were only in the capital for two days. Some people on the trip were finishing here and we had some people joining us.

24th March - went on the metro to Cerro San Cristobal, a big hill with a statue of Virgin Mary on top overlooking the city. We walked up but the view wasnt that great. Santiago is full of skyscrapers and lots of smog and haze so we couldnt see the Andes that surround the city which would have been great. There was a nice altar at the top though, quite a religious place. After walking back down we headed to a tube stop that had beautiful paintings on the walls and then into the centre of town for a wander. Later we went out to another area of town to find somewhere to have dinner and although we were looking for an Indian ended up at a Mexican! After that we rushed back into the centre to go to the cinema. We went to see Las Chronicles de Spiderwick and although we thought we had asked if it was in English it was in Spanish with no subtitles!! We decided to watch it anyway, and managed to get the gist of what was going on. It is a children´s fantasy film and I´m glad I saw it in Spanish because I think it would have been terrrible in English!!!

The next day Tash, Becki and I went on a bus to a nearby port city called Valparaiso. We had a good wander around the city and went to a few nice cafes for juices. The city was quite big and was built into the mountainside and had railway cable car things going up the side of it. Some of the architecture was beautiful and the city was very colourful. It was definitely a bustling port but I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting a beach!

25th March - we travel out of Santiago and leave Chile for good. I am quite sad about this because I have really enjoyed Torres and Pucon, both in Chile.

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