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Published: January 24th 2010
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Last stop on our South American adventure meant we may not have done true justice to Santiago, I think we were really looking forward to coming to OZ, so spent a bit of time relaxing in our nice hostel Don Santiago in the Barrio Brazil area of Santiago which was nice and leafy with a few restaurants around. The city of Santiago was nice itself, again quite modern and definitely had the feel of a capital city, metro and all. Its setting is quite spectacular as it is almost entirely encircled by the Andes mountains. You could see the mountains most of the time but in the heat of the day the haze and pollution often made it hard to get a good view of them. There were plenty of vineyards in and on the surrounds of the city, we went to go out to one one day but it was shut and another closed for lunch. Maybe we should have prepared better but after doing it in Argentina we weren't too pushed.
The weekend we were there was election weekend, so it was very quiet around. Most places shut early the night prior and come election day most things are
shut. And there is a complete ban on the sale of alcohol on the election day. It seems that after being run by a dictatorship for so long there are still a few more rules in Chile than the other South American countries. We climbed the smaller Cerro Lucia (628m) in the city for a quick view of the city, there were some nice parks and seating areas on the hill itself, all at different levels, it was a nice place to relax and escape the city without leaving it. We got out a bit more on the Monday and Tuesday as things livened up a little. After the wineries had shut we ended up at a suburban supermarket, it really felt like any Westfields in Australia, very modern clean and really just like we have at home. I had been enjoying the Chorrillana in Santiago it is potato chips, grilled onions, fried eggs, slices of steak and chorizo also. It was delicious and reading the ingredients now I can see the reason why. The chilenos also really seem to enjoy their hotdogs. There were stands all over the place I was so tempted to get in to some but
I was feeling a little guilty over all the chorrillanas I had been eating.
We had great weather in Santiago and went to the Bellavista area under Cerro San Cristobal where we caught the funicular up to the top to take in more of the city views. On the way back through Bellavista it was amazing to see the number of people (students) outside bars drinking on the sidewalk tables. It was only 3 or 4pm and they seemed to be enjoying themselves already. We spent a little while wandering around the city, with its main plaza and the cathedral and there was a plethora of streets some malled some not that had so many shops. We really spent a lot of time in the hostel, we went through plenty of wine, watching the TV enjoying the conversation with Pablo who worked in the hostel. It was a relaxing way to say goodbye to what I would describe as a non-relaxing holiday. We are looking forward to OZ and looking back at South America, we have had an amazing time, done so many things, climbed so many things, not understood many things, drank many things, spent hours looking for change,
eaten food we didn't know existed, seen the most amazing scenery and laughed and smiled more than we ever imagined. We packed up for the last time in South America and headed to the airport to say goodbye, hasta luego South America, muchas gracias por los recuerdos!
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