Chilean hot dogs, Santiago

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The journey to Santiago from Bariloche, as I know Fuzzy likes to know about these things, was a two buses journey, one from Bariloche across the border, leaving Argentina and entering into Chile to a place called Osorno and then second bus from Osorno to Santiago. The bus journey took us across the Andes with a customs stop out of Argentina and one into Chile. No major incidents or delays involved and the view from the bus window was lovely as we winded around the hills of fir trees and great lakes. Following the beauty of the mountains we arrived in Chile at Osorno which was grey with fog and closed for Sunday! Some Chilean money in our pockets from the ATM we purchased a bus ticket to Santiago but had a long wait till the next bus but we managed to spend 2 hours in Dino´s cafe and then an hour around the shops where I purchased a body warmer for less than 10 quid as it was soooo cold! (since then the body warmer has been a great investment as its been fairly cool temperatures in Chile...chilly being the word)! Anyhow, time elasped with card playing and book reading and we were on the bus to Santiago.

Arrived bleary eyed at about 8am in Santiago at one of two possible bus stations so we grabbed a taxi to our hostel, Don Santiago and arrived in time for a lovely breakfast of fruit, eggs and warm bread 😊 The manager inadvertently showing us our dorm room whilst a couple of travellers were still trying to sleep. Map provided by hostel we decided to have breakfast and then wander around Santiago for the sites. Into the main city plaza was the cathedral, art musuem and post office. The post office was probably prettiest building both inside and out and even included a free museum! Brim and decided to check it out. They had a huge collection of stamps from around the world and English worded information on the history of postage in Chile. As part of the displays the post office used manaquins at desks with old phones and telegraph machines etc. In the confusion Brim asked if an actual person (who was not moving) was in fact real or a manaquin.....he was real but I don´t think he noticed the 2 of us staring at him intently to try and make out if he was alive or not!

Main avenues in Santiago included all the usual shops you expect to see in the city´s but also a new chain of food places called Shop Dog! Having decided we must have a Chilean food - Completo (the hot dog with tomatoes, mayo and mustard/onion like sauce) we then checked out the cinema listings (after finding the correct cinema for mainstream films)! That evening we watched Angels and Demons (OK) and ate a big tub of popcorn. Brilliant 😊

Don Santiago was quite lively with travellers but most seemed to be short on ideas of what to do in the city. In any event we decided to head for the Cerro San Cristobal which is a smaller equivalent of Christ Redeemer in Rio. This time however at top of the hill was Mary and she was not nearly as high. The view at the top was disappointing because frankly Santiago is not as pretty as Rio and the smog covered the view to the Andes so they were barely visible. Anyhow is an adventurous spirit we decided to walk down the hill (having got up the hill via the train)! The walk was quite pleasant until we felt we were walking around the hill instead of going down and had to backtrack somewhat! ooops. Finally getting to the bottom we were faced with a road and no signs. We started walking and reached the outskirts of the zoo (deciding not to go in because everyone had warned it was not a very zoo at all) and smiled meekly at the Chilean zoo guard as we wandered back into the city!

That evening in the hostel we hung out with the 2 girls from our dorm and Michael an aussie who kept scores as we played the dice game, Yahtzee! 😊

Having decided there really wasn´t anything else we wanted to see in Santiago we booked bus tickets and decided to only stay 2 nights instead of 3. You may note there are not many photos of Santiago. To be honest Santiago was a bit of a disappointment in total. The city was quite boring and the nicest buildings were in the main plaza with the post office etc. As the city was covered in smog too there was not the same upbeat atmosphere we had experienced elsewhere. A bit of a shame but we made the most of the time we had and headed north to La Serena for the stars! 😊

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Comments

[Bathsheeba Whittington]

Top of the hill?
is that photo caption a reference to Brim's generous bosom? Do feel sorry for you about all the smog in Santiago - I got to go to Staines today ;-) have fun xxx

[Bartoni]

Big shout out to Wilson
Ola Chica, Fuzz tells me she helped you out at your sports event - hope it was a success and you have been following the blog updates :)

[Bartoni]

Top of the hill...
....I didn't think of it like that! No, it was reference to the fact we were at the top! :) On a side note, been drinking Salta beer these last few days and think it is comparable to Itapavia in Brasil. More beer news soon :)