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Plaza de Armas
This sqaure is a hive of activity day and night. Arrival in Santiago
Our flight from Auckland left at 17:30 on Sunday 19th April and we arrived in Santiago 10 hours later at the local time of 12:30 - we had officially gone back in time! A short taxi ride later and we arrived at our pre-booked hostel in the Plaza de Armas, the main square. We were pleasantly surprised by our accommodation - we had our own separate apartment which we shared with another room. This came with a large kitchen, dining/living room, balcony and free Internet!!
Later that afternoon we took a short walk around the plaza and found a supermarket that was open late on Sundays. For dinner we ate a typical Chilean snack food, the tasty empanada de piño, a pastry turnover filled with mince beef, olives and egg that was quite tasty although needed more filling and less pastry in our opinion. It was lights out at 19:00 for us and we did not wake until 12:00 the following afternoon - we were obviously feeling the effects of time travelling!
Trying out the lingo
Our first stop after brunch was at the Mercado Central where we had the opportunity to try
Buying queso
The crowd looked on in bemusement. out the little Spanish we knew when buying some fruit and cheese. At the delicatessen 3 friendly locals served us, eager to teach us some Spanish and try out their English. This began well, but once the conversation differed from the standard Q&As we had learnt, we were flummoxed. However we were pleased we had had a go and looked forward to our next conversation...
Eager to stretch our legs, we went on another walking tour courtesy of the Lonely Planet. The walk began and ended in the plaza and took us past several colonial buildings, churches, museums, the Presidential Palace and the University.
For dinner we tried the Chilean dish, Chorrillana, a platter of fried steak strips, potatoes, eggs, grilled onions and sausage that was loaded with salt. We regretted not sharing this hearty dish at a fast food joint akin to our greasy spoon cafes, but with waiter service.
Two parks and a museum
On our second full day we decided to escape the hustle and bustle and wander around 2 of Santiago’s parks, Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal. Cerro Santa Lucia is a pretty landscaped park built into a rocky
hill right in the centre complete with a large fountain and tomb of a previous city mayor from the 19th century. We climbed the windy staircases up to the summit (630m high) to enjoy views of the sprawling city up to where it meets the Andes to the east. Unfortunately our view was hazy due to the permanent layer of smog caused by pollution.
Cerro San Cristobal is situated northeast of the main CBD so we had a short walk to reach it in Barrio Bellavista. We paid the equivalent of 2 pounds each for a ride on the funicular railway, 485m up to the top of the park. This was a fun ride although there were no seats and the higher we climbed the better the view. Once at the top, we climbed steps to reach the 14m, white statue of the ‘Virgen de Inmaculada de Concepcion’ that looks down on the city.
A trip to the Chilean Museum of Pre-Colombian Art (pre-Spanish colonisation) followed. Within the museum there was a wide range of artwork including ceramics, textiles and jewellery made by various ancient civilisations including the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans. Some of the work was dated
back to 6000 years ago. An interesting exhibit with 3 mummified bodies which pre-dated the Egyptians by 3000 years!
Our Tour Begins…
On Wednesday we left the hostel and checked into Hotel Riviera, the starting point of our 40 day trip from Santiago to Lima. Nothing had been planned for the first day except that we were to meet and greet our guide Christian from Chile and other members of the group at 8pm in the lobby. This meant we had most of the day to ourselves so we went for a vegetarian lunch (a change from the greasy meat dishes we had been eating for the past 3 days) and a wander. We took a look inside the Cathedral Metropolitana in the plaza. Whilst relaxing in the square we got talking to a friendly local who filled us in on a bit of politics and history. He was waiting for his daughter who was at least 30 minutes late - apparently punctuality is not a virtue for Chileans. On our way back to the hotel we picked our way through the amorous couples in Cerro Santa Lucia for the second time.
At 8pm we met
just 8 members of our group of 15, all of similar age and mostly English. Those members not present had began their GAP tour in another country and thus had heard the briefing already. After introductions we all took up Christian’s offer to go to his brother’s apartment for drinks and homemade pizza. This was certainly a more relaxed way of getting to know the group.
Valparaiso
The only group activity planned for day 2 was a very expensive wine tour and as Mike and I had been to several in Australia and New Zealand, we decided to give this a miss. Instead we caught a public bus to Valparaiso on the coast, 1.5 hours away from Santiago.
Valparaiso is a port city made up of 2 halves - El plan, the flat area full of shops, restaurants and parks and the cerros or hills full of colourful precariously built houses and stray dogs. Connecting these 2 halves together are various ascensors, miniature funicular railway lines or there are plenty of steps!
We arrived at lunchtime so decided to take advantage of the lunchtime offers of a salad, soup and main course with tea or
coffee for just over 4 pounds! We ordered in Spanish, but did not quite understand our grumpy waiter. However we managed to catch a few words and order what we wanted.
After our fill we walked along El plan and up into the cerros to explore. It was hard to take photos without a mass of telephone wires or electricity cables getting in the way, but we did our best. We took a ride on the Ascensor Concepcion, up to a pretty cobblestone road full of artists overlooking the port. We also walked to the less popular Ascensor San Agustin to the west of town, but one local tapped Mike on the shoulder and said "Oi mister, its no good, no good, mafia around here". On hearing this we thanked him for his advice and made a quick exit firmly holding onto our bags! Apparently theft can be a problem in some areas, especially at night.
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