Bright Lights, Big City

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Flew into Santiago from Easter Island and decided to give it a chance after my original plan to head straight out again .... I am glad I did. First night I had dinner with Mark and Jessica whom I met on the island. We were determined to prove to each other that we were capable of staying awake beyond 10 pm. I don't know what it is about island life but each day it was a struggle to stay up late.

Luckily we went to Bellavista which is a lovely part of Santiago with bars and restaurants the moment you step out of the hostel. Dinner and then a local bar where I discovered Pisco Manzilla. Have no idea why I thought that might be less potent than pisco sour. All to say the next morning I was feeling a little fragile.... so headed off to the Pre Colombian Museum which was amazing. Just what I needed to get excited about everything I will be seeing in Bolivia and Peru. It is truly amazing the quality of the pieces of art and pottery they produced thousands of years ago.

Also after pottering around the center of Santiago discovered that we were right beside one of the main tourist sites which is a large hill and I mean large - it has a zoo, wine museum as well as a statue of Mary and of course an amazing view of the city.

Monday was more pottering about Santiago center and taking advantage of being in a capital to get all sorts of bits and pieces sorted out before a marathon bus ride to Salta via Mendoza - a mere 26 hours. The film choices on board were dire and they forgot to serve us breakfast so I had a good go in my best Spanish expressing my disappointment in their service - ha ha.

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Photos

Santiago is a mix of everything
Little streets a la latin style

Mote
Chile wins the prize so far for food! From the sublime to the interesting