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Published: August 6th 2015
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As today is supposed to be our only really nice day in Santiago, we used it to get a good, clear view of the city. Santiago is very much built in a valley surrounded on one side by the snow-capped Andes, and on the other by the shorter Chilean Coastal Range. Although the valley is perfectly flat now, it's fair to assume that it was probably a bit more hilly in the past. Although the city fills most of the valley, there were a few hills left to stand, including San Cristóbal in the center of it all, part of a huge city park (probably about the size of Central Park).
On the recommendation of my sister, Serena and I chose to hike it today. First, though, since Dialogue is over, we did nothing for a while. And it was great. This is, after all, our vacation from our vacation: in Iguazú, we'll probably be moving more, and then we're driving a lot, so this is our best chance to hang around and look over a great city from our patio and eat a nice quiet breakfast.
Around noonish, I'd guess, we left to walk to the hill. It's
a bit more than a mile to get there, but we walked through a nice park in Santiago Center, and then through Bellavista, the best neighborhood to go out in around here. Although neither of us are really feeling clubbing, it was still a cool area to see and you could tell it would be hopping at night.
The base of the hill is occupied by the National Zoo, so we climbed up to that (not taking the tramway up. Exercise is good for you), and walked around the road to get to the path. Right around the path, we hit a whole bunch of Carabineros - Chilean National Police - who were blocking the paths. As it turns out, they were looking for a guy who kidnapped a girl in the area. So that's nice. It figures that it happens on that one day; Santiago is usually a pretty safe city. The only crime concerns are usually theft: they say not to leave things in your car or your wallet in your back packet.
We walked around to the road to the path on the east side of the hill, which was open. It was about a
300 meter hill, not huge, but very steep on the sides. The path was hairpin turning and still steep. It was a pretty good workout for the day. It took, I would guess, although I wasn't timing it, about 45 minutes to an hour. At the peak is a church and a statue of the Virgin Mary, along with panoramic views of the city and the mountains. We hung out up there for quite some time, then headed back down and picked up some ice cream on the way.
We came home and made a salad for a late lunch, then spent more time just enjoying sitting outside on the patio looking over the city. Eventually we left for dinner, and went down to the same area we did last night, as it seems to be the best food area near us. We found a Chilean grill, where Serena had the chance to try salmon, and I got some delicious grilled brisket thing. We're supposed to get rain the next two days, so we'll be spending less time outside, most likely, but still loving the city!
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