My flight was delayed 14 hours in the end so arrived at my hostel at 1am, where a BBQ was in full swing. Suffering from lack of sleep, I decided the best option was to join in.
Santiago is a large city sitting right at the feet of the Andes. In summertime (now) there´s a serious smog problem due the heat, lack of wind and mountains. Despite it´s size the city centre is pretty small and can be covered in a day or so. Around the city there are several small hills jutting from the otherwise flat landscape, which tend to make good viewpoints.
Yesterday I explored the downtown area of Santiago, visiting a couple of museums (as you do) before eating a ubiquitous hotdog (completo) for lunch and heading back to my cultured part of town. On the way I stopped at Cerro Santa Lucia, one of the little hills that was a really nice park. The view:
After getting back over the (very smelly) river I visited the excellent house/museum of Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean poet, politician and communist (as if you didn´t know). Then I headed up San Cristobal, the largest of the hills overlooking Santiago, on the funicular. At the top:
And of course, I don´t think there is a South America hill complete with a statue of the Virgin Mary at the top:
So tomorrow I´m off to Valparaiso, the "essence of Chile", a couple of hours away on the coast. I´ll spend a day or 2 there, before decided to either head south to Pucon and the Lakes region of Patagonia, or to Mendoza in Argentina to join an expedition up Aconcagua that would last 3 weeks.
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