Santiago – Chile

Touching down in Santiago in the early morning hours after a 11 hour overnight flight from Los Angeles, what do you do? Drop bags and hit the ground running of course.

Crowds, business people running late for their workday, and us just leisurely strolling through the metro. The city has grown more and more modern since my last visit, lots of construction boom going on.

Santiago has tons of parks and green areas, people just lounging around and dogs playing in the grass. We could use more of these areas at home.

First goal was to get to the top of Cerró San Cristóbal which has a nice view over the City and the Andes mountains surrounding it.

Pope signs were everywhere as El Papa would arrive in a few days. Some people seemed excited, others less so, and some protested.

Walked through the gorgeous Mercado Central where it looked like fish were plentiful and ice quickly disappearing in the warming day. One could either buy fish to go or enjoy at one of the many small restaurants. We certainly got solicited for both!

Plaza Las Armas is the main square of Santiago and we spent some time here looking at life. People hustling, people selling ice cream (summer vacation!), and people just relaxing.

We also made it to the main cathedral and even joined mass as we walked around checking out this magnificent building. We did however pass up on the confession booth, sorry Pope.

The next day it was up at the crack of dawn to go meet a friend of mine, Pantera. We were picked up in his 4×4 and started driving outside of town, and up to the Andes mountains. Gorgeous scenery. Last time I was here it was in the late fall, and the snow had just fallen. This time it was summer, green, and lots of horses, goats, cows, and birds. Light breeze and sunny skies. An occasional condor soaring high above. Just perfect.

We proceeded with some hiking, ropes out and scrambling. We made our way up to the ice cave where water is simply pouring out from underneath the side of a sheer mountain.

No one else in sight here. Crossing the river got our boots soaked. But the view was worth it. We drove through green areas lodged between majestic mountains, criss crossing small streams and lakes. Eventually Pantera found the lunch spot he was looking for. It was perfect. Horses roaming around and magnificent views to the top of the snow covered peaks.

The Argentinian border just beyond those ridges, maybe 3 miles / 5 km away. Lunch cooked over an open fire, Avocados, steak, some beer and a bottle of wine! Yummy!

We made our way back to the City and said by to Pantera. See you next time! During the next day we, once again, headed out of the City. This time with our guide, Mick, originally from California. We had a wine tour of three vineyards in the area outside Santiago.

Views were stunning, wines were all perfect and it was just a great day. Managed to meet my friend Armando that I used to work with, and his wife. We went out to the busy district of Bellavista which attracts quite the night crowd. Sadly, it also attracted me to a round of full on food poisoning, so the next 30 hours I was “out of commission”. But a rest day was ok I guess, and I had to be rested for tomorrow’s adventure of Easter Island! Jessica took great care of me during this time, and also went grocery shopping for tomorrow’s journey. Yes, you bring groceries with you to the Easter Island 🙂

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