My last day in Chile was dedicated to exploring Santiago. But first, I had to check out of my hotel because my flight was leaving that night at 11:40pm. As usual, I was running late because I was very tired. I made a 9:30am reservation for a bike tour, and didn't have much time to spare. To my agitation, the check out process went ridiculously slow, and my invoice was hand-written! I can't even remember the last time I received one of those!
In addition to my tour guide, a new employee was in training, so I received two guides for the price of one! Once again, I felt like I was receiving extra special treatment, which I happily accepted.
Before we headed out, the guide offered me some sunscreen, and I must say it ended up being a good thing that I put some on.
I booked the Local Life & Markets Morning Tour ($36.) During our 3-hour ride, we rode in the street, which was thankfully not very confusing or scary. We started by riding through some neighborhoods which used to be where the so-called "undesirables" or poor people used to live. When Santiago grew into the city it is today, city planners put all of the nice things on the south side of the Mapocho River, where the wealthy people lived.
There is a large Palestinian/Muslim population in Chile due to immigration. In the photo above, you can see that the business' name is Rincón Arabesco, and the graffiti art/mural is of an Arab man with a hookah.
The guide told me about graffiti art. Some of what you'll see is merely graffiti or "tagging." But some of it is art. People don't bother trying to paint over graffiti on their businesses or houses because it will just keep happening. So, as an alternate choice, some people pay to have graffiti art painted on their buildings to prevent tagging.
Is it graffiti or is art?
We next rode to through the Bellavista neighborhood to La Casa Museo La Chascona (http://www.fundacionneruda.org/en/la-chascona/visitors-information.) This was originally a house that Pablo Neruda built in 1953 for his mistress, Matilde Urrutia.
The house had two entry doors to make it seem like it was two different houses. Thus, he would enter through one door, and Matilde would enter through the other to not raise suspicion.
There is now an amphitheater facing the house, which is also a water feature. (Side note: More about the dog to come.)
A Neruda-inspired mural along the road above the amphitheater.
According to my tour guide, Santiago has over a million stray dogs. Many are actually cared for by residents, but not taken in as actual pets. Thus, the dogs begin to form relationships with certain people. Most citizens of Santiago actually love the stray dog population, and would vote down any legislation or candidate who backed ridding the city of them. The dogs are nice and will not attack people. However, they may bark if being protective of someone or something, and they highly dislike motorcycles. Just stay away from any dog fights though!
These two dogs have taken a liking to my tour guide in recent weeks, so they joined us on most of the tour.
I was amazed that the dogs could keep track of us, even when getting far ahead or behind us. I thought is was so cute, but was so worried that they would get hit by a car!
Our next destination was La Vega Central. This is a large market, with stalls ran by various vendors who are typically multi-generational families. They sell a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables, and other items.
Huesillos.
Bulk dog food. Never seen this before.
Dried fruits and spices.
Not too busy on a Monday morning.
Some vendors specialize in Peruvian fruits and vegetables, which otherwise can't be found in Chile. (I learned that Chileans love Peruvian food.)
The tour included a snack break. I had a jugo natura (fresh juice), pineapple with no sugar added. The pancake looking things in the photo below are Chilean sopapillas, not to be confused with the dessert sopapillas that can be found in Mexican restaurants in the US. These sopapillas are a savory item that Chileans eat as a snack any time of day. They are made with flour and pumpkin. Typically, they are eaten with hot sauce or even mustard.
It was pretty good!
The dog patiently waiting for the tour to begin again.
We then rode south of the river, over to Mercado Central. I was very happy that this was included on the tour since it was closed when came by a few nights earlier. Like La Vega Central, this place wasn't very crowded, but I'm sure business picks up around lunch time.
Front entrance view.
View from inside. The walls and roof are made of a beautiful wrought-iron structure.
Mercado Central opened in 1872. It has restaurants and tourist shops on the interior, and seafood vendors along the exterior hall. My guide said not to shop here for seafood on Mondays because they sell the leftovers from Sundays. (This is probably another reason why it wasn't crowded.)
Something smells fishy.
Crabs in a display case. I don't see that everyday.
They sold some really odd looking "seafood" that I had never seen or heard of before. I can't remember what this fungus looking stuff was called, but I guess it was popular for use in Chilean cooking.
I asked if locals actually eat at the market. I was told that when a President wins an election in Chile, they are invited to dine at Augusto.
Switching gears, our next stop was at Plaza de Armas Square. Somewhere along the way, the dogs left us too. Plaza de Armas Square was not very exciting, because the square itself was covered by an ugly black construction wall. The guides explained that the construction company that was hired for renovation went bankrupt in January 2014, and the project has been on-hold ever since with no resolution in sight. The project was supposed to be completed in June 2014. The Catedral of Santiago (cathedral) was also undergoing renovations, so it was mostly covered with scaffolding. At least some of the buildings lining the square were pretty to look at.
View of Municipalidad de Santiago (City Hall) and Museo Histórico Nacional (Chilean National History Museum.)
We rode back toward our starting point, stopping to view the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Museum) and Parque Forestal along the way. I had a really good time on my bike tour. The guides were both very knowledgeable, and provided historic facts as well as general information about Chile and its people. It was like chatting with two new friends. In fact, one of the guides told me that Chilean men are very flirty with gringas. That explained so much about my extra-special treatment during my time in Chile thus far!
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Bella indeed!
Parque Forestal
After the bike ride, I did some sight-seeing on my own in the parts of town that I had not visited yet. I started at one of the local parks, Cerro Santa Lucía. Cerro means hill, and this place was much steeper than I imagined it would be. After walking up from the north to what I thought was top, I sat at a bench and ate some snacks I grabbed "to-go" from the breakfast room at my hotel, since I didn't have time to eat in the morning.
Such a nice view and a very peaceful place to relax while having my lunch.
Castillo Hidalgo (castle/fort.) This is behind the fountain in the photo above.
I walked a little further uphill, and realized that the park had many different levels, and I was barely halfway to the top!
View of one of many stone stairways leading up and down the hill, and part of my finger.
This place seemed to have parks within the park. The second highest level on the north side was Plaza de Pedro Valdivia.
Monument to Pedro de Valdivia, and a view of the top of the hill.
City views from the plaza.
The city's other famous cerro in the distance. (More on that later.)
Upward I went yet again, finally making it to what really was the top, Torre Mirador (the lookout tower.) The views from all around were great.
Looking down on Plaza Pedro de Valdivia.
I worked my way back down the opposite side of the hill. There seemed to be even more levels on this side, if that's even possible. The first thing I came across was Ermita de Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, a small church near the top.
The level below that had a paved plaza and another castle/fort.
The other castle/fort.
Heading down either further. Still lots more to see though.
A little lizard friend I made along the way.
The second to last level on the south side of the hill was very pretty and ornate, mainly due to La Terraza Neptuno (the Neptune Terrace.)
Backside of La Terraza Neptuno.
I can only assume this is earthquake damage.
South entrance, and the front of La Terraza Neptuno.
After that, at the advice of my bike tour guide, I walked over to the Centro Gabriela Mistral (Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center), known as "GAM." I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do here. The building itself was very modern, and had a colored glass atrium. I walked around the building, and there weren't too many people around. I came upon a hallway with an art display, so I took a look at that. I also used the restroom, which was very clean and free.
I walked back along the road Liber Bernardo O'Higgins in the direction I came from, passing by a park on the outer edge of Cerro Santa Lucia.
Looks like a very peaceful scene, but if you look closely, there are some people swimming in the fountain.
Having not had a proper meal all day, I decided to stop into a McDonald's I came across. (I guess I still didn't want a proper meal.) As tacky and cliché as it is, I pretty much make a point to stop at McDonald's while I'm traveling just to check out the differences in the menu items.
This was the most crowded place I had been all day!
Fancy names for burgers and chicken sandwiches.
I ordered a salad, but was told they didn't have any (even though they were on the menu.) So the only other vegetarian option was fries, which they call McPapas Fritas. A special item that they currently were selling was huesillo sundaes. I gave that a try too. (If you'll remember, I saw huesillos for sale earlier at La Vega Central.) It tasted pretty much like peach.
The tray liner is advertising the Cajita Feliz (Happy Meal) prize, which were digital books. I thought that was pretty cool.
After my unhealthy lunch, snack, or whatever it was, I walked to Palacio de La Moneda. The offices of the Chilean President are located here. I wasn't sure if visitors were allowed, so I stood way out front and just took a picture.
Universidad de Chile, which I passed prior to reaching La Moneda.
La Moneda. I'm sure it is much more exciting to view it up close, or when the changing of the guard is going on.
I still had several hours left to sight-see, so I to the Metro to the Baquedano stop. I walked through the eastern edge of Parque Forestal and caught a glimpse of the Plaza Italia/Plaza Baquedano as I worked my way over to the Bellavista neighborhood.
Parque Forestal, again.
Fuente Alemana in Parque Forestal.
Plaza Italia/Plaza Baquedano.
Back corner of the market. The dogs and pigeons seemed completely at home here.
Mosaic floor.
One lady was selling a variety of metal wind chimes, among other things, and one of them caught my eye. I had never seen a penguin wind chime before, and really liked it, especially since I now associated wind chimes with Chile. (See my previous post if you don't know why.) I asked her how much it cost and she said 12,000 pesos. I only had 13,000 pesos left. I walked away and thought things over. I didn't want to take more money out at an ATM, and I needed to have a little cash left to get me by for the rest of the afternoon. But I really wanted the wind chime! I went back and offered her 10,000 for it. She said she would take 11,000, so that's what I did. That left me with 2000 pesos total (about $3.)
Isn't it so cute!?
My destination was Cerro San Cristóbal. This hill is part of Parque Metropolitano de Santiago (http://www.parquemet.cl/), which is the largest park in South America and the fourth largest urban park in the world. The elevation change from the bottom to the top of the hill is 300 meters (about 1000 feet.) It is possible to walk it, but opted for the easy way up - the Funicular Santiago. Or so I thought. It turned out that the funicular was not operating that day. I heard an employee at the park's entrance say that a bus would take passengers to the top instead. That explained why there was a long line of people waiting at the bottom of the hill in the hot sun. I got in line, and it took forever for the bus to come.
It wasn't until people started boarding that I realized that I still needed to buy a "funicular" ticket to board the bus. I couldn't believe that I waited all of that time and had to do it all over again! The price to ride the funicular was actually higher than I thought it was. I didn't have enough money for a round-trip ticket, so my only option was to buy a one-way ticket for 1500 pesos, meaning that I would have to walk back down. I figured I would just worry about that later. Thankfully, the bus arrived much faster than it previously did, so I was on my way up to the top sooner than I expected.
Funicular entrance.
Tip: While I waited for the second time, I learned from one of the nice (young male) employees that started chatting with me that the funicular is closed the first Monday of every month for maintenance. Just my luck.
My ticket to ride...
...not a funicular.
View on the way up. Get a window seat if you can!
That familiar logo that follows me all over the world.
The bus let everyone off near the top of the hill. I had to walk up a few more minutes to reach the actual top.
Great views of the city below.
At the very top of the hill is a 20 meter statue of the Virgin Mary. It was very impressive and brilliantly white.
View from the very top.
Chapel at the top.
Candle racks.
Wooden nativity scene, which I assume was only there because this was December.
By this time, the heat and the exertion were really getting to me. I drank the last of the iced tea that I had with me all day, and desperately needed some water. There were a few vendors near the top, but the price for water was either 600 or 800 pesos, and I only had 500 left. I felt horrible about haggling the price of a bottle of water, but I did not want to die because of a lack of 100 pesos (about 20 cents.) When I explained to one of the cashiers that I only had 500 pesos left, she was nice enough to sell me the bottle of water for that price. ¡Muchas gracias señorita!
Gorgeous view of Gran Torre Santiago (tallest skyscraper in Santiago) and the Andes Mountains.
My path down the mountain, for part of the way.
About halfway down, I passed by the entrance to Piscina Tapahue. There weren't many people around, so I decided to have a look. The pool wasn't open, but I was able to sneak a peek from the distance.
Piscina Tapahue
As if on cue, a Jack Russell Terrier happened to walk by, which made me miss my dog even more than I already did.
Just a little farther down from the pool was Plaza de Juegos Infantiles Gabriela Mistral (children's playground.) It was a huge playground, so it was impossible to capture a picture of the whole thing all at once. It looked like a very fun place though, with lots of different things for kids to play with and climb on. I didn't see any kids around, but there were some twenty-somethings playing with oversized xylophones and other musical contraptions.
Plaza de Juegos Infantiles Gabriela Mistral
The walkway down the rest of hill seemed to go out of the way, so I decided to try taking a shortcut down a road. The road appeared to be closed because of construction, but there was no one currently working on it and the pavement was dry, so I continued down. It worked out well until I reached the end. A pedestrian path started, so I took that to be safer. This ended up being the most unsafe pathway that I have ever walked on in my life! The wooden walkway had many broken and missing boards, and I was certain that more of them would break when I walked on them. I held onto the railing for dear life and treaded as lightly and carefully as I could. After cursing at the thing profusely, I was so happy when I reached the bottom.
$%&*
Once I exited the park, I was in the Providencia neighborhood, which was what I had planned on. I was in a different part of Providencia than I had seen before. I passed down quiet residential streets with fancy houses. Unfortunately, almost every one had a large solid metal fence and gate in front, so I couldn't get any good views of the incredible houses.
I walked in the general direction of my hotel and looked up some places to eat. I decided to try El Huerto (http://www.elhuerto.cl/), a vegetarian restaurant with good reviews. By this time it was around 7pm and it was a gorgeous night. I chose to sit outside which allowed me to enjoy the weather and the vibrant atmosphere outside. At one point, a father-son duo came down the middle of the street putting on a drumming performance. It was pretty good, but unfortunately I had not a single peso to spare when they came by asking for tips.
If you look closely, you can see them performing in the street.
I had no idea what to order because I wasn't in the mood for anything in particular. They had a wok dish made with quinoa instead of rice, so I decided to give that a whirl. It was pretty good, but could have used a little more flavor or seasoning.
Tip: Restaurant bills in Chile include the suggested 10% propina sugerida (service charge/tip.)
I paid for my meal with my credit card since I was out of cash. After dinner, I walked back to my hotel and it was time for me to leave wonderful Santiago and head to the airport.
Next up: The dreaded travel day back home.
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