This trip began way back in the Fall when Mari and I talked about finally going on this trip for real, so it feels like it's a long time coming. Our first stop is Santiago and that's where I am writing from today. We just finished our second day and so far we have walked 25 miles! Getting those steps in for sure.
As always, it's a beautiful flight out of Seattle.
Cheers to South America at the Delta Sky Club at the International Terminal in Atlanta! And then, the Andes, our first views of the great South American mountain range.
We landed Tuesday morning in a bright and sunny Santiago and immediately hit the ground runnings. First was a stop at Cerro Santa Lucia, a lookout in the middle of the city that was only a couple blocks from our hotel. A nice climb through an old military outpost gifted us with some gorgeous views.
Our view as we entered into Santa Lucia, a truly beautiful park in the center of Santiago.
We traded getting pictures in from of the military strong hold.
Not quite to the top yet but still some amazing photos of the city, with the Andes in the background.
Of course I had to find a fabulous pose/ And we made it from in front of the gate to above the gate, upgrade! (literally)
I wanted a picture with the cannon so Mari made sure I posed appropriately. We also waited until this couple was out of the way in fear they would judge us and that I wasn't allowed to actually climb up there... clearly rules are meant to be broken.
We made it to the top! So of course more photos had to be taken.
Mari looking lovely. And now some downward views of the city to give you some perspective on how high this (little comparatively) hike was.
And then we had to pose with the treacherous stairs that are not meant for people with large feet. They were shallow, uneven, and it was not a pleasure traversing them.
After that we meandered over to Plaza de las Armas, avoided a union protest, and went into the Metropolitan Cathedral which is pretty similar to a lot of cathedrals that you would find in Europe. Very much a baroque style, with some stained glass--although most of it wasn't as ornate as what you might find in Paris.
We loved the crosswalk sign where the man walks faster as you run out of time. The crosswalk man has some serious swag. And then looking into Plaza de las Armas towards the Cathedral which we went inside.
Some good views of the inside of the cathedral. And some of the pretty stained glass--it really reminded me of the Chilean flag for some reason.
And so begins the impersonating statues.
We took a moment to sit down and rest our legs, probably a good call given that we were nowhere close to being done with walking for the day.
Cathedral selfie!
Posing in front of the Plaza de las Armas
Cathedral Selfie! but on the outside this time
Upon exiting, we got asked if we were Brasilieras? Argentinas? Chilenas? Basically anything except American, so I guess you could say we're doing a good job of blending in. Although, all the stares as we walk through the city probably say otherwise, but you know, we can't help it that we're tall and beautiful :)
After the minor sweat, we went to the Mercado Central where it was a bunch of smelly fish and people pushing us to restaurants. We said, nah, better not and got some yummy empanadas. We had empanadas de queso (cheese) and de pino (beef, olives, and egg--the traditional Chilean empanada so we were told). The empanada de pino was quite good but also messy, it wasn't our finest moment eating that bad boy.
A lovely video of the dancing pharmacy man. He was quite entertaining. Then our lovely first meal--very authentic we think.
Did you really eat an empanada if you didn't take a picture with it?
Then we checked into our hotel and got real serious for our next activity, hiking to Cerro San Cristobal--the highest lookout in the city. The Maps app gave us the (supposedly) shortest route and we were off on your 7.6km journey! A nice jaunt through the city to the bottom of the hill and then up, up, and up we went. It was pretty steep in some parts, so we might have gotten out of breath a couple of times, but eventually we made it to the top and were blessed with AMAZING views of downtown Santiago and the Sanctuary of Immaculate Conception (aka big Mary).
The not shortest route that we took to the top. Took us from our hotel to the summit. Along they way we saw this lovely book sculpture. But apparently books are no fun (lies).
And so we began our ascent.
As we got higher and higher, our goal was to make it to the second highest cable car stop so we could take it to the summit. This is our WE MADE IT TO THE CABLE CAR celebratory photo
There was a pool. We wanted to jump in but our clothes probably would have shredded due to the all the chlorine that was being dumped into it, oh well. And oh, guess what, the CABLE CAR WAS CLOSED for renovations. Cool, no worries, we'll just walk the rest of the mile we still have left. Fine. Whatever, not bitter.
But it all turned out okay, because THESE VIEWS.
OBligatory silly selfies because we're tired and ostentatiously needed an excuse to take a break for a moment.
We're still not at the top. So maybe this long way was all right.
We followed the signs to the "Virgen". From the back of the statue, we weren't sure if it was Mary or Jesus so we decided that "Virgen" could be either? And we would just have to wait and see.
Apparently we walked far enough that we made it to Mexico. Not even surprised.
The final ascent--stairs!!! We're almost there!
So naturally, we took another moment to enjoy the views.
Actual views from the top. And hey, it is Mary! But not to be left out, we have a floating Jesus head. Thoughts on whether this bush might have ever burned?
The Sanctuary was beautiful and also had some very relaxing music going on (of which I understood exactly zero words).
So despite the extra long hike, totally worth it. Started from the bottom, now we here.
And with that, we took the easy route back down as our legs had already traversed 12 miles at this point in the day. The funicular was a great way to get to the bottom as it cut out about 3.5 miles from the route the maps app gave us... annoying, but it was totally worth it taking the long route.
So excited to be taking the easy way down, yay Funicular! And a view of the city from the car.
A look back up at the long way we had come.
Then (yes, we were still going, we're pros) we rewarded ourselves with some delicious gelado! I got chocolate and pear while Mari got cookies and cream and ducle de leche--a just reward for all our hard work and something to keep us going as our next stop was the Museu de Bellas Artes! Culture!
Our just rewards of gelato. We did it!
Palacio de Bellas Artes
More statue imitations. I really need to photoshop them together since we each did interpretations of one of the characters.
Some nice paintings/sketches that we enjoyed
Ditto. And then we really liked the columns as well. Strong women doing their thing and holding up the wall.
And then we have John the floating head. He's stuck in the clouds. And imitations are not limited to sculptures only. And lastly, Antonia mustache you a question.
The sun was setting as we walked out of the Fine Arts Museum. And then the Chilean flag! Which apparently Mari's brother thought was the Texas flag.
Finally, we finished off Day 1 with a delicious Chilean dinner at Laminga in the Bellas Vista district of the city and then hit the hay, We're quite proud of all we were able to accomplish in one day, all in all, a great start to the trip!
If they even have boxed wine in Chile, that means it's totally classy right? And Orange Crush, even Chile hate's Tennessee :) And Mari and I compared our swollen ankles in the moments we rested before heading to dinner.
Our fabulous dinner at Laminga. Wine, seared tuna and papas fritas.
And then salmon with chorizo glaze and pesto mashed potatoes and then dulce de leche biscuits for dessert. YUM.
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