Jon on Londres Street.
A few of the buildings on the street we were staying on.
A church in the city centre. I like the colour.
Jon beside the fountain at Cerro Santa Lucía.
Another view of the fountain.
Two and a half days in Santiago de Chile. I guess you could fit a lot of sightseeing into that timeframe; we certainly have in the past. However, we have chosen to do pretty much nothing. We have arrived at our last port of call with little motivation to do anything except dreaming of Argentinean steak and wishing we were already home.
I wouldn’t have minded going to the coast to Valparaíso, an old port town with houses stacked to gaping heights along the sea. The place is a Unesco World Heritage site which appeals to me but when I found out it was a two hour bus ride there and two hours back I bailed on the idea. So, all we have pretty much done is eat, drink coffee, make use of happy hour at the Italian restaurant near where we are staying, and use the internet.
We have been staying in a hotel called Residential Londres – an old dilapidated mansion just itching to be fixed up and turned into a five star rather than a half a star hovel (well, it isn’t quite that bad). The place was recommended by the Lonely Planet as the best budget option in town. Hmmm. It is not exactly cheap, especially because our dollar has taken a nose dive. The place also hasn’t been properly cleaned in at least ten years; the toilets haven’t been scrubbed for at least twenty. However, I was woken up by the sound of the vacuum cleaner outside our door this morning. It was probably the manager’s attempt at trying to make us vacate our room early… it worked. The hotel is on Londres street (hence its name) which is a very quaint cobblestone road lined with ornate stone buildings in the heart of town. A good place to explore from… if you can be bothered.
Yesterday (Thursday) we did take a stroll to Cerro Santa Lucía – a park built around a massive outcrop of rock in the middle of town. The gardens were built by the major of Saniago, a Mr Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna, and were opened in 1874. They were designed to evoke the feel of a fort (or perhaps they included the remains of a fort – not quite sure which) so consequently as you stroll around the gardens and up to the top of the lookout, you can see canons and various turrets and other fort like structures. The whole place is quite quaint and would have been really pretty in it’s hey day when it wasn’t covered in graffiti and smelt occasionally of urine. It is still a nice place to visit though and read your book. Along the way to the top, you pass a small gothic cathedral. I remarked to Jon that I bet a lot of weddings take place there. Perhaps not – it turns out it is the crypt of the major and his family. From the mirador at the top we discovered that Santiago is surrounded by massive snow capped mountains – the Andes. I guess this makes sense since we did cross them to get here. You could only see the top of a couple of the mountains as the rest were covered in a thick blanket of smog.
Tonight at 10.45pm we fly home. I can’t wait. We are both really excited and have been counting down the hours since we arrived in Santiago.
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