Santiago

Our second day in Santiago started with a city bus tour of the varied neighborhoods of the city and a walking tour of the “old” city center. Much of the center has been redone in the early 20th century. The presidential palace has been rebuilt after a 1973 Pinochet coup which had started with the air force bombing of the palace, killing Allende who was the world’s 1st elected socialist President in 1970. After the city tour, we headed to Mount San Cristobal for a funicular ride to the mountain top to view the famous 150-foot statue of the Virgin Mary. We had a typical Chilian lunch of chicken and beef “shepherd’s pie” topped with a sweet corn mush. Our afternoon tour was of the Undurraga Winery the oldest in Miapo Valley. The wines were nice, and the tour was interesting especially because it was harvest time & we saw the de-stemming & crushing of the grapes. The owner of the winery has interest in the indigenous Mapuche peoples and had totem poles plus a small museum displaying varied artifacts reflecting their culture. Before heading back to our hotel, we decided to view the Santiago Sculpture Garden about a half hour stroll to the west. It was a very enjoyable walk with an eclectic mix of sculptures and a big hangout for the college crowd. Heading back to the hotel we enjoyed an excellent dinner at Pinpilinpausha in their garden area. Back to the hotel at nine for packing and our 5 am wakeup call for our flight to Patagonia.

Mount San Cristobal

Undurraga Winery

Santiago Sculpture Park

Our 9 1/2-hour flight from Miami had us arriving in Santiago at 7:00 am along with several other flights – so baggage and customs took another hour. Our driver met us after customs, and we found out what rush hour was like in a city of 5.5 million people. Glad the driver had a good set of breaks and was able to avert a stop and go rear ender. Arriving at our hotel in the financial district way too early for check in we left our bags and headed to the city’s Bicentennial Park for a walk along the river and past several statues of Chile’s war heroes. The path ended at the city’s general services and police building with an unusual triangle shape. We headed back to our hotel, stopping for lunch at the city’s oldest restaurant – Confiteria Torres founded in 1879. Meeting the owner, he proudly showed us a photo of him with Secretary of State Blinken taken last October. After getting an early check-in we started another trek to discover the Japanese gardens while walking around the capital city’s largest urban natural area, which is part of the Metropolitan Park. The gardens were small but well-appointed and provided good views of the financial district and especially the Costanela Center Tower – 62 stores and the tallest building in South America. All tolled 21,000 steps and after a group dinner we were ready to call it a night.