Dates visited: April 17, 2014 – April 20, 2014
Since we were flying through Santiago to get to Easter Island, I decided to spend three days in Santiago. Unfortunately, based on our interests, I realized we did not have enough things to do for three days in Santiago, so we included a day trip to a nearby city—Valparaiso. Compared to other South American cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, Santiago isn’t particularly a beautiful city, but it was nice to spend a couple of days just chilling out and taking in the hustle-bustle of the city life—strolling along Paseo Ahumada and Plaza de Armas, or watching people bargain for fresh fish at Mercado Central.
We took the funicular up to Cerro San Cristóbal (San Cristóbal Hill), the second-highest point in Santiago, to get a view of the smog-covered city. The 72-feet statue of Virgin Mary on the summit gazes towards the city, but the tranquil ambience is marred by a telecommunications tower built right next to the hill. I preferred the view from the shorter, but beautiful Cerro Santa Lucía (Santa Lucía Hill). The entrance to Cerro Santa Lucía is magnificent, but in dire need of cleaning.
We visited La Chascona, house of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (Nobel Prize winner for Literature), and were amazed by his travels and his pleasant sense of interior decoration. The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art) was a hit for all of us with the highlight being the well-preserved Chinchorro mummies that predate the Egyptian mummies by 2000 years!
- Grand entrance to Santa Lucía Hill
- Bicyclists taking a break after reaching the top of San Cristóbal Hill
- Statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of San Cristóbal Hill
- Candles outside the little chapel on San Cristóbal Hill
- View of Santiago with Andes in the background
- La Chascona – the house that Chilean Nobel prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda built for his mistress (later, his wife)
- Mural in the gardens of La Chascona
- The Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts
- Chilling in the Parque Forestal
- Uniquely-shaped tree roots at Parque Forestal
- Strolling along Paseo Ahumada
- Busy fish market at Mercado Central
- Metropolitan Cathedral
- Interior of the Metropolitan Cathedral
- Palacio de La Moneda (The Coin Palace) where the President of Chile works
- Central Post Office Building
- Universidad de Chile metro station
- Resting after a long and tiring day
- The fountain at Santa Lucía Park
- Route to the summit of Santa Lucía Hill
- One of the cannons of Fort Hidalgo
- Doctor Octopus
- Now you see me, now you don’t
- Chinchorro mummy (6000-2000 BC) at the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art
- The famous statue of Xipe Totec (the Flayed Lord) at the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art