Santiago, Chile

Sun, Feb 12th: We took a bus from Valpo to Santiago today. The cost for the both of us was about $20ish USD, and about a two hour trip with a few stops. The buses are large coach buses and very comfortable and you get to choose your seats when you purchase your ticket. Once we arrived in Santiago we took a short subway ride over to Bellavista neighborhood - great neighborhood with lots of restaurants, shops, bars, and walking distance from Cerro San Cristobal. We grabbed lunch down the street from our hotel (Hotel Boutique Castillo Rojo) as we arrived before check in. We then ventured down a block or two to Patio Bellavista, which had great restaurants, bars, and shopping - all protected from sun with plenty of shade (as it was HOT, about 85 and sunny).

After check in, we decided to walk over to Cerro San Cristobal and take the fincular up to see the entire city from above. Since it was Sunday, it was a popular to go (around 5pm) so we had to wait in line for the funicular for about an hour. It was well worth the wait, as the hike up would have been grueling in the heat. At the top (elevation is 1000 ft above the city of Santiago) we tried a popular drink we saw everywhere in Santiago called Mote Con Huesillo which is a tea that has peach and wheat in it. It was very tasty even though it looks a bit odd! We opted to hike down the hill, as the line was very long to back down and we didn't want to wait standing in the heat. The hike down was a bit steep in areas, and I was only wearing sandals (Sanuk Yoga Sling sandals - they actually handled the hike very well...I was not expecting a hike or I would have worn different shoes) but there were hand rails where needed. Took about 30 minutes to hike down.

We ended our day just grabbing dinner at a local restaurant on Patio Bellavista as we were super tired from traveling and hiking.Read more