The Immaculate Conception

We are only in Santiago for a day, which is not enough really and i feel like my feet havent touched the ground for days. We cannot book into our room until this afternoon so we put our bags in storage and weve been recomended to go and see St Christobel . We take a lovely walk which encumbers most of the main sites that the city has to offer so we walk the streets, following yet another map. As we walk through the city it reminds us of Paraguay. It is really warm here, and its nice to be in a pair of shorts again . The city traffic is manic , but i am more than pleased to find a Starbucks , i actually dont order my usual and opt for a Dulce de Leite latte , it is delicious and we make our way around to Plaza Armsa which has the most beautiful buildings and we sit and enjoy our drinks . A short walk from here is the Market which sells evrything and anything and compared to the south is really cheap. We cross the bridge and once again the poverty divide is very apparent, beggars everywhere and the cleanliness of the city in this area is totally different from around the palacial and government areas. We stroll past a chuch with a hollow steeple and down a street which takes us to the Fruit and vegetable market. Thre is a shop here selling pot growing equipment and claims to be the winner of the best crop. The colour , standard and choice of vegetables is captivating and we wonder round here for a good hour , before heading out the other side to make our ascent to the Plaza Cauolican. There is a small castle a little park and the funicular that takes you to the top. You can stop half way and get off at the zoo, but we take it straight to the top. Cerro San Cristobal owers above the whole city and the arque Metropolitano gives us views of the sprawling city below. The smog hangs heavily over the city and it really makes me aware we are back in the real world which i thought i waanted , but now were here i definitely prefer the tranquil side of life. The craziness of this place is they have erected a telecoms tower directly behind this huge monumental figure that 1000's come here to worship, but i suppose thats the old and the new. There is also an old church here that is vey different from most we have seen and we sit in here just taking in the ambience of the place.
We decide to catch a metro part of the way back as Marks knee is now playing up on him( i suppose thats what i get for bringing an old man with me) and the metro system is pretty easy to use. we descend two stops later and make the short walk back to the hostel where we can now check in.
The rest of the evening is spent uploading the gopro videos to my google photos and an early checkout as we are catching a 24 hour bus to a place called San pedro de atacama.Read more