Day 2 - Santa Lucia and Museum

After a restful sleep and breakfast at the hotel, we climbed Cerro Santa Lucia. This small (225-foot) rocky hill was the site where conquistador Pedro de Valdivia finally conquered the local Mapuche tribes in 1541 to establish the city. A later mayor transformed the hill into an extensive garden with narrow paths, thin iron railings, and a cobblestone road winding around and up the hill. We walked to the Neptune fountain at the south side and followed the paths to the top. Charles Darwin visited the city and remarked on how pleasurable it was to walk the gardens. At the top, the ruin of a fort afford a 360-degree panorama of the city and the Andes to the east.

We strolled through downtown to the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art. Here we toured the two floors of exhibits of works fashioned in stone, wood, pottery, semiprecious stone, silver and gold. The collection spans 8,000 years with mummies from 6,000 BC and increasingly sophisticated objects from all the Americas. When the conquistadors arrived in the middle of the second millennium, the were amazed to find works in gold and silver using techniques that had yet to be discovered in Europe. Definitely worth the visit.

A walk up to the Mercado Central (Central Market) past the Supreme Court building led us to fish. The central market is where the fresh fish from the ocean and freshwater are sold. Rows and stalls of all kinds of fish from sea bass to octopus and everything in between. We wandered up and down the stalls and settled in the central courtyard at one of the several restaurants specializing in - you guessed it - fish. Had ceviche and beer then wandered back to the hotel as the shops closed up for Saturday afternoon.

A short rest and then over to the Lastarrias neighborhood to find a recommended ice cream place. Another wander through the streets as dusk settled in and to the hotel. Went up to the terrace for a drink and watch the stars come out in the eastern sky.

I was mistaken in my discussion of the time here. Santiago is two hours ahead of New York (not two hours behind). Noon in New York means it is 2:00PM in Santiago.

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