Buenos dias from Santiago, Chile! 

Today we started out on a walking tour of Santiago.  Our hotel was downtown and in close proximity to many sites and we were able to cover a lot of ground after breakfast.

The first stop was the Palacio de los Tribunales de Justicia de Santiago, which is the building that houses the Supreme Court, the Appeals Court, and numerous other judicial departments.

The next stop was Plaza de Armas, which translates to “a square of weapons” but is actually a park with many statues. 

We walked by the famous Santiago Cathedral but didn’t pop in to have a look-see.  It was unclear whether it was open at that time of day or if they were having mass, so we decided to pass on gaining entry.

After that, we walked toward Cerro Santa Lucia hill, which is one of two hills that is supposed to have amazing views of the city.  We made it to the hill, walked for a few minutes, and then opted to not go up the hill. 

And that gave us a “WTH” moment.  Not sure if an ad campaign was being photographed, or if a movie was being filmed, but we saw this through the trees as we walked down the path to the main road.  CREEPY.

Our final site on our walking tour was La Moneda Palace, which houses the Chilean president.  The building is guarded, but nothing like what we have in the US.  There are guards and barricades, but no fenced, razor wire, etc. to keep people at bay.  The garden in front of the palace is a popular spot for a picnic, playing fetch with your pooch, or just a stroll with friends & family.  Again, nothing like what we’ve seen in the US!

Here are some more street pictures of Santiago from our wanderings…

After yesterday’s disappointment over having our excursion cancelled, we received good news.  An English-speaking tour guide was located, which meant our Sunset in the Andes trip was a go! 

We were picked up in the afternoon, along with 10 Brazilians (nationality is relevant as they spoke Portuguese, not English).  To get to the first stop – a ski resort that has closed for the season but still had snow in some places – we had to take a mountain road that had 60 curves.  How do we know it had 60 curves?  They are numbered.  Literally numbered. 

The Brazilians on our tour had never played in snow so, bundled up in full-on ski gear, they set off for some snowy fun.  Unfortunately they were not mindful of time and our tour guide had to wrangle them up, which meant leaving 30 minutes late.  Normally this would be an annoyance, but this time it was aggravating as the sun doesn’t wait to set until people are in place.  (travel advice – when on any type of tour, be mindful of the time!)

Fortunately we made it to the picnic spot just a bit before sunset, thanks to the quick-but-safe driving skills of the driver..  The view of sunset, as well as the picnic, did not disappoint!  Aside from the group who was late, we had one small issue in that our English-speaking guide was not fluent in English.  He was kinda fluent.  He started learning English 8 months ago and used an app to translate when he couldn’t articulate information or answer questions.  He put in a lot of effort to communicate with us, which was appreciated.  His enthusiasm for Chile and for our tour, along with his high energy, more than made up for the language barrier.

That’s all for today, see you tomorrow!