Our final activity in South America would be a short "City Break" to Chile's capital city Santiago. We caught the overnight bus from Puerto Montt to Santiago. It was quite an interesting trip as there was a big Catholic mass in the city I think it had something to do with the first sunday of advent. Everyone on the bus was dressed in their sunday best, and we were treated to a blessing from a priest. We then had a bit of a hymn singalong on the bus. We soon discovered that Chile is a very religious country !
We arrived early at 9am, so once we got checked in to our hostel and got some breakfast, we headed downtown to join a free walking tour of the city.
The Plaza del Armas, Santiago.
The Plaza del Armas, Santiago.
Presidential Palace.
The (Big) Flag of the Republic of Chile.
Santiago Cathedral.
Inside the Cathedral.
The Old and The New.
Some serious chess in the Plaza.
One of the many street dogs in Santiago. The city is proud of their street dogs and people come downtown to feed them !!
Chilean Stock Exchange.
One of the many German style houses in Santiago.
The christmas decorations in Santiago :
Christmas comes to Santiago.
The only Penguin we saw in South America !!!
We stayed in the Bella Vista part of the city (at the foot of Saint Christobel). It was very lively bohemian area in the evening. Lots of Bars, Resturants and street performers. There was also lots of small theatres if you wanted to see a show.
On the sunday we decided to climb Saint Christobel, and we found out where the big catholic mass was being held.
View of the Saint Christobel hill from the roof of our hostel.
Sunday Mass on Saint Christobel hill.
After the climb in the heat (about 30oC) we decided to have a glass of the local drink "Mote". It is basically peach juice with a dried peach and wheat in it. It is what the government used to give to the poor so they could get an "all in one" meal. Its very refreshing.
Dean and JJ drinking Mote.
Mote.
Inca Kola - Happy Days
JJ's Cerviche (Seafood).
Gillian's Octopus.
Dean's Pollo A La Brasa (Chicken and Chips !!!).
As we had decided to miss Bueno Aires I missed the chance to see Boca Juniors play football. However it is coming to the end of the Chilean football season and there was a game on the sunday night. The game was between Universidad Chile (The League Leaders) and Union Espanyola (The Spanish affiliated team). We decided to go and support Univesidad. It was a cracking warm night for the game and the atmosphere was brilliant. Both sets of fans singing, banging drums and letting of fireworks throughout the match. Espanyola should have really won as they missed 3 chances, but in injury time (92 mins), Universidad cracked in a winner and the place went mental. Espanyola were not happy and got a player sent of for complaining to the ref !!!!!. It was great fun was to spend our last night in Chile !!!
Universidad Fans (Blue)
Espanyola Fans (Red)
On our last day we managed to have another quick look around town. We went for coffee with legs !!!!. These are coffee shops downtown where the waitresses wear very skimpy clothes and are usually frequented by men having a break from work. Sorry no photography allowed !!!!
A view of Santiago
A final Ice Cream.
Just before we boarded the plane for New Zealand and the next stage of our adventure we had time for one more South American indulgence :-
Adios Y Hasta Luego Sud America !!!!!
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