DAY 118
It was an overnight flight from Rapa Nui and we are too soon to check in at our Airbnb. Thankfully we can leave our luggage and look for breakfast. The rest of the day is very lazy. Siesta, laundry and a restaurant with Isabel (that we met in Rapa Nui) and Elodie (her friend).
DAY 119
Sleeping in for the first time in a long while feels so good!!! The mini-earthquake in a tower on the 20ish floor does not! It doesn't last long but it's a weird feeling and the first time for me. It's a good motivation to go out and do some tourism though. On the menu today is the "Cerro san Cristóbal". It's basically Central Park on a big hill ;) The main attraction there is the Virgin watching over Santiago. The old-school funicular is under repairs so it's a bus that brings us up there and we hike all the way down. Since we're still in a lazy mood, we catch a cab to go back home. And, oh surprise, cabs have meters here and no haggling is required!
DAY 120
La Moneda is the president's palace but it can only be visited on weekends sadly for us. However it has a expo center underneath. The main exhibition hall are being prepared for upcoming exhibits and we're left with just a little one. It's a photo-reportage on the traditional festival in the north of Chile. Interesting but not the most successful visit we had ;) Santiago is renowned for its fish market and we jump in with the shark and go eat there. It's quite touristy and every other step, someone invites you to lunch in their restaurant. It's worth it though, good fish is always appreciated.
Next on the menu is the Pre-Colombian museum. It also comes highly recommended at rightly so. It has a lot of information and objects from the different civilization of the region. Among the many incredible things, the way Inca were doing accounting is extremely ingenious. Since they didn't have Excel yet, they were keeping track of things with an artifact made of ropes. Knots on the different ropes and at different lengths were data.
We stroll for a while in the Bellas Artes neighborhood before going back home. It's odd to see medieval castle facade for houses in the middle of South America. We take the subway (yeah! Public transportation!!!) to go back home but it's rush hour (bouhhhh!!!). We were missing the subway but not yet the sardine effect of rush hour ;) The alternative are buses but they are super crappy in Santiago weirdly.
DAY 121
One thing that is weird about Santiago is the amount of street dogs. They all are very chill and spend most of the time sleeping in odd places. They know how to cross the street and don't seem to have any problem finding food. It's really funny to see one of these dog in the busy pedestrian traffic or waiting for the green light to cross :D
Pablo Neruda had many houses, one in Santiago, one in Valparaiso and one in la Isla Negra if I paid enough attention during the visit. The house is unique but very peculiar; a collection of things from all over the world with the theme of the boats ever present. He was a self-proclaimed land sailor after all. He name the house after his mistress who became his wife – la Chascona, in reference to her unruly hair. A block away from Neruda's house, we treat ourselves with a delicious restaurant, el Cabildo. It's true we're eating in restaurant most of the time, but not that kind of restaurant... yummy!!!
After that delicious meal, we head for Cerro Santa Lucia. It's a hill again (cerro means hill in Spanish as you may have guessed) but much smaller than the San Cristobal one. However is much more cute. I've been struggling to find my photography mojo in Santiago but here I've got plenty of material to work with; Great views, an old fort sitting at the top, a small church, a roman fountain... yeah!
Even though we spend a good amount of day in Santiago, it feels like we barely saw it. We were zombies most of the time! In any case, it's time for us to leave and start our journey north. Close by is the impossible to miss Valparaiso. It's a short bus ride away and what a bus! You have space, they tag your luggage, the road is divine and you have a speed monitoring system to make sure the driver is not trying to kill you...so much sophistication after Africa, we're in heaven, well.. bus heaven at least :D