Great bus ride through the Andes

The bus ride through the Andes was amazing and so glad we decided to travel to Santiago by bus rather than fly, although there were times when you were holding onto the edge of your seat.  You should be able to see why from a couple of pics below!

Welcome to Chile…..we were in the front seats, top of the bus but the windshield was cracked and there was a glaze of some sort on the window so not great for taking pics

Hold onto your seat….we’re going down and around for 24 switchbacks

We’re halfway there!

What a fabulous shot!

……and you’re right I did not take that picture, but some other Canadian did,  and I downloaded it from their site.  This was a ride where you had to look to see what was ahead but at the same time were afraid to do so especially if you have a fear of heights as one person in our party of three did…….keep you guessing on that one!  Our stop at the border between Argentina and Chile was much better than expected and only took about an hour so we arrived in Santiago around 5pm and off to our Air BnB for checkin and an early night where we ate in and had to switch from malbec to carmeniere…….not bad at all!   Our first day in Santiago was a little low key touring around Plaza des Armas where there was loads of entertainment by street musicians and it was unbelievable how good they were……..you could go broke as you threw pesos into everyone’s guitar case, hat, or whatever way they chose to collect.

What a great trio…….made you want to dance in the streets!

and there were many more singing Jimmy Hendrix on one corner, Cat Stevens on the other and then a group of six doing jazz…….loads of fun!  We enjoyed Santiago more than we thought we would and were kept busy everyday by our tour guide, aka Jim, who ensured we saw many areas of the city on foot.  We hiked through Barrio Brazil where we had great pastries, barrio Concha y Torro where we passed on the great wine of the same name because it was too early in the day, Barrio London and Paris where we did not shop, Bella Vista where we did a little shopping and of course visited a few parks, had some fabulous ice cream etc.   We were just too busy in this great city for me to take notes so here’s a few pics to show you a little of what was going on.

Catedral Metropolitana is in Plaza des Armas and is the city’s largest Catholic Church…….a 15 minute walk from our air bnb

Cerro Santa Lucia is a wonderful old park that was once a strategic defence point when Santiago was founded in 1541 – what a walk we had with a gelato to follow!

View from Metropolitana de Santiago

The three of us taking the gondola down from Metropolitana de Santiago

Oh my God what a park it was and we rushed it!!!!    If we had known we would have taken a whole day to discover all it had to offer……but maybe next time……or you can add it to your ‘to do’ list.  The park was “developed between 1903 and 1927 as the lungs of Santiago, encompassing the hills……Previously bare and dry, the park was reforested with native plants and trees from across Chile and further developed with trails, picnic areas, swimming pools, a cultural center, and a cable car.  It is now the city’s recreational center and home to the Zoological Nacional, and offers sweeping views of Santiago and the Andes.” ……….at least that’s what our travel guide says!  What a fabulous place it was and if you go take the full day at least!

Next stop, Valparaiso, founded in 1543 and was then the Pacific’s greatest port in the late 19th century.  Now it is a UNESCO world heritage site and very much a tourist trap but one we totally enjoyed!  From our apartment we had to walk to the subway, take the metro to the Turbus station and then a bus to Valparaiso which took us just over two hours.  Once we arrived in Valparaiso we had to walk to take another bus before we could begin to enjoy this great old city.  We spent about five hours on foot touring around, taking the funicular up to great heights, walking down and then up again as it is a city of hills much like St. John’s is in many ways.  We had a super lunch, visited Pablo Neruda’s Foundation(Chile’s most beloved literary artist and 1971 Nobel prize winner for literature), walked the streets and hills before we headed back to Santiago for a much longer bus ride due to an accident that slowed things down on our return.  Arriving home around 8:30 pm we decided it was a night for pizza so we stopped to pick one up at a pizzeria close to our air bnb.  The young man serving us was practicing his English so we chatted a bit and when he found out we were from Canada he was quite interested and switched to google translation on his i-phone so conversation could be a little more in-depth.   He had applied to come to Canada through an imigration program that brings Canadians to Atlantic Canada and was happy to learn we were from there, at least Jim and I are…….and of course we informed him Marilyn was from our capital city of Ottawa.   I cannot remember now what my question was but when I typed it into google translation he waited a while and then started to laugh and began typing the following message.   It went something like “google cannot understand your question as you type, ie. talk, too fast and your question is too long”……….not the first time I have heard something like that!   What a delightful young man he was and we departed wishing him  good luck as he is on a lengthy waiting list and says he will go to Canada or Australia, whoever will take him first………..kind of hope we do!    And with that we’re ready to leave this wonderful city of approximately 5 1/2 million people and head south.   Here’s a few pictures of Valparaiso and do take note of the fabulous murals…….they are everywhere!

Marilyn overlooking Valparaiso

Doorway mural

Debating whether to walk up or down!

Murals are everywhere

And so good night!   We have now picked up our rental car(not the red one in the mural) and head south tomorrow so will be in touch in a few days/week to bring you up to date on what we see happening in Chile…….hope all is well.