On a brief stop-over in Santiago de Chile we managed to see a few of the city’s highlights. A couple famous hills, the Plaza de Armas, and Palacio de La Moneda… as well as a cab ride we should have avoided.
After checking in and dropping off our bags, we headed out to Cerro San Cristobal (San Cristobal Hill). You can drive, hike, or bike up this hill, but we chose to ride the funicular up. It’s famous for awesome views of the city with the mountains rising up behind it. We could see the mountains but did not end up with a postcard shot. It was hazy as I guess it often is. The best, clearest views are just after some rain. The hill has a statue of Mary at the top, crosses, and a church.
Within a couple blocks of the entrance to the funicular are many bars and restaurants. We found one with a dish called chorrillana. It’s French fries with various ingredients piled on top. Ours had avocado, tomato, and a little cheese. We also ordered a Chilean beer that was delicious and quite strong.
Since it was late we chose to grab a cab back rather than finding the metro. The cabbie turned on his meter… but it seemed to climb in price very quickly. Once by the hotel, the price was just under 10,000 pesos (about $15) and we had only traveled a mile or at most 2. I handed him a 20,000 peso bill, I had thought, but he handed it back saying it wasn’t right. I looked down at it and it was a 2,000 peso bill. Looking in my wallet, I only had three 1,000 bills left. So he claimed he would settle for the 5,000 I had. After getting out I thought through the money I had brought out and what we had spent and I absolutely would have had $23,000 when getting in the cab. So I believe he switched the 20,000 for a 2,000 and scammed us… making our short ride cost $34!! We didn’t take any more cabs while in the city.
The next morning we tried out the metro in the city. Santiago’s metro is easy to follow and it quickly and cheaply gets you around town. Much better than the scamming taxi we took the night before.
We exited the metro at the Plaza de Armas station and saw the main square. The main tourist attraction here is the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral, which is open to anyone to visit inside.
We then walked up to see the Central Market. It was too early for lunch, so it wasn’t at all busy when we walked through.
Then we enjoyed a long lunch visiting a high school friend of mine that recently moved to the city. After lunch we all got back on the metro and headed to Cerro Santa Lucia (St Lucía Hill). Back in 1541, missionaries used it as a point of worship during the chicken pox outbreak and in 1816 forts were built on the site. In 1872 the hill was remodeled to contain fountains and the chapel we see today.
A short walk over is Palacio de La Moneda, the seat of the president of the Republic of Chile. Guards surround the building, there are fountains on one side, and a large cement courtyard on the other.
That was all we saw in Santiago as we had to be on a bus at 1:20 am that night for the next adventure: Flying to Ushuaia and Tierra Del Fuego, then boarding a boat to Antarctica!
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