Santiago was extremely foggy when we came into land. We went through what we thought were high clouds, and BOOM there was the runway. It was about 50F when we got off and very foggy but that soon cleared up.
We easily found a taxi from the airport for $19 USD - not too bad, and headed to our hotel in Providencia. We are at an Ibis and while the room is small, it is just fine for two nights. We took a quick 2 hour power nap before sight seeing that afternoon.
We woke up ravenous, so we stepped out of the hotel and found a nice sandwich shop. The menu had quite a selection with all sorts of toppings. Funnily enough, hot dogs are quite popular here - maybe I'll have to try one. I had turkey in the style of "a la pobre" which was fried egg, onions, and cheese - probably a heart attack on a plate, but it was delicious. Kyle was enamored with the Chilean hot sauce.
After lunch, we went to the subway which was fair easy to navigate and headed to the Plaza de Armas - one of the main squares in Santiago. We walked around for quite a while to get the feel of the city. We say lots of adorable stray dogs (which I wanted to take all of them home) and these random teenagers with body paint on and ripped jean shorts - we googled it and can't figure out their significance.. who knows.
We stumbled upon a beautiful church - Basilica la Merced and had a nose and went in to check it out. It was absolutely gorgeous inside - with many shrines. The most popular one was to San Expedito who has his saint day on April 19 - he was a popular dude. There are also many pictures\banners of the new pope Francis everywhere - South America is proud to represent at the Vatican!
Next we hit up Cerro Santa Lucia which is a raised hill in the middle of the city. We started the climb up, and as we got higher, the views got better. You really can see how the city developed in stages with the ancient architecture transitioning to the new glass office buildings. There were also countless couples on the hill - not a place to go on Valentine's Day if you are feeling lonely. Haha. We had a good hike up and on the way down discovered the Neptune Fountain - a very famous site in Santiago.
For dinner that night we went to Liguira Restaurant - which was highly recommended by a travel book I had and foursquare (who know it was so popular in Santiago) where we had a Chilean wine - a Camenere which was absolutely delicious and amazing food. That was yesterday, a great start to the trip! Adios amigos!
Photos:
1. My luggage - carry on only - aren't you impressed?
2. We had leg room on the flight and could stretch all the way out - very spoiled!
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