Santiago, Chile
The bus from Mendoza to Santiago took us through some spectacular scenery, quite a change from the relatively mundane prairie-like Pampas of Argentina.
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Argentinean vineyard
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This route crosses the Andies very close to the location of the highest point in the Americas,
Aconcagua at 22,834 feet (6960 meters). In spite of that, we only briefly spotted some snow on a couple of distant peaks. What we did see was a series of very rugged mountains, separated by some lush valleys, and were treated to some great switchbacks on the highway as we descended into Chile. The only downside was the 2-hour delay at the border, turning a 6-hour journey into 8 hours. Suffice it to say that the Chilean agricultural officials are very serious about not letting any scrap of foreign fruit into their country.
The city of Santiago has not changed much since we were here two months ago, except that it is now the peak of summer and the busy streets and restaurants are now super busy. The crowds in the nearby Patio Bellavista are staggering in the evening. The food is still good though; a refreshing change after the disappointment of Argentina. We ate well last night.
We will be staying here for 5 nights, as that was the soonest I could get a reasonable flight back to Guayaquil in Ecuador. Hopefully we can find a few things to see that we overlooked on our previous stay. Today we visited the central market (somehow we didn't get there last time), then found an interesting Visual Arts Museum where we spent an enjoyable couple of hours. Tomorrow we plan to try and find the reportedly eclectic Museo Moda (Fashion Museum). Life in the fast lane or what?
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| Progress is being made on the Cathedral |
{GMST}33|26.0892|S|070|37.9752|W|Santiago, Chile|Santiago, Chile{GEND}
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