Jim and I are now in Santiago, Chile. We arrived here after a 22 hour bus ride to the south of Peru, and then a 30 hour bus ride to Santiago. Whenever we got off the bus to stretch our legs we feared that we had finally gone south enough where the air was cool. But no, we are still basking in 80 degree weather in our shorts, t-shirts, and sandals. My dad send me the weather link for NY and it appears snow is still falling there. I wouldn´t know from first hand knowledge.
Yesterday we took the metro (yes! Santiago has a metro) to a park. The park is actually a really big hill (or a small mountain by NY standards) in the middle of the city. On the top of the hill is a statue of the Virgin Mary. Since we both have a fascination with posing in the same position as a statue, Jim got to pose with the Virgin Mary. I posed last time with Jesus. Jim definately got the bitter end of that deal. On the way up the hill we stopped to drink a Chilean drink: two canned peaches in peach nector with a type of grain at the bottom. Although it looked almost deadly, it was remarkably enjoyable. After descending the hill we walked through downtown Santiago. The city is beautiful with wide widewalks, many older buildings with colonnades, and of course, palm trees! We spent a while sitting at the plaza where the Spanish soldiers use to drill. It doesn´t get dark until 9 pm, so just before 9 we ate some Chilean sandwiches by a fountain in the gathering dusk.
According to the locals, it is possible to see the Andes from Santiago. While all the pictures on the postcards prove this, we cannot see the Andes yet because of the smog. Tonight we leave for a region called the Lake District in southern Chile on an overnight bus.
No comments:
Post a Comment