The ship pulled into port around 10:00 in the morning. By 11:00 we were off the ship and ready for a day of exploring with two Australian friends from our table and two others, from Canada, that we met on the ship. The first important piece if information we learned about traveling through Chile was the fact that nobody spoke English. We all managed to navigate through buses, trains, and taxi’s through miming, pointing to words on our paper, and a smattering of Spanish words.
With map in hand and a travel guide downloaded from the Internet we decided to attempt a trip to Santiago which is the capitol of Chile. We walked about six blocks to a bus station and purchased round trip tickets ($10) to Santiago on a large bus. Buses seem to be a major form of transportation and bus stations are quite large with timetables and concession stands.
It took about and hour and a half or so to get to Santiago. We traveled on an interstate type highway, past numerous vineyards framed by the Andes Mountains. Once we arrived just outside the city we had to find a subway train to take us to the city’s center. Of course, there were several different lines, designated with colors, going in all sorts of directions. Being brave in numbers we boarded the train that looked right and after four or five stations we got off right where we wanted. Impressive or dumb luck?
By this time it was 3:00 in the afternoon. We started to walk around with no clue as to what direction we needed to go. After walking past about a thousand shoe stores and fruit stands, we did find some interesting sites. We also did a lot of showing people our list of sites and pointing to names of places. Highlights of the afternoon included visiting the country’s largest cathedral, the Plaza de Armas, Palace de la Maneda, Fine Arts Museum, and the people.
The hat in the following picture was for sale by a vendor on the street. While the flag may be similar to the Texan flag, Chile is definitely notshaped like Texas.
As we walked through the merchant center we decided to find a restaurant for a quick bite. We found a small restaurant that we though would allow us to people watch while we ate. Instead we were seated at a table in the basement area. It was crowded but authentic. The food was excellent and once the bill came we were pleasantly surprised to discover that it cost about $30 US to feed seven of us.
After lunch we decided to go to Cerro San Cristol, a large park built on hills with terraces and a replica castle on top. Above the park stands a large statue of Virgin Mary overlooking the city. To get to the top visitor must take a tram. The views from the top were spectacular.
When we came down from the mountain (hill really) we had to figure out how to get back to the bus station. After hailing two cabs, figuring out how much to pay, and catching our bus, and traveling for almost two hours, and walking a lot, we arrived safely back in Valparaiso around 9:00 pm.
After a stop at Johnny Rockets for dinner it was back to our cabin to pack up all our belongings to be ready to move back to our original cabin.
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