Sunday in Santiago

This morning I set off to take the Sky Costanera to the top of the tallest observatory of the tallest skyscraper in South America, But it was cloudy, so I decided to keep walking another few kilometres to the cable car, located in the Metropolitan Park, which is the attraction N°1 of Santiago. At 780ha it is one of the largest metro parks in the world, but it is just a pretty crappy big hill. The gondola (at 3000 peso for a senior return) allows you to go directly to the top (Cumbre Station), where the statue of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception tops the hill which was inaugurated on April 26, 1908. Pope John Paul celebrated mass at the feet of the statue in 1987 (one for Mal!). It seemed that half of Santiago was out for a walk today, so the crowds (along with their dogs) were everywhere!

Sunday in this city everything seems to shut down at 4.30pm, therefore it was an early dinner up the road of beef carpaccio, an Italian appetiser of thinly sliced raw meat drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil. This was followed by some moules / frites! Tomorrow I leave for Valparaiso and my road trip to southern Chile begins!