Strolling up San Cristobal in Santiago

In attempting to keep up with my “Shit I Need to Do” list the next morning we decided to head up San Cristobal, the second highest point in Santiago.  Still not much for preemptive research, we took a cab to the base of the “hill” and just started walking upwards.  Maybe 50 feet later we came to a zoo and asked someone how we could get to the top of the hill.  The response we got was, walk through the zoo…so that’s what we did.

Eventually after a slow meander through the animals, we reached a dead end but we assumed we were close to the top so we took a lot of pictures.  There was a tram but it didn’t open until 5pm and we had places to be.  Aracely asked an attendant how we got to the very top of the hill and he told us to leave the zoo, walk to the base of the hill and take a bus from the entrance.  Puta Madre!  Thank you original direction giver for your lovely instructions.

Twenty minutes later we made it to the base of the hill, found the bus and took a twenty minute ride uphill.  Thank god we didn’t walk as originally planned.  It was hot and the road was long and winding.  And the top of the zoo was nowhere close to the top of the hill.

Regardless, time well spent.  The view from the top of San Cristobal was breathtaking.  There’s a panoramic view of the city and a clear view of the mountains in the distance.

There was also a church at the summit of the hill with a giant Virgin Mary.   Everything was very serene and picturesque – I’m not a wedding bells in the back of my head person, but, it would be a beautiful place for a wedding.

After the exhausting attempt to get to the top of the hill we were sort of hungry and had been told by a friend in New York and Martin our bike tour guide that we had to try Completos and Completos Italiano.  It´s simply your basic hot dog loaded up with toppings, and in the case of the Completo Italiano, tomatoes, guacamole and mayonnaise thereby creating the colors of the Italian flag.   We asked for “poquito de mayonesa” and this is what we got.

Regardless, it was delicious.

After that, a quick siesta and then we headed into the city to meet up with Guillermo, a friend that my awesome friend in New York had set us up with to show us around.  We had a cup of coffee then he had to head off to work but we ended up hanging out with his American friend, grabbing dinner and checking out the Whiskey Blue at the W Hotel (great drinks, super friendly bartender).

After the Whiskey Blue we headed over to Club Amanda where Guillermo worked to ensure that Aracely and Mark got to try a Mango Pisco and I loaded up on the best Michelada´s I´ve ever had.  We headed home pretty early by South American Standards, but up next … Argentina!