Day 9, Part 2: Santiago De Chile

After our visit to the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, we walked towards La Peluqueria Francesa for lunch. This was another recommendation from Kyle. The food was amazing! We both had a steak in a carmenere wine sauce. The restaurant is also an antique shop, I believe that many items are for sale. The place mats have a map of the historic neighborhood where the restaurant is located.  We didn't have enough time to walk around the neighborhood. We spent too long in the museum and we wanted to go to La Moneda before it got dark that day. There is an old fashion barber shop connected to the restaurant. Andre went in for a shave. He had never had one before and I was happy to watch him being pampered. 

We took the subway towards la Plaza de Armas. I used my point and shoot camera for the pictures below. I love my DSLR, but getting it in and out of the bag is a pain. 

Plaza de Armas

We were happy to see the downtown after visiting the Museum in the morning since we had learned so much about Chile's history. I was thinking about the video of the attack showing La Moneda being bombed and what it must have been like. The Salvador Allende statue outside the building made me sad. Allende died the day of the Coup d'etat inside La Moneda. 

Salvador Allende

La Moneda, Presidential House

La Moneda

Another cute Chilean street dog

After our last full day in Santiago we went back to our hotel. As we walked towards the hotel, the sky was pink. Since we had a long flight the next day, we decided to go to bed early. Our trip to South America was amazing. We were sad to come home but at the same time we needed to come home. Just a week before this trip, we found out that we are going to be parents. The trip was a little difficult for me since my energy levels were very low and the typical pregnancy symptoms were rough. I am glad that we took this trip right before our life changes 100 percent. Next time (and there will be a next time) maybe I can actually drink a lot of wine and bring a dog back with me. 

Day 9, Part 1: Santiago de Chile

The first time that I heard about the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos was when my friend Kyle wrote about it in her blog. I knew that if I ever went to Santiago I had to go see it. Maybe you've heard about the Coup d'etat in Chile during the 70's and Pinochet ruling the Country until 1990. This museum is about the abuses of the dictatorship and the lack of human rights during that time. When I was growing up in Colombia, I always heard about how horrible Pinochet was, but how good he was for Chile's economy. I was intrigued to learn more about it. I love history and I didn't know much about this period of time in Chile before visiting this museum. We learned a lot about Chile, Pinochet, and Allende. I bought a book that I have on my reading list. 

Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos

The entrance to the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos

Outside the museum there was an exhibition of posters from the 70s. I'm not sure if this is permanent, but even before starting the tour I wanted to cry. Compared to the holocaust, the 3,000 "disappearances" in Chile is almost "nothing". However I don't think anything will ever be compared to the holocaust. 

There was something extra that made me love this place even more. My favorite Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, had an exhibition at the time of our visit to the museum. The paintings were about the tortures in the Iraqi prison of Abu Ghraib. I didn't know that Botero created a collection of paintings about it. You don't get to hear much about Abu Ghraib in the US. To learn more about Botero's Abu Ghraib paintings click here. 

Fernando Botero's Abu Ghraib show in Chile

You can't take pictures inside the museum and there is so much that I want to show. I definitely recommend that if you are in Santiago, save a couple of hours in your itinerary to visit this museum. We spent at least 3 hours or more inside following the audio guide and watching the videos. It is free and there is a metro station (Quinta Normal) that is connected to the Museum. To read Kyle's post  and see her amazing pictures of the museum click here. 

Day 8: Back to Santiago De Chile

This was one of my favorite days of the trip. Not only because we were back in a City that we wanted to explore more, but also because we were meeting my friends Kyle and Emily for lunch. Lunch was also exciting because we were going to two of my favorite Colombian places. As soon as I heard that Hamburguesas el Corral had a franchise in Santiago I knew that I had to go. Juan Valdez Cafe is next to it so it was perfect after lunch.

Juan Valdez Santiago

After lunch, we went to Los Dominicos to see the craft's market. We took the subway to Los Dominicos station and after short walk we were at the market. We were still full from our big lunch and decided to see down for a while. We didn't do much shopping.  

Iglesia Los Dominicos

Centro Artesanal Los Dominicos

We took a taxi towards the entrance of Cerro San Cristobal. I was afraid to ride the funicular because of my fear of heights. I was relieved to see that I was confused with the teleferico and the funicular is not the hanging cable car that I'm so afraid of.  

The funicular had this sign saying that the pope rode the same car in 1987

Santiago from El Cerro San Cristobal

My favorite sight of Santiago: The Andes Mountains

This dog reminded me of Lola, Emily's dog, drinking from the fountain. I tried to make him drink from there, but he wouldn't do it. Andre gave him water in his hand until the dog was happy and left us behind.

We walked uphill to see the Virgin upclose. We couldn't see much of the City because of the fog (or pollution). This really reminded me of Bogota and El Cerro de Monserrate. Many things about Santiago made me feel at home. 

On our way down, we made a new friend. I bought him food and I ended up giving him half of my ice cream. This dog was adorable. I wanted to bring him home. 

The most famous Chilean: Condorito

When we were on our way to Cerro San Cristobal, the taxi driver showed us the street where Pablo Neruda's house, La Chascona, was located. We decided to go after we came down the Cerro San Cristobal. It was a very short walk and I was curious to see this famous poet's home. Unfortunately, we were too late for the last tour of the house. 

La Chascona

Sunset in Santiago

We kept walking and found a nice place called Patio Bellavista. We stayed for dinner and drinks. I did some souvenir shopping. According to our map, the closest metro station was a few blocks away across the river. We made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up walking a lot to get to the metro. It was a nice way to see more of this nice area of Santiago. We asked for directions and eventually found the station. We were pleasantly surprised to find that everyone in Chile was extremely nice to us.