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.