Santiago

I had to take a raincheck on Rio and come straight to Santiago.  Flights to Rio and on to Chile were way too expensive. So I came to Santiago on air miles.  The food here is amazing.  It was so good to get great seafood after Buenos Aires (they never really acquired the skills to fish in Argentina). 

What can I say? Santiago is lovely.  I did the touristy things, such as San Cristóbal Hill with the Virgin Statue.  What a lovely spot. I lingered a while there as it was very serene and meditative. The other main highlight was the Memorial and Human Rights Museum. It covered the dictatorship period of Chilean history. I spent more than half a day there, more than I had planned. It put a lot in context for me.  It's not a great city to photograph as all the buildings are, well....just that - new buildings. And the main square where all the historic buildings are, was being renovated. Other than that, I ate lots of ceviche and went out to some hip places at night and met some nice people. I skipped the Andes hike as I'm going to Bolivia soon. So I left for Valaparaíso for a few nights.