Southern Summer, Argentina, Chile and Y Wladfa Gymreig 29th and 30th Jan

Moving on today to Santiago so it's a taxi to Puerto Montt airport and from there a flight to Santiago. The flight is south -north and our seats are on the left so our view is of the Pacific coastline rather than the Andes I had been hoping for. This is what we saw.

As the bus was  £1.50 to the city centre we decided to take that and catch a taxi from the terminal to the hotel. This turned out to be a big mistake. The bus took ages and the congestion around the terminal was horrendous.

So it took over 2 hours to reach the bus terminal. The last 2km took an hour and a half. We then waited for another half hour to get a taxi. That will teach us to try and do it on the cheap. When we did eventually get to the apartment things soon got better as it was really great.

It has a really central location and is very smart, on the tenth floor and complete with balcony. The front door lock is like a touchscreen smart phone.  You touch it and a keypad appears allowing you to punch your password in. I love gadgets and look at the size of the bed. Next day we walk 400ms down the road to the Plaza de Armas. This is the central and oldest square in Santiago. All the road distances in the country are measured from here. The Cathedral is also on the square and has the longest nave I have ever seen.

Also on the square  (as it were) is the National Museum. In Chile all state museums are free of charge. They also have excellent toilet facilities.

The National Museum tells the story of the development of the national from pre-conquistador times up to the start of the C20. Especially featured is that intriguing Irish /Chilean liberator Bernado O'Higgins. His name comes up all over the country and if you read the Sharpe novels you will meet him again. Here's a statue to him.

Next we do the open topped tourist bus which gives us a 3 hour trip round the Santiago highlights.  You will see a collection of photos, some showing the traditional colonial style institutional buildings and others showing the modern glass high rise. You will see the tallest building in the southern hemisphere  (designed by the builders of the Petronas Towers), but it is particularly the juxtaposition of the buildings and the Andean mountains in the near distance that impresses.

A bit of W Van Alen influence here? Compare Chrysler Building NY.

This one is the tallest. The developments speak volumes for Chile's economic growth over the past few years.
We stop off at the Bellavista district which is a mass of restaurants and bars for some refreshments before going on to take the funicular railway to the top of San Christobal hill.  This is the highest view point over the city from within its precincts. So high they plonked the Virgin Mary on top of it. The views were truly stunning.

We then took an official taxi back to the apartment. When we arrived there after about 10 mins his meter read 18000 pesos, about  £18 so we proceeded to have a rather lengthy row. We should really have reported him and paid nothing,  but I paid him 4000 which was a bit over the top, but not much.  It was really the only sour taste we had in Chile. So if you are ever in Santiago, look out for a brown eyed fellow with dark hair who drives a black and yellow taxi. He's a crook.