Providencia is the safe, clean, and westernised neighbourhood of Santiago, which we called home for three nights. Which is as long as we had stayed anywhere since the administrative centre car park in the Torres del Paine.
Our first day in Santiago we had hot footed it straight out to the edgier Valparaiso. But today was the day to visit Chile’s capital city, and what better place to start than a free walking tour.
Strawberry free walking tours sort your life out. Don’t offer a free walking tour and then demand that ”tips” be at least £10 each. You’re either a tip-based free walking tour, or you aren’t.
For what it’s worth the tour was below average anyway, and we were basically led around the main sights of the centre. There was a smattering of history thrown in with an anti-European bent, but that’s understandable.
Ice creams from Montana Gelato in Lastarria were excellent, and if I ever get round to editing this on a desktop I’ll be sure to give them a link. Santa Lucia hill is right next to lastarria and very much worth the ten minute climb to get great views over the city.
Without a doubt the most touristy thing to do is to get the funicular up to the Cerro San Cristobal. As game tourists we duly obliged, paid our 7k each, and joined the half-hour queue.
The view from the top of the San Cristobal is great, vistas across the whole of Santiago, up to the Valle Nevado and the snow capped peaks of the Andes. At the summit, a huge open air church once played host to the pope, and has remained a place of pilgrimage ever since.
Mote con huesillo is a sweet drink/pudding made from rehydrated peaches and cooked barley in a malty syrupy juice. It’s not bad for about £1 from one of the various stalls outside the funicular station. I’m not convinced, but the wasps seemed to love it, and if wasps love it then it’s a sure thing Sarah will.
The return journey is via cable car towards the posher end of town, which coincidentally is where we were staying. The views up towards the mountains are quite spectacular on the way down.
Flying all night
Today was an admin day, we booked flights for the latter half of our three months in South America. We alternated between cafes in providencia in search of the best wifi and then best coffee.
Later that evening we flew Aerolíneas Argentinas to Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires, and then on to Salta. Landing at Jorge Newbery gave us a great view of the Estadio Monumental. (We also snuck in a cheeky McDonald’s at Santiago airport, for want of anything else reasonable to eat. SCL rates pretty badly for a major airport)
Landing at half midnight in Buenos Aires, Mike was immediately bitten by all the mosquitoes in the vicinity. Big welty bites too. Three hours of failed sleep on the terminal floor later, and we were on our way to Salta.
- The infamous Binga-Karoi road
- Mana Pools: A bucket list location?
- Camping Among Lions: Chitake Springs Experience
- Chirundu: The worst border in the world
- The Wild Dogs of Jeki: Sunrise in Lower Zambezi
Small Holiday Big Dream 
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