WINE, DYNAMITE AND PENGUIN TOUR: Mar 04

Steve needed to replace some camera gear and get some more camera chips in our last big city for a while so we don’t run out in Easter Island or the desert, so we headed out to the camera store we had found on google.

Paul & Mandy headed off to explore some of the areas we had seen yesterday from the bus and there was an artisan market on Saturday which was worth a look see.

Lots of green spaces in Santiago - Cannobis shop!

Steve and Janette walked through the back streets of Santiago to the first camera store through leafy streets with really lovely houses. Although it is such a big city, there are lots of green spaces and trees on every street, we really like the city, it has a really good vibe.

There were some very interesting shops not found in other cities !

Unfortunately the camera shop didn’t have everything we needed so he directed us to another shop which was on the 5^th floor of a residential complex – we would never have found it without his directions, but again we saw another whole section of Santiago.

Very often, buxsiness and shops are in office blocks or houses so finding a supplier is not easy as it is at home. You can only work on street names and number.

The view from the top of the world
...according to them anyway

By this time we had been walking for 4 hours in 28 degrees and almost 100% humidity so were pretty tired, so we jumped in a cab and scooted up to the Sky Costanera which is the tallest building in South America. It is 300 m high and the panoramic views from the 62^nd floor of Santiago and the Andes was stunning. Not great for anyone with vertigo !!

The Andes surround this city which
is only about an hour from the coast

Most people we spoke to did not have much good to say about Argenitinians and they dont seem to be good friends.
A lot of this is due to Argentina taking half of Patagonia in the early century but surprisingly, Chile is very pro British and supported the RAF during the Falklands debacle and Argentina have sulked ever since.

We got back to the hotel and were having coffee nursing sore feet when Paul & Mandy appeared looking just as shattered as us having walked out to the funicular and been to the zoo !

Rest now and then out for another evening in Santiago, walking through the street culture first ,

We headed to a great place recommended to us which had a hige selection of Chilean wines, available in tasting glasses or wine flights and great food, So we passed a happy evening trying some really lovely Chilean wines, including some great Carmenere.

This area where we are staying is the trendy, artisan area but full of restaurants street artists, jugglers and musician....really nice vibe about the place and felt like a Mexican carnival town in places.