The Long Journey Begins! – Santiago Chile Sightseeing

31/12/16 ~ 03/01/17

Santiago Chile Sightseeing

…and so it begins!

Aside from a slight issue of me accidentally not taking out my gas canister from my jetboil, and having the whole thing removed from my baggage entirely (I get it back in 9-10 months time when I return), things went fairly straightforward.

I arrived in Santiago, Chile at 2pm on New Year’s Eve. I got a cab ride in which neither of us could speak the others native language, and we’re playing the game of Google Translate in speaking mode. It was pretty funny, and the guy was quite helpful. He even helped me to locate the best spots for the fireworks for that evening.

I arrived in Hostel Providencia, and settled there, deciding to take on the 5000CLP ($10) pasta and wine special evening meal on for that night. A guy from Germany and a girl from the USA joined, and we ate and shared our thoughts.

I ended up joining Sophie, my English roomie and several of her English friends (from other rooms) for some drinks and went out into the city to catch the fireworks. With 12 beers on hand we took the metro close to the tower from which the fireworks were set from. 20 minutes of epic fireworks! The streets were filled with people with wild celebrations. The Best new years I’ve had! I only had my phone camera.

I woke up late with a bit of a hangover, but by midday I was OK and decided to do the walk up San Cristobal mountain located in the city. There were some great panoramic views from there with the Andes teasing me in the background (not in photo below). I can’t wait to be amongst them.

Cascada del la Animas

I decided on the 2nd I would metro/bus/taxi out to Maipo Canyon south East of Santiago. Getting to the small town of San Jose de Maipo was easy, but it was hard to travel around after as the tourist office where I planned to get info and maps was closed. I ended up doing a guided walk of Cascada del la Animas which was a nature walk with a waterfall. It was nice after all the travel. Sadly I didn’t get to do everything I wanted here (there were hot springs and a bigger waterfall, but hard to get to with limited options), and returned to the city.

I finalised some shopping (including buying a new jetboil!) which I haven’t been able to do because of the public holidays. I’m heading off south to Pucon via a sleeper bus this evening in which I intend to start some treks!

The good:

Santiago feels relaxed and easy going. People are nice and helpful.

The bad:

It’s not a very spectacular city by any means. It’s also just as hot as being back in Australia! Maybe why I want to get south quicker haha!

~ Continue my Patagonian travels with ‘An Outdoor Aventure Dream Town – Pucón & Surrounds – Patagonia‘ ~

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