Santiago

View of Cerro Calan (the green one) from our rooftop patio in Santiago's Las Condes neighborhood! We hiked it and also found our favorite hike of the whole trip nearby. I wrote separate posts on those.

Our last morning in Valparaíso, we took a train to the bus station and boarded a double-decker to Santiago.  It was at this train station where we came across our first toilet "vending station". You put coins into a machine, which spit out a ticket to scan at a gate, which opens to allow access to the toilet. During the scenic drive we viewed farms and vineyards.

Daddy picked another great location to stay. This was our view from the rooftop patio- layers of green cerros (hills), snow capped mountains and snow-covered Andes in the distance! Plus we could walk to a mall with restaurants and a gym!

And just down the street is this great park with a textiles market.

Here's the entrance to the market, which looked a bit like a church to me, and once it opens, you find a whole village of shops behind these doors. 

One section is a art museum, currently showcasing insects made with a variety of recycled materials.

There are quite a few really, cute kitties that hang out here and watch over the shops, literally.

Pastel de choclo is a South American dish made from choclo, large corn kernels. It's like a hot corn pudding with ground beef, chicken, raisins, black olives, onions, or slices of hard boiled egg. Seen in the bowl below.

Twice we visited Parque Bicentenario de Vitacura. The first time was a really chill visit. The second time a big event was going on so it was full of people and music and food.

Of course we spotted the Black-necked Swans right away. These are not native, so can't be officially counted even though they are nesting here. One of the cignets (baby swan) is in the third photo below.

Spot-flanked Gallinule (above)  Yellow-billed Pintail (below)

I really enjoyed seeing a pair of Rufous-tailed Plantcutters foraging in the grass. The red-bellied one is the male.

Austral Thrush

We spent the last day of our summer trip above the city exploring Parque Metropolitano de Santiago, also known as San Cristobal Hill. This park is HUGE, with 1780 acres it's the largest urban park in Latin America!  And it's very steep, so steep it has a teleferico (cable car) on one end and a 100yr old funicular (ascensor) on the other end to transport people up to the top. You can also take a taxi, bike or walk, if you're up for it. We took the teleferico up. There is a ropes course with zipline at the base of the teleférico station, for an extra fee. We weren't sure we had enough time, so we skipped it. 

Here you will find a statue of the Virgin Mary, the church of Immaculate Conception, a 10 acre botanical garden, swimming pools, and a zoo! Oh, and great 360 views!

We were excited to spot this yellow and teal lizard in the botanical garden.

The funicular took us back down in a hurry!

Ironically Journey found this sign in the airport on our way home. Technically our South American journey ended here. Though our journey home had just begun.

Beach Entertainment (Valparaíso)

 

This is the view from the train platform above Playa Caleta Portales, Portales Cove Beach.

We were surprised to see enormous sea lions racing down the beach into the water! They spend a lot of time under the restricted fishing pier, and for good reason. The fish market is on the east side of the beach and scraps are regularly thrown off the pier. Birds also compete for scraps, so it's a very birdy place!

Lots of Peruvian Pelicans hanging around. I love the color of their pouch.

Guanay Cormorant (below right)

I wonder what this conversation is about. Males, like this one on the right, have a mane and can weigh twice as much as a female, up to 770lbs and reach nearly 10ft long! You do NOT want to mess with these guys!

Inca Terns and Peruvian Boobies 

When the bump, bump, bump sound of the cart rolling over the pier is heard, everyone comes running! They know that cart is full of fish and crab scraps. And the drama begins! 

It was really entertaining to watch the birds. We ended up coming to this beach twice during our stay.

Birds were created to eat fish whole. When they eat fish carcasses, the bones can puncture their thin pouch and lead to starvation and death. This is one of the main reasons it's illegal to feed pelicans in the USA. This pelican was struggling to swallow this carcass. It kept spitting it out and trying again. 

Beyond the pier sits a lighthouse, and beyond that, to the left, massive sand dunes right along the coast! They're nearly as tall as the sky scrapers! Wouldn't those be fun to check out?!

While Asher was fishing, I looked out over the water and thought I saw a baby sea lion swimming all by itself, but almost immediately it went underwater. When it popped up again, I realized it wasn't a sea lion, but a PENGUIN! Yay! It's immature, so it's hard to say if this was a Humboldt Penguin like we saw in Peru, or a new species for me. Ugh! Bird ID can be so tricky!

Viña del Mar 

Another day we took the train further to the town of Vina del Mar. After walking thru the city for a bit, we had dinner at a burger place that also sold ice cream burgers- on a bun with chocolate sauce! Of course Journey had to try it. I asked Daddy to get us a pint of Cold stone Ice cream and he came back with a half gallon! They were out of pints, ha! And you know what? We ate the whole thing! Then we ended up at Playa el Sol (the beach). Asher fished from the pier called, Muelle Vergara.

Getting home was a challenge. We tried ordering a car, but right before picking us up, they would cancel. Was it because they didn't want someone riding in the front seat? That happened before. Who knows. We couldn't even find a taxi. It turns out during covid, most of the taxi drivers had to find other jobs and few returned. Also they only pick up from certain locations, which we had no way of knowing.... It was a long hike back to the train station and we were already exhausted! Then we found the ascensor was closed, so we then had to hike up a hundreds stairs to get to our house! Oy!

Our last morning we boarded a double decker bus to take us to Santiago. Our final destination.