The Andes and Santiago

We have left the cold days in Mendoza behind us and traveled by bus through the Andes to Santiago de Chile. We have had an incredible bus ride thorugh the Andes with big mountains and on top of the Andes the Chilean border control. We had to get out of the bus, went through immigration and through Chilean customs. The Chilean customs is very strict so we have had to declare everything. They even took our honey and tested it for drugs. All in all the border change took us about two hours.

We arrived in our Hostel in Santiago in the afternoon. The first impression you will get from the city are the Andes mountains and the smog. Because the citiy is located in a valley there is no way that the smog can move. This is actually the main problem of Santiago and it is a big problem. With every second breath you take you can feel the pollution in your nose, throat and eyes. When you have a cold it´s even worse.

What I liked about Santiago? Santiago is one of the safest South American cities. I mean no crossing red light after dark!!! The city combines modern arts and architecture with old Chilean tradition. We took the Sunday for a walk through the city center, to Plaza de Armas, Parque Forestal, Bella Vista and Cerro San Cristobal. The Plaza was full of people, music bands, dancing and artists celebrating their Sunday. It felt that we were a part of this celebration. We even took a nap in the gras in Parque Forestal like all the other couples and families did. At the end we hiked up to the Cerro San Cristobal. What a nice Sunday we have had together with all the people from Santiago.

The Monday we took it a little bit easy and rested in the hostel together with the hostel dog Pepe and got ready for Bogotá, Colombia which we are at the moment. Tomorrow on September 9th we will leave for the Caribbean Coast, Cartagena!!!