Santiago Tour 1 - The End

My legs are suffering today after my FIRST tour of Santiago with the girls from the office. It was a good Sunday to walk our legs off to our hips just to see central Santiago. So much to see...so little time. The girls have promised to go again! YEAH!
My tour guides....Lead Project Controls engineer, Paula Torrent (R) and our lead estimator, Loreto Deney (L).

In this photo, they are taking a snack break at the end of our long day. We are on the top of Cerro San Cristobal, an 880 meter foothill ridge just inside the city limits of Santiago, where a large statue of the Virgin Mary overlooks the city.



Many professional bicyclists ride the hill getting ready for the Tour de France as the uphill climb is torturous. Loreto insisted that we have a typical Chilean snack called Mote con Huesillo as an end to a perfect day.

It is pronounced..Motay con Wheyseeshyo.

Mote con huesillo is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink, known as the “refreshing national drink.” It consists of a sweet, clear, nectar like liquid made from dried peaches (huesillos) cooked in carmelized sugar,water and cinnamon, and then once cooled, it is mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat (mote) that sinks to the bottom of the glass. They give you a spoon to eat the trigo and to fish out a couple of dried whole peaches.

Un vaso de Mote...
My estimator kept telling me today, when I asked if he liked this...
"It is Ref-freshing...Ref-freshing."








Here are few pics of the Virgin Mary. She is a big girl.
I took this first shot from the deck area where people can buy souvenirs, mote, and snacks...

 I made it! You should see the view!

This was taken as I walked up steep stairs to the platform.









See what I can see from way up here?

This is the hour called "The Pink Time", when the sun sets and turns the snow on the Andes and clouds shades of pink....








After walking all day, we decided NOT to walk to the top, which would have taken about 3 hours. Instead we stood in line to ride the "Funicular", which is a hillside tram that was built in 1925. To get to the tram, we had to enter the "Castle". But it was an entertaining 30 minute wait by the troubador who played, hoping for money tossed into his old floppy hat...see photos below...

The Castle of the Funicular...
Mwah ha ha ha...I vant to dreeenk yor vlood....

The old large blooming trees in the park were lovely...

I picked this photo off the internet to show you what it looks like in winter...

The Troubadour

The tram

It is a steep ride up.....

and down....

The view through the top of the cars.








But even when you get to the top of the Funicular, you are not at the top of the park.
You have to climb many sets of steps. Here is a pic of a guy pulling his way up! I know how he feels...

About 3/4 the way up the climb, there is a chapel that overlooks the city. Many weddings take place here. I took a photo of the gargoyles sitting on the edge of the roof...

And this is the park below the platform where the people collapse after walking up the stairs...

The park zoo is about half way up the cerro. It is precariously perched on the hillside, where the tram stops to let off the children. Maybe next time I will get off and tour the zoo....

More pics to come...perhaps I will start at the beginning of the tour next time!