On our second day in Santiago, we decided to go up Christoball mountain which is the highest view point. The hill has a fenicular which is a kind of train that goes up and down the hill. We chose not to do that and walk it as we had all day. Somehow we ended up walking up the biker track which was pretty vertical in places! In the 30 degree heat it was hard work. After half an hour or so of scaling the mountain we found the proper path and carried on up the mountain. The view from the top was amazing and well worth the hike. We sat with drinks at the top and enjoyed the view. However we got the fenicular down which was fun.
We had lunch in a restaurant where we could sit on the balcony overlooking the mountain. I had some amazing homemade lemonade. We spent an hour or so enjoying the view and then headed home for some relaxing in the sun before a late dinner.
On our last day in Santiago we climbed a smaller hill called Santa Lucia which was in the centre of all the skyscrapers (you can see it in the first photo). The views were pretty good. We went and looked at some of the big political buildings and some more of the city before going back to the hostel the sunbathe. We decided to try an Indian restaurant for dinner. It was pretty nice, but nothing on English curries! We were upgraded to a private room that night as the owner needed a space in the dorm for someone which was lovely!
Today we headed to valperaiso, a city a few hours away by the sea. We checked out of the hostel and got on the metro. When we had to change stations Jay realised his wallet was gone. After retracing our steps it was clear it was gone for good. We rushed back to the hostel to cancel bank cards. The hostel owner was so kind and said we could stay at the hostel another night for free in a private room if we wanted to. We only lost about 10,000 chilean pesos which is about £10 and the cards were all blocked. However they did have our driving licences in and after a bit of googling we decided we needed a police report in case we had to claim for anything.
The police officer we spoke to didn't know English and our Spanish was limited. We struggled by with hand signals and one word questions. Then a lady who might as well have been the fairy godmother came and asked if we wanted help with translation as she'd lived in London for 20 years. An hour later we were done and on our way back to the hostel to pick up our stuff.
We're now in valperaiso so we'll see what this cities like!
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