King of the Hill

There were only a couple of things in Santiago that we were interested in seeing before arriving here. One was San Cristobel Hill which we did a couple of days ago, and the other was Santa Lucia Hill which, as today was our last full day in Santiago, we did today.

We’d gone through the Santa Lucia metro station a couple of times already, on our way to other places in Santiago, and had realised that it wasn’t that far away from our hostel. So, with the weather not being as hot today, we decided to take a walk instead. Passing a monument to the police on the way,

fifteen minutes later, we’d reached the park at the bottom of the hill.

We followed a path through the park to the entrance of the buildings and stairs leading up to the summit; and it was closed! So, we had to do a double take, walk back down onto the street, and walk all the way around again! But finally we managed to pass through the iron gates, sign our names at the security post, and then we were in!

We were slightly concerned that some local law had resulted in the banning of bottoms

but then we realised we were ok, as several months of starvation meant we lost our own arses ages ago!

Santa Lucia hill has some historical relevance, in that the Spanish Conquistadors won a battle here in the 16th Century. But our reason for coming here was much more modern; we’d seen it on a Michael Palin DVD!

The area is renowned as a place where couples go to sit on the benches and spend hours kissing. And we certainly saw evidence of that. Bit strange really; one couple who were at the entrance just kissing were still at it two hours later! It seemed like more a display of exhibitionism than affection!

The climb to the summit of the hill is through various improbably steep and hazardous steps. Starting off on the ornate staircases of the first building, where I saw a Mand (Where? There on the stairs. Where on the stairs? Right There!!!!!)

It continued up to a small castle like structure,

where a large walkway allowed us to see how far we’d climbed already and offered good view of the Andes overlooking the city.

To reach the pinnacle of the hill though, we still had a couple of steps to negotiate. The first of these were just carefully arranged rocks in a step formation, and it was quite an effort to get to the top.

And then, finally, we just had a couple of steps up to the final turret and we’d made it!

The climb to the top was quite tiring, but it was worth it, not only for the beauty of the buildings and landscaped walkways, but also the views from above of Santiago itself.

From the turret we started our descent, stopping briefly in a small garden area halfway down. Here there was a statue dedicated to my new namesake; Valdivia!

This one was a Spanish Conquistador, and not a random Chilean footballer, but at least it seems my adopted name is associated with greatness! As you would expect!

Santa Lucia was a really picturesque and good way to spend the day. The buildings were some of the finest we have seen in Santiago, and the park/walkways were really well planned and had a charm about them. And, as we descended Santa Lucia hill, our Santiago experience ended.

We headed back to our hostel, the Hostal Rio Amazonas, and grabbed a couple of pictures of the interior before getting our packs ready for tomorrow, when we will be catching a bus to our next destination, Valparaiso.

Santiago had been a really good experience for us both. We left Easter Island completely exhausted, and its been great to be in a city where we could do fairly little but still get a good overall impression of the place. We have got to the stage now, though, where we’re becoming desperately tired, so maybe the next three nights in Valparaiso may also be extended rests before we move onto Argentina next week.