Santiago

People seem to have a dim view of Santiago of being `just another big city', but its really nice, it`s really really nice, I knew it would be. Its probably one of the nicest cities I have visited anywhere, the Andes are surprisingly close with the city being butted right up to the foothills. On my first walk into town from the very nice district of Providencia, I rounded a corner onto the main convergence of roads near the river where the city opens up allowing views of the Andes towering over the city, and almost jumped at the proximity them. My camera didn't really do them justice, but do a quick image search for Santiago Chile and you'll see what I  mean.

 Its a very green city, with avenues of trees everywhere, lots of Universities and a modern subway system. The central shopping area reminded me of central London, and a great vista of the whole city can be had from the top of San Christobal hill next to Bellavista restaurant  tourist district. I walked up the hill with a new friend from my hostel, Sam, who had the same MacPac bag, there was also plenty of mountain bikers enjoying the tracks around the hill and if ones feeling lazy there are taxis and a funicular that go to the top as well. There's also a zoo. We felt very safe walking about the city, even at night, I was in the mood for a cinema movie, so we found a Hoyts cinema and saw the latest Bourne film then walked back to hostel after dark, it`s great to feel safe again.

Anyway the point being Santiago is a very nice place and one I`d like to come back to, furthermore Chile is a nice place and defiantly warrants further investigation, there's also Argentina and Patagonia region, but that will have wait for some other time. For now I`ve reached the end of my trip, its been a long trip, not always easy but always challenging and have met some wonderful people and experienced some of the most wonderful places, some of which I will defiantly return to.

In the next post will be a list of highlights, a condensed version of the trip with my favourite places and experiences.
Thanks for reading, hope you found it informative/ interesting/ amusing/ will throw away your guide books because this is so much better. Thanks for all the support along the way from comments on here or via Facebook and words of support in response to my occasional crazed emails to folk when I was fed-up and wanted to go home, they kept me going. A big thanks to everyone who gave my a place to stay along the way not only saving me money, but providing company and a sense of belonging, I won`t forget your generosity and kindness, and not least thanks to those who don`t mind homing me temporarily when I return, it`s a big weight of my mind.
This is Claire Over There`s America`s reconnaissance mission, concluded.