Last day in Santiago.
I don’t think we could have asked for a better day to be honest.
Shortly after I wrapped up the blog last night, the celebrations continued for a bit longer in Plaza de Armas before the police came by and gently moved the celebrations elsewhere. (Seriously, they just got the group to meander slowly but surely out of the square. We watched the group get rounded up and moved on. It kind of looked like they didn’t notice, but we were up several stories and at the edge of the square.)
And after we popped open that bottle of wine graciously gifted to us by our AirBnB hosts, sleep came pretty easily. The bed was…VERY... Firm. I actually like that when it comes to actual sleeping but no flopping could be had. But still, the bed was comfortable, the room was warm, the wine was good, and earplugs were able to reduce the last of the noise of the retreating celebration.
Sometimes all you need to recover is a nice sleep.
So when I got up earlier than my alarm, it was ok! We took some time to get our things a bit organized before heading to breakfast in the hostel.
Oh, so the hostel! (I want to do a blog about the different places we stayed, but I’ll do that next.)
It is in this beautiful old building in the center of Santiago’s Plaza de Armas. It’s got museums and a metro station and was much more lively than our other hostel (which was on the very outskirts of the area.)
We had an elevator operator who took us to the sixth floor where we check-in, but our room was on the 4th floor and yet, our room was also lofted! There were three beds, one queen and two twins up above. It was neat.
So yeah, we had to go upstairs for breakfast, go downstairs for our room to finish packing, then go back up to check out completely and then back down to the first floor to leave. Just an interesting bit.
We ate breakfast on the balcony of the hostel and overlooked the Plaza. The city was awake and at it, with people coming and going from the metro station we could see and the Plaza was filled with people sitting in and around it.
The day was starting off beautifully! We left the hostel in good spirits, and dropped our bags off at the car before we walked over to Santa Lucia-an area that has an outdoor market that does sort of cater to tourists, but is still relatively cheap. And after we shopped a bit (and I sneezed on a poor unsuspecting girl….We were walking and talking, and I felt the sneeze coming, so I did the werewolf maneuver to aim it at the ground away from Katelyn, but right as I turned to my left, another girl about 12 years old was RIGHT NEXT TO ME and I just….it was an accident I swear.) we basically just crossed the street to the park that shares the same name-Santa Lucia.
Now, Santa Lucia park is something I will definitely recommend if you’re ever in Santiago. It’s this beautiful park that has buildings from Santiago’s history, fountains, statues, and a series of worn stairs that take you up a mountain that overlooks most of the city.
And it’s smack dab in the center of Santiago!
The elevation on this thing is crazy.
We were many stories up. (I’ll have to look up the actual details later. On a plane!)
And we climbed down stairs on the opposite side of where we went up and it was clear this side was….less popular. It looked a bit jungly. Stairs were worn down though.
There’s history in this place, but the worn stairs on this side were maybe not replaced like the other side was. We gripped the railings and had to watch our step. The stones were slick despite the dry day.
But it led us to a plant that is frequented by hummingbirds which were plentiful! We watched them for a bit and I even managed to get one good silhouette picture of one.
I had left my camera in the car so my phone had to work overtime today as the camera as well.
We wandered around the park enjoying the day and taking it all in before we started making our way back to the car to make our way to the airport to make our way back home.
We made a quick stop at a café for a delicious lunch before heading out.
And then the drive to the airport was super easy.
Well sort of.
If you need to drive in Santiago, just accept the fact that you’ll need to drive like a major asshole to get anywhere.
I did some of my worst driving here in Santiago.
But hey! I drove like a local, and I didn’t get into any accidents!
We got the car returned with-I think- no problem! And then we got to wait for…mmmmm…an hour from when we arrived to when we could check in. Then another line to get through customs. Then another through security where I got pulled aside because my camera equipment is ridiculous.
I almost lost my counterbalance system because part of it is just a heavy metal rod. It’s about 8inches long and, once I saw what the problem was, I could totally see why the alarm.
So with our language barrier still in place, I got to demonstrate the system to the police who were satisfied and put it back in the case.
But now I know that in the future, that should probably go checked.
And then, once through security, it was just a matter of waiting at the gate.
Now we’re up in the air! On our way. I’m typing this at the beginning of the flight so I can watch movies and sleep.
**Posted the next day at 10am.