Ilgonis is writing:
It is worth to travel around the world to experience a day like this. In the morning subway delivered us to the Araucano park in the outer part of Santiago with many skyscrapers.
It is a sunny and warm Saturday, Chileans peacefully walk along the pathways and make some exercises. Green parrots wander around. While I was sitting on the bench, one small dog came and sat on my lap. On one side of the park there is a view towards the city covered by smog. In another direction high buildings are reflecting blue sky and majestic mountains are visible.
Then we saw an ice skating rink, of course we could not pass by. It was great to skate on June 22, surrounded by palm trees. Some people including me skated slowly, Dora an Anders looked like professionals.
Our next point of visit was the tallest building in Latin America – Sky Costanera. Elevator delivered us to the floor 61 on 300 m altitude. The view there is fantastic. Down there are city blocks covered by layer of smog. Up there are snowy Andes mountains and blue sky. Impressive combination. Here we met a Russian eclipse chaser and talked about our previous expeditions.
I sat on a free bench, took some pictures and a feeling of happiness came to me. This not a frequent thing and is a sign of a successful trip, at least the beginning of the trip. At the souvenir shop other people bought postcards, I bought mate drinking set, a bowl and a straw. Now I need to buy mate tea itself.
Now the stomach insisted to get some food. We found a remote pizzeria visited by local people. What happened next is best characterized by the word ‘huge’. Imants and other ate huge pizzas, Anders ate by his own words the largest burger in Latin America. I and Andra consumed not so huge but very tasty lasagna.
Our final point for today was San Cristobal hill that is reachable by a cable car. While going up, the panoramic view became wider and wider until we could see almost the whole city surrounded by mountains – it was beautiful. On the top of the hill there is a statue of Holy Mother but the panorama is restricted. But the sunset was fantastic, Even Chileans were unusually silent, sitting on the steps and looking around. Clouds became yellow then purple. With a funicular car we descended towards illuminated city where Saturday night fever was on, people wandering in all directions and many of them sitting in pubs drinking beer. But we went to our apartment to to have some rest.