22 December 2009 in Santiago

Dinner last night was at a local eatery. John had the obviously popular 1/4 chicken & chips, Liz had fish which was about 2x the price. We wandered around the streets in the pre-Christmas crowds, and returned tothe hotel about 8.30pm. A lovely calm evening. There was a young lass singing opera unaccompanied in the mall, obviously a trained voice. The streets were full of people.

We had a leisurely breakfast, and met a couple who are going on our tour - English, even older than us! We arranged to go out with them for dinner tonight. Another lady who was sitting at the table before we arrived had her bag stolen, we did not see anything untoward and don´t know if it happened while we were there or before we came! Wasn´t us though! So yes, one has to be extremely vigilant at all times here.

About 9.30am we hit the streets again. Today was museum day. We are certainly close to the centre & museums. A 200 meter walk saw us at the Museum of Pre Columban Art. There was a 3000 peso entrance fee. It was a very professional display of treasures from throughout all of Central and Western South America from 3000 BC.

We then found a bank and changed some more US$ to Pesos - millionaires again!
Next stop was the National Museum. Entry was free here. All the glories of the Spanish conquests were written in the best possible light - all in the name of spreading Christianity, of course - nothing to do with mineral wealth.

For lunch we went to a little local shop & had a freshly blended mango juice. There are a great number of shops around selling food blenders, obviously something people use a lot. We saw a selection of vegetables being blended for another customer.

Then we walked a bit further on to the Musedum of Contemporary Art. Mostly hideous rubbish, as usual.... we sat for 20 mins and watched a video of "President Allende" talking as if he were here now, titled Pre Appocalyse, very unusual. However it was cool in the room and a chance to rest our feet.

The park around the museum had about a dozen policemen on horses in it.

Returning to the hotel we walked through some of the malls, filled with hundreds of stalls about 2 metres wide and the same deep. There were heaps of stalls selling baby clothes, lingerie, and even more selling jewellery - an incredible number of them.

Back for a shower & rest, going out for dinner about 7.30. To those in Hokitika - yes, it is still fine, sunny and 32 degrees.