Chile

After 11 hours of flying including a red-eye flight we arrived in Santiago, Chile. We had planned a 24-hour layover so that Ali could see one of her favorite companions in Chile. Only problem was that after we had already booked the tickets we found out that Hna. Torres couldn't get time off to meet us in Santiago. :(.

We decided we'd take advantage of our time in Chile and get to know the city of Santiago anyway. Ali contacted some of her old mission friends that lived in Santiago and with their help we planned our day.


Our biggest expense of the day was our "visa" to get into Chile. It cost $262 (that's right dollars) just to get into the country. We felt so robbed, and almost decided to stay in the airport for the day. However, we decided we had to take advantage of our time in Chile and would probably never come back. We also didn't feel as bad when we learned that the US charges Chileans the same amount for their visas.

One of our first stops was an ice cream store so that Ali could get her favorite ice cream: Tramontana

Ali's friend, Andres Moya had a friend pick us up at the airport and take us to downtown Santiago. From there we bought bus tour passes and spent most of the day touring the city...

One of the first stop on the tour bus was a shopping mall. Who would have guessed? Apparently people travel all over the and one of the first things they want to do is go to a shopping mall, just like back home. I guess one difference was that here they trimmed a bush into a Coca-cola bear. We spent some time roaming the mall and Ali got her ice cream and then we headed back to the bus for the rest of the tour.

After an all night plane ride Lincoln was tired. Thanks to Ali for her nice big purse...so versatile.

Ali took some time too...



For the majority of the bus tour we just ended up taking pictures from the bus. The Andes mountains made for a beautiful back drop.






Just enjoying the bus ride...


Near the end of the tour we got out and wandered the streets in search of great deals! Ali was looking for jewelry. She was impressed at how patient Lincoln was being with her. He usually hates shopping, but when you're in a foreign country and there's nothing else to do, it's not that bad.


One of the last stops on the tour was Santiago's main square. Of course in the middle of the square was their main cathedral. It was beautiful on the inside as most cathedrals are...

Next to the cathedral was the old Post Office building

After a few failed attempts to catch the tour bus we decided to walk back to where we started...El Palacio de la Moneda. It's Chile's White House.

As you can see in the background they have guards dressed in old school uniforms guarding El Palacio

We hung out at El Palacio for a while as we waited for Andres to get off work. After we met up with Andres we went to Cerro Santo Lucia, a famous hill in the middle of Santiago. On the top of the hill is an old fort. On the way up are some beautiful fountains and architecture.

View of the city on our way up the hill.

Fountain on the way up





View from the top.

Us with Andres

After we visited the hill and Ali bought a matching necklace and earrings made from Lapis Lazulie - a stone found only in Chile and Afghanistan, we hitched a ride on the subway system to the temple. We were very impessed with how nice and well kept the subway was.


The Santiago Chile temple

After visiting the temple we met up with Ali's other friend, Rolando Gonzales and they took us to an authentic Chilean restaurant. We all ate way too much...


Following dinner the restaurant put on a very interesting show...

After dinner we took the metro to Andres' parents' house where we stayed the night. We got a decent nights sleep but had to wake up at 5AM to make our flight to Argentina. We flew on LAN Chile and both agreed it was the nicest flight of the entire trip.