After a leisurely start to the day we mount our (well Rick's) bikes to head downtown along the bike path bordering the Rio Mapocho. Our destination is Cerro Santa Lucia park, our first stop is to have a coffee with a Hatch friend. It is only a flat 10 km ride along the river bank with a sunny blue day about 22 degrees making for a beautiful ride. Along the way there are many workers tending to the gardens. Santiago keeps up with the land maintenance and it is very clean. Lots of sprinklers are on and some can't be avoided but the shot of cool water is refreshing. Lots of lovers in the parks, PDA is very accepted here. Very passionate and affectionate people. Everywhere you look there are pairs of people entangled with each other. Julie also had to take a closeup of the artwork at the Museum of Art. (no mysteries here).
Not as many stray dogs as in Valparaiso, we even saw dog houses in the park, we think are for the strays. We reach the park Santa Lucia and it is very beautiful. The park is constructed on a small hill and was first established by the Spaniards as a fort. In the late 1800 the hill was converted into a beautiful park with multiple fountains, gardens and pathways throughout. We still have extra hemoglobins from the Inca trail making the biking and stair climbing a breeze.
After the park we are again somewhat dehydrated and are in search of patio umbrellas to satisfy our thirst and hunger. We decide to return to the Italian district we found on Monday"s tour. The area is full of university students, (there are two universities within a block) so cold beer at a good price are available. The place we choose is called Plaza Blue. Food is good but the bathroom was in a construction zone and Julie could not find the light switch so gave up before she fell into a hole. We order dos cerveza grande, but when they come we have two 1 litre bottles of beer, slightly larger than we needed. We send one back and order our lunch. Excellent meal all for $13 Cdn.
At the end of lunch it was after 2 so time to head back. A fast ride back to Rick's apartment and a cab ride to the airport for our 19:30 departure, a direct flight to Toronto which is bonus. We are now writing this from the America Airlines lounge. We are scheduled to land in TO at 5:30 am with Ross to pick us up. It has been an excellent Phase 2.
Photo Notes
1) Sun light glinting of SA tallest building - Santiago Business district
2) Rio Mapocho - the bike path follows this river from the business district to the downtown
3) Part of the Bike Path
4) Dog houses in Park
5) Santa Lucia Park
6) Julie enjoying an Escudo beer at the Plaza Blue
7) Apparently "Punk is not Dead" in Santiago. We were a bit slow with the camera but that is what the tee shirt says
Cheers
Julie and Dawson
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
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