December 24-30, 2023

We spent Christmas week in Santiago, Chile and we really enjoyed seeing Christmas decorations while experiencing warm weather!
Our daughter and son-in-law met us in Santiago and celebrated Christmas week with us. We enjoyed staying at the @regalpacificsandiago in the Las Condes neighbourhood. The desk staff were accommodating! It is the newer part of the city known as the business district. We could see the mountains from our room.

Santiago Highlights
We attended the Christmas Day Mass at the Catedral de Santiago. It was in Spanish and they used holy water and frankincense in the ceremony.
We also climbed St Lucia Hill (Cerro) as the temperature reached 34C. The steps were treacherous in some places created in the 1920s. The views of the city were amazing from the top! It was a sacred place for the Mapuche (indigenous) and an important fortress for the Spanish.
We toured the home of the famous author Pablo Naruta as it was on Alix’s “must-do” list;). Then we took the funicular up the San Cristobal Hill. It was a beautiful view and we took the cable car down. We also visited the pre-Columbian Museum which had amazing artifacts from indigenous groups across the Americas.
We learned a lot of history on our small group 3h walking tour with @mr.tourchile. It was a free tour and it is expected that you will tip the guide afterward. We saw many parts of the city. I loved the way Claudio crafted his storytelling into a great experience. The free Pisco sour and bano break were perfectly timed. We followed his food recommendations and enjoyed the poutine of Chile (Chorrillana) and washed it down with some great tasting dark

we also tried Pastel de Choclo -the Chilean shepherd’s pie made with mashed

I tried a Chilean sandwich called Barros Jarpa (ham & cheese) and Craig tried the Italian (Chilean hot dog) for dinner. Santiago is an easy city to naviagate despite our lack of Spanish skills. We used the subway train to get to the downtown area with ease. It cost about $2 /pp round trip!