Santiago

I’ve always been a bit arrogant. Maybe, according to some, more than a bit. I’ve noticed as I get older I compare myself to others who appear to be near my age. I notice the older men pattering slowly on the street, possibly with a cane or walker, and I think to myself how nice it is to be fully mobile, carrying a back pack and bounding up stairs and putting in a few miles before lunch when necessary. I’m certainly not like those old men.

Until last night.

It started as a mild discomfort and by the end of the evening the pain in my knee has become a serious distraction from my enjoyment of things. It appears to be a significant case of tendonitis developing that makes walking somewhat painful. “Is this it?” I wonder. Is this when I become an old man, or will by body once more forgive the abuse I’ve heaped upon it? Am I on the way to becoming one of those men who shuffle slowly up the street, blocking the younger and spryer folks from making fast, steady progress? In other words, am I getting to be that guy I think should get out of my way? Time will tell, I guess.

My temporary (if I can be optimistic) condition did not preclude a good long walk through the local environs, including Cerro de Santa Lucia and the Plaza de la Constitucion.

The Cerro is a park very close to our apartment that holds the Castillo Hidalgo, which was constructed in the early nineteenth century in honor of General San Martin following the victory against the Spanish in the battle of Chacabulco. That is what I could glean from the commemorative plaque at the entrance. It is now a wonderful park with great views of the city. Here are a few photos of the park.

The park has a number of miradors with impressive views of the city and the Andes mountains in the background. We read that the Andes are usually somewhat shrouded in clouds or mists, a statement that fully conforms to our few hours of experience. Here are a few views from the miradors.

I had been expecting Santiago to be an old colonial city that had seen its better days, and was mightily impressed by the modern skyline. More impressive was the amount of glass wall construction for a metropolitan area prone to earthquakes.

Plaza de la Constitucion is a few blocks to the west of the Cerro, the streets to which contain a mixture of colonial and modern architecture.

Along the way we entered a shopping mall that held five levels of barber shops, hair and salons. Actually you might say they were all on one level since they were on the same spiral walkway.

The bottom floor was strictly for gamers.

We were taken by the pedestrian walk signals. Check out this short video clip to see how they encouraged people to hurry up as the lights were about to change. We watched for a number of cycles.

We also had to stop in to the cathedral. Paula pointed out to me that in the course of a year we have been in the Catedral Santiago de la Compostela and Catedral Santiago de Chile