Scintillating Santiago

We made it into Chile on a peerless sunny morning with the Andes shining like an apparition of heaven. It was a hectic ride through the subway, and the luggage trolley collapsed and lost its wheels several times, but we made it to the Hostal Forestal, and after recuperating from our all night flight for half an hour went to the top of the mountain overlooking the city in the cable car and into tow to a supermarket to buy dinner.

The hostel is a bit of a rambling castle and somewhat noisy hostel at night full of party party but is friendly and has free wireless internet and a kitchen to cook in.

Here are a few pics ... more later so we can sleep before the early flight south tomorrow.

Some of the Andean peaks around Santiago such as Aconcagua are over 22,600 feet high
(6959m), rivaling the Himalayas.

Hostal Forestal

The cable car up Cerre San Cristobal

The view from the top

Circular panorama showing Andes to the smog covered foothills (click to enlarge)

Traditional hardware and shoe repair shops