February 17 in Santiago

Breakfast at 8 and then check out. Tom kept his room so we could store our luggage until the evening. We walked back to the park we had visited yesterday in our touring van. We rode cable cars across two mountains to the top of the one that had the statue of Maryolatry. I don’t like cable car rides, especially if they swing side to side. We were blessed with a calm day and didn’t swing. I sat very still holding on while Evelyn took pictures of Santiago. While we were trying a local drink called Mote con huesillos (stewed maize with dried peaches), we were interviewed by a local TV station for a program to be aired Sunday. We clowned around for the camera and were entertaining. We rode the cars back and then walked back to our hotel. We had picked up one of the many stray dogs who walked with us to the mountain but left us when we rode up. We couldn’t find him when we returned, but it is interesting to note how friendly all of the stray dogs were. We crossed the river that runs through the city and went to a restaurant in our neighborhood for a pizza lunch. All but Bob, Evelyn and I took a nap. We really like Santiago better than Buenos Aires despite the smog. It is cleaner and the neighborhoods are nicely landscaped. Evelyn was able to take a shower since we had kept one room. She tried to nap but couldn’t. Bob and I played cards for a while. About 6:30, all of us but Tom went out for a light supper but were confronted by a huge cloud of smoke and flame shooting out of a manhole in the direction we wanted to go. We were at least a block away, so we turned and went down the street opposite from the fire. The traffic came to a halt and the fire trucks had a difficult time getting to the fire. We shared a Caesar salad and returned to the hotel. We never really learned anything more about the fire situation but were relieved that our ride to the airport was not affected. We spent the 13,000 pecos we had left on a bright Chilean apron and cookbook. We flew for home at 11:30