A city in the mountains: Santiago
Hello everyone, that's me again.
Haven't written an article in this blog for a while now, so let me tell you about the last few days in Santiago. 
We arrived last Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m, in a huge, sunny and almost suffocatingly hot city surrounded by sky-high mountains. As we were about an hour earlier than planned and we didn't want to wake up our hosts who were supposed to pick us up at 8:00 a.m at the bus station, we decided to take the metro and walk to their appartment. Having bought the breakfast at the local supermarket, we reached the building where Donncha and Jennifer live, in one the best district in Santiago: "las condes". The building itself looks like a five-star hotel including a receptionist. Our friends' appartment is modern and cosy, they also have a gym, a sauna and swimming-pool on the roof of the building, from where you have an incredible view of the whole city and mountains.
After a good chat and a yummy lunch, we spend the afternoon on the hills of Santiago. Donncha and 
Jennifer brought us to Cerro San Cristobal. You get on top of the hill by pod (egg shaped cable car) and it brings you to the huge statue of Mary mother of God, a bit like the Christ in Rio. From there, you have a stunning view of the city. Then we went for a walk in the streets of Bellavista with its houses painted in bright colors and we stopped for a Pisco. Pisco is the local drink made from the skin of the grape with a touch of lemon. Very tasty although a bit strong. Believe me, when you've been walking for a few hours with 25 degrees celsius you drink that with no problem !
Sunday is barbecue-day. Yeepeee ! We all got in Jennifer's 4x4 and drove to the moutains for a pic-nic. I'm telling you, it ain't no pic-nic ! The roads are shite in those mountains and you definitely need a 4x4. Jenny's expert driving skills allowed us to survive on these stony, narrow tracks on the edge of steep cliffs, crossing rivers and avoiding those "Tour de France" addicts with their bicycles. We eventually managed to reach the place and have our barbecue. It felt like we were a family spending the Sunday afternoon in nature and walking in the mountains. We were hardly disturbed by an attack of ferocious "pololos", some kind of overfed ladybird. "Pololo" is the Chileanword for "boyfriend". Donncha told me that they probably call those insect "pololos" because they're annoying, fat and harmless...
As Donncha and Jennifer had to go back to work on Monday, Carole and I spent the day in the city center. It was a nice sunny day and I must say that Santiago is my favorite capital city so far. The center is fairly small, the air is breathable, the streets are clean and the mountains around make Santiago a very charming city. 
We crossed the lively "Barrio Brasil", the "Plaza de Armas" heart of Santiago with the stunning cathedral, and the "barrio Santa Lucia" with its fountains and the "mirador". Yesterday we spent our last evening with Donncha and Jennifer. We would like to thank them for welcoming us here in Santiago. It was great to see them again and talk about Drogheda (in Ireland, where we met them two and half years ago) and hear Donncha's Irish accent, roysh. Thank you !
Today is Tuesday and we are taking a bus at 4:00 p.m to Valparaiso in the north, 2 hours far from Santiago. It's time for us to relax a little on the beaches of Chile. We'll see you there !