Cerro Santa Lucia y Dinner with Shepard!

When Santiago was established in 1541 - all of the city blocks created were around the central square (Plaza de Armas). Within 5 blocks of the Plaza de Armas to the East was a huge rock formation they called Cerro Santa Lucia (Hill Saint Lucia).

The top of Cerro Santa Lucia is at 629m (2063 ft). It stuck up higher than our 19th story apartment but not taller than our 22-story apartment building. Because there are no tall buildings built close around it, the view is beautiful. And best of all, FREE! The only caveat is that you have to be willing to climb all of the stairs to get to the top.

The park was created when a neighbor decided to change the 'face' of Santiago in 1872. The mostly rock hill was transformed (with prison labor, no less) by trucking in loads of dirt, planting trees, and moving the dissident cemetary on the hill (typically, in this country, this means Protestants). Then there were things built - a chapel, beautiful fountains, gorgeous stairs - and the original fort (Fort Hidalgo) was restored.

The work that must have gone it to creating this park was astounding. We approached the park from both entrances and a couple of sides as well. The paths were well marked, most were paved, and there was even a more gentle climb up a paved road to the center of the hill. We spent a couple of afternoon hours climbing to the top - but we returned a couple more times while we were there to take more pictures. :)

That night we went to dinner with Shepard. Our tour guide had pointed out to us a restaurant not too far from our apartment that served "Chilean cuisine". We headed there to taste a bit.

Mike and Helen split a pork roll - the outside of the "roll" was a thick piece of pork fat, the inside a bunch of different pork pieces. Shepard got a pastel de choclo (corn cake). It was a good size, which was good because Meghan ate half of it after the first sample was offered. Meghan and I split a tuna, but it was not the best fish I've had on this trip - so I can see why the corn cake was tasty to her.

After dinner we walked to have ice cream at a place Shepard knew. It was super creamy and the perfect end to our meal. While we were sitting outside eating, a guy dressed up as a clown entertained the kids for a while without saying a word (foreigner friendly clown - no difficult Chileno accent to translate). He was kind enough to take the family photo above. It was a great night and a perfect send-off after our week in Santiago.