Santiago

  Santiago is located in the Central Valley between the coast and the Andes mountain range.  It is the capital of Chile and was established by the Spanish in 1541.  The Spanish invaded Chile through Peru and for many years Chile was under Spanish rule until after 7 years of warfare it gained it's independance in 1817.  The indigenous inhabitants of Chile are the Mapuche Indians, they speak Mapundungun.  They were farmers, fisherman and the women are still well know today for their wonderful weaving.  Toki (axe bearers) were their leaders.  The  Mapuche had interactions with the Incas, both peaceful and confrontational however they were never conquered by the Incas.  The Sharman (Machi) would hold ceremonies to cure diseases, ward off evil, change the weather and bring good harvests by using medicinal herbs, ritual, prayer and animal sacrifices.  These rituals are still practiced today.  There are still 100 000 Mapuche living in Chile today, while others blended with the Spanish and created modern day Chileans.

  We caught a cable car that took us 300m above the city of Santiago on San Cristobal Hill.  The cable car ride was extremely steep and felt a little dodgy.  It stopped half way up the hill to drop people off at the zoo, so we thought we would visit the zoo on the way back down but the cable car didn't stop so we missed out!  The hill was named after a rich Spanish family - San Cristobal.  The Mapuche name for  San Cristobal was Tupahue meaning "Place of the Gods".  There is a sanctuary on top of the hill, at the peak is a 22 metre statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, underneath her is a small chapel.  There was also a large, beautiful garden surrounding the statue and the view from the top over Santiago was amazing.  

  We walked through Parque Forrestal which is a long park through the city along the Providencia.  The park is inbetween two main roads and has the Mapocho River flowing along side it.  The Mapocho River flows from the Andes and divides Santiago in two.   In the park there were heaps of big old trees, statues and fountains, artworks, monuments and people riding bicycles, walking their dogs or just sitting and relaxing.  There were also people entertaining the people in their cars at the traffic lights by playing musical instruments, dancing or doing acrobatics for money.  It looked pretty cool.  

  We were only in Santiago for a day because we were heading off to Easter Island the next morning so we didn't get to see a lot of the city.  I really enjoyed listening to the band and watching the acrobats perform their tricks at the traffic lights.  Drew