Northeast Santiago

My 2nd day in Santiago was my 1st full day in South America. On this day, I took in some of the sights and attractions in the areas northeast of central Santiago. It was easy to get started as I was staying right on the edge of central Santiago and northeast Santiago. It was just a short walk to my first destination of the day.

San Cristóbal Hill is located directly north of where I was staying. Its prominence makes it an excellent landmark to get oriented in the northeastern part of the city.

When I took out both my phone and my camera to take pictures of the hill, I took a good look around myself to look out for thieves. As I mentioned on my Day 1 post, I had been so nervous about crime. It was all pretty needless. I just made sure I stayed aware of my environment.

Santiago Metropolitan Park

San Cristóbal Hill is probably the most prominent feature of Santiago Metropolitan Park (Parque Metropolitano de Santiago in Spanish). It’s 1 of the world’s largest urban parks. I spent much of Day 2 on San Cristóbal Hill and in Santiago Metropolitan Park.

Chilean National Zoo

The cute little lesser grison, poking out here, looks like he’s got big bushy eyebrows. Grisons, lesser and greater, are related to weasels, otters, and similar carnivores. Yes, this cute critter is a vicious carnivore. They’re found over much of South America.

My 1st stop of the day was the Chilean National Zoo (Zoológico Nacional de Chile in Spanish). It’s located on the southern slope of San Cristóbal Hill. The hillside setting reminded me of Taronga Zoon in Sydney. This zoo hasn’t had the best reputation for animal welfare over time. I think it’s possible that things have improved over the past few decades. Admittance was free the day I was there because of work going on. I hope they were working to make conditions better. The zoo has some of the typical animals you’d find in a zoo. To make my visit worthwhile, and to keep it efficient, I focused on South American animals.

Everybody loves meerkats. We previously saw them at the San Francisco Zoo. Meerkats are from southern Africa, not South America. But who can resist their cuteness?

A restless ocelot. Ocelots are found in much of northern South America–not to mention Central America, Mexico, the southwestern United States, and parts of the Caribbean.

No, not llamas or even alpacas. These are vicuñas. They are found in the central Andes, and their wool is very expensive.

The Andean condor is the world’s largest bird of prey and probably Paul Simon’s favorite bird. It reminds me of the scary *Pteranodons* in the “Jurassic Park” movies.

It’s resting time for the Andean fox, also known as the culpeo. Despite its name, its more closely related to wolves.

Everybody’s favorite South American animal, the llama. As with vicuñas, llama are found in the central Andes.

The Concepcion toad is only found in Chile.

The green iguana is a lizard found in much of South and Central America.

The yellow-footed tortoise hangs out in the Amazon basin.

South America has produced some colorful birds. This one is a red-and-green macaw. Red-and-green macaws are also known as green-winged macaws. And guess where we’ve seen them before. That’s right, the San Francisco Zoo.

Black-necked swans are found in southeastern South America and the Chilean coast.

The black-faced ibis wades around Chile and Argentina.

I couldn’t get the Chilean flamingos to smile for the camera. The Chilean flamingos at the San Francisco Zoo did a better job of working the camera.

San Cristóbal Hill

After visiting the zoo, I took the Funicular de Santiago to the top of San Cristóbal Hill. As you could predict, the views were great, especially on such a beautiful day.

The funicular has been operating since 1925, 99 years before my visit.

The Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception on San Cristóbal Hill is one of the most important sites of the Catholic Chuch in Santiago and all of Chile.

View of the Andes from the top of San Cristóbal Hill! They look like a giant wall rising from the Santiago Basin.

The statue of the Immaculate Conception is 46 feet tall. It stands on a pedestal that’s an additional 27 feet tall. It reminds me of Santiago’s equivalent to Rio’s famous *Christ the Redeemer* statue.

There is a brightly colored chapel in the base of the statue where Pope John Paul II blessed Santiago in 1987.

Another scene in the chapel inside the base of the statue. Google Translate tells me that the phrase under the feet of the saints says, “Make us a nation of brothers.”

The bright decor in the base of the tall statue’s pedestal reminds me of the dazzling mosiacs in the base of the towering sculpture of Soviet Army soldier at the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park in Berlin.

Way down below is Gran Torre Costanera, the tallest building in South America. The 2 red spots on the left, at the very edge of the picture, are cable cars. I was about to get on 1!

The funicular ascends San Cristóbal Hill from the southwest. The cable car (teleférico in Spanish) ascends it from the northeast. (Or in my case, I was descending to the northeast.) The cable car tramway is much younger than the funicalar, a mere 45 years old.

Bidding *adios* to San Cristóbal Hill from the cable car.

A closer-up view of Gran Torre Costanera from the cable car.

Sculpture Park Museum

*Vuelo I* (*Flight I*) (1990) by Chilean scuptor Lucía Waiser.

Back on the flat floor of the Santiago Basin, along the north bank of the Mapocho River, I visited Santiago’s very interesting Sculpture Park Museum (Parque de Las Esculturas in Spanish). It’s a relaxing place where people who aren’t really into art museums can relax in an art museum that’s also a park.

*Toro Sentado* (*Sitting Bull*) (1998) by Chilean sculptor Pablo Valdés.

Pehuén (2005) by Chilean sculptor Sandra Santander. These cone-shaped sculptures remind me of something the Pet Shop Boys would wear as hats.

View of Gran Torre Costanera from Sculpture Park Museum.

Gran Torre Costanera may look familiar to San Franciscans because it is so similar to the Salesforce Tower. That’s not a coincidence because they were both designed by Argentine architect César Pelli. He also designed Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. And I have to mention a project he designed that I used to live very close to: the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

*Estela Monumental* (*Monumental Stele*) (1993) by Chilean sculptur Samuel Román.

Sky Costanera

Looking back at Santiago Metropolitan Park and San Cristóbal Hill from the top of Gran Torre Costanera.

I 1st hit the heights on Day 2 on San Cristóbal Hill. I reached them a 2nd time at Sky Costanera–the observation deck on the top 2 floors of the 62-story skyscraper. Costanera is Spanish for “waterfront”. I can only guess that this refers to the Costanera Center complex’s location along the Mapocho River, seen on the left in the picture above. It seems a little weird because to me, an urban waterfront refers to a port, whether on an ocean or a river or some such body of water. I don’t think there’s anything noteworthy about the section of the Mapocho River that the Costanera Center lies alongside. But who am I to judge?

View of the wall of mountain known as the Andes from Sky Costanera.

Balmaceda Park

My sightseeing for the day concluded with a walk through Balmaceda Park (Parque Balmaceda in Spanish), named after the 11th president of Chile. Balmaceda Park is a very peaceful park that lies along the southern bank of the Mapocho River.

The monument to President Balmaceda near the western end of Balmaceda Park.

My sightseeing wrapped up at the western end of Balmaceda Park. It was here that I got out of the metro station the day before, so worried about crime. After such a peaceful day, it was hard to think of this as a crime-ridden place. Well, my sightseeing for the day was over. But oh, my Day 2 experience of Chilean culture was not over. In the evening, I had a meal for the ages.

[Factual information is primarily gathered from Wikipedia, so you know it must be true.]