Santiago, Chile & Lima, Peru

We left Mendoza directly after school on Friday May 16th and took the short 1 hour flight to Santiago, Chile so that we could take advantage of the weekend there while Eric did not have to work. I was interested to check out this large city just on the other side of the mountains since we were so close! Santiago is a huge metropolitan area of about 7 million people nestled in a valley on the Western side of the Andes.

We stayed in an Airbnb apartment in a high rise away from the historic center in an area called Ñuñoa . It turned out to be a less commercial district, which was fine. But it was still conveniently located a few blocks in either direction from a subway line, and directly across the street were a very delicious coffee shop and a separate awesome European-style bakery.

We enjoyed scoping out the Santiago subway- which was very nice- and the girls always consider it an excursion in its own right! We liked that some stops actually had the glass barrier between the platform and train (a nice safety feature with 2 young kids in tow), and depending on the line you were on, some were very modern with screens detailing the stops. We also appreciated the use of plastic seats (rather then the cloth ones in Buenos Aires).

Santiago was immediately more affordable in every way than Argentina as well, from food, to accommodations to transportation. And credit cards were accepted nearly everywhere, and actually finding change for larger bills could be quite hard. One time the minimarket owner next door to our apartment preferred I pay for something worth 500 pesos (50 cents) on my credit card rather than find change for my 5,000 peso note (like a $5 US bill)!

When we arrived we thought the slightly rainy weather might be a bummer. Per our taxi driver it hardly ever really rains in Santiago, so this was relatively unusual. However, the upside of the rain we found out, is that it clears the air pollution so the following day the sky was very clear and we were able to have beautiful views of the city and Andes mountains. Within about 24 hours of the rainfall the smog was back and so thick you could barely see the outline of the Andes in the distance- which apparently is how it normally is in the city- sad on many levels.

During the weekend we navigated public transportation and the bus system to get to Valparaiso- a port town about 1.5 hours from Santiago nestled into the hills along the Pacific Coast. This was the girls' second double-decker bus ride- but the novelty wore off quickly for them and they spent most of the time watching their tablets (which we let them do on longer rides and plane trips). I however, always enjoying watching out the window when I'm in a new place, and sometimes orienting myself on the map to see the neighborhoods, streets, people, and landscapes of the area. Bus travel is relatively comfortable and nice to not have to stress about driving- if the girls were a bit older I think we would have been up for some longer-haul adventures on bus, which is easy and very cheap to do in South America.

Valparaiso is known for its street art and "funiculares" (tram cable cars) which carry you up the steep hillsides to the neighborhoods overlooking the port. We figured it would be a nice, outdoor adventure to explore the coastal town with the girls. What we didn't realize was that on a Sunday the city is really dead! When we arrived at the lower portion of the town (by the port) almost everything was closed, including the funicular we thought we'd take. There was a lot of graffiti art in this lower portion of town, but not like the detailed murals we'd read about.

Fortunately, we did find another funicular up to Cerro Concepcion that was operational on a Sunday. It was a fun ride up the steep hill. At the top, we finally got to see what makes this city so special- quaint winding streets and footpaths with shops, restaurants, inns and homes overlooking the port and bay below, and walls covered in outstanding murals with themes ranging from war to the whimsical. It was really such a fun place to walk around and some things were open. We even got to have some excellent food at a restaurant where we were the only customers.

Unfortunately, we had spent up a lot of the girls' energy on catching the bus and wandering around the lower portion of town before actually getting up into this section of the city- so by the time we were there we only had about 2 hours to explore before the girls were running out of steam, and we still had the bus ride home. I would have stayed there for a few days if I could have, exploring more of the different hill-top neighborhoods.

The rest of our time in Santiago was spent visiting a couple of popular sites and also (per usual) scoping out playgrounds.

Eric found out about a cool interactive science museum that the girls loved! Kind of like OMSI in Portland, OR or the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was a great place to spend several hours and still not have time to see it all.

We also were able to catch a cool touring immersive light show called Light Cycles that was set up in one of the big city parks and required a separate entrance fee. Basically various light and music installations set up along a path through the woods- another really fun outing!

We took the famous funicular tram up to the main city park hill in central Santiago called Cerro San Cristobal and walked up to the Virgin Mary statue that overlooks the city. At one point we had considered staying in this part of the city, but after walking through the area we were glad we didn't- it was a tourist trap with lots of mediocre restaurants and had a chintzy feel. But taking the funicular up the hill was fun. And we were lucky to have beautiful city-wide views, as this was the afternoon after the rains the previous night, and the smog had cleared.

While Eric worked, the girls and I scoped out a really cool large park called Araucano with some big cool climbing rope structures, and also randomly and extra large bird enclosure that we could walk through. Next door to this park was a very large and fancy mall we explored briefly too. This is considered one of the safer areas of town, but doesn't have great access to the metro system, so we took an Uber there and back. Ubers are easy to use in Chile, although technically they are illegal- but it sounds like some recent legislation has been passed to legalize them. We found in general on our trip Uber to be very convenient and secure- meaning we could feel that the rate we were charged was the going rate, and not just a quote from a taxi driver or a rigged meter. In Argentina and Chile regular taxis are significantly more expensive. Waiting for an Uber was generally worth the few minutes.

On a different day we explored a park specifically for kids kids (Bicentenario de la Infancia) that is gated, and thus very well maintained. It had multiple different playground structures, including a hill that probably had 100 (no joke!) cement slides built into it! In the summer it looked like there would be a very cool splash pad as well. We were some of the only folks there because it was a week day and slow (fall) season- the girls loved it!

Below we are at the Ñuñoa Plaza playground, where the girls enjoyed getting their faces painted- such a fun thing for just a few bucks that was regularly offered at popular playgrounds in both Santiago and Mendoza!

I also really enjoyed taking the girls to one of the main food markets in Santiago: Mercado la Vega- a bustling and lively spot with many sites, sounds and smells to take in. We were able to grab a bite to eat and the girls choose out some candies from a vendor and we picked up some of our favorite tiny mandarin oranges for later.

Overall we enjoyed our visit to Santiago. Prior to visiting we'd thought perhaps it could've been another good option for our 3 month stint of staying in one place. Certainly Santiago offered more options of things to do and places to explore, which is something we really like with our girls at this age: having structured outings to build our days around, especially since they aren't enrolled in various activities during our time abroad. But we also realized it likely would've been harder to make friends and build community in such a short time in such a big, bustling urban environment. And it definitely didn't have the mellow vibe of Mendoza, or the beautiful tree-lined streets. Also, it pretty much took about 20-25 minutes to get most places in a taxi, and about twice as long on public transit, so we likely would've spent a lot more time just getting around. Mendoza was really great for us to be able to do many things on foot or within a 15 minute bus ride, and to be able to make friends quickly who also lived nearby and regularly met up at the local playground.

We did however, really, really love being able to admire the snow capped Andes mountains from our apartment on the clear days, and were glad we got to explore a little bit of what the city had to offer. We felt like Santiago overall had a cool vibe and would be up for visiting and exploring more of it some day (perhaps on our way down to Chilean Patagonia? Future dreams...).

Before heading back to the States, I really wanted to share with Eric one of the most beautiful mountainous places in the world I've seen before- the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. I'd explored the area a bit back in 2009 during an epic personal trip through parts of Central and South America just before I met Eric. To get to this area of Peru you have to fly through Lima, so we thought we'd check out that city as well. When I'd last been in 2009 it was only as a transit point stop for about a day, so I really hadn't spent any time there. Similarly to Santiago, Eric had to work part of the time, so we divided time between activities together and then me alone with the girls. We were only in Lima for 4 days, staying in Miraflores, the coastal touristic part of town that blends into greater Lima, another even larger sprawling metropolis than Santiago with approximately 10.4 million people.

We stayed in an "apartment hotel" (Estellar) near Kennedy Park- a nice walkable area of Miraflores. The park is known for being home to many cats that are cared for by a local non-profit. It also has a nice playground that is extremely well maintained- the cleaning crew besides picking up garbage and sweeping the astro-turf literally was wiping down the play structures to clean them- I have never seen that before!

We didn't make it to too many touristic areas of the old town- traffic is a bear in Lima and it doesn't have a good metro system. But we did get to one of Central Lima's parks known for its array of fountains including one that has a brilliant light show including projected images to music around 7pm (after dark)! This spot was recommended by locals and was extremely affordable (like $2 USD entry). And, to the girls' utter delight also had an amazing ball-pit playground, the likes of which we'd never seen before. We paid the extra entrance fee for this play zone so they could have 30 minutes of pure joy swimming and jumping in the ball pit- they are already asking if Portland has one!

Afterward visiting the cool fountain park, we realized there was a big futbol (soccer) match between rival Lima teams and the crowds were gathering to enter the stadium nearby, which meant lots of street vendors were out. We enjoyed some of the best fried chicken and french fries we've ever had! This was one of my favorite experiences with the family- I got great joy sharing with my family (at least peripherally) something very Peruvian- enjoying street food outside the futbol stadium before the big match- and the excitement of the crowd was palpable. Of course, it would've been fun to actually watch the game, but it was getting quite late and we decided it would be an activity more well suited to older kids who weren't going to have a complete melt down when they got too tired. It took a while to drive home from the traffic of the central city with several ubers cancelling on us, so I think we made the right decision to not linger too much later.

On other days, the girls and I explored the sea-side promenade of Miraflores which overlooks the ocean from its cliffs. We even left a lock a the park of love (after much instance from the girls, and trinket vendors who would accept a credit card).

The girls and I almost visited a fascinating ancient pyramid that is preserved amidst the dense urban landscape called Huaca Pucllana (built around 200-700ad), but the line was too long to enter and the girls were restless, so we got popsicles and spent more time at a playground instead. It seems that Lima has quite a few museums, cultural sites and historical places to explore, but perhaps without kids or with older kids. Central and historical Lima, unfortunately right now at least, is also not considered the safest place to hang out as a tourist, so we mostly stayed around the Miraflores area.

For me personally, the highlight of our time in Lima was a spontaneous surf lesson I decided to take. After checking out the beach with the girls one day, and seeing how consistent the waves were and the number of surfers, I decided to ask one of the various surf-instructor tents set up what the cost of a lesson would be. It was only about $30 for the hour! I arranged to do it the following morning, Saturday, when Eric could come watch with the girls. I had a blast! The instructors were good and the waves were the perfect size and consistency for learning. I did get tumbled a few times, and was exhausted in less than an hour, but I was able to get up a surf successfully about 5 times! It also was just super fun being back out on the water again, and certainly will be an unforgettable experience- I love the photo of me surfing with the Lima skyline in the background- so sweet! It does make me look forward to being just 1.5 hours from the ocean in Portland too. (Not sure that I'll want to surf there, but just spending time at the beach is so fun and grounding for me and the whole family).

On Sunday May 25th we took a short flight to the final destination of our South America adventure: a week in the Cordillera Blanca (White Mountains) of Peru... that final post of this adventure is to come, after we fly back to the States tomorrow!