Fun(icular) in Santiago
Trip Start
Sep 22, 2010
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Trip End
Jun 01, 2011
Santiago, Chile
Monday, January 3, 2011
Yesterday we did a self-guided walking tour of the main sites in the city. We took in the main square, cathedral, ex-congress building, courts and the presidential palace (which was bombed in the 1973 coup and where Salvador Allende died). We also visited the National History Museum, which was fun and educational (the best sort of fun in our opinion). Unfortunately they only cover Chilean history up to 1973 as Pinochet is a controversial topic to deal with.
Today we visited the Cementerio General, which is massive and is where a lot of ex-presidents are buried. After that we went up to a viewing point on a funicular. Pope John Paul II travelled on the same funicular when he visited Santiago in 1987 - this was mainly because there is a religious statue on the top of the hill, as there seems to be on every hill in South America.
Tomorrow (and the day after) we have the joy of a 30 hour bus trip up to Arica, which is on the border with Peru.
El
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