A cheap and fun way to spend an afternoon in Santiago is a trip to the zoo! Reliving our childhood we headed to the botanical park, a huge high and stunning lush green area that has a park, zoo, swimming pools, hiking trails and panoramic views of the city.
To get up to the zoo you have to jump on a funicular, a sort of rusting tram that jolts you up the side of the hill and jump off at the first stop. I know zoos aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but the animals here have large spaces to roam around, seemed very well cared for and probably had the best view of the capital than you could only find if you stayed in a pricy hotel.
From adorable penguins, creepy crawlies, bears, tigers and tree munching giraffes to many animals and birds I had never seen before including black swans, pumas and polar bears. As you pad around this steep place an icecream is mandatory, especially in the heat. Then it was back on the rickety tram to the next higher stop where the sprawling capital spreads out before your eyes.
After getting snap happy we headed back to earth for a cold beer and a plate of the Chilean national dish beef steak, onions, chips and fried eggs – a complete belly buster that is usually shared by 2 or more people. We pathetically couldn’t finish the plate even with all the beer soaking it up!
A country that has great cheap wine, large servings of beer, stodgy greasy food as a staple and happy friendly people gets very high marks in my book! But, alas, all good things have to come to an end and we were packing our bags once more to move onto Valpariaso, a UNESCO port town. Don’t worry a blog post will be coming soon!
