Today was our day to say adios to Chile. Fortunately, our flight want until 9:30 pm so we had almost a full day to explore Santiago some more. Our options were a bit limited - on NYE most things were closed; on NYD, everything was closed except for parks and churches.
We took the subway to the Centro neighborhood and spent a few hours walking around. We toured Iglesia San Francisco, the oldest church in Santiago. We also went to mass at the Catedral Metropolitana. We were actually able to understand quite a bit - it was a very nice service in a beautiful church. The last thing we did was explore the Cerro Santa Lucia park. The park is the site of the original Spanish settlement and fort. From the top of the Cerro ("hill") we had great views of the whole city.
We went back to our place, cleaned up, and headed to the airport. The last bit of Chile we experienced was a meal of Chorillana at the airport. Chorillana is a Chilean speciality of french fries topped with sliced beef, chorizo, fried onions, sunny side up eggs, ketchup, and mayo. Then it was on to Toronto and Milwaukee.
Overall, it was an incredible trip. Chile is a beautiful country, the people were fantastic, and the food was amazing. I hope we get back someday.
