Santiago, smog, and airports.

The few days I spent in Santiago at the end of my trip were relatively uneventful. I walked around the city a bit and saw a few sights.

I went to a visual arts museum, which had a nice collection of modern art, as well as an oddly placed permanent exhibit of crafts from Chilean history. After spending a few hours there, I relaxed in a pretty park for a few more hours before dinner.

The next day, I went to San Cristóbal hill to see an unforgettable view of the city. That is smog obscuring the view of the mountains. There really are mountains beyond the smog. I promise.

There were multiple ways up the hill: a funicular (incline), a suspended cable car (think: ski lift), and multiple roads. I wanted to go up on the lift and down on the incline. This, of course, was not possible. I was told something in Spanish about the lift not functioning. All that I understood was that I had to use the "Parque Bus" instead. That was disappointing.

At the top of the hill there was a smoggy view of Santiago as well as a fourteen-foot tall statue of the Virgin Mary. Naturally, there were also a lot of craft vendors.

After spending some time on the top, I took the funicular down. Happily, this was functioning. I then walked around Santiago a bit more.

The final day that I was there, I wandered around and watched people. I had no specific destination in mind. It was fairly relaxing.

That night I went to the airport and had one last serving of fried mashed potato balls and strawberry juice.

The only issue was that my suitcase got to Newark before I did, which confused me when it wasn't on the luggage carousel.