December 16,

Up and about by 0730. We readied. Our shower is a fine mist one, but puts out enough that we get wet. We both have come to really like this place. The views out over the city from the huge double level windows are great.The skies were not as clear as yesterday, but so far the second best day since we’ve been here. We set about having our Javas and breakfast of chorizo sandwiches and yogurt. I know it sounds weird for breakfast, but it worked.

Went for a walkabout, setting out first to the oldest building in Santiago, Iglesia San Francisco. This church building dates back to 1586. It houses a museum, Museo San Francisco. First we went into the church and its large open worship cathedral. There was a digital lit up nativity scene set up on the main altar area. That was a little different. Then off on the side was the way to the museum, which we paid 3,000 CLP ($3.27) for each entry and toured. Inside were floor to ceiling double hung, huge pictures and religious statues. Then we went into a cloister area/ garden of the church. There was a family of peacocks in the courtyard. What fun. Different displays were all set up in rooms that were part of the nunnery or monastery. One room of interest paid homage to Gabriela Mistral. It seems she was a poet, ambassador, and overall renaissance person of Chile – she won a Nobel Prize for Literature. We enjoyed the museum.

Next we went over to a small hill with a “castle” on it. It is called Santa Lucia Hill. There was no entry fee, but we had to sign in and register. We explored it, meandering to the top. The small hill inside the city of Santiago, once climbed, provided some stunning views. We looked until we found our apartment. We also saw the bigger hill we went up with the cable car and could see some snow-covered Andes Mountains further in the distance. So still a clearer day.

Now we hiked back down and walked to the Plaza de Armas. Here there was another Cathedral, called Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago. We started to go inside but there was a church service, or maybe mass going on. So we stopped and got an empanada each at a local place, called Paula’s Panaderia y Pasticceria! It was kismet! We paid 6,200 CLP ($6.82), and went in some shade on the Plaza de Armas to eat them. But the empanadas were not that good. Bummer! We did some people watching as this plaza or square was popular. When we finished we went back to the Cathedral lining one side of the plaza to go into it. They were still having mass, so we did not stay long. The inside is much larger than the first church we went to earlier. I think I counted 12 arches lining the sides of the main area! The ceilings are basically murals.

Finished, we decided to head back to our place, by way of the Lider, the close grocery store. It is a subsidiary of Walmart, believe it or not. We only know this because Jeff saw a Great Value can of pasta sauce and then looked it up. Crazy! Anyway, we got our stuff and made it back to our place. Supper was our last bit of pasta.