Und schon wieder sind sie vorüber: Die Tage in Chiles Hauptstadt. Heute kurz nach 14 Uhr geht der Flieger Richtung Antofagasta. Da wartet dann hoffentlich der Taxi nach Tocopilla. Sind nochmals gut 3 Stunden Fahrt entlang der kargen nordchilenischen Küste. Morgen heisst es dann erstmal arbeiten. Muss leider auch mal wieder sein. Doch die Fülle der Aufgaben lässt sicher keine Langeweile aufkommen.
Ob es danach zum Lascar-Vulkan auf dem Altiplano geht? Da bin ich mir immer noch nicht richig sicher. Auf jeden Fall wäre man gut gerüstet. Beim IGM (Instituto Geográfico Militar) - die haben einen ordentlichen Laden in Santiago, wie für das chilenische Militär obligatorisch, inkl. Stacheldraht und Wachmannschaft - gab es geographisches Kartenmaterial im Massstab 1:50000. Die Karten sehen irgendwie recht leer aus. Da findet man fast nur Höhenlinien. Ob das nun an der Machart oder eben an der Tatsache liegt, dass es da oben einfach nicht viel mehr gibt, sei mal dahingestellt ;-)

Today was time for a walking tour through downtown Santiago. I followed the Lonely Planet instructions and I think I saw quit much. The start was very near to the Rio Mapocho. Near the famous train station a huge fish market can be visited. From there I walked to the Placa de Armas which I knew from yesterday.

The church there looked like I imagined it always in a South American town. Some kind of prejudice which was getting true ;-)
Near the Placa de Armas is the Santiago City Museum in the Casa Colorada which gives an impressive introduction in the history of this town. The museum is really nice and even for a museum-o-phobic like me it was nice to discover.
Afterwards it was time for history.

The Moneda is world famous. in my birth year Augusto Pinochet bombed this palace because the left wing president Salvador Allende tried to make some reforms which angered the upper Chilenian class. It was the start of a long and the last military dictatorship in South America. What made it so famous nowadays is the date when all of this happened: September 11th 1973. A lot of newspapers refered to this date after the attack of the WTC.
The last task for the day was the visit of the San Cristobal mountain. There a statue of the St. Mary was built and affirmed so another prejudice against South American towns ;-) A cable car is going up. The view today was okay but nothing breathtaking.

Never the less I think it is good to get an impression of this vast city.

Short before the aircrafts are starting their descend maneuvres for Santiago the passanger can see the Andes the first time.

This mountain range is quit different to the familiar Alps. The most obvious thing is that not much trees are covering the lower ranges. The flora is totally different and so it is the fauna.

Never the less the mountains which reach quit often the 6000m mark have something beautiful.

My first view on the South American continent I had over Argentinia. Unfortunately during the check-in I got only a window seat from Zürich to Paris. This was really useless because the flight was leaving after sunset. Hopefully next time I have more luck. Anyway the view was great after I conquered a window seat when the Boeing 777-200 left Bueñas Aires.

Nearly no cloud blocked the view on the vast plane with uncountable fields. The land is really cultured from one end to the other.