The smoggiest city in the world?

KERRY - We had heard from fellow travellers we had met along the way the Santiago was not much of a city and that we would not want to spend a lot of time there as there was not a lot to do. We did like the city though and although there is not a huge amount to do, it was a lot nicer than we expected. Having said that though, it is a very expensive city and our hostel, although nice, cost us 20 US dollars a night each which is the most we have paid anywhere so far on our trip! (Bellavista Hostel)

On the way to Santiago from Mendoza we met a nice English girl called Rebecca who had been travelling around South America for 9 months and was flying from Santiago to New Zealand.

No sign of the smog at the fountain...

The main sites that we saw in Santiago were the Plaza des Armas which was the main square in the city centre and also the view from the top of the cable car in the park on the outskirts of the city. From up here you could see how polluted the city was as a layer of smog hung over the city so that you could not even see the Andes that surrounded it!! It was definitley a sight to be seen.

Our day trip to Valparaiso was a nice day out but we were a little disappointed with the city itself. We had heard that it was a really pretty place, but we are not sure where that was as we did not spot it! It has been awarded a UNESCO award so they must have seen something more than we did! It is situated on the coast and has lots of small elevators up the many hills that make up the city, but there are a huge amount of stray dogs roaming the city, leaving nice deposits that you need to avoid, as well as a lot of shacks that spoil the colorful buildings that make up the town. Still we are glad that we visited the city.

The next stop after Santiago is Pucon in the Chilean Lake district, so it was off on a night bus to see some of the scenery of Chile.