Strolling Around Santiago, Chile, Santiago, Chile

After enjoying a wonderful Christmas party at my Mom’s Friday night, we set out for our Christmas vacation to Patagonia. Our flight Saturday departed 9:50pm. When we tried checking in at AA, they couldn’t check our bags to our final destination because we were supposedly “unconfirmed” on the LAN portion of our flights. So eventually we just checked our bags to our first stop in Santiago, Chile where we had a long layover.

In the meantime, we made sure we were confirmed on our LAN flights to Buenos Aires and El Calafate. We were. Oh well..worse case we’d wander around Santiago wearing our backpacks and best case we’d find a storage locker. Fortunately, upon arrival, we found a guarded baggage room where we could store two bags for 10,000 pesos or about $14.

After deciphering the Spanish ATM, we grabbed a cab which is metered to Plaza de Armas. Following a combination of a few walking tours from GPSmycity.com, we soaked in the highlights. At the plaza we admired the Christmas tree art made from scraps and stopped in the nearby Santiago Municipal Cathedral. The cathedral, built in the mid to late 1700s, is one of the largest in Chile.

From the church, we passed through a pedestrian shopping area and a variety of markets (Mercado Central). Our taxi driver pointed out the fish market, so we meandered through the building. Inside, restaurants offered a plethora of seafood plates. We enjoyed lunch at Galeon. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).