Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar

After a good nights sleep, in a bed! after the last two nights spent on a night bus we got up and got on a bus to Vina del Mar. After the weather didn't go our way in Mar del Plata (Argentina) we hoped the chilean equivalent would preform a bit better. We arrived around midday and after lunch we eventually found our hostel after a bit of confusion. We finally got in a cab and assumed it would take us to where we wanted to go. Little did we know cabs don't work the same here. We got dropped off on the motor way in-between  the two cities with the driver telling us to get out and take another taxi. For some reason it was ridiculously cheap so we didn't kick a fuss and went to get another cab to our hostel. While standing on the side of the motorway looking for a taxi, we put together a few observations and worked out how the system works. The cabs aren't private and run on set routes and set prices. Once we worked out what kind of cab and the direction we needed to get, we managed to jump in a half full cab and get to the hostel. 
Still completely shattered from the insane amount of hours spent on a bus, we spent the whole evening relaxing and recovering in our room. The following day we got up and decided to check out Valparaiso, just a short drive from Vina del Mar. Valparariso is the third largest city in Chile. It use to serve as the main port in South America but since the Panama cannel was created it has almost been made redundant other than local goods. The city had a really cool old feel about it. It felt semi neglected as most of the old buildings had seen better days, but also there weren't many new buildings or grotty modernist buildings so the city had a really genuine feel about it. We started by taking one of the characteristic cable-cars up one of the many hills. Locals use these to get to and from the city, they look like they haven't been serviced for a century, really legit. The houses crawl up the steep hills that surround the city and are all painted bright colours. From the top of the cable car we couldn't get over how much it looked like an extremely overpopulated Wellington. With the dock, the harbour, and the city at the foot of similar shaped hills surrounding it, it really did resemble it.  Kind of scary to think Wellington might look that populated in 30years or so. From the top we walked back down towards the city down the steep old streets. After an amazing lunch we continued to explore the old streets. All the big colonial mansions are painted bright colours and in one area everything has all been restored and maintained so its a really nice area to walk around. The other thing that adds to Valparsiso's character are all the murals painted on the walls. There is one section of the city full of murals called the "open air museum".
 After a full day of exploring, we got back on a bus to Vina Del Mar. That evening we met up with Sergio (a friend from Santiago) and checked out a couple of Vinas bars.

The following day we got up, packed our bags, then headed to the beach for one last day on a South American white sand beach. The morning was cloudy but by midday it cleared up and became a scorcher. We spent the day just relaxing on the beach as the crushing waves were deadly, a bit too lethal to swim in. After a full day on the beach we headed back to get our bags from the hostel then got a bus back to Santiago to enjoy one last South American night out.

Mendoza - 08/02/2011

After another 10 hour night bus we arrived in Mendoza early morning. We were quite excited to explore Mendoza as there was a big earthquake quite awhile ago in the 1800s that destroyed and flattened the town. Expecting to see a kind of equivalent to Napier, for some reason that was not the case. It turned out there isn't a lot to see or do unless you go at least an hour out of the city which was not ideal for us being so short on time. We had a look around and went to a few parks, as we were extremely tired with all the travelling and not staying in a bed for a few nights we settled for some mcdonalds. To our amazement we bumped into a couple of british guys we met in Iguazu which was pretty crazy. After a quick catchup and once we finished our meal we headed back to the bus terminal to return to Santiago.

The trip over the Andes was pretty amazing with incredible harsh landscape. Beautiful scenery. By the time we reached the top to cross the boarder from Argentina to Chile it was freezing! We were not prepared for that coming from 30o. Shorts and jandals are far from ideal in snowy and icy conditions. Luckily we didn't have to stick around, once we got our passports stamped and bags checked we were back on our way to Santiago.

Cordoba - 07/02/2011

We took a 10 hour night bus from buenos aires to cordoba as soon as we got back from mar del plata. We were trying to get to Mendoza but there wernt any buses so late (midnight) so cordoba it was! On our bus we met a german guy who is studying in Santiago. It turned out he was visiting a friend of his from Germany who is  studying in cordoba. So lucky for us as we got a free guided tour around the city! Knowing nothing about cordoba we found out it us the second largest city in argentina and was well worth the stop. We saw some beautiful churches but what was really cool was a paved reflected outline mirrored all the buildings around the city centre. A very nice touch. 
We made a quick stop to get some amazing huge ice creams then carried on through beautiful pedestrian only streets, parks and buildings. We saw people pulling down a small very old building to replace it with big apartment blocks which was very sad. We then watched in amazement as this extremely talented spray paintest did some pictures and unfortunately missed out of some of his work. After having an amazing steak for dinner we headed back to the bus terminal to head to Mendoza.

Mar del Plata - 06/02/2011

We thought a couple of days relaxing on a nice sunny ohot beach would be a perfect way to spend a part of our last  week in south America. We heard mar del plata was the place to go and where all argentinians spend their summer months on the beach. This sounded like what we were after so after our slow and frustrating morning we caught a 5 hour bus to mar del plata. We arrived at about 930pm and were extremely shocked at how cold it was (15o). After being in at least 30o heat for 6weeks it was a shock to the system. We didn't muck around and quickly caught a taxi to a hostel, luckily enough they had room for us. We were extremely tired so we got a quick bite to eat then headed straight to bed. We got the giggles as a guy in our dorm had an extremely funny snore, but we quickly fell asleep. After a good nights sleep, (catching up on some from the lack of from the night before), we woke up eager to get to the beach. We stepped outside and were completely shocked how cold (22o), windy and overcast it was but yet everyone was still heading to the beach like it was Copacabana in rio! A bit confused and extremely cold we just couldn't bring ourselves to go to the beach so we explored the city centre in hope the weather would warm up a bit. We really enjoyed the relaxed feel of the place with everyone in holiday mode. However we decided to move on in search for the heat. 

Last night in Buenos Aires - 05/02/2011

After a jam-packed few days in Buenos Aires we had managed to see almost everything we want to. We spent the Saturday exploring a couple of parts of central city we missed along with a bit of shopping and relaxing in a few of Buenos Aires many parks, partly in preparation for the sure to be massive Sarurday night in Buenos Aires. By now we had learnt that Argentineans are very late starters when it comes to going out so we didn't even start our night off until 11 or so. We drank Stella Artois from litre bottles which was a strange concept for us and met several others from the hostel to hit the town with. Two o'clock rolled around which meant it was time to make our way to Polermo, the party district. Unfortunately for us everywhere has door charges which made it hard to see what Buenos Aires had to offer so we spent our evening in the one club. We really enjoyed the club and were with a cool bunch of people so partied away until 7 having no idea what time it was, until we went to get some fresh air outside when we realised the sun was up. 
We taxied home and went straight to bed forgetting our plans. Necane woke up around 1pm realising we were supposed to checkout of the hostel two hours ago.

Tigre - 04/02/2011

After a busy few days in the middle of Buenos Aires, we decided to head out of the city for the day. We took a train to a small district called Tigre, an hour out of the city. We didn't feel like doing much, so after a nice lunch we spent the day chilling out in this beautiful relaxed town, walking along the river and sitting in the sun. 
We headed back into the busy Buenos Aires that afternoon and found a massive street Market so we spent the evening exploring that and buying a few bits and bobs. We got back to the hostel later on to find a sneaky Argentinian had helped themselves into Necane's bag. Luckily they missed her iPhone but her wallet had been taken. Probably to the thief's disappointment they didn't get a big score in terms of cash but we had to spend the evening trying to contact people to cancel the cards and found they had already cracked the visa for a couple of hundy. Very disappointing to happen after a completely trouble-free trip but it was far from the worst thing that could have happened. 

La Boca - 03/02/2011

We had a slow start from the night before but after a late breakfast we got on our way to La Boca. From what we had heard and from the photos we had seen, La Boca looked like a cool neighbourhood that characterised Buenos Aires. Old colonial houses all painted crazy bright colours. Once we arrived we were overwhelmed by all the stereotypical tourists, who had just hopped straight off the tour bus. The crowds of people made it an extremely unauthentic experience along with the locals exploiting it touristically for all it's worth, dressing up for photos and selling souvenirs. We tried to see it for what it used to be but the crowds got to us so we escaped to a restaurant for an amazing Argentinian steak. After our delicious feed we headed back to the central city to explore down by the waterfront. Along with the grand government buildings there is a modern iconic bridge that crosses the cannel. While it was cool during the day, we knew from photos it was much more impressive at night, so we returned later on and spent the evening down there.

La Recoleta Cemetery - 02/02/2011

02/02/2011
We woke up the following day ready to explore this cemetery for the rich and famous. We had heard so much about it but yet we had no idea what to expect. As soon as we entered the cemetery we were instantly amazed. Unlike anything else we had seen, graves and tombstones were inexistent. Instead, these excessively grand tombs replaced them. At first we were so amazed just by these grand and intricately decorated structures that mark the life of these once famous people. Then we had a closer look. Expecting the doors of the tomb to conceal some kind of shrine or altar, we got the fright of our life when we peered in and saw the coffins just sitting there. An arms length away. They were literally modern-day mummies.
As we explored the streets of the dead, it took us a few hours to even begin to get used to what we were seeing. 
While we found it an extremely weird and exhibitionist way of burial, it did have a nice family aspect to it. Each tomb was designed to house a whole family. You could look down and and see endless racks for coffins going deeper and deeper into the ground. A lot of them were still well maintained, but lots had been forgotten about and had fallen into disrepair. The windows had smashed and fallen in on the coffins and water had got in and started to rot things away. Some coffins had fallen down and the lids were prying open. Extremely creepy. We spent the whole day exploring these streets, so amazed but so creeped out at the same time.
 After we had had enough in the cemetery, we moved onto this floral sculpture nearby. It was a massive, mechanical flower. It's steel petals open with sunlight and close when the sun goes down. Very cool. 
That evening we went on a pub-crawl through buenos aires nightclub district that the hostel organised. Thinking it would be a small group of people from our hostel, we weren't entirely impressed when we realised there were 100 odd people on it. It took away from the legitimacy of the clubs because everyone was tourists so we decided to split our ways  from the group. 

Buenos Aires - 01/02/2011

We arrived into buenos aires after the most amazing night bus. Our seats were like first class on a plane, personal tvs, seats that recline flat, and meals served with a vino. We navigated the subway and made our way from the bus terminal to our hostel. After we had settled in, we set for the streets just exploring the busy city centre and admiring the grand colonial buildings that line the streets. That night we decided to go a tango show as everyone said it was a must do. We arrived at the venue and were escorted down to this amazing basement theatre. The beautiful brick work was decorated with wine bottles. Included in the show was a three-course meal, so we sat down and ordered. Being in Argentina we had to go for a steak. Soon after we finished our incredible meal the show started. The show had live singers, a traditional band, as well as an indigenous band, this amazing guy who swung ropes and of course tango dancers. Never having seen tango before we were amazed at the intricate and sometimes dangerous (on the males behalf) footwork as the girls flick their legs so quickly between their partners legs, putting their manhood on the line. There were also lots of daredevil lifts that had the audience really applauding. It was quite serious and intense but so beautiful and amazing to watch. Although it wasn't quite Frano's cup of tea the overall show was a great experience, and the show definitely had it's highlights. 

San Ignacio 31/01/2011

The following morning after visiting the falls we hopped on a bus south. We decided to make a stop at San Ignacio instead of going direct to Buenos Aries. At San Ignacio there are a series of ruins from the Jesuits misionareis. We got off the bus, paid a guy to look after our bags and navigated our way to this abandoned civilisation. The roofs of all the structures had rotted away and fallen in so only the stonework wall remain in a similar way to Machu Picchu. The majority of the ruins were modest houses but the church and monumental buildings were really impressive. We walked around the ruins exploring all the overgrown parts with roots and vines climbing over them. It was a nice change as they were so un-commercialised and there wasn't a whole lot of tourists wondering about.
After we had finished we picked our bags up and got on a bus towards Posadas where we could get a bus to Buenos Aires from. A few hours later we were well on our way to the city that never sleeps. 

Iguazu Falls - Argentina. 30/01/2011

We woke up bright and early (partly due to the time difference from brasil) ready to explore the Argentinean side of the falls. We met up with the others at breakfast then set off on the bus towards the national park. It is a common tactic to see Devils throat first "to beat the crowd", apart from EVERYONE does that. So we took a gamble and did another part of the park and returned later. So far it paid off as for the majority of the morning we had the catwalks to ourselves. We set off into the bush and before we knew it, we were swarmed by a pack of Coatis, racoon like ferrets. These coatis go nuts around food, normally attacking. They often have rabies so it is highly recommended to keep clear of them. We didn't quite realise how crazy about food they were until they ambushed Necane for her bag which previously had an orange in it. Some nice lady got her bag off them and we continued our walk into the bush. We saw the most amazing butterflies, a squirrel and a couple of big iguanas. We finally reached the upper catwalks and made our way along the mouth of falls we were looking at the previous day. The walkways had been built so that you are looking right down the falls, providing amazing views. After we had explored the upper walk ways we made our way down to the lower walk ways to get a different perspective, looking up at them. This was equally impressive. While the Brazilian side had better panoramic views, because they curved around, you also got amazing views of all the falls while being in them from the Argentinean side. We then made our way down to the river to take a boat out into the falls. And by into, we literally mean into. We hopped into the boat and it took close enough to two of the falls to get photos without soaking our cameras. They then told us to put them away into the dry bags and next thing we knew it they had driven the boat right under the falls so we were getting completely pelted with masses of water. While we couldn't see much other than excessive amounts of water, it was so exhilarating to literally  be under the falls. After we dried off in the 35o heat we got some lunch and made our way to devils throat. Our gamble paid off as everyone was now exploring what we had done that morning and now there was no line for the train to Devils throat. A long catwalk stretches across the head of the waterfalls towards Devils throat. There was still remnants of the old walkway which was washed away in a flood. We reached devils throat, and it looked like an insanely big hole sucking millions of litres of water into oblivion. There was so much spray we often couldn't see much, we could only hear the roaring thunder of the water crashing down. It was amazing to look down on what we were almost standing in the previous day on the Brazilian side. Such an incredible site. Unfortunately like much of the falls, it was impossible conditions to get photos that do it justice, but it was more the experience of being there. 
We then returned back along the catwalk back to land and took a boat down river. After the amazon it was a bit too touristic and less impressive as it might be for others but we did see another caiman which we were not expecting. We then made our way back to the hostel after a full and amazing day exploring a truly mind blowing natural wonder. A definite highlight of the trip. 

Foz do Igauzu - Brasil. 29/01/2011

We arrived into Foz do Igauzu bus terminal after a night bus from Sao Paulo. While we are getting better at the whole night bus thing, even when you do sleep, it's not the same as good nights sleep in a bed. After a bite to eat and once we had sorted out our plans and orientation for the day we set off on a bus towards the Brazilian side of the falls. On the bus we met a traveller from Israel and ended up exploring the falls with him. The Brazilian side provided great panoramic views of the falls as the majority are on the Argentinian side. We could not believe the size and pressure of them. There was so much mist we were getting spray 50metres up, it made some pretty amazing rainbows. It took us a couple of hours to walk along the Brazilian side; taking photos, exploring and just observing one of the worlds natural wonders. At end of the path you get to Devils Throat which is  where most of the water falls. They have built a catwalk so you can walk right out, almost underneath it. While the water doesn't directly fall on you, we came out completely drenched from all the mist. It didn't make for the best photographic conditions but it was so incredible to be that close to something so powerfully beautiful. 

After we were satisfied with the falls we got on a bus and made our way to the Argentinean side. We were quite curious as how our first land border crossing would go, as this is where you hear the stories about corruption etc, but it was so smooth, one of our easiest yet. We arrived on the Argentinean side and our Israeli friend showed us a place to stay. Once we had settled in we cooled off in the pool. The hostel put on an all-you-can-eat pizza for dinner so we had a bit of a pig out and met a few people to do the Argentinean side of the falls with the following day.

Sao Paulo - 28/1/2011

We arrived into Sao Paulo late afternoon and took a taxi to a hostel with the two Swedish girls we met. After we had settled in, we went out for a pizza and drink with them before an early night. The following day we got up early to explore the city as we were moving on that afternoon. We soon discovered Sao Paulo isn't the prettiest of cities. In fact it was quite ugly. Most of the colonial buildings had been pulled down so it was just a concrete jungle of ugly office buildings. The people seemed to be very work orientated so the city didn't have a good vibe from a tourists perceptive. Our impression was just a big, dirty city with a high crime rate. Luckily we were only around for the day so we explored the city then made our way back to the bus terminal that evening to get us bus to Foz do Igauzu. 

Ilha Grande - 26/28/1/2011

After an extremely full on stay in Rio we decided we wanted somewhere quiet to relax for a few days. We met a kiwi traveler in Rio and he had just come from an Island called Ilha Grande (big island) so we hopped on a bus towards there. Three hours later we arrived at the closest town, we met a couple from London and sorted out a boat to the island with them. We relaxed on the roof of the catamaran as we sailed towards the island. We arrived at the village on the island and as we were getting our bags ready to go search for a place to stay we were approached by a local lady who was renting a house. We ended up staying the first night there along with the British couple and two Germans we had met on the boat over. We had a relaxed evening and all went out to dinner and had a few drinks after. The following morning we got up bright and early to find a place to stay for the second night. After we found a place we got straight on a boat to go to a remote beach on the island. After a 40 minute boat ride we were dropped at a small port and set off on foot into the bush towards the beach. 
It was well worth the travel, the beach was so amazing. Golden White sand, clear blue water, no boats and no crowds. Perfect.
We spent the whole day, right until 6, relaxing on this amazing beach. Lying in the sun and swimming in the completely transparent ocean. Just what we needed after our hectic time in Rio. That evening we met up with the others after dinner for a couple of quiet drinks, great way to finish our stay in Ilha Grande. 
The following morning we got up, packed our bags and got on the ferry back to the mainland to continue our travels down the coast towards Sao Paulo. With nothing booked we were hoping we would be able to jump on a bus without waiting all day. We had to walk from the dock to the bus terminal with our bags and all. In 38 degree heat it's not exactly pleasant. Once we arrived at the bus terminal, dripping in sweat, we saw a bus heading to Sao Paulo loading up. We met a couple of girls from Sweden in the same boat as us and we all managed to get on the bus without getting proper tickets. The whole free styling travel, booking as you go, was working out for us and seemed like a more enjoyable and exciting way to travel.

Rio de Janeiro - 21-25/1/2011

As we flew over Rio de Janeiro we began to realise what all the fuss was about. It has some of the most exciting landscape, harsh green mountains dropping into white sand beaches. 
We arrived into Rio and were greeted with a stinking hot 37o. We were getting by with our spanish everywhere else, but of coarse Spanish was useless there and we knew it would be an interesting week not knowing a word of Portuguese. While our Spanish is so basic, we felt like experts in comparison. Anyway we went through the most relaxed customs yet, then managed to get on a bus towards Copacabana. With no hostel booked we took to the streets with our big bags in search of a place to stay. We found a place a block back from the beach and decided that would do us just fine. Once we were settled in we went for a wonder around the streets of Copacabana then spent the evening having a few drinks.
The following day we got up bright and early to get some of the sites ticked off. We started with the Christ statue, but being a Saturday a Cruise ship spoilt the party with a million mindless tourists being led around like sheep. We decided to check the city out and return later on. We navigated the city looking for all the colonial buildings, museums, cathedrals etc along with the markets and anything else we could find. The heat didn't make it easy but we managed to walk around and see everything including an amazing theatre and the most intricate, over the top interior at the monastery. We then returned to take the tram up to see the iconic Jesus statue that looks down over Rio. While the statue was mildly disappointing (as all the cool postcard photos are from a helicopter) it had an amazing panoramic view over the city with all the islands, beaches, mountains, skyscrapers and slums all in one view. Pretty exhilarating. After getting some shots we returned to Copacabana and went straight to the beach. We had never seen a beach so packed. The whole stretch was covered in people just as we had imagined. We did manage to find a nice spot to enjoy some afternoon sun and a swim. That evening we had a few drinks at the hostel before heading to Lapa. Lapa is where a lot of the bars and clubs are, but better known for the world famous street party. The streets are closed off and swarming with thousands of people, street vendors selling drinks, loud music, street performers and lots of people dancing Samba. We started our night off with a Caiprhina, a delicious Brazilian drink from one of the street vendors. We were with a local girl so she was showing us around and took us to see "the most beautiful steps in the world". Necane was overly excited when she realised this was where Snoop dogg and Pharell filmed a videoclip, and insisted we returned during the day because we didn't have cameras on us. 
We wondered back towards the main party stopping along the way to watch a bit of Samba. We ran into some Argentinians and Brazilians staying at our hostel and ended up parting on until the early hours getting back at 5.
The following morning we had a bit of an expected late start to the day. After a feed we headed to Sugar loaf mountain, the other iconic site of Rio. We met another kiwi on the bus so caught the gondola up with him. The view from to the top was even more spectacular than from the Christ. 
After our site seeing, once again we spent the afternoon on Copacabana beach relaxing and enjoying the buzz of Rio de Jeneiro.
The following day we booked a favela tour as 20% of rio's population live in slums. We were expecting the tour to be a drive through the slums so we were quite surprised when we were told we ride up on the back of motorbikes an descend down through the slum on foot. 
We each hopped on the back of a bike and before we knew our driver was hooning up the windy, dodgy road. Each holding on for our dear lives as the crazy drivers went for smallest gaps overtaking trucks and racing each other. After the first 30seconds of completely shitting ourselves, the rest of the ride was extremely exhilarating. Once we got to the top our perception of what a slum looks like changed, as we realised there is a lot more order to their neighbourhood than we previously thought with corner stores, internet cafes, ATMs etc, despite not officially owning the land. We started to decend down through the favela as our guide turned and said if we see anyone with machine guns they're the drug cartels, and to put down our camera. That put us on edge but as we started walking through the thin, footpath sized streets we realised we were in good hands as almost every person we walked past was friends with our guide. As expected, it was dirty and smelt even worse, some parts much worse than others. The residents would add to houses the only way they could by building up which made us wonder about the quality of their workmanship and probably the lack of foundations underneath it being on a hill. Apparently slips have greatly been reduced since they built an aqueduct down the clip face. It was extremely eye opening to see the conditions people live in, yet we were quite surprised in the order and efficiency they live their lives. It really just seemed like a big poor neighbourhood, mind
you, we didn't get to see the influence and control of the drug cartels, which is probably a good thing. 
After the tour we returned to see the famous steps we had seen a couple of nights before. They are an ongoing project so the artist is always making additions. We met the, of coarse extravert artist and he showed us a couple of tiles from New Zealand, starring some korus, a kiwi fruit and a tiki. We then indulged in an delicious lunch before exploring a bit more of central Rio. Once again we spent the afternoon on the beach after a full day of exploring before heading around to Ipanema beach to watch the sun set behind the iconic Rio de Janeiro landscape. A great way to end an unforgettable few days in Rio. 

Montevideo - urugauy 19-20/1/11

We flew into a wicked, modern airport at Montevideo with no plans. It took us a while to work out the bus system, but after a while we had managed to BOTH get on a bus with all our bags. We arrived at the old city and found a hostel to stay a few nights. We then spent the afternoon exploring one half of the old city. Montevideo had a very very different feel about it than the rest of the cities we have visited. A lot more relaxed. We got the impression of a better quality of life, and coming from Santiago, a population of about 7million and before that Medellin 3million, Montevideo's 1.3million seemed very mild. We had no idea Uruguay's population was smaller than new Zealand's. 
The city felt quite quiet in comparison which was a nice change, and also felt very safe. We explored the streets and admired the wonderful old buildings. We found they were less grand but there were more old buildings than other cities, and less newer buildings in between the old buildings which made it quite beautiful. It also had lots of nice clothing stores so we did a bit of shopping too. After dinner we went down to the water front to watch another beautiful orange sunset. The following  day we got up early to explore the rest of the city. After wondering through the beautiful colonial streets, we spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach, soaking up some sun. A relaxing way to conclude a short visit to Urugauy as Rio was sure to be a bit more hectic.

Santiago - 17-19/1/11

We finally set foot in Santiago at about 6am. With a little trouble finding the address of where we were staying and some help of a taxi driver we were on our way to Sergio's (a family friend) apartment. We hadn't done much research on Santiago and weren't to sure what to expect but we first noticed the pollution was very bad and it was hard to see the Andes surrounding the city. To our luck the apartment we were staying in was right in the city centre. We set off almost immediately to explore the city and were surprised at what we discovered. We found many beautiful buildings including old colonial buildings and a fortress on top of a hill overlooking the city. Our long travels from medellin to Santiago finally hit us and we ended up crashing. We awoke the next day excited to explore more of the beautiful city. We caught a tram up a hill where the Santiago zoo lies. It was very strange going to a zoo after we had been to the amazon, felt really strange seeing animals in cages. What was especially hard was seeing a condor (the largest bird) in a cage where it could barely open it's wings to the full capacity with no room to soar like we had seen them do at colca canyon in Peru. However we were very much amused by a baby baboon. After we looked at all the animals in the zoo we took the tram to the very top of the hill where a large statue of Mary looks down over Santiago city. Very impressive in size along with amazing views, we were very much satisfied and headed back home to prepare for our early flight to Uruguay the next morning.