Summer and Company: Trip to Chile, Part One: Santiago

Phew! That was a lot of pictures. But after sorting through thousands of photos from our vacation to Chile, I narrowed it down at least a little.

This summer we all spent two weeks in Chile, visiting Maureen and her new husband Paul*. We were joined by Mina, James, Julie, Rosemary, and Louis, for a total of seven adults and five kids.

We flew into Santiago on a 14-hour flight overnight from LAX. Beatrice and Arthur were perfectly behaved on the flight - William was cheerful but excited and didn't sleep the entire time. Instead he sat on my lap, wiggling around and laughing and grabbing things.

Setting off on an adventure

We did not pack light.

We arrived in Santiago early on a cold, foggy Sunday morning and made our way to the hotel - where, of course, our room wasn't ready, so we went out again to kill about four hours before we could finally shower and go to sleep.

Looking out our hotel window

The next day we started exploring the city, including the artsy Lastarria neighborhood and Cerro Santa Lucia, a small hill near our hotel in the center of town surmounted by a series of plazas, stairways, fountains, and the remains of an old fort.

Playing on a seesaw in Lastarria

Bundled up to go outside

Mote con huesilla, an apricot drink sold at the top of Cerro Santa Lucia

The following day Mina, James, Julie, Rosemary, and Louis arrived and then things really picked up! The kids were incredibly excited to see their cousins.

Rosemary took charge of Arthur - he called her "Aunt Rosemary" - holding his hand and keeping an eye on him as we walked through the busy streets.

(Also, I might add that all of them got off their own long international flights, dropped off their things at the hotel, and then went immediately out sightseeing before anyone had a nap - I was very impressed by their fortitude.)

Together, we all ate a seafood lunch in the Mercado Central, a large fish market housed in a beautiful wrought iron and glass building from the 19th century. (In fact, pretty much all we ate the entire time we were in Santiago and Antofagasta was seafood, red wine, and pisco, which was fine with me.)

The following day we took another trip to Lastarria and Cerro Santa Lucia, stopping for another wonderful lunch. And yes, we went to a Chilean Starbucks.

The following day we crossed the city on the subway and then on foot to get to Cerro San Cristobal, a tall hill that overlooks the city. When we got there we discovered that the funicular train that takes tourists to the top had a tremendously long line so we decided to hike it instead. The rest of the group took a very steep dirt path straight up the hillside; I pushed William in the stroller up a longer but less steep paved road. It was a 3.5-mile hike up but the view at the top was lovely.

Couples in love leave padlocks on a bridge crossing the Rio Mapocho

Julie and I stopped to sit in a tree (Photo by Mina Kumar)

At the top of the hill is a 72-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary along with a chapel and a small shrine where people light candles and leave notes and gifts. Visiting the shrine and seeing all the notes and candles was a heartrending experience, but a very affecting and beautiful one.

Then we rode the now much less crowded funicular back down before heading across town again, this time in a pair of taxis, to have another wonderful meal.