"Summer" vacation

Pat and I returned from our "summer" vacation in Chile a couple weeks ago. The weather was absolutely amazing and a good change from the usual January weather in Ohio. This was our first time to South America and we really enjoyed it. My Spanish language skills are pretty much non-existent. Even though I tried to cram some "survival" Spanish at the last minute, it was only marginally effective. Pat has been studying Spanish for several months and fared a bit better than I.

We spent the entire 9-10 days in Santiago. Pat was taking a diploma course in Global Health at the Universidad de Chile's School of

Public Health. She had class all day for the week so we didn't have the time to get out of the city.

I spent my days wandering around Santiago, seeing the sites and taking lots of photos.

We found a rental apartment in the Barrio Brazil area in central Santiago. It's an older but decent area and very conveniently located to the Metro (subway), downtown and most of the tourist stuff.

Our neighborhood.

Honestly, I didn't know much about Chile before our trip. But I found it to be a very modern city with alot of interesting history, great architecture, good food/wine and extremely friendly people.

Some important government building.

Musicians at Plaza de Arames.

Santiago has alot of interesting (and well done) "street" art.

This is an excellent bakery I found on the way to the Universidad. They made a really good strudel among other pastries. Apparently, in addition to the Spanish, there is a significant German influence here.

The city fruit market district.

The Cenemtario General. Apparently, this is where alot of important people get buried, including Salvador Allende.

Pat at Santa Lucia.

We're already talking about going back again next year. Maybe we will have more time to see more of the country.