Life in Chile: Update 5

It's been over a month since I wrote my last update, so now feels like a good time to write a little bit about the things Claudio and I have been up to lately!

It's now the middle of winter here in Santiago, and the mountains surrounding the city are completely covered in snow, which looks incredible. Of course, everyone here wants to spend a day or weekend in the snow, and there have been big traffic jams up the mountain roads in recent weeks, so we haven't been yet. But we're hoping to go within the next couple of weeks to enjoy some time in the snowy scenery, and perhaps even try a bit of snowboarding!

In the meantime, we've been exploring some other places in and around the city. Here are a few highlights!

Cerro Calán

This park up in the hills of the Las Condes comuna is free to enter, and is our new favourite place for going running, though it's also good for dog walking and walking in general. It has a 2 kilometre circuit with amazing views of the mountains and the city, which make the workout much more entertaining!

Plaza Tailandia

We recently visited Plaza Tailandia for the first time. It's a little garden located in Parque Araucano and designed in a Thai style, with a pagoda and statues of elephants. Although it was a lot smaller than we were expecting, it was still a pretty place to look around.

Los Trapenses

One rainy weekend, we went for a coffee in the Los Trapenses neighbourhood of Lo Barnechea comuna. Its's a really attractive place with great views of the mountains.

Chicureo

We recently came back to Laguna Piedra Roja in the town of Chicureo, a short distance away from Santiago, over two years since our last visit in March 2020. It was nice to have a coffee and a walk around the lagoon, and also interesting to see how different it looks in winter compared to in summer.

A Little Bit of Snow!

On Saturday we went looking for some snow on the road that goes between Santiago and Chicureo, because Claudio had seen some videos on Instagram of that particular area covered in snow. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, there was more mud than snow! But at least we had some great views from up there.

El Mundo de Dalí

Yesterday we were back at our favourite cat café, El Mundo de Dalí. As always, the food was delicious and the cats were adorable! One cute little kitty sat on my lap for a little bit, and then on Claudio's lap for the rest of our visit!

Parque Bicentenario

After our trip to the cat café, we went to a place neither of us had been before: Bosque Santiago. This was a place that really surprised both of us, and I'll actually be writing an entire post about it, because we were so impressed by it.

Then we finished off our weekend with a little walk through Parque Bicentenario, which is one of our favourite parks in the city. It's always nice to see the flamingos and swans there, as well as some amazing views of the city and the mountains.

In other news, I'm happy to say that I've booked tickets to go back to the UK next month! Unfortunately, Claudio can't come with me because of his work, but it will still be great to spend a few weeks seeing family and friends. And hopefully I'll also do a bit of travelling while I'm there!