Santiago de Chile - Most relaxed metropolis ever?!

From Valparaiso, we head to Santiago de Chile. Upon arrival, we were pleasantly surprised by the size and expanse of the city. The transportation system functions smoothly, no traffic jams, there is a metro, and not too many people! So, our first impression was quite positive! We spent the first two days making all the necessary preparations for Cuba and the last 6 weeks in Chile. This included going to the Cuban embassy and then to an agency since the Cuban embassy no longer had the paper for the visa in stock. So, for anyone needing a visa for Cuba and planning to apply in Santiago, we highly recommend going to the following address/agency:

Havanatur Chile
Padre Mariano 82, Providencia, Región Metropolitana, Chile

There, you can safely obtain a visa for $30.

On the third day in Santiago, we made our way up to San Cristobal, a hill in the city with a massive statue of Mary on top. To get there, we took a detour through various parks and the financial center of Santiago. This is also where the tallest skyscraper in South America is located. At the top of the hill, we enjoyed a beautiful view and for the first time, got a sense of how 8 million people are distributed throughout this valley. In the middle of our stay, we switched hostels. The new one has a pool, which was just perfect for the temperatures around 30°C. We also met up with our friend James again. With him, we had many adventurous nights and, as always, a lot of fun. We also attended a festival in Santiago called WOMAD - World of Music, Arts and Dance. There were various workshops, music, and food stalls. It was the perfect way to cure the hangover from the previous night. Additionally, we visited the central cemetery of the city. It's a truly interesting and impressive place. Many families have built huge tombs that could be their own standalone houses/apartments. We also strolled through the city center and enjoyed the sunset over the skyscrapers from the Castiollo. In the first hostel, Marius met Tilman, another German hiker, who inspired us to accompany him to the island of Navarino. The island is located in beautiful Tierra del Fuego and, with Puerto Williams, is the southernmost inhabited island in the world. There, we are planning to do the famous Dientes de Navarino trek, which is said to be incredibly beautiful and adventurous. So, without further ado, we decided to join him and booked flights to Puerto Williams via Punta Arenas. We'll be setting off at the end of the week! We're enjoying our last days by the pool and taking care of our final preparations for the upcoming time. We repacked our backpacks to only include the essentials and stored the unused items at the hostel in Santiago, which we'll pick up later. The anticipation is rising, and our longing for nature and adventure is finally being answered!

You'll hear from us soon

Best regards

Marius and Max