A midday flight (1) (2) passed over the expansive salt flats of Bolivia heading SSW toward Chile. The snow-capped Andes were on the left on the descent to Santiago.
The Cerro Santa Lucia (St. Lucy Hill) is the historic center of the Santiago. A lovely urban park here offers views over the city. The park reminded me of NYC's Central Park and Montréal's Mount Royal Park, both designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (3) in the late 1800s. While not an Olmstead park, Santa Lucia was designed contemporaneously (1872).
I climbed up and down the modest hill (about 200 feet above the city) a couple of times. The sunset was at 5:45 on this late Austral autumn day. The fading light cast intersting shadows on the high Andes to the east as night settled in.
(1) On the ride to the airport in Santa Cruz, I figured out the traffic rules I had been observing in the city:
● At the many uncontrolled intersections: the more aggressive driver has the right of way.
● At smaller intersections with traffic lights: stop on red, then look and go.
● At bigger intersections, obey the traffic lights (except late at night when follow the rule above).
● Entering a rotary: completely ignore red lights; don't even slow down.
● When already in a rotary, stop and wait on red regardless of other traffic or time of day.
In contrast, the roads in Chile felt more like Europe.
(2) The pilot made announcements in Spanish and English (as expected) and then, unexpectedly, in French.
(3) Creator of landscape architecture, designed to provide a natural sense of outdoors for city dwellers.
Bolivian salt flats visible from the plane
At Santa Lucia park
The torre mirador
Burial place of Benjamin Vicuña MacKenna, first mayor of Santiago and the park's founder
Poking about waiting for sunset
A hummingbird enjoyed the nectar of this candelabra aloe at the summit
Sunset over the city
The high Andes at dusk through the haze
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