Last day in Santiago

San Miguel is a fairly run down area south of the centre of Santiago. In an effort to improve the environment mural artists were commissioned to paint huge murals and an outdoor museum was created.

The journey there involved the subway - again it was very crowded. This time Martin got on and the doors shut on his rucksack so squashing our lunch! He had to wait for me at the next stop.

We returned to the city changing twice on the subway. We managed not to get squashed and to get on the same train.  Although at one point Martin was on the escalator, I was on the stairs and after running parallel for a bit they started to go in different directions. It was disconcerting but we ended up on the same platform.

We walked through the city stopping to watch the start of a bike charity ride;

Walking through plazas with wisteria trees in full bloom;

The National Library is mentioned in guidebooks as containing free public loos but actually it's a lovely building with several exhibitions including one showing costumes worn in Atacama desert dance festivals.

We made a short visit to the building which was used as a detention centre by the secret police from 1973-1975. Outside the names of the victims are engraved in the pavements and the banner suggests there are still problems in current times....

We sat in the shade in the main plaza with a singer on our left and chaps playing pan pipes on our right.

We estimated that we have learnt about 140 Spanish words although Google Translate has been a boon. Both of us agree that we prefer Chile to Argentina. The land is more fertile and the people so friendly. After a quiet morning we will catch our flight home on Sunday - keen to see family and friends but sad to end our trip.