Tuesday, November 29, 2005
South America Trip - Day 41 - Santiago
On Sundays the museums in Santiago are free so we went to visit the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art which was recommended by the LP. It was very interesting with displays of ceremonial and funery objects made in ceramic, stone, wood and metal with gold plate. The style of these objects give you a great insight into the Pre-Colombian cultures throughout Central and South America. Common subjects were pregnant woman, big cats and shamen's in drug induced trances. Weaving was a strong feature of these cultures. The intricate patterns of the hand woven textiles were amazing and require great skill and patience to produce.
Most of the shops were closed in the morning probably because most families were at church. In the afternoon more shops opened and there was a market that ran throughout the main pedestrianised shopping streets.
After lunch in the Plaza de Armas we caught the metro to Parque O'Higgens. This is a huge park (no way as nice as the ones in Spain or England) where families gather for picnics and events are held. There are also a lot of restaurants and a theme park called Fantasylandia. Today there was a Christian concert. Outside was an STD awareness event with cultural music and dancing . I assume this was a statement against the Catholic principal of not using contraception. There did not seem to be any tensions though.
All day I was worried about our flight reservation. When Joy went to the airport to go back to NZ a couple of days ago she was told that her reservation was cancelled because we had missed our flight in Calama. Crazy! She urged us to confirm our reservation with the Qantas office. Unfortunately we couldn't contact them because it was Sunday so we just had to hope for the best. Luckily when we arrived at the check in desk everything was ok.
Most of the shops were closed in the morning probably because most families were at church. In the afternoon more shops opened and there was a market that ran throughout the main pedestrianised shopping streets.
After lunch in the Plaza de Armas we caught the metro to Parque O'Higgens. This is a huge park (no way as nice as the ones in Spain or England) where families gather for picnics and events are held. There are also a lot of restaurants and a theme park called Fantasylandia. Today there was a Christian concert. Outside was an STD awareness event with cultural music and dancing . I assume this was a statement against the Catholic principal of not using contraception. There did not seem to be any tensions though.
All day I was worried about our flight reservation. When Joy went to the airport to go back to NZ a couple of days ago she was told that her reservation was cancelled because we had missed our flight in Calama. Crazy! She urged us to confirm our reservation with the Qantas office. Unfortunately we couldn't contact them because it was Sunday so we just had to hope for the best. Luckily when we arrived at the check in desk everything was ok.
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