Back in Santiago we took our nieces and nephew on a trip to Cerro San Christobal (Saint Christopher's hill). The hill houses a funicular (inclined train), gondola lift (teleferico in spanish), and the zoo.
Here's our niece Amanda waiting on the funicular to go up.
The funicular track is very inclined.
The view of the city from the funicular.
If you're going to the zoo, you stop half way up the funicular. One of the first things we saw were the monkeys.
Amanda, Sita, Luna and Nico.
Me and Amanda.
Nico really liked the camels.
Nico was already frustrated with our pace.
Sita giving me the look of "why are you taking a picture of me?". The answer is, because I thought it was funny that she was wearing Amanda's small pink backpack.
It's a good thing Amanda couldn't reach, because unlike Nico she probably didn't understand that this goat could bite. Nico was raising his hand but he never actually put it up against the fence or touched the goat.
Amanda mesmerized by a tarantula.
"Hey, come on, show yourself."
The penguins were declared as a must see by the kids.
Amanda and Nico took a break from admiring the penguins to just run around this tree. We didn't question their motivations or the purpose of this run, we just enjoyed the fact that they'd be burning some of their seemingly endless energy.
Nico and Amanda are very uninhibited and they were constantly trying to interact with the animals.
Nico, Luna, Amanda and Sita.
We entered a caged area where the birds were held found this beautifully colored bird which seemed to have no inhibitions about getting close to humans.
After the Zoo, we took the funicular the rest of the way up. This is a picture of one coming down at us.
At the top of the hill, there is a gondola lift which provides amazing views of the city.
After Cerro San Cristobal we went back to Sita's parent house. There's a playground at the end of the street, where Amanda still had energy to burn.
On the other hand, we were ready for a rest. You can see I'm still a little burned from the salt flats. Nico was dying to use our camera and he's the one that took this picture of us. Not bad for a 6 year old.
Sita and I actually laughed at this picture, because we know this look, Amanda isn't really crying this is just for show, as she's trying to get something back that Nico took from her.
A random picture of an overloaded street lamp in Santiago.
Enjoying dinner at the airport.
Daniel and Luna may look caught off guard here because I was actually trying to get a picture of the waiter behind them, who's featured in the following two photographs as well. You know how people say they have a "twin" or a look-a-like somewhere else in this world. Well I thought this guy looked a lot like the mayor of Española, Joseph Maestas, so I took some pictures of him to see if anyone else thought the same.
One last "act" from the kids, before I boarded the plane. They're so cute, aren't they?
