Hi everyone ... Sally took this picture today in the funicular (note the word "fun") on the way up to San Christobel. Lovely day, but on the way down the funicular's cable jumped out of a few of the connectors and we were stuck for a short while. The look of the teeny tiny stairs going straight down about 500 meters at that point gave me pause.

We were on the Hop on Hop off double decker bus today for our trip around Santiago which was a great way to get a feel for this city of 6.5 million people which as it turns out is about 40% of Chile's total population.

We are finding the people here to be very friendly and helpful - particularly the fellow who owned the jewellery store we "popped into" while waiting for the little red bus. Sally, it turns out, has a fettish for turtles and she now owns three or four from this shop, two of which were LapisLazuli. I managed to buy a few gifts there and we both thoroughly enjoyed the fellow who owned the place.

Back on the bus, we stopped at Le Mercado which is a very large fresh seafood market and no surprise, we went to a seafood restaurant there for lunch.

So much for the day - went by in a minute. We are now about to go out for dinner to a Chilean restaurant not too far from the Hotel which Fodor likes called Mestizo - actually Latin American cuisine but you know what I meant.

Well - time to eat again .... and time to close for today. Hope everyone at home is well and happy - we surely are. We are blessed to be able to take this trip and we know it !!!!!

love m