Santiago day 3

Breakfast finished. 

I have again extended my stay in Santiago 2 more days. That will make 6 days in Santiago. During the next couple days I need to do more research on taking bus journeys north or south from here.

The plan is to bike around the city today using bikes from Bici Itau rental stations.

I started to go out this morning without my hoody, but quickly decided to go back to the hostel to get it. It was still cool and it was already past 10 . Good thing I did, it has stayed cool all day.

The earlier program I signed up for with Bici Itau apparently ran for 24 hours from the time I signed up, not from the time I checked out a bike. Not a problem the bike rental is only about $2 usd per day. I signed up again and off I went on my first bike ride in Santiago.

I didn't ride a lot today, but tomorrow I will sign up again. On Sundays, the city blocks off many of the main roads. I saw this in Bogota and where multitudes of people came out to ride. I expect tomorrow will be the same here. 

After a couple bike rides, I went to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. The first thing I did there was get a coffee and crescent from the patio cafe. A couple from New Jersey that I met on yesterdays walking tour was also there. They had just finished their tour of the museum and stopped by for a coffee. They will be going to the Museo de la Memoria y Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Museum) next. I think I will put that on my list of things to do tomorrow or Monday. They will be catching a red eye flight tonight to go home.

Maybe you noticed that building behind the museum. The developers ensured the commununity that it wouldn't distract from the historic buildings in the area. Because it was all mirrored, it would reflect all the historic buildings and blend right in. Wrong!

The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino is pretty amazing. It includes not only a collection of pre Columbian artifacts from Chile but also from Mexico, Mesoamerica, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina. Artifacts of stone, pottery, silver and fabrics. With some artifacts dating back to 2000 bc.

The tribes and groups incorporated different coloring and patterns in their artwork to distinquish themselves from neighbooring tribes. Remember these older artifacts date back to the times before the Spanish arrival in South America and before Mexico,Central and South America were divided into countries.

In the photo here are actual mummies of infants from early indigenous groups in Chile.

These large wooded carvings were determined to be grave markers from another indigenous groups. The tallest are about 8' tall.

In this photo of a mask, notice the cheek bulge. This is from chewing coca leaves into a mush then storing them in one cheek. This was important enough that the cheek bulge was incorporated into masks that covered the faces of individuals when they were buried. Maybe to make their journey in death more comfortable.

The couple I met, mentioned they were doing almost all of there travels in the city on the subway. So my next stop was to go to a nearby subway station and get introduced to the subway.  I bought a subway card with enough money pre loaded on the card to last for several subway rides. I think it ends up being only about $1 usd for each use. It doesn't seem to matter where you get on or off, just a fixed price for each time you board.

The subways are quite deep. The deepest appoaching 100 ft. undergound.

The plan for tomorrow will be to join the Sunday bike ride on Avenida Andrés Bello. This a little over 10 km ride out and back ride. In the afternoon I plan to visit the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.

I have made reservations at another place to stay in Valparaiso, Chile. A beach community on the Pacific coast. I will take a couple hour bus ride there on Wednesday.