Santiago day 4

Waiting for breakfast. Still planned for today, joining in the Sunday mass bike ride. Then later in the day visiting Museo de Arte Bellas Artes.

Last evening I spent some time going back rereading past posts, fixing typos and . I am a bit famous for both. I still have more posts to read and repair. Sorry for torturing you grammar nerds and all other people that actually know how to speak and write proper english.

After breakfast I only had to walk about a block to the bike station to pick up a bike. I have an app installed on my phone and prepaid for the day.  I open the Bike Itaú app. On the bottom of the screen there is a button, "Unlock Bike". The app asks me to scan the QR code on the bike I want to use. It's as easy as that. Usually the bike unlocks, I remove it from the rack at I'm good to go. But, not this morning, the message reads: "Bikes are not currently available to foreign visitors". 

OK, plan 2, make stop 2 for the day my first stop. Museo de Arte Bellas Artes. I haven't been there yet, but it should be nearby.

I walk to the first corner, turn left and start walking. I thought it was several blocks away, but I look at my phone for further instructions, glance across the street and there it was. The building is quite unique, hard to miss.

I had checked earlier, so I knew the museum was open today. Entering the museum, I was surprised that there was no entry fee.

The museum features a collection of sculptures, paintings and photograpy. I am not sure if they are all Chilean artists, but it for sure focuses on Chilean Artist. 

The first room was lined with photographs of famous Chilean photographers. Other rooms featured paintings and sculptures. Intermingled were monitors displaying visual, video art presentations.

On the first floor below the main hall, the room features 5 or 6 installations by a renowned Chilean visual artist. Each installation was a room 10 or 12 feet square created by fabrics suspended from the ceiling.

A project in each room, projected a movie or pictures on one wall. The image could be seen on the outside of the enclosure and also from one end, a flap was folded back for you to peak inside to see the imaging. Most were accompanied by an audio track. Can I say the content was strange,,, yes it was strange.

The building itself for the museum is pretty amazing architectural. One of the features is this elaborate glass roof.

Overall, I was underwhelmed with the museum. Not so much by the art on display, more so by the quality of the presentation of the art.

I spent about an hour at the museum, then I went back to the bike station to give it another try.

This time, it worked. I checked out a bike and joined in Sunday bike ride in progress. A few major thoroughfares are blocked off for bike riding, roller skating, jogging and and walking.

It was nice to see parents out with very young kids. The kids riding bikes with training wheels. At another spot, a section of the road was cordoned off with kids where a few teens were teaching very young kids how to use their roller blades.

I rode out for under an hour, then made my return to drop off the bike at the station where I picked it up. 

It was a comfortable, short ride. Cool enough today that I wore my hoody the whole time.

On the way back to the hostel, I stopped by the pastry shop and got a freshly made meat and cheese empanada.  Very tasty.

Earlier in the day, I spent some time planning my next move or moves.

What I came up with so far was to take bus to the pacific coast in a couple days and spend a few days in Valparaiso. The weather there will still be a bit cool.

After Valparaiso, I will return to Santiago for at least a day. I am then thinking about taking a 12 to 16 hour bus ride south to Puerto Montt. A little over 1000km south of Santiago. I am hoping to catch a ferry from there to one of the other small ports bordering one of the further south national parks. The ferry is a "maybe". A couple concerns, my legs and the lack of warm clothing I have with me.

This will be the farthes south I will go. Everyone tells me to go to Patagonia, even further south. I am just not prepared to do that. To see Patagonia properly, major hiking is involved. Two problems, my legs and lack of winter clothing.

Ushuaia, is located at the southern tip of the continent (another 2500km south of Puerto Montt) and is the boarding port for researchers interested in going to Antarctica. I wouldn't even have been intested in that even in my youth. It's cold down there.

After Puerto Montt, I plan to head back to Santiago. From there I will make the extra long bus ride to Bueno Aires. I could fly very cheaply from Santiago to Buenos Aires, but I kind of want to take this bus trip crossing over the Andes to see the mountains up close and personal.