Valparaiso back to Santiago

 It should be no surprise that I am more than ready to go back to Santiago. Valparaiso, has been even colder than Santiago and I can do without climbing hundreds of steps everyday. Because of the cold, I will also not be heading further south  to the Patagonia reqion of Chile and Argentina.

It's too bad that today, what looks to be a warm, beautifully sunny day, was not yesterday. Yesterday morning I couldn't even see the ocean from my balcony. It stayed that way all day, cloudy and cool.

I have not bought a bus ticket, but there are buses to Santiago probably every hour. So when I get there I will buy a ticket for the next bus out.

I do have reservations for a stay in Santiago for a couple days. One thing I missed before was my visit to the Human Rights Museum.

After Santiago, I plan to take a bus west to Mendoza, Argentina for a couple days. Then to Cordoba, also in Argentina, for a few days before going on to Buenos Aires. I am hoping to like Buenos Aires enough to stay longer. It gets tiring moving every few days. I need some down time, just to relax and for some days, do nothing.

I walked the 15 minutes to the bus station. I stopped in to check out another church on the way.It was very spacious, but again, not as ornate as other churches I have visited. 

On the way I crossed through another city park and say this statue. I am still trying to figure out what is signifies. 

 I decided to try Turbus for the return to Santiago. I had great timing, I bought my ticcket and got right on the bus. This time I had a front row seat on the upper level. It makes for a great view, but also the first to die in a collision. The view is worth the risk. Within 10 minutes we were on our way.

I arrived back in Santiago. This time I was more familiar with the buses and made my way to the hostel easily. I descided to stay at a different place, in a different area to see more of the city. It is only a few blocks from the Human Rights Museum.

The place is a real dive, but for only a couple nights, I can handle it.

After checking in I made my way down to the Human Rights Museum. I stopped at a small cafe on the way to get something to eat.

What I thought was the Human Right Museum, was actually the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural. Similar, but much larger than the natural history museum I visited in Valparaiso. It was not what I wanted to see today, so I didn't stay long. It is surrounded by a beautiful park that I may spend time in if the weather is nice tomorrow.

I found the Human Rights Museum across the street in  a very modern building. Unfortunately for me, it is important to be fluent in Spanish, which I am not, to be able to really appreciate the museum. The lower floor of the museum focused on the human rights abuses, highlighting attrocities in dozens of countries around the world. The second floor focused on the human rights abuses during coup and 17 years of the Pinoche era.

There is this very unique church and possibly a convent in front of the park surrounding the Museum of Natural History and across the street from the Human Rights Museum. On the church is says Sanitario Cristo Pobre. When I got back to the hostel I tried locating more information about it. There is very little. It was damaged beyound repair in 1970, and futher vandalized recently. It was established by a small sect of the Catholic Church called the Oblate Expiators of the Blessed Sacrament. It apparently is the home to the last 5 aging nun devotees. Here is a link to the most complete information I found: 

https://chile-iglesias-catolicas.blogspot.com/2014/10/iglesia-santuario-cristo-pobre-quinta.html

I will go back tomorrow to take some better pictures.

It was now starting to cool down, so headed back to the hostel to relax.