One of the reasons for staying at the Foresta Hotel is that you can walk across the street and enter the world of Santa Lucia Park. I could imagine Escher designing some of the winding trails that climb to all sorts of turrets and chapels and castle embankments and various levels of parks. Some of the climbing is terrifying. The steps are odd shaped worn slabs of stone and if you are lucky there is an iron railing. As you climb higher, you need to squeeze between rocks and cross around narrow passgeways that seem to dangle over the city. The reward is the turret at the top with a 360 degree view of Santiago. Also you can see the San Cristobal Mountain, the highest point in the city, with its own fenuncular.
Each turn in the climb brings little pockets of shaded solitude with lush plants, wild park cats and parakeets, families picnicing, and people walking their dogs- a perfect time-out from Santiago city life.
Climbing down on the other side of the park brought other parks and trails that ultimately ended back at the Foresta Hotel, my home in Santiago. Tour the park with me at
http://picasaweb.google.com/ramblinme
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