2009 - CHILE

  

Traditionally the best place to start is the capital so here we are - Santiago de Chile - big but cosy city that gives you the impression of a homely town.

La Moneda - the seat of the President - this is the place where President Salvador Allende died during the coup d'etat in 1973 which led to the long dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet

Catedral Matropolitana

Iglesia de la Merced

Cerro Santa Lucia - the hill in the centre of the city that gives you the spectacular view of the mountains

Santiago is the city that emerges from the mountains. Snowy picks of Andes compose the landscape together with the picks of scyscrapers.

The monument on the central plaza - Plaza de Armas

Playing chess and chatting in the park - a lunch break on a weekday

Colonia del Sacramento 5

 How to leave such a place? Only with a hope that comebacks are always possible...

Colonia del Sacramento 4

After coming back from Colonia del Sacramento one day I came across a newspaper article about old cars in Uruguay. The author was really delighted with the fact there are so many precious models that in almost every sentence was using the epithet "car-conserving" praising Uruguay. Looking at this photo one cannot disagree...

And this is the extract from the article:

"Old automobiles never die in car-conserving Uruguay—they just get a transplant and go on living. In a land where new cars are rare and aged ones exalted, any part can be re-created"

Bill Forbis