Art Museum and Punta Pite- Historical / Ecosystem

We woke up late after our night of festivities and traveled to the hotel’s free breakfast. We relaxed and enjoyed our breakfast, excited for our day ahead after the excitement of yesterday. We walked around the city and looked at the aftermath of the party from yesterday. Russell bought a bottle of Pisco to take home with him, which was the Chilean national alcoholic beverage. Once we had finished shopping we returned to our hotel where we prepared a dinner and snack with items we bought while shopping.

Once we had prepared our bags we started our walk. It was a short distance from our hotel, barely more than half a mile, and took only a mere twenty minutes. While we walked we passed many shops and stores and got our first good look at the mountain ranges in the distance. We arrived at our destination the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts and entered. It was established in 1880 and the building was beautifully built with 17th century french architecture and is the oldest art museum in all of South America. Luckily for us, the museum charges no admission. We toured its lengthy, well built halls and basked in the fine works of artists from around the world. We toured the whole first floor and were anxious to go to the second and see more works of art. Works included Libertador’ Bernardo O’Higgins by José Gil de Castro  and the The Sick Child by Edvard Munch and their realism was astonishing. Between the captivating painting and the astounding architecture it was the best museum we had ever seen. As the day continued we enjoyed the artwork until at around 1:00 PM we had finally seen everything. We left the museum and went to get lunch at Galindo, which is near Uncle Fletch. Our favorite food at the Galindo was definitely the empanada de Pino. It was full of food piled high. This was no small plate too. It was a giant empanada with lots of meat. The drinks were nothing unusual. It was all the basic things you would find in any other Chilean restaurant. I think that the Galindo was somewhere we would definitely be open to go back to again in the future.

Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 

Once we had eaten our lunch including a traditional Chilean food called Lomo con agregado, which was a big steak. It was cooked to perfection, and just the right amount of pink on the inside. Lunch took awhile, and after we hailed two cabs and prepared for our next adventure.

Jake, Matt and I rode in one cab while Joey and Russell rode together in another. As we traveled to our destination we talked about our favorite parts of Chile. Jake recalled his favorite foods and Matt said his favorite was the architecture but he was more focused on the buildings around us than the conversation. We arrived at Punta Pite 5 minutes later than our friends with no idea how they had beaten us, and were immediately hit with the soothing scent of coastal air. Punta Pite, having a large system of stairs, bridges, and walkways. All of which were carved out of the rocks or were crafted with different stones. We quickly paid our fare, $88 each, and looked at the sheer coastal rocks. We started our hike and were amazed by the planning that had gone into it. Russell recalled facts for us that he had read on his phone coming here and told us it took 40 people two whole years to complete. It was amazing seeing the amount of detail that the creators of these walkways had to put into the build to make all the stairs and walkways connect and work well together. It was something that we were all sure that would be in our minds for quite some time after this trip.


We followed the trail over precarious drops and thinly cut halls. We climbed stairs hanging on an edge and gazed at the ocean, feeling the cool breeze. We stopped to eat our dinner overlooking the ocean as we enjoyed the view. Once we had finished we continued on toward the ocean and enjoyed the rocky beach. We took our time enjoying the view and while getting a picture taken Joey slipped into the sea. We stayed for another hour and before the sun started to go down, started our return. As we followed the trail home we took absolutely striking photos of the sun sinking into the horizon against the ocean. We walked back as it slowly became darker and soon got back to the road. It was getting colder due to the Chilean night, and we were excited to make our way back to our hotel. Matt called a cab and we got in ready to return home, quite tired from our two activities. We all slept in the cab except Joey who complained his feet were too cold and wet and soon came back to our hotel. We paid our fare again only $85 each because of the reduced traffic and went to El Tunel for a quick snack. We ate and walked back to our hotel where we looked at all the great photos we had taken and after about an hour we fell asleep.