Cementerio Municipal and the Menèndez Family residence - History

Today was our last day in Chile we were very excited. We were going to go to a very famous cemetery in Punta Arenas before we had to catch 20 hours of flights home. We decided that because it was last day we were going to treat ourselves to every meal. For breakfast Jake found a restaurant within walking distance of our hotel. It had great food and we really enjoyed everything we ordered. Once we had finished we walked back to our hotel stopping at shops on the way. Once we returned we packed our bags so we wouldn't have to worry about anything before we left.

We went outside and walked over to Cementerio Municipal. We walked around for about an hour looking at the tombs. They had ones from small stones on the ground to massive ornate tombs that towered above us. We took pictures posing in front of the craziest colored and shaped graves. We even saw the graves of some famous Chilean figures including the Menèndez-Behety family and even Antonio Soto a famous Chilean labor rights protester. Another mysterious grave is the one of Indio Desconocido or the Unknown Indian. The graves really told a story of the city and who had lived there. We strolled through the graveyard until our legs got tired and we were hungry for lunch.

We caught two taxis for $30 each and rode over to one of the the finest Chilean restaurants called La Marmita for lunch. Matt ordered an empanada which is a traditional Chilean meat pocket. We enjoyed our lunch and spent about an hour enjoying the atmosphere of chile on our last day. We have our waitress a generous tip and left the restaurant wanting to walk the streets of Chile one more time.We soon found out that the Menèndez Family residence became a national monument and was open to tourists and decided to go visit it. The old house was as grand as the Metropolitan Cathedral back in Santiago. We realized that there was not one, but two Menèndez houses! One for Sara and one for José! Sara's house was turned into a hotel but José's was turned into a tourist attraction. The houses were beautiful with its time weathered stone and its towering statues. We walked the luxurious halls admiring the beauty and detail of every room. Beautiful chandeliers seemingly defying gravity with their ornateness. We learned from a kiosk that the houses were built back in the 19th and 20th centuries by french architects.

The house was beautiful but we knew we needed to get ourselves back to the hotel and get ready for the day ahead. We were all tired from the day so we called our self a cab to get back to the hotel. then decided to go out onto the streets and get some souvenirs.

We arrived back at our hotel and finished packing our bags. After we journeyed back onto the streets again to look for some good souvenirs. Russell picked out a poncho colored the same way as a Chilean flag, insisting it looked good on him. Although we didn't go there, Joey found a rapanui, which is a small statue of an Easter island head. As time passed we found a nearby Restaurant & Emporio Okusa where we bought dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed it and left to sleep our last night in Chile. We decided to play some more UNO for old times sake and had a tournament. We played for a little while and then went and got some sleep so we could be ready for our plane flight tomorrow back to the states.