My favorite place...

Hidden among the cement jungle, away from he noise, cars, people and smog...

..lays the place which became one of my favorites, wihout even realising it...

The convent of the Sisters of Mercy, located behind the Church by the same name.

The structure is pretty raw, but somehow this place brought me peace in those frantic office afternoons, where my cell wouldn't stop ringing and the voice of my former Boss brought me close to tears...

I used to walk the few blocks from my office to here, with whatever excuse, and give myself some minutes of joy...
Proteced by iron gates, secluded from people to enter, just looking at the work the nuns have done here, brought peace to my heart...

..and a sense of tranquility. Too bad it's not a public place, but I guess that it's why it keeps its magic. On busy Santiago afternoons, you see many office-workers gather here, just looking around through the bars, breathing the nice scent of the freshly cut grass, and wet trees, and maybe say a silent prayer to our Mother Mary, behind bars, and walk away feeling at ease...
At least, that was what I did :)

The Grand Tour... Santa Lucia Hill

Santa Lucia Hill..Fountain at the entrance. I had no idea what was coming...lol. well, my feet didn't know.

A few stairs up, and now we're talking! This is the way that shall lead me to the top. My feet still had no idea.

Getting closer to the first stage. The gold is to make it to the castle on the top... feet are still clueless..

Half way up the staors, closer look at the main fountain.. and trying to figure out if this is Poseidon or Neptune...

Yay! we made it to the back of it!! Feet are starting to figure out where this is going...lol

Back again..and we keep moving... up

A view from afar of our National Library (that would be a next for a visit ok?)

up and up we go..feet are already complaining...

a view of the city from the *almost* top... and a few minutes for feet to recover...

By George! I think she made it!! There you have it.. a few more steps, and we'll reach the castle, at the top of the Hill...

Yeees!! The Castle!!...well, the remains of it. I have no idea of the History of it..all I know it was used during the Conquest period... it still has some canons around...I have to do my homework on this one (there are not tourist guides around here)

a tower...

..vertigo??? Lol, just a view from the tower...

Turning around from the Castle, we find Darwin Plaza... and a tiny church, not currently in use, because it's actually a Shrine. As a monument dedicated to one of our forefathers..Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna...

A closer look at BVM's Shrine.. and the end of our tour. But...
As we found a place for feet to rest, before going down... we encountered ...

..A FRIEND!! Say Hello to Lizzy Lizard... she was my company while feet rested, and cammie rested...
Hope you enjoyed The Tour :)

After I saw this...

...the interview didn't matter anymore, lol.
This is Jean Mermoz Square. He was the Pioneer of the French Commercial Air Services..or so it says on this stone. The monument honours him and it's also a tribute to the Air Route between Chile and France....

A fountain, at the entrance of the Square. This is built on a mini-hill..as you climb up you find....

This... including a dog-doody bag dispenser (hey, it's a great idea!) ...and...

..this..a cool path that leads you around the square.
And, if you turn around, across the street, you'll find...

..my beloved Andes, hiding around the many buildings.. but they are still there, loverly as ever.
Now, How's that for a mini-tour?? :-)

Landmarks!

On the outside for the moment. This is our Metropolitan Cathedral. Place on Plaza de Armas, main square in Santiago. This is the place of all the Major Masses, celebrations..oh...and it's catholic, lol.

This is my Favorite place in the whole wide city...the Court Palace (hey! I'm the law!! unbalanced, but meh.) I used to work here!!! Yay me! lol. This is the house of our Supreme Court and Appellate Court. I just love, love, love this building!!

Ta-da! Palacio de La Moneda (La Moneda Palace aka Goverment House)...we have a lot of Palaces, and no kings..what do you know?? *chuckles*
This is the place of Goverment.. where Bachelet works. It's white.. like the White house. But the only thing in common is..they are both white, and have a stoopid person ruling, lol.
Anyways, our Prez doesn't actually live here.. Presidents haven't live here in the loooongest while, but, they work here..so it's kinda like..tha same :P

aaand last, but not least. This is the Entel Tower. Thee hugest telecom tower in Santiago. Belongs to one of the major telephone, and internet companies..and it's been here forever. This *landmark* is famous because, on New Year's Eve, all the streets surrounding it are closed, and at midnight, the fireworks come from its top. I spent one New Year's Eve here, and it's a marvellous experience. Ppl celebrating, hugging each other, toasting, while the sky is illuminated for almost an hour, with the coolest fireworks ever.

Green...

..but not as putting green.. yet another rarety of my surroundings...
Several of this ones have been build around the highways. Kinda like a compensation for destroying what was there in the first place... well, can't stop progress.

A place called Home

This..is home.
8161 Hazelnut Street.
I wanted to take a closer shot, but at this point of the year looks pretty damnn rotten..so, I'm waiting till Spring to do the make over... which is actually..uhm...painting :)
Looks wet all around cause I had to water the roses, even though hey are just recovering from the cold.

Clouds...

As I used to do on sunny afternoons when I was a kid...
Clouds... Trying to identify forms, shapes... animals...
How funny the adul mind is.. I just saw clouds...and as it was lunch time, I also saw Chantilly cream, lol

Sun in between..fresh air after the rain... Spring is coming, I'm happy..my allergies not.

Tradition...

Once upon a time, there were three Josephs in my family..My great grandfather, my Granfather and my Father. The ring on the middle finger belonged to the first one, and generation to generation it was passed to the boy named Joseph in the family. But...
As the story goes on, the last *boy* in my family (in the time sonograms didn't exist) was me.
And I happened to be a girl... or more likely, a tomboy, hehe.
But still, Dad left me the mark of the family, so there you have it, probably the only antique I own, and probably I will pass to my little boy, (whose middle name will be Joseph, no matter what my future, currently non-existent husband says)..and so on.
The other one, is my father's wedding band...
And my hands lived happily ever after... boney and ugly, but happy :)

A rarety...

...or a mystery.
The remains of a house, an old mansion or a state maybe? Nowadays is just a home for a palm tree...
No signs, no owners..just abandoned by the side of the road.
Legends around say it's haunted, and by night you can hear eerie things... maybe I should pay a visit by night.. or not.

Giddy up, giddy up...

...let's GO!
Yep, I technically broke an entry trying to take this one.. but hey! They are horses, I love horses, no gate will stop me!!.
There were no guns involved in the taking f this picture :P

A nice end...

...for a nice day...sort of.

Anyways..just trying to be artistic...

Oh yeah...

...we've been invaded....

The day I was waiting for

As our national Anthem says ' Majestic is the White Mountain, given as a Bastion by the Lord'
Well, this is our bastion.

As it reveals itself under the blue skies, clean and fresh after the rain, I'm happy to say, this is probably one of the things I feel proud of..

..this is the first thing I see when I wake up, this is my greeting of every morning...when Mr. Weather allows it that is ;)

SNOW!

I have never been in the snow..The closest I've gotten is the one of the Fridge, but last night...

..it was 2am, no one in my block noticed!
Where I live, the last time this happened here was in 1969..I was happy last night :)
Now, great part of Santiago is under a white veil, mostly the upper parts of the city...but unfortunately I'm stuck at home babysitting, so hopefully next time I'll get better pics :(

My childish side...

...it's probably my fun side *chuckles*

My treats....


My feet...;)

Spring Cometh!

Just before Spring starts, they blossom. At first sight it's just a tree, yellow, sort of allergically flowered tree, but on sunny afternoons, just before the sun sets, when the soft breeze of the end of winter blows, the ambience is invaded by it's smell. A sweet, flowery scent that can calm a simple walk... and make you wonder and remember all the afternoons you played under one of them in long hot summers...before you realise, it causes you a long nigh of sneezes, lol.
This is the Aromo tree or Acacia (with lots of variations), english known as Wattle tree. My favorite tree in the world, and luckily, I have a couple next block.

Majestic under a rare blue sky, first in line in one of my Villa's Plazas. I just love my HOME!!