The Andes tower over Santiago

It's impossible not to notice the mountain range towards the East of downtown Santiago. I was amazed at how close they appeared, and to how tall they seemed compared to what you see in cities like Denver or Colorado Springs. These are certainly extreme mountains, with elevations reaching over 22,000 ft. To compare, the highest place I had been in the past was Breckenridge, CO which is roughly 13,000 ft above sea level. Denver at 5,200 ft elevation is shadowed by Rocky Mountain peaks topping out just over 14,000 ft. The scale of the mountains over Santiago is really amazing considering the city is at 1,700 ft. That's over twice the vertical drop!

Considering I'm here for the snow, it was reassuring to see white topped mountains from nearly any location in the city. Unfortunately, the pollution is terrible this time of year and doesn't usually blow away until the afternoon. Here are a few photos from the rooftop of the hostel where I lodged. And more photos from the top of Sanctuario Inmaculada Concepión (Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception) which reaches a peak of 2,800 ft. 

From the rooftop of Bellavista Hostel facing East. 

Let's call this the bad side of the hostel, overlooking the alley. The base of this hill, which has the Sanctuario on top, includes a huge statue of the Virgin Mary and is just 2 blocks North of where I stayed. The terrible morning pollution wasn't conducive to good photos. While the statue isn't visible in the photo (it's white), it is lit up with spot-lights after sunset. This made a handy beacon one night after walking back from having drinks at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in the modern/clean/wealthy neighborhood of Los Condes. As you can see, my weekend neighborhood, Barrio Bellavista, has its share of "color". 

This statue of the Virgin Mary is situated on the top of the hill in the previous photo. I thought it was interesting to see the cell phone towers just feet away from this sacred location; perhaps these days even God is on board with mobile communication. About 90% of Chileans are Catholic and there are multiple areas in the city with prominent religious effigies. 

Just below this statue is an open-air ampatheater-like church with an impressive view overlooking the city. Although I ascended the hill on a Saturday, I imagine they hold mass up here on Sunday. But I wouldn't advise any pale-skinned gringos to spend an hour up here without sun screen—the South American sun is intense. 

Meet Thiago from São Paulo, Brasil. I was at first reluctant to ride the funicular up the hill because it's an extremely touristy thing to do. He was staying at the same hostel and wanted to make another trip up here to take photos (his camera battery died on a previous visit). Because my Spanish is mediocre, and conversations with locals tend to be short due to my limited vocabulary, I went on a few outings with some other English speakers from England, Australia, Canada and Brasil who I met at the hostel. It was worth the $1.80 USD fare to access the great view. Alas, the smog remained well into the afternoon on this particular day. 

Rather than ride the funicular back down the hill, we descended by foot giving us a better view of the Los Condes neighborhood to the East. The trek was popular with locals too, as there were quite a few people biking and running up and down the road. I thought of going for a run to get in a little bit of exercise before going to the snow, but decided not considering the pollution. 

View of Los Condes in the foreground, pollution trapped by the mountains hovering over the city and the snow-capped Andes in the distance.