Well, on my last full day in Santiago I did run into a public bathroom that had (toilet) paper next to the sink to dry your hands. Eureka!, I thought, but then peered into one of the stalls and noticed that there was no toilet paper there.   As Milton Friedman observed, there is no such thing as a free lunch and I really had to question the trade off.  Moreover, I think it could really have been a bit of sticky wicket if multiple people were trying to use the stalls at once and had not realized the location of the TP before stall entry.  Fortunately not the case while I was there.

Went on a walking tour of Santiago and it was quite interesting.  The main cathedral, built in on the site of the orginal church (1550), was very impressive, even awesome, particularly on the inside.  

The  present cathedral was built in 1787 (many old buildings were destroyed by the frequent earthquakes, evidently an ever present issue in Chile).  Liike much of Santiago, or other parts of South America, the old is juxtaposed to the modern.

The fresh fruit and fish markets of Santiago are somewhat famous.  The fruit market in particular is a chaotic, hurley-burley display of huge quantities of brightly displayed fruits and vegatables at great prices-

I could not resist and ended up buying some great looking strawberries.  But the problem was, what does a tourist do with a kilo (everything was kilo sized- I think about 2.2 lbs) of strawberries, even if they are only $1.50?  Sit on a park bench and try eat as many as you can, that is what (not my brightest idea).

The fish market was smaller and had more fish restaurants than fish vendors-

Fortunately, I resisted the urge to buy any fish, notwithstanding the apparent bargains on offer.

So, this is my final blog on my South American sojurn.  A Canadian woman on the walking tour asked me what was the highlight of my trip, a natural question, but one I was relunctant to answer.  After reflecting on it, I think the highlight was not one thing, but the great diversity of experiences I had while here.  I have not been on a trip that had so much variety in all its aspects from the weather, to the diverse and often spectacular scenery, to the different wildlife (including ostriches, porpoises, condors, guanacos, lizards, monkeys, woodpeckers, penguins, jack asses, stray dogs, etc.), to the different activities, to all the people I met.  As is my wont, I walked and hiked quite a bit and the landscape and cityskape were ever changing.  I had interesting and more than passing conversations with people from all over the world and, while I met some (very nice) Americans, I met far more people from Europe, Israel and South America.

  But perhaps the biggest thrills came as the result of the unexpected- from the stunning snow capped high Andes emerging from the mist on the road to Mt. Aconcagua, to the "fantastic" 360 view on Cerro Lopez in Bariloche, to jumping off the rock into the cold river in Pucon, to the hilarious currency talk on the Buenos Aires walking tour, to meeting the nice young Chile couple who had just started as hoteliers at the beautiful little hotel I stayed at in Santiago and who suggested and then let me take a complimentary shower at the end of my (very hot) final day so that I would be comfortable on the long trip home.  A little thing but very nice and unexpected.

thanks for reading