Last day in Santiago

Yesterday our first stop was the place where Santiago was founded, Cerro Santa Lucia. The director of my program, Lizette, told us all about the history. This monument was constructed I think around 1900. The cerro (hill) was originally a fortress for the first Spaniards there. This is a part of the fortress, at the very top of the cerro. The view from the top was absolutely incredible, especially because it was such a clear day- relatively early on Sunday=not as much smog as there usually was.
The view from partway up.
Then we drove to the outskirts of the city where there was this Dominican church and a bunch of artesans' shops. We had lunch there and then we had a little time to shop.

After that we drove to Valparaíso y Viña del Mar-we traded mountains for the ocean. I'll have pictures of that later. I am with my family now, they are really great. Mamá, Papá, a sister- Alejandra- 23 years old, and a brother-Ian-11 years old. I have my own room and I share a bathroom with Ale and with the other girl from the US, Sarai. They have a really nice house, and all the food so far had been great too. I'll say more later- right now I need to go get a shower because Mamá just showed me how to light the hot water heater. ¡Chao!