Final day in Santiago before heading south to the Lake District.

First on the agenda was Cerro San Cristóbal, a viewpoint hill by Bellavista with an extensive park behind it. The funicular railway to the top was, typically, under renovation and so the options were to walk up, wait (a very long time) for a free shuttle bus or wait for a cab. It being a nice day we opted for a pleasant walk.

It turned out to be 6km uphill to the top. After 20 minutes in the scorching sun I'd had enough and we turned back.

Plan B was a cab. We joined the queue and waited. And waited. And were then told that some march or other was obstructing the route and we'd have to wait another 20 minutes minimum. Knowing what "20 minutes" means in Chile we gave up and popped over to the nearby La Chascona, the Santiago house of the poet Pablo Neruda. We'd already visited his Valparaiso home, La Sebastiana. However, it being our unlucky day the next English tour wasn't for another 90 minutes and the next Spanish one even later.

Plan C, investigate a walking route up the other side of the hill. Bad idea.

Plan D, wait for a cab again. Success.

The hill is topped by a large statue of the Virgin Mary and has fantastic views over the city and the snow capped mountains surrounding it. Very pretty. The park behind is also lovely, a mix of woodlands, manicured sections, the odd swimming pool and so on. It being Sunday afternoon it was full of locals and tourists alike making the most of the hot weather.

Once the heat and hunger began to get the better of us we headed for the nearest metro station to go back into the centre. En route there just happened to a be a brand spanking new mall. Having exhausted the (admittedly short) list of cultural activities we thought "what the hell" and headed for the air conditioning. Although the mall was actually very very good, unfortunately our travelling budget didn't stretch to actual shopping. That said we did part with a few pesos in an outdoor adventure shop. And the food court ha ha.

However something pretty unusual did take place. We noticed that hoards of people had begun to congregate around the escalator wells and walkway 'fences', basically anywhere with a view. Also there were groups of younger people (how old do I sound?) kind of acting a bit strange here there and everywhere (nothing unusual there ha ha). Suddenly all the groups froze in choreographed poses - hugging or forming heart shapes etc. They stayed like this for a few minutes, every so often more groups forming. Then music re-started on the mall PA system and all the groups began a well rehearsed dance routine. Well, mostly well rehearsed, there were a few folks clearly involved only through pity! Anyhow, half way through the routine they all took off their tops to reveal matching orange t shirts underneath. Turns out there was a global "freeze mob" and flash mob that day in support of World Kindness (or somesuch). I thought flash mobs were a thing of the past, apparently not and it was actually very cool to witness one. Well done Santiago.

The only odd thing was that most people in the mall seemed to have pre-warning it was going to happen. Surely this detracts somewhat from the point?

Oh, and there was an excellent supermarket in the mall too ;)

After all the excitement that remained to do was pop back to the hostel to get our bags and catch the overnight flat bed bus to Pucón.