The indigenous people monument

This monument, inaugurated in 1992 is dedicated to the "Pueblo Indígena" (Indigenous people), who originally populated Chile. It's located in Santiago's "Plaza de Armas" (downtown main square), and caused a lot of controversy because it shows the broken face of a Mapuche man, although it's a tribute to the bravery of the original inhabitants of Chile.

The Christmas spirit

I took this picture today at the Chilean Main Post Office. Correos de Chile (our public postal service), organizes this event every year, where you can go and read the letters that poor children write to Santa Claus. People choose the letter with more meaning to them and then get that child the present they want. It's a nice initiative, because there are thousand of families that can't afford the presents their children ask Santa Claus.

The empty fountain

I found this empty fountain in the Indian Square I showed you here. It only had some dry leaves inside. It really would add a nice touch to the square, now that summer is only a couple of days away.

100th Post!

Today I'm celebrating my 100th post!
I want to show you the Teresa de los Andes Sanctuary, located in Los Andes, around 80 Km north from Santiago. It's dedicated to Saint Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes, the first chilean saint, canonized in 1993.
It receives more than one hundred thousand pilgrims each month and is a quite beautiful and quiet place, with great surroundings. If you're a catholic person it definitely worths a visit.

The Falabella Palace

Today, walking on the Pedro de Valdivia Avenue, I saw the beautiful Christmas decorations of the Falabella Palace, which houses the Providencia district's Town Hall. There were many people enjoying the evening in the square and the nice chorus of angels on the second floor terrace.

"Welcome to paradise"

Finishing my Sao Paulo series, I wanted to show you the "real" objetive of my trip... To rest peacefully in one of the many beautiful beaches of "Ilhabela" island, located just in front of the Sao Paulo state coast. The island is very safe and has small and cozy hotels and many restaurants. It's definitely a great possibility to consider when planning your next vacations, after Santiago de Chile, of course.

A nordic tradition in the tropic

The Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo is a very nice commercial street. There were many decorated buildings, like the Real Bank. It's funny that in the southern hemisphere Christmas happens during summer so, in a tropical country like Brazil, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus must be sweating a lot!

The anorexic building

In the "Paulista" Avenue in Sao Paulo I saw this very thin building. It's quite weird and made me wonder about its safety. As you can see, it's connected to its neighbor at the roof...

The Andes from above

I took this picture during my flight to Sao Paulo. You can see the Andes Mountain Range from above, always snowy and majestic, when we were crossing to Argentina. Sao Paulo is less than four hours from Santiago... Definitely great for a weekend escape.

A Merry Square

This is a small part of Santiago's main square, the Plaza de Armas.
As you can see, Christmas spirit has arrived, with a big tree just in front of Santiago's Metropolitan Cathedral.
I hope to show you this beautiful cathedral soon.

P.S.: I won't be posting for a couple of days, because tomorrow I'm leaving to Sao Paulo for a couple of days (this time, just for pleasure...). As far as I know, there's no CDPB of Sao Paulo, so I expect to show you some of this huge Brazilian city once I'm back.

A new tobacco law

Some weeks ago, our Senate approved a very restrictive law against tobacco. It includes the prohibition to smoke in public places and the obligation that half of all cigarette advertising (and half of each cigarette package) must include this advice. It shows a man who lost his larynx because of cancer and the phrase "Attention! These cigarettes are killing you".

The White Horse

There's a popular chilean child song called "Caballito Blanco" (Little white horse). The white horse in the picture has verses of this song written on its back. It was nice to find this popular song in the middle of the street.
And its hair look quite funny too...

The golden horse

This golden horse has a very nice face and is a good addition for the horse collection I've been showing you. Tomorrow I'll show you the last one of the sculptures I chose.

The horse and the fakir

Do you remember the fakir in Apoquindo Avenue? Well, I found this painted horse making him company. He's part of a charity campaign and if you look carefully you'll see the painting has a very nice theme.

Another lazy sunday

Yesterday I was capturing some painted horses with my camera and I found this statue at the entrance of a restaurant in El Bosque Avenue. It made me remember this other lazy lion and wanted to show it to you, as today was actually, a Lazy Sunday...

Some very colorful horses

Until Christmas, you can see in El Golf area (Las Condes District), many horses painted by different artists. The goal is to collect some money for a charity campaign. The horses are painted using colors that characterize various companies who, in return, donate some money to the campaign. This horse "belongs" to a radio station. Nice, isn't it?

Can you guess?

I really liked this picture. The contrast of yellow, blue and red is quite bright.
Can you guess what's the object shown in the picture?

The cyclist on the hill

This one is an oldie, but I thought it would be a good successor to yesterday's picture. I caught this cyclist fixing his bike on the San Cristobal Hill. Besides the importance of sport, he also reminded me about the role that alternative means of transportation have in the fight against smog...

Santiago under sunday smog

This is definitely not one of Santiago more popular views... Smog is a big problem in our capital. This picture was taken during a hot sunday in a hiking trip to the Manquehue hill. Do you have similar problems with air pollution in your cities?

The letter to the widow

This statue shows Arturo Prat, one of Chile's greatest heroes, who died during the Naval Battle of Iquique, on May 21, 1879 (which is part of the War of the Pacific). The interesting fact about this statue, located near Forestal Park, is that under Prat's image you can read the letter that the Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau wrote to Arturo Prat's widow after his death, recognizing the bravery of the Chilean hero. The author of the statue is José Carocca Laflor, the same of this one.