Cerro San Cristobal...

...is AMAZINGGG. I had seen it on maps and it's easily the biggest park in the city. I had NO idea what it was actually like though. I went with Lily, Lucy, and Mathias. Lily says she goes there once a week or so, which is one more thing that makes her so BA.

So the thing about parks here is that if it's a "cerro," that means it's a hill or a small mountain and "parque" means it's flat. Cerro San Cristobal is huge! We easily hiked two miles up a winding winding winding road to get to the top. It was tiring enough to walk and there were people running and biking! The top reminded me of a Saint Paul Bike Classic rest stop because everyone was relaxing with their bikes and something to drink. Except here you could see alllllll of Santiago plus the Andes. Also, there is no giant statue of the Virgin Mary at any St. Paul rest stop, that I know of. There are several shops at the top of the cerro and one sells mote, which is a chileno drink. We shared one. Wikipedia describes it better than I could.

Lily is superbacán. I can't stress this enough. She gets cooler every day! Today, as we were walking up the hill, she said she really likes people who exercise because they're more sane (yes!). Also, that her family is catholic but she doesn't like to go to mass much because she'd rather be outside and enjoying nature. She says that's when she feels closest to God. She. Rules.

Moral of the story: San Cristobal is my everest. I told Lily I'm going to run up it before I leave Santiago. She says she'll believe it when she sees it. Ha! Sassy. I'm doing it.