We left Pucón and headed to Temuco where we caught a plane to Santiago. We arrived in Santiago at about 1:30. We were picked up at the airport by George, from Protours, and he took us to our hotel. While driving he answered a lot of our questions. We talked about Chilean wine and the best valleys for growing grapes. He told us that Chile accepts a lot of migrants and it is a burden on their social systems. He also said that their biggest export is copper, most of which gets shipped to China where they make it into other things. He told us some good restaurants and a little bit about Santiago. He talked about how many people had to have multiple jobs just to make ends meet. We covered a lot of ground in just 30 minutes.
We got settled in our hotel room. As I mentioned before Rick broke the viewfinder protector on his camera. We had tried to find another one in Punta Arenas without any luck. So once we arrived in Santiago Rick looked up the local Nikon supplier and we were off to find a new protector for his viewfinder. We took the subway which was quite easy to navigate and found the store but no protector so it will have to wait until we get home.
Then we went out to find some lunch, a very late lunch. We went to a place on the other side of the river that George recommended. Food seems very expensive here and lunch for two is typically about $50. After lunch/dinner we walked around a little bit before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.