There’s something sneaky about a super comfortable bed and walls that actually block sound ganging up to surreptitiously lower your defenses until – BAM! – it’s 10:00 in the morning and you’re scrambling to make the tail end of breakfast. While a good night’s sleep is not to be taken for granted, my system doesn’t always do well with wondering what we might be missing by not being out and about.

Since we arrived after dark, this is also our first chance to see Santiago, and given all of the mountains we flew over on the way in, we are excited to see it. It’s a great day outside but, as with many big cities, the smog has settled in, leaving only faint outlines of what must be a magnificent panorama on a clear day.

By this point in our journey we’re both a little tired and a little hard to impress. With more time perhaps we’d venture outside of the city into wine country or on a day trip to Valparaiso (which people seem to rave about), but this is a quick stop before flying back home so we consult our guide book for a few local highlight and motivate ourselves out the door.

Our first stop is Cerro San Cristóbal, one of the the highest points in Santiago. While it is possible to walk to the top in about 45 minutes (about 1,000 feet up from the base), we opt for the cable car, which makes a few stops along the way to drop off visitors to the zoo and a few other attractions. All of this is part of a huge city park called Parque Metropolitano that serves as a quiet escape from the chaos of the 8 million people surrounding it.

From the summit, Santiago sprawls out for miles in every direction. The views are impressive, but sadly, the layer of pollution trapped in the valley completely obscures the Andes off in the distance.

Set atop Cerro San Cristóbal is a 72 foot statue of the Virgin Mary. It is not quite the same scale as Christ the Redeemer in Rio, but it is also not cloaked in a thick blanket of fog so maybe that makes it even.

Leaving the park, we pass by this handsome fellow. The hat is particularly nice touch and we can’t help but think of Sam and how crazy he went over the llamas and alpacas in Peru.

We head off on foot towards the Mercado Central, stopping at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes along the way. It is high noon by this point, so it’s a toss up whether we appreciate the air conditioning or the exhibits more, but either way it gives us a nice break before pressing on.

Our goal for the market is to find some last minute gifts for the boys, hopefully finding some food carts along the way or a good spot serving up lomitos. Unfortunately, neither of those turn out to be the case. Most of the shops are selling everyday items for locals (hey kids, we got you something in Chile – underwear!), and what food we do find seems overpriced and uninspiring.

We are stopped several times by good samaritans warning us to hold on to our camera and to keep our phones in our pockets. We’ve never felt unsafe anywhere in South America, but apparently pickpockets and the old snatch and grab are pretty common here. Now that would hardly be worth mentioning, were it not for what happened next.

While passing through the doors to a church, I feel something splatter on the back of my shirt. I immediately look up figuring I’ve been targeted by a group of pigeons roosting on a ledge, but there are none to be seen. As I’m cursing my luck, thinking about how much time we’ll waste going back to the hotel to change, a friendly man shows up with some napkins and starts wiping off my shirt. Two other people soon join, slowly pushing us away from the rest of the crowd as they attempt to clean up the mess.

Suddenly, my astute travel companion feels a tug on her bag, and spins around in time to see one of our sympathetic passersby helping themselves to a wad of our cash. She manages to grab it back before our new “friends” vanish back into the constant flow of people entering and existing the church. As we head back out the door, someone mentions they saw the whole thing and watched the perps head down the street. I’m not sure that actually makes things any better.

Thoroughly down on Santiago after this experience, we do the best we can to clean off whatever slop was thrown on us and head back to the hotel. We’re still without souvenirs however, so after a short break to regroup, we take one last excursion to the Los Dominicos craft market.

All in all, it is a disappointing end to an otherwise spectacular adventure. Today notwithstanding, we love Chile. Chiloé, Patagonia, Easter Island, it was all amazing, and those are only the parts we saw. There’s plenty yet to cross off our list so we’ll definitely be back.

It’s a glorious day for my trusty traveling companion, as after a long journey through Chile, sampling an array of local accommodations, she is safely back in the comfortable surroundings of the Hyatt. She’ll probably say the penguins on Isla Magdalena were the highlight of her trip, but the look on her face tells me there’s a challenger for the title.

Getting here was pretty uneventful. As out flight didn’t leave until the afternoon, we took advantage of our rental to make a quick trip into town for a few last minute gifts and some fresh empanadas. We also stopped by the small museum again, where the exhibits made a whole lot more sense given all that we have seen since our first time through.

The next five hours in a plane was about as exciting as it sounds, but a few more movies helped pass the time, and by 9:00, we started our descent into Santiago. Out the window the sun was setting and, with the Andes in the background, made for quite a sight.

We have just one full day here, and even with our guide books in hand, aren’t exactly sure what we want to see. There are a couple of obvious stops, but unlike Lima and Buenos Aires, there just doesn’t seem to be as much to do. I guess we’ll figure it out in the morning.