A word about sunsets. Do you remember those little questionnaires that you gave your friends when you were younger that were supposed to predict what kind of life you’d have, who you’d end up with etc. etc. There was inevitably always two questions: 1. which do you like better, the beach or mountains and 2. which do you prefer, the sunrise or sunset.
Two impossible questions to answer! I think I always put “I don’t know” or “both” as my answers…meaning, of course, that I was bound for spinsterhood or would marry a hobo and live in a cardboard box.
Lucky for me those questionnaires were bogus and my real life is just fine.
But back to sunsets.
Adam and I have had many sunsets and sunrises to contemplate which is better and,honestly, we think that we enjoy the sunsets more. On that perfect evening when the sun just ignites the sky with ridiculous shades of red, pink, orange and yellow, impossibly leaving hints of turquoise blue sky. Colors that seem so unreal and yet are happening right in front of your eyes.
Daily phenomena like that are just incredible.
Finding a great spot to watch said phenomena…well that would be a whole other story about the art of sunset chasing, and the inevitable multiple disappointments you encounter on the way.
But not this day in Santiago. Oh no. On this day we had success. We waited out the rain on our second day here and jumped at the first legit break to walk to the tallest hill in Santiago: Cerro San Cristobal which had a funicular to the very top providing excellent views of Santiago (or Santiago’s smog, depending on how much rain there has been recently…in that perspective we were showered with luck).
Up we go to the top to take in the breathtaking sights of Santiago and, of course, her pals The Andes, which seem so much closer than from our hotel. There is actually a church and several monuments on this hill, most dedicated to the Virgin Mary including the huge statue of her a-la-Rio-Jesus. There were gardens everywhere full of blooming roses. It was a beautiful setting for the show nature was about to bestow upon us.
We grabbed two cafe’s and an empanada and headed over to stake out our spot – after thoroughly investigating all potential ‘sunset spots’ (sunset chasing requires patience…it’s an art form) we decided to wait out the sun directly next to the Pope. Pretty sweet.
The sun is tricky, always making you think that you’ve seen the last of the sunset, or believing that maybe there won’t be any actual color to today’s sunset. To those who are tricked by the sun into thinking these things: Suck it up and stay put, amateurs!
Without fail I always start to doubt that the sunset will “get awesome” about 20 minutes before it does just that. Stay put. Trust me.**
**Except, of course, when there just won’t be a sunset due to cloud cover, hurricanes, nap time, happy hour…there are millions of ways the sunset just won’t happen. Did I mention this is an art form?
There really are no words that better describe what we saw, especially when Adam was there to take a million pictures. One of the best sunsets we’ve seen (and unlike in Valpo, Adam was actually able to capture this one to his heart’s content).
