SANTIAGO, Chile — It's autumn in South America and in Chile's capital, Santiago, that means great hiking weather in the steep hills above the city.
Santiago is vast, more than six million people spread over the country's flat Central Valley. Jutting up from the city's busy neighborhoods are forested hills of volcanic rock.
After a few minutes of climbing, the noise and crowds give way to pine forests, birds and sweeping views.
On Cerro San Cristobal, the dust trail rises past beautiful old stone walls. There are wildflowers everywhere and enough shade under the peppercorn trees to sit on a warm Sunday morning and enjoy the view.
Despite the sun, on this day there was still fog down in the valley. The towers and hills of the city seemed to float on clouds.
Near the summit, two men who turn out to be park rangers ride past on beautiful brown horses.
The top of San Cristobal rises nearly a thousand feet above Santiago. It can be crowded. There's a towering white statue of the Virgin Mary where people go to pray.
But a side path leads into the trees where the forest opens to amazing views of the city and the Andes in the distance. The mountains rise up like a curtain wall, crowned by a long buttress of snowfields and ice against the blue sky.
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