Zoo Day

There are multiple zoos in Santiago, and I have heard that Bruin Zoo is actually the best one.  However, it is pretty far south, and let's be honest, for a toddler and a pregnant woman, getting there and back in one piece sounds horrendous.  So, we ventured to a closer zoo (by the San Cristobal Hill that I have posted about previously).  What is a Chilean zoo like? You may wonder.  I did.  So here are some pictures to try to tell the story.

Pretty basic zoo with normal cages, and all the good animals.  Definitely smaller than others.  The last two zoos I have been to were the Houston Zoo and the National Zoo in DC, so it's really difficult to compare because they were such enormous zoos.  The sign in the above picture says not to feed the animals, which was kind of funny considering the below giraffe picture...

 

 You can actually get EXTREMELY close to the animals here.  Which, I don't know if that's for better or worse, but it's definitely different.  Here is an African elephant taking a drink of water.  We moved to the other side of the cage (can you see the black fence behind the elephant?) that's where we were, but I got a little nervous we were too close to the back of the elephant...

 Flamencos! Sadie loves birds, so she truly enjoyed herself here on Steve's shoulders.

 The zoo was on a hill, with a great view you can see in the background.  The lemurs were just climbing up a huge tree. I guess they are just hoping they can't jump very far.

 The giraffes.  My favorite.  Sadie love them too, and you can see that this giraffe is very interested in Steve and Sadie.  Why?  Well because in the picture below the security guard is feeding them. So, they must think everyone does.

We could literally have touched the giraffe and the big black tongue was right upon us.  They are such great animals.

Overall a good zoo.  They had some random animals like a white tiger, polar bears and hippos that are generally not found in smaller zoos.  It is still sad to see these wild animals held in captivity when they should be roaming free (there is the free spirit in me, but I'm the one supporting the zoo by taking my child there).  Very nice day to be outside!

We then went to Bellavista for lunch, which has a great restaurant/shopping area.  A recommendation when in Santiago for sure!  Here is a picture of a "Tabla" that we ordered to share for lunch.

And, Sadie was super into coloring, so we could actually eat it!