Ulla, Thomas Dambo’s giant troll of Santiago in Chile

We had a great time exploring Mandurah near Perth Australia a few months ago while hunting artist Thomas Dambo’s Giants of Mandurah there. So we were pleasantly surprised to find Ulla guarding over the Parque de la Familia here in Santiago, Chile. There is more than a family resemblance between Ulla and younger cousins in Mandurah Santi Ikto, Seba, Jytte, Lui, Vivi and Billy Bob.

There seems to be less information available about Ulla than there is about the more recent Giants of Mandurah. From what we understand, Ulla went on a tour of major Chilean cities before finally resting in Santiago.

The Parque de la Familia is to the west side of the centre of Santiago. Navigation to it is easy – by foot it’s around four kilometres (less if you are starting from the central station) following the largely green southern bank of the Mapocho river. With kids this makes a pleasant half day out as there are several playparks along this stretch of river, as well as the National Museum of Art. As it’s a decent distance out there, it is worth knowing that there are public toilets available. The park also sits between the airport and the city, so we stopped here on our way out of town for our flight south.