"Buenos Días Sra Presidenta" proclaimed the 50-strong Palace Guard as the President, Mrs McAleese, and President Ricardo Lagos of Chile entered the Palacio de la Moneda on Alameda Bernardo O'Higgins in Santiago.
Yesterday, the start of President McAleese's state visit to Chile, was a day of ceremonial dominated by homage to the country's founding father, Bernardo O'Higgins. The Moneda, where Mrs McAleese had talks with President Lagos and where last night she was guest of honour at a state dinner, was bombed during the 1973 military coup and where President Allende died by gunfire. It has since been restored and is again the centre of government.
Ireland, she said, greatly welcomed Chile's return to its long-established democratic ways and the manner in which it was seeking to ensure growing economic prosperity was accompanied by increasing social cohesion.
The President started her day by laying a wreath in the Irish colours at the O'Higgins monument, the customary opening ceremony on all state visits. She was escorted by the mounted regiment of Granaderos and the military band in steel helmets, reflecting their early Prussian traditions, played the national anthems as the national flags were unfurled.
O'Higgins, the illegitimate son of Ambrose O'Higgins, the Sligo- born Governor of Chile and later Viceroy of Peru, is revered throughout the country as the Liberator.
Mrs McAleese said that while proud of its past links with Chile, and astonished to see such names as MacKenna and O'Brien featuring in Chilean history, Ireland also wanted contemporary links. At the University of Chile, where an honorary doctorate was conferred on her, she said she was intrigued by the relationship between the Andean Jaguar and the Celtic Tiger, mentioned by Prof Francisco Orrego in his address. Considering what Ambrose O'Higgins had created with his Chilean partner, the possibilities were interesting she said.
The President, however, spoke on the EU and how Ireland had achieved such success. Past experience of enlargement, she said "suggests that the coupling of the enthusiasm of the new members with the experience of the old members will rejuvenate the Union and bring a dynamic new momentum to our work, including our work on the international stage.
"Our relations with Latin America will be no exception," Mrs McAleese added.