Post 95: First few days in Santiago

Fellow adventurers,

The arrival from Calama into Santiago was smooth.  We arranged to meet with my sister, Gabrielle and her boyfriend John at an apartment we had booked in the city center, in which we anticipated.  After a quick taxi ride through the city of 6 million people, Gabby greeted us in the hallway on our 6th floor apartment.  The remainder of the day was spent meandering about, looking for some things we needed; and then making plans for our time spent in Santiago.  For dinner, Gavin and I introduced our traveling guests to some South American chinese cuisine, at the local chifa.  To our surprise, the restaurant was occupied with drunk men, in which we assumed were gay.  We then titled it the 'Gaysian' restaurant, an inside joke for days to come.

The sun shined down on us, as we toured the main sights of the city center on our second day.  Luckily, throughout our stay, we would enjoy warm, breezy days and cool nights, much of like you'd find in southern, coastal California.  La Moneda Palace, or the Presidential Palace, was our first stop. It is famous for the suicide Salvador Allende during the coup of 1973.  Onwards, we headed to the Plaza de Armas, where Gabby took in the majestic National Cathedral.  Moving on, we visited the Mercado Central, a large market with many seafood restaurant and produce stands, which cater mostly to tourists.  During our time there, we were offered king crabs (the largest we've ever seen) over complimentary pisco sours to feast on in the restaurants.  We passed, when we learned of the $200 price tag.  

Along the river, which was mostly dry, runs a lovely park known as Parque Forestal.  We walked along there for quite some time, until we reached the trendy Bella Vista district.  There you are able to climb the Cerro San Cristobal, via a funicular.  To our dismay, the line was quite long, and we were too hungry to wait in the scorching sun, so we planned to return the following day to explore this vast park.  Having previously read about some Chilean cuisine, we scoured the many restaurants in Bella Vista in search of some.  Some dishes for lunch we enjoyed were Choriallanos, a dish of thickly cut potato fries, topped with sauteed onions, thick beef tips, and 2 fried eggs; and Pastel de Choclo, a corn casserole with meat stuffing.  Hot dogs are quite popular here as well, although they're much larger and come with many varieties of toppings than what you'd see in the states.  Traditionally, they're often topped with tomatoes, avocados and mayonnaise in copious amounts.

Monday, we rented beach cruising bicycles to further explore the vast city. We headed back to Cerro San Cristobal, where we made much effort at climbing the long, windy road up to the Virgin Mary statue overlooking the city.  It was a difficult feat, and one we could have more easily accomplished had we had better bikes, water, and had it not been so warm and sunny.  But alas, we endured and eventually made it to the top.  The views were expansive, presenting to us what looked to be cities, within a city. The Andes lay in the hazy distance.  Our ride down was rewarding, as the temperatures cooled and the wind blew through our hair as we winded by various gardens and tall trees at very high speeds.  

The road we took down let us off in the lovely, residential Providencia neighborhood.  We passed picturesque, gated homes on our way towards a very old famous sandwich shop, Fuenta Alemana.  I enjoyed the 'lomito' sandwich, which consisted of roasted pork, cheese, avocado and tomato.  Gavin had the a similar sandwich, but with a beef and pork fritter.  As did Gabby and John, but with chorizo and beef.  All of our sandwiches were quite delicious, and savory. 

Afterwords, we rode back towards the Mercado Central, on the other end of the city.  We took the bike lanes through one park after another, passing many couples along the way young and old, taking in the scenery and the lovely weather. People seemed so happy here and romantic with one another. It may be their latino culture, but I also wondered if it could also be due to Chile's thriving economy, in which Florus (our apartment owner), had explained to us when we arrived that it had grown by 600%-700% in recent years.  Back by the Mercado, we went into a popular bar both with locals and tourists alike, to try an 'Terremoto', or earthquake.  This rather sweet drink is pineapple ice cream, mixed with white wine and other liquors.  Tasty, but more than one would certainly hurt your head.

The next day was spent in the lovely, bohemian, port city of Valparaiso, also know as Paradise Valley, in which to be continued...

June y Gabby y Gavin y John