Hello Santiago! We decided late in the game to toss in a
couple of days in Santiago, so we were only able to get a flavor for the city.
But in the short time that we had there (2 days), I feel like we got a pretty
nice little tour.
First Night
Getting into the city latish, Andy and I decided to grab
some food and trek around the city a little bit. Finding a nearby restaurant,
we realize that there is old friend that the Chileans have adopted as a
specialty: the hot dog. I quickly learned, however, that there are SIGNIFICANT
differenced between Chilean and ‘Merican hot dogs. While the Chileans know how
to do their toppings, complete with guac, onions, and salsa verde, their bun
choice is SORELY lacking. The bread quickly dissentigrated under the load of
the hot dog and toppings, leading to hand full of hot dog. So disappointing.
We then ventured forth to see if we could make it to Pablo
Neruda’s house and get a tour in before it closed. This house (on
recommendation from a very special Aunt Betsy) was high on my priority list and
wanted to try to get it in as soon as possible. So we set out at a pretty fast
clip to locate the house.
Side Note: I’ve realized, that (due to my freakishly long
legs) my New York fast-walking is somewhere between warp 8 and 9 for most
people. I don’t know if I look like I’m walking absurdly fast, but it feels
like I’m passing people standing still.
Getting to the house with 15 minutes until close (after a 25
minute walk), we decided that we probably couldn’t see the house in that time
period and fully soak it in. A little disappointed, we left again to just
wander around the monuments of the city (Cathedral, La Moneda, the theatre, the
Plaza de las Armas, Bellevista district) while Sabrina and Joey were getting
into the city. Luckily all of these things were on the way back from the La
Chascona (Pablo Neruda’s house). All of these were beautiful in at night and we
even stumbled into a church service in the national cathedral:
Dinner and Drinks
Grabbing dinner, Andy and I decided to try one of the places
that had been mentioned in a review that he read: Bar nacional. One tenderloin
sandwich and 830ml of beer to fuel me, we decided to head on back and meet up
with Sabrina and Joey and head out for more drinks in the Brazil district.
Meandering over for 10 or 20 minutes, we ended up at a bar in the district
called (ironically) Buenos Ayres.
First in line for the drinks was, of course, the Chilean pisco
sour! Having had a good sampling of Peruvian pisco sours, we were all set to
determine the winner of this decades long battle. Here’s the scorecard
breakdown:
Presentation: Chile
(Chile served in more of a champagne flute vs. the Peruvian tumbler)
Taste: Chile (The
Peruvian was simply too sweet, while the Chilean was spot on)
Winner: Chile (by a
large margin)
Having settled that debate. We moved onto more local beer.
Both Andy and I ordered a litre of beer from a local microbrew. If you haven’t
ever experienced a litre of beer; it’s pretty much the size of your head. So,
knowing that I’m ordering a litre, I make the patently unwise decision to go
for the Negro (dark beer) of the micro brewery.
Not sure what I was thinking, but this was a TERRIBLE decision: a liter
of beer is one thing; a liter of a heavy beer is quite a different animal. But,
put a decent beer in front of me and it will be drunk; it’s just in my nature.
So, another liter of beer in me (running total: 1.83 litres
of beer), we headed back to the apartment and had a beautiful night’s sleep.
Santa Lucia and the cannon
Don’t really have time to share all of the exploring
stories, but the pictures should help explain. However, there is one worth
mentioning: the cannon.
So, after setting out in the late morning, we trekked over
to Santa Lucia, where there are supposedly some great views of the city (it was
overcast when we were there). As promised, there were some spots where you
could see over the city and all the way up to the Andes. Worth the price of
admission (free).
Climbing to the top of Santa Lucia, there is what looks like
a fortress wall, but it has the best city overlook in the park. So we headed up
to check out the view, and after snapping a couple of pictures and enjoying the
views we turned to walk back down. I’m out front and turn to check on everybody
after the first flight of stairs. I see that Andy is immediately behind me and
the BANG! I see a white flash out of
the corner of my eye and feel a concussion in my chest. The reaction mode of my
body takes over and I drop to one knee and look around to see what the fuck is
under attack. Seeing that nothing is under attack (except for the dozen cars
who’s alarms are now going off) and that everybody else seems pretty calm, I
come to realize that this is actually a normal occurrence. As it turns out,
every day at noon, they shoot off a fricking cannon from the tower that we were
standing on, and not one of those ones that you see at high school football
games, an honest to goodness cannon. Collecting the majority of pride and lower
half of my bowels, I continued to make my way down the hill…
There were other things that happened in Santiago, such as
La Chascona, the Street art of Bellevista, and a leisurely lunch, but they can
all be encapsulated in the pictures:
(In Santa Lucia park, pre-cannon)
(La Chascona)
(some Bellevista street art)
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