Day 3 Santiago Chile 19 March 2015

I had a great nights sleep, woke at about 7am ready for this holiday, jet lag done and dusted!! Deb not so much, she only got about 3 hours last night so an afternoon nap is on the cards.

After breakfast (Is decent coffee really that hard to make!!) we set out to go to the markets down along the river to the farmers and flower market area. It was a really good way to start the day. We negotiated the Uni area, hundreds of students streaming in for lectures, and the peak hour traffic was crazy. We cross the river and had a quick look for the place we were going to have lunch at, but couldn’t find it, so we decided to worry about that later. We walked west along the river through a magnificent park, Parque Forestal, that follows the river all the way to the market area. The river is fairly quiet at the moment, they have been in drought here for about 2 years.

We got to the markets in 15 to 20 mins of easy walking. We were lucky we didn’t leave earlier, as the markets were just setting up as we got there around 9:30am. We saw a small flower market, we were told a lot of the flowers go to the very large cemetery just to the north of the market.  The fruit market we saw was also small, but the fruit looked great, very fresh and about half the cost at home.

From there we crossed back over the river and headed into the main part of Santiago city. We passed through a fairly run down part of town and then came across a magnificent large white building with large white pillars at its entrances and beautiful gardens all around it. We managed to get a guard to let us into the garden and he said something about “Recepcion”. We walked around the gardens taking photos and looking for a way into the building. It wasn’t until we had walked around to the front that we saw a very large entrance way. We tried to go in that way but were directed by security to the side door, Recepecion!

Turns out this was the public entrance Reception to the “Congreso National, Santiago” (The Chilean Parliament House!! At recepcion we asked if anyone spoke English, they all shook their heads, but one man, who looked like he was important around the place, took us under his wing and gave us a quick tour through the two chambers of their Congressional House (deb here, they were 2 of the most magnificent rooms I have been in, they gave me goosebumps, it felt a privilege to be in the rooms, we later learnt via google 🙂 that very few people get to go inside the building)and through the back corridors. At one point we passed a large gathering of the local press, who seemed to be waiting for someone to appear. It was a great tour and our guide eventually took us through the gardens and back to where we came in. Despite his lack of English and our lack of Spanish it was a fantastic tour and Deb gave him a big hug as we said good bye, he was a bit taken aback, but accepted the hug with a huge  warm smile. These are the things that make spontaneous things so special.  (deb again, I loved the way that he continued to enthusiastically speak to us in Spanish even though he knew we did not understand, he was a gorgeous man who delighted in showing us around)

We then walked up to the main part of town and strolled back towards our hotel area through the pedestrian malls and shopping precinct of Santiago. It’s a beautiful city that has signs of enormous wealth in the past, there is also a lot of poverty, a lot of homeless people and rundown areas all mixed in together. The people watching was great, so many characters throughout this city.

As we walked back through the park we saw some guys busking at traffic lights, it’s the first time we have ever seen a four piece Brass Ensemble busk, let alone at traffic lights, they had a great time and their music was fantastic. Today and yesterday we have also seen both jugglers and acrobats busking at the lights here, so much more entertaining than the windscreen washer guys we get at home.

In the park we also watched a couple of guys practicing (or learning) routines on those clothe ribbons they use in circuses these days, it looked like a lot of hard work, none of the grace and effortless ease you see in Circus Soleil.

For lunch Deb had decided on a place called “Fuete Alemana” that she had discovered in Trip Advisor. We had mentioned it at our hotel recepcion, and the young guy there smiled so broadly and rubbed his stomach, enough to tell me that this was going to be one of those South American places where you will never go hungry! The hotel manager told us it was a meat lovers paradise (he was vegetarian so not so much for him). After asking directions we eventually found the place. It was nothing like we expected, very old and drab on the outside and very 1970’s on the inside. It appeared that English is something that rarely gets spoken within these walls, but we managed to get by with lots of smiles. Deb showed a waitress her phone where she had written what it was we were supposed to have when you go there. (You know those sort of bucket list things that you have to do if you ever go to some places – well this was one of those once in a lifetime experiences – apparently).

So we ordered, and that was the start of our fun and games. J  Rather than get their specialty “Lomito with tomato and palta”, Deb had discovered that the “Lomito Italiano and a Schop” was the way to go. So we ordered that, only to be asked if we wanted blanca or noir Schop (Black or white). Well, we looked blankly back at the waitress and she decided we probably wanted the blanca. It’s just coming up to 11:30am, we watch her carefully and she makes her way over to the beer taps and has 2 beers poured for us (and Deb loves beers- NOT). So I got to have my first 2 Chilean beers before midday on our second day here!!  Cheers all.  We also watched on in amazement as our Lomito Italiano was made. Firstly larged quantities of sliced pork were put on a hamburger hotplate to warm through while the waiteress cut a bun in half and proceeded to put a cup each of mayo and avocado on the buns, (exaggeration, but only slightly 🙂 ) then a mass of tomato slices, this was then slapped down on top of the pork which had been put on the other half of the bun!! Sitting up at the counter over looking all the working of this “Restaurant” we have a plate with this Lomito put in front of us together with a knife and fork. A quick scan of the counter made it clear that the local etiquette was that this was to be eaten with the knife and fork, god knows how you might go getting your mouth around this!! We enjoyed the food almost as much as watching the regulars in this fine establishment. We particularly enjoyed the 2 old guys opposite us, they shared 2 different Lomitos and consumed at least 3 beers each in the process.   Such characters.   We were both pleased we came here for lunch, it is one of those places that you remember forever.

From there we made our way back to the hotel and Deb had a bit of a “Siesta”. I took the opportunity to do this blog and go through my photos (I’ll post a few soon, probably on FB)

After Deb woke, I went out for a walk and booked a restaurant for tonight and then walked around to the base of Cerro San Cristobal. We went to the top of the hill here to see the statue last time we were here, so I didn’t make the climb!! There is also a zoo at the base hill, but I didn’t do that either, lol.

Around 7pm we went out to dinner at Barrica 94, when I booked our table the guy there described the place as a Wine Bar that served food. Both were very good. We shared Razor Clams for entre, and Deb had Salmon Cuncato, and I had Plateada. We had Chilean wines with our meal which we both REALLY enjoyed. Deb had a Casa Maria Cartagena 2013 Riesling Valle San Antinio and I had  a Carmen IIII Lustres 2012 Carmenere Valle Maipo (The sommelier helped us in choosing our wine) and the results were very satisfying. 🙂

Tomorrow we head out of Chile on a 5:30pm flight to Ecuador, we have the morning to do a bit more exploring, so we will see what happens.