We have been in Santiago for about two days now. In real terms, this is the end of our stay. We had assumed we would conk out due to jetlag, but that has not really happened. I think this is due to the time difference being pretty small - only three hours - and due to us being tired enough to sleep on the flight. We are staying at a lovely hostel in Barrio Brasil. Its a old building, full of wood panelling. We do not know what it was before it was a hostel - the guy on the desk thinks it was a government building.
The Hostel is in a area full of car parts shops. Every single business seems to be a car parts shop. No idea why. No one we have asked knows why. In the middle of the neighbourhood is a monkey puzzle tree. All the buildings are old and dusty and coming apart.
On the first day, we took the metro out to Las Condes - a modern neighbourhood that reminded me of Vancouver. Its has the same high rise glass buildings and looming mountains. Unlike Canada the mountains are brown - the same colour as the hills over the bay from San Francisco, but much closer and much bigger.
One of the things I like here is that eating and drinking often takes place outside, on the street. The climate supports that. Every now and again, some crazy guy suggests that Edinburgh could have the same cafe culture. Then it starts raining and people make fun of him.
On the first night we ate in a great restaurant and had our first pisco sours, a favourite drink here. They are made from distilled grapes and are very refreshing. Calf testicles were on the menu but we avoided them and had raw wild boar instead.
The second day we wandered out of the neighbourhood around the hostel and into la centro. We toured the old buildings of Santiago. The national museum is a very old building just off the central square, is pretty much incomprehensible without a good grasp of spanish. It also cuts right on a coup in 1973, which was a bit creepy. We then wandered over to the presidential palace and the statue of Allende. The main thing thats different about here is that all the old buildings, offices of government etc are overshadowed by lots of massive grey tower blocks.
We wandered up Cerro Santa Lucia - a hill near the center of town. Looked out over miles of tower blocks and smog. We wandered through the rush hour traffic - which is completely insane by the way, I feel like I am taking an advanced course in jay-walking - into Barro Bellavista. This neighbourhood reminded me of Fremont in Seattle, though without the "set your watch back five minutes" sign. We shunned climbing up a hill to see the papal statue.
We ate curry for dinner. Its not that, uh, exotic, but we freaked out at the idea that we might not eat curry for three months. Was good. So far, a good time being had by all. Had hoped to get some photos on the web, but that has not happened yet.
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