By the time we arrived in Santiago, it was early evening. We found our way to our bed and breakfast from the bus terminal by metro. We came to an apartment building in the neighbourhood of Provedencia. The bed and breakfast was run by a Chilean lady in her ground floor apartment. It was a great recommendation by another person in Chile.
After a very thorough welcoming and explanation of various things inside and outside the apartment by our host, we ventured out to a neighbouring 'barrio' called Bellavista. This neighbourhood is known as Santiago's bohemian quarter. Many artists and intellectuals, now living there, followed the footsteps of Pablo Neruda who owned, another, house in the same neighbourhood. The house is called, La Chascona. After visiting 2 of the poet's houses, in and around Valparaiso, we decided that was more than sufficient, at least for this trip!
While in Bellavista we, briefly, took in an outdoor market, selling crafts, clothes etc. Next we walked the circumference of a very large block, containing restaurants and bars along its perimeter. The block, inside was also built-up with outdoor/indoor restaurants/bars and even boutique shops. The latter, is known as "Patio Bellavista" and is very popular among locals and tourists, alike. We on the otherhand, were a little overwhelmed by a) the number of people and b) the choice, that was waaaaayyy to big. Had we done some online research for reviews, beforehand, we would have been able to find a restaurant a lot quicker. Instead, it took us at least an hour and a walk around this area one and a half times, in order to pinpoint a restaurant that we both agreed on (not hard, as we usually agree to the same...most of the time :) ).
I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was quite atmospheric inside and had two levels. We sat on the upper level and while the food was fair, the mixed juices we ordered we great! During dinner, we also experienced our first power-outage during our travels and so were forced to eat under candlelight for the majority of our time there...very romantic :) and something we did not mind at all, as the fairly loud music inside, had to come to a stop!
The next morning, we were greeted with the best breakfast, ever (since our travels). Not only did we have a choice of cereals, but also had freshly toasted buns, slices of avocado, cold slices of turkey meat, a selection of delicious jams and a very light, soft cow's milk cheese. Our host told us that they have the cheese along with some jam, on the toast....hhmmm! I thought it was a delicious combination. During breakfast, we met another couple from Norway. They were heading off to Valparaiso that morning. When we told them that we had just come from there and the lady started asking us questions about the beach etc. It seems that they were actually going to stay predominantly in Viña del Mar. She especially seemed to be anxious about being able to spend time at the beach and swim. We were, maybe a little too, honest about the fact that the main beach of Viña del Mar, was not very conducive for swimming (and mentioned about the signs, stating so). She appeared to get a little worried but intermittently repeated that there was a "pool at their hotel", as if to console herself, and that "that would be fine"....We did, however, mention that there were possibly better beaches fairly nearby, further up north. I seriously hope that they were able to find a much nicer and calmer beach than the one we went to (maybe there are such beaches...but we missed out on seeing them). We also shared our story about traveling for a number of months and that Rakesh had to quit his job in order to do so. In response, the Norwegian girl remarked, "you're kidding, right?"...she really thought Rakesh was joking!! [Rakesh writes: The girl told me that she manages to get 7 weeks of vacation every year in Norway....if only that were true everywhere].
After breakfast we started our day by heading out to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. The museum was inaugurated in 2010 and as you can imagine it reveals in depth information about the Pinochet dictatorship and the resulting atrocities. Since most of the museum's documentation was in spanish, I decided to get an audio guide in english. Due to limited time, I could not listen to the whole audio guide and at times had to skip over bits that were way too graphic for me to listen too. The museum definitely highlights a very disturbing and dark period in Chile and does a very good job of it!! By the time we left the museum we were, ofcourse, extremely moved and depressed.
[Rakesh writes: The worst experience for me was seeing the video of survivors who described the torture they endured. This was horrific and tragic. ]
In order to reflect a little, we took a short stroll and sat down in a park next to the museum. We needed this short period of time get ourselves into another frame of mind so that we could move onto the next part of our day.
Our next visit was to the Pueblito Los Dominicos, a handicraft village. It was a place recommended to us by our B&B host. Just visiting this place was interesting in that it resembles an old colonial village situated in the historical neighborhood of Los Dominicos. The village is enclosed by a wall and is filled with all sorts of boutique-like shops that sell anything from copper utensils, wool clothing to jewelry It was a feast for the eyes and that was about it. Unfortunately, or should I say, fortunately most of the goods were way out of our budget. I say fortunately, or else we would have been tempted to buy a lot more than we did. I end up with a scarf...not very expensive, due to the fact that it wasn't handmade, but nevertheless, colourful. We also bought a couple of rudimentary clay bowls, similar to those that we ate out of during our stay on the island of Amantani in Peru. We enjoyed eating out of these bowls and thought we should keep up the tradition, even in our own home. Oh, I almost forgot about the tiny Lapis lazuli studs... Lapis lazuli, is a semi-precious stone that is only found in two countries: Chile and Afghanistan. It is a fairly dark and intense blue stone. I was told that it brings good-luck and prosperity. Since it is pretty expensive, I settled for some studs inlaid with tiny lapis lazuli stones, just to have something that may bring me good luck and prosperity :), but also something quite typical of Chile. I guess we didn't do so badly, after all!!
[Rakesh writes: The worst experience for me was seeing the video of survivors who described the torture they endured. This was horrific and tragic. ]
In order to reflect a little, we took a short stroll and sat down in a park next to the museum. We needed this short period of time get ourselves into another frame of mind so that we could move onto the next part of our day.
Our next visit was to the Pueblito Los Dominicos, a handicraft village. It was a place recommended to us by our B&B host. Just visiting this place was interesting in that it resembles an old colonial village situated in the historical neighborhood of Los Dominicos. The village is enclosed by a wall and is filled with all sorts of boutique-like shops that sell anything from copper utensils, wool clothing to jewelry It was a feast for the eyes and that was about it. Unfortunately, or should I say, fortunately most of the goods were way out of our budget. I say fortunately, or else we would have been tempted to buy a lot more than we did. I end up with a scarf...not very expensive, due to the fact that it wasn't handmade, but nevertheless, colourful. We also bought a couple of rudimentary clay bowls, similar to those that we ate out of during our stay on the island of Amantani in Peru. We enjoyed eating out of these bowls and thought we should keep up the tradition, even in our own home. Oh, I almost forgot about the tiny Lapis lazuli studs... Lapis lazuli, is a semi-precious stone that is only found in two countries: Chile and Afghanistan. It is a fairly dark and intense blue stone. I was told that it brings good-luck and prosperity. Since it is pretty expensive, I settled for some studs inlaid with tiny lapis lazuli stones, just to have something that may bring me good luck and prosperity :), but also something quite typical of Chile. I guess we didn't do so badly, after all!!
Ok, so, I was also in search of some pants that I found to be very popular among tourists and locals, too. Since I did not find these in the Pueblito, we headed over to another market which is a lot less expensive. Here, I found my pants, but upon looking at the label, I saw that they were made in India!! Not in Chile! As for many of the other products in this market, one could not be sure if an item was from Chile, or some other part of South America. Rakesh looked at a bamboo pipe and found out it was from Indonesia!!! It was near closing time, so we scouted over the market but to avoid making any hasty purchases, we decided to come back the next day.
We had heard about an up and coming area known as Lastarria, which was just a few minutes walk away from the market. While there, we could see the gentrification that's taken place in the area with hip restaurants and cafes etc. We sat in a cafe to have some homemade icecream and then made our way back to the B&B, about a 45 minute walk.
As soon as we got to the hostel, we turned around and went back out to find the local grocery stores. We bought a bottle of wine and some ingredients for a pasta dish. Soon after we started cooking, at the B&B, the owner,Maria, walked in. We invited her to join us for dinner and she gladly accepted. We sat out on her patio area and enjoyed our delicious pasta,wine and great conversation.
We spoke about Chile and learned about its current political situation. Somehow, due to the fact that we mentioned we had been to the Museum of Memory, we ended up touching upon the subject of Maria's life during the Pinochet regime. Our conversation lead to this subject naturally, however we were hesitant as to whether it would be too sensitive of a subject for her. Maria didn't seem to mind speaking about her experience and we, on the other hand, were quite astounded by what she told us!! Briefly, since her father worked for the government her family was completely shadowed from the atrocities and the rigidness of the regime. She mentioned that after graduating from highschool, she and a friend went travelling in Europe. When others found out they were from Chile, they were surprised by the fact that they were allowed out of the country and spoke about all the genocides etc. that they heard about on TV. Maria mentioned that this was the first time she had any knowledge of such atrocities!! Our whole conversation about past and present Chile was definitely a mind opener!
We had heard about an up and coming area known as Lastarria, which was just a few minutes walk away from the market. While there, we could see the gentrification that's taken place in the area with hip restaurants and cafes etc. We sat in a cafe to have some homemade icecream and then made our way back to the B&B, about a 45 minute walk.
As soon as we got to the hostel, we turned around and went back out to find the local grocery stores. We bought a bottle of wine and some ingredients for a pasta dish. Soon after we started cooking, at the B&B, the owner,Maria, walked in. We invited her to join us for dinner and she gladly accepted. We sat out on her patio area and enjoyed our delicious pasta,wine and great conversation.
We spoke about Chile and learned about its current political situation. Somehow, due to the fact that we mentioned we had been to the Museum of Memory, we ended up touching upon the subject of Maria's life during the Pinochet regime. Our conversation lead to this subject naturally, however we were hesitant as to whether it would be too sensitive of a subject for her. Maria didn't seem to mind speaking about her experience and we, on the other hand, were quite astounded by what she told us!! Briefly, since her father worked for the government her family was completely shadowed from the atrocities and the rigidness of the regime. She mentioned that after graduating from highschool, she and a friend went travelling in Europe. When others found out they were from Chile, they were surprised by the fact that they were allowed out of the country and spoke about all the genocides etc. that they heard about on TV. Maria mentioned that this was the first time she had any knowledge of such atrocities!! Our whole conversation about past and present Chile was definitely a mind opener!
Although the next day was our last in Santiago, we had quite a few hours to kill before our night flight back to the U.S. of A!! We first found our way to the Cerro San Cristobal, a hill on which a statue of Virgin Mary is located. A Virgin and not a Christo, this time!! It was our first Virgin statue that we saw and knew of, in South America. The statue is approx. 22m tall and is very well done. It sits above a nice plant filled ampitheatre where we saw people sitting to pray.
We decided to spend the rest of our time walking around the city center since we had not been to that area yet. We saw pedestrian roads lined with shops, street food carts, the usual, but different, Plaza des Armas, a cathedral and, last but not least La Moneda (the presidential palace). After this already long walk, we ended up going even further in order to return to the market we visited the day before. There, I bought a bracelet to add to our collection [we bought bracelets in every country we visited, as a cheap souvenier]. Rakesh bought a number of leather strings, in different colours and made his own bracelet (I assisted). I tried on those popular pants I mentioned earlier, but then decided that I wasn't taken by them and saved ourselves a little money...it was just as well, since they're not even made in Chile!
Before returning to the B&B, I had a bee in my bonnet to try a very intriguing drink that Rakesh and I first encountered in the hands of locals on the island of Chiloé. Although, I was tempted at that time to just get one, I was held back by the fact that it look somewhat unappetizing. However, on our last day in Santiago, I noticed an english-speaking Chilean drinking the same. I dared to ask him what it was. He said it was delicious and a popular refreshing drink consisting of a whole dehydrated peach, peach juice and some barley!! The drink is called Mote con Huesillo. At the market, I asked where we could find one of these drinks and we were directed to a street cart, near by. I actually enjoyed it. The dehydrated peach becomes rehydrated in the peach juice and is actually pretty good!! Ah! I was satisfied after finally being able to try this drink that I was so curious about!!
We returned to the B&B, by foot, in time to shower and head off to the airport...
It was our last day of our 3 month stint in South America and we were ending it with bang...a flight to Los Angeles on the 31st of December. Another new experience! New Year's eve on a plane!! It was surprisingly quite special...the cabin crew poured out glasses of champagne and at Chilean midnight, the pilot announced the New Year!! We heard various people clinking and cheering. It doesn't end here...We had a stopover in Lima, Peru during which we had to remain on the plane. In the meantime, we looked out the window and saw fireworks as we coincided with Peruvian midnight!! Not so bad...New Year's eve with champagne and fireworks...all while on/from a plane!!!
We decided to spend the rest of our time walking around the city center since we had not been to that area yet. We saw pedestrian roads lined with shops, street food carts, the usual, but different, Plaza des Armas, a cathedral and, last but not least La Moneda (the presidential palace). After this already long walk, we ended up going even further in order to return to the market we visited the day before. There, I bought a bracelet to add to our collection [we bought bracelets in every country we visited, as a cheap souvenier]. Rakesh bought a number of leather strings, in different colours and made his own bracelet (I assisted). I tried on those popular pants I mentioned earlier, but then decided that I wasn't taken by them and saved ourselves a little money...it was just as well, since they're not even made in Chile!
Before returning to the B&B, I had a bee in my bonnet to try a very intriguing drink that Rakesh and I first encountered in the hands of locals on the island of Chiloé. Although, I was tempted at that time to just get one, I was held back by the fact that it look somewhat unappetizing. However, on our last day in Santiago, I noticed an english-speaking Chilean drinking the same. I dared to ask him what it was. He said it was delicious and a popular refreshing drink consisting of a whole dehydrated peach, peach juice and some barley!! The drink is called Mote con Huesillo. At the market, I asked where we could find one of these drinks and we were directed to a street cart, near by. I actually enjoyed it. The dehydrated peach becomes rehydrated in the peach juice and is actually pretty good!! Ah! I was satisfied after finally being able to try this drink that I was so curious about!!
We returned to the B&B, by foot, in time to shower and head off to the airport...
It was our last day of our 3 month stint in South America and we were ending it with bang...a flight to Los Angeles on the 31st of December. Another new experience! New Year's eve on a plane!! It was surprisingly quite special...the cabin crew poured out glasses of champagne and at Chilean midnight, the pilot announced the New Year!! We heard various people clinking and cheering. It doesn't end here...We had a stopover in Lima, Peru during which we had to remain on the plane. In the meantime, we looked out the window and saw fireworks as we coincided with Peruvian midnight!! Not so bad...New Year's eve with champagne and fireworks...all while on/from a plane!!!
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