Market Time

We arrived in Santiago, Chile after a 24 hour bus journey from San Pedro. That is one bus, same seats, one stop 7 hours into it. But it was actually quite comfortable and somehow time like the landscaped flew by. We went from craters of the moon yellow shifting sand deserts to lush rolling green hills where the beach was a ten minute drive to the west and snow capped mountains were about an hours drive to the east.

Santiago is a big city inland in a river valley. It is a very scenic city with a pretty strong European feel and strong influence from bohemian street culture. We spent the afternoon and evening after arriving walking around Barrio Brasil. We had fun just following our eyes to the river for views of the city, a couple pretty brilliant modern buildings, beautiful colonial churches and public buildings, murals, cherry tree-lined streets, mechanic shops, and city parks.

Our first full day in Santiago we hit up the markets. The central market was an incredible seafood paradise. It was buzzing with people and atmosphere. The vendors were loud and pushy, but we didn't mind. There were shrimps, clams, mussels, oysters, squid, calamari, octopus, scallops, urchin, and fish of a great variety. After the central market we walked around Vega central a stadium sized market of vegetables and fruit. There were more varieties of everything than we could have imagined.

Next we walked along the river in Park Forestal a beautiful arboretum of trees with a scattering of French and Italian Renaissance revival architecture. The other end of the park gave us an exit into a chic university neighborhood of cafes, stores, and tiny museums. Our stomachs were growling and we wanted to make it to Bellavista at the base of Cerro Christobol for lunch. Bellavista is like the east village or lower east side of New York City. We found a delicious lunch of a kind of sausage stew and we watched the saturday crowds of locals browse stores and lunch al fresco.

Following lunch we went up the hill, the highest in Santiago. The views were incredible. The cities skyline, albeit smoggy, was pretty impressive, but the more awesome view was of the snow capped mountains in the very near background. We enjoyed the view for a while and then started walking downhill toward the neighborhood of Providencia. The residential area really surprised with multimillion dollar homes. It felt like walking around parts of Washington DC with older townhouses intermingled with new commercial and retail buildings along big wide avenues. After recharging our batteries by sitting in a sculpture park and listening to local teenage musicians we thought we would try to find a drink and then dinner in the neighborhood especially since the map and guidebook listed a number of options and an entertainment and dining zone. But you can guess where this story is going.... We ended up walking for two hours unsuccessfully. When we finally found something there was a white table cloth waiters in tuxes cafe and a Ruby Tuesdays next door. We chose the cafe and restrategized. We figure where there are nightclubs there may be restaurants or bars at least so we headed upon recommendation fora long walk in thatdirection. We didn't find anything. Then just before heading back by subway to our hotel and the local grocery store we found a bar with a dinner special of chicken, beef, and pork covered in French fries and hot oil. Not the most appealing but it fed our appetite.