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Published: June 18th 2008
So we left Buenos Aires sadly... there were many things we had wanted to see but didn´t have time. We headed across the Andes to Santiago, Chile to see my brother George, who has been living here for the past 4 weeks teaching a class as a visiting professor. We arrived in Santiago and were mesmerized by the view of snow capped peaks in the distance. In Santiago, George had arranged for us to stay at the Hotel Orly in the Providencia neighborhood. Muchas Gracias George!!! This was a major step up in the style of accomodations we have been used to!!! I slept directly on the bed and not in my sleeping bag!!!
George met us at the hotel after his final class of the semester. He took us to eat a snack since they eat dinner so late. We had yummy empanadas with beef, eggs and some garlic. They were baked, not fried which was nice. After snack, we wandered around to kill time before dinner and stumbled on a ¨happy hour¨at a bar that George´s students frequent. We had to try the famous pisco sour. We all had 2 because that was the happy hour special. That
we would realize later, was not a great idea. We then stumbled over to dinner. George picked a nice restaurant (you can always count on George to have done his research on eating establishments). The restaurant is called Astrid y Gaston and we had duck, beef, tuna, a bottle of Carmenere wine (a special grape variety that was originally from France but all of the vines died out there and now is grown here in Chile). It was a great meal. We also tried to speak only Spanish with George for a few hours and he patiently listened but was probably tired of trying to decipher what we were saying.
Today, we slept in. George met us at around 11 am and we went on a tour of Santiago. We started at Cerro Santa Lucia which was the original settlement of Santiago. There was a beautiful view but it was a hazy day. Next we walked around some plazas and went for lunch at a marketplace known for seafood. We let George do the ordering and said that we wanted to 'try new things'. George treated us to scallop empanadas, a crab dip, matchas (razor clams), abalone, baby eels
pil pil (in garlic chili sauce). It was all really good, but the baby eels was difficult for me to look at because it was a bowl full of tiny eels!!! I ate one....for the taste, but couldn´t stomach anymore. George ate them by the heaping spoonful. We also had some grilled salmon which was really fresh!
After lunch, we all were in a food coma (because we had also had a bottle of wine). We headed to the Moneda, where President Michelle Bachelet works and tried to spot her walking around. No luck. But we did have some coffee to give us an energy boost.
Next we made it across the river to see poet Pablo Neruda´s house which was really cool and then headed up Cerro San Cristobol where there is a large statue of the Virgin Mary and great views of the smog covered city. It was worse than LA! But there was beautiful views of the full moon over the mountains.
Overall, we had a great time in Santiago. We are about to head to dinner which I´m sure will be another culinary experience! Tomorrow we head to La Paz, Bolivia. We would
have liked to stay here longer and go skiing but the season is still early and we need time to make it from La Paz to Cusco. Thanks so much to George for his excellent hosting and for showing us around!
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anita
non-member comment
the trip looks awesome so far! glad you guys are letting us live vicariously through you. ps -- you have to try the juice place in the plaza de armas in cuzco. the smoothies are yummy!