A lot of leg work

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I was up early this morning feeling refreshed after one of the best nights sleep I'd ever had in a hostel. Although the Aji Hostel wasn't in the centre of the city it had the most comfy beds I had come across in such a cheap hostel. I'd got lucky and scored the bottom bunk again so getting up was less of a chore than I expected - especially as I expected to sleep for longer given the time difference. After a quick shower to wash off two days travel I headed downstairs for breakfast. I was the only one in the breakfast room which was a clear sign to me that everyone staying here liked to go out and party at night. It didn't bother me though as I wanted to get into the city to do the free walking tour that Nicholas had recommended. The small bowl of cereal and toast were most welcome after eating early last night and I was soon out and about to enjoy the day.

I hopped on the metro at Salvador station and purchased my ticket to get to Plaza De Armas. With a quick glance at the map the metro system looked fairly easy to navigate, even with most of the signs in Spanish. I changed trains at Baquedano and emerged through the turnstile at my destination, quietly smug at my ability to get around! Plaza De Armas was a huge central square surround by tall buildings on each side.bi soon spotted the tour guide wearing a red shirt with 'Free Tour' emblazoned across the front. Franco introduced himself and asked where I was from so as to break the ice and I joined the rest of the group to patiently wait for the last few stragglers.

Once Franco was satisfied that there wasn't going to be anyone else joining us, he gave us a brief overview of the tour. He explained that the tour was free because so many agencies had started to vastly over price a guided walking tour of the city, and it was their way of providing people with an experience that they could put a price on by tipping him at the end. Thus made perfect sense to me and so the tour began.

Franco started by pointing out the more prominent buildings in the Plaza like city hall and the cathedral, before starting to explain the history behind Santiago and how it was founded. We were shown to the statue of Pedro de Valdivia who was the first Spanish conquistador to successful settle Chile. Franco told us the tale of how Valdivia lead part of the Spanish army to battle the native Mapuché indians and claim Chile entirely for Spain. He explained the tale of Lautaro, who came to lead the armies of the Mapuche, was taken in by the Spanish and rebelled against Valdivia forcing the Spanish to leave what is now know as Patagonia to the Mapuché.

We were then led through the city taking in some of the covered arcades which offered a cool retreat from the already rising temperature outside. Franco explained that although coffee bars are now spread throughout the city that this wasn't always the case. The coffee in Santiago used to be awful and proprietors got around this by taking away the chairs and employing good looking women in short skirts to serve the customers. The 'Coffee with legs' as they were dubbed grew in popularity with business men and were now a bit of a tourist attraction in the city. Although the girls serving in these shops didn't seem that pretty, their skirts were most definitely short!

The tour went past Government House, home of 'El Presidente' and we were told of how the building had been rebuilt several times in it's history after political coups like General Pinochet's in the early 70's. From here we passed the stock exchange and the largest flag in Chile. The flag was enormous and was made to celebrate the bicentennial of Chile's independence. Luckily the wind picked up just as we stopped which made for an excellent photo opportunity! Once we had passed Santa Lucia hill we stopped for lunch at a cafe in the Barrio Lastarria neighbourhood. I wasn't particularly hungry after breakfast but did want to try the local aperitif, Pisco Sour. The short drink was a mix of lemon juice, egg white and Pisco served over ice. It was notorious for getting people drunk before dinner due to the fact it's around forty-five percent proof. It was a strangely refreshing concoction that tasted a little of Angostura bitters, and if truth be told I did get up for the second half of the tour a little light headed!

Next we walked past what Franco pointed out to us as one of the best Ice-cream parlours in the city. Famous due to the fact that they were the first to come up with the weird and wonderful flavours that were now available all over the city. I made a mental note of it's location and promised myself I'd be back to make sure that none of the ice-cream was off! Next we headed through the Parque Forestal towards Baquedano station. Franco told us that Baquedano was the closest metro station to serve the Bellavista neighbourhood and was underneath a landmark of Santiago. The tall glass sided building had been built by a Spanish telecom company that not only wanted to have the tallest building in the city but also wanted it to look like a mobile phone. Amusingly, as we were told, it was built in the 80's which is why it more resembled a brick rather than what we considered a mobile today.

Franco took us through Patio Bellavista and told us about two local dishes that were famous among Chileans. The first was Chorianna; which he described as a plate of chips topped with fried onion, beef and sausage topped with scrambled egg found mostly in restaurants and bars along Pio Nono, the student area. The second was Pastel de Choclo or corn pie. This was a typically Chilean dish consisting of different layers. At the bottom was fried onion and beef followed by chicken and olives, then egg and topped with a creamed corn. Both dishes seemed right up my street and I quickly made notes of were to find both.

The tour ended at Pablo Neruda's house, the Nobel winning Chilean poet. Although most widely known for his writing, he was also a collector of the weird and wonderful who's houses had now been turned into museums for the world to enjoy. I thanked Franco and gave him a generous tip for his time and effort as I certainly knew more about Chile now than I had before. Needing to feed the beast calling to me from my stomach I returned to the Bellavista Sandwich club for a steak sandwich and a beer.

I spent the rest of the day wondering through the cities parks trying to catch up on blogs and to retrace my steps from the tour. Once I was back at Plaza De Armas I watched the chess tournament that was taking place with deep fascination. The speed with which some of these guys were playing was phenomenal; clearly not the relaxed game of patience I was used to! I visited the city Cathedral and found myself strangely at peace, much like I had done in the church atop Cerro San Cristobal yesterday. It seemed strange that something that hadn't played a part of my life for such a long time seemed to now give me a sense of inner peace.

Eventually it was time to head back to the hostel and continue working out how the hell I was going to get across South America on a shoestring. It needed a lot of research and almost as much leg work as I had put into the tour of the city today.

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