Spanish school and coffee with legs

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I have been in Santiago for almost a week now. The trip over here was very cruisy and even though I was in transit for about 16 hours, time wise I arrived in Santiago two hours after I left Sydney. I must admit that initially i was a bit disappointed in how quite the hostel is, however its shoulder season and all of the staff are really friendly so there has yet to be a dull moment. I am staying in Bellavista which is the bohemian area of the city full of restaurants and bars.



My very first morning here I started Spanish school. It is pretty intense. They don't speak any English to you at all and everyone in my class seems to be so much better at it than me. I've even managed to pronounce words wrong so that I am saying things like 'anus' instead of 'years'! Hopefully after a couple of weeks at it I'll be a lot better.



After a few days at Spanish school I figured that it was about time for me to get out and see the sites. As my hostel is pretty quiet at the moment I decided to join a 'Tour for Tips' walking tour around the city (Meets in front of the Cathedral of Santiago in the Plaza de Armas at 10 am and 3 pm every day and lasts about 4 hours). It was on this tour that I was introduced to a very amusing concept called cafe con piernas "coffee with legs". These coffee shops can be found around the business district of the city. The businessmen come in for a coffee and are served by ladies in very high heels and super short skirts. As well at the coffee, they receive enough flirtatious banter to make any man feel good about themselves. Apparently back in the day they even used to have a 'happy minute' in which the shutters and the door would close, all the ladies would take off their clothes and dance around on the tables for a minute before getting dressed and going back to business as usual, however this had to stop as all the men would sit around waiting for up to 5 hours at a time in hope of a happy minute experience.



Although I am yet to full adjust to the change in cuisine, I have certainly gotten amongst eating all things different. Hot dogs covered in every food under the sun, thinly sliced raw meat that is only cooked by the acid in the lemon you pour over it and even ham and cheese spring rolls. Drinks wise, the Chileans love the Pisco. It is a dark spirit that is made here and in Peru that they love putting into a Pisco Sour (Pisco, lemon juice, sugar and egg white). I had my first one within 2 hours of arriving into the country. I cannot say that I am the biggest fan, however it will probably grow on me. The drink that I am next wanting to try is terremoto "earthquake" which is a concoction of a litre of wine with Geraldine and pineapple ice cream.

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