Adventures in Santiago de Chile-- it's chilly!

¡C*ño, que frio!... from the Wandering Berkmans! 

We may be in Seattle now (more on that next time) but we couldn't let another day go by without sharing a bit about our month stay in Santiago, the capital of Chile. (As for the "chilly", we forgot that many homes in South America don't come with central heat.  The little space heater in our apartment was working overtime with nights in the 40's.  Welcome to winter in the southern hemisphere!) 

Santiago was a bit of an enigma for us. For the first time in a long time, we couldn't wholeheartedly say we liked it or didn't like it. We stayed in the government/ financial district so during the week it was busy... very busy... too busy. So much so that we cherished the quiet of the weekends when the traffic of cars and people truly just halted. This part of the city has beautiful architecture in some places and a tremendous amount of political graffiti and street art reflecting the strife of recent years.  

Street mural depicting some of the legends of the Mapuche, the indigenous people of the area, and the burning of the old constitution 

On the left, the interior of the Museo de Bellas Artes and on the right the Financial District

 

  

And we were embarrassed to find how unaware we were of all this.  The dictatorship of Pinochet ended so recently in 1990 and we were only slightly aware of the many who were taken as political prisoners and the many who still remain imprisoned today (the first pic below shows metal plates in the sidewalk remembering those who were arrested) . We were also unaware of the recent election of their newest president, just 34 years old, and the upcoming vote on the new constitution (2nd pic is of a poster advertising a community meeting to discuss). Much to keep track of in Chile in the coming months. Did we mention we saw the First Lady, a human rights activist, as we toured La Moneda (the presidential offices)? We're besties now.

Don and I were ready to step in and help the new government in any way needed (credit management? mad packing skills? TikTok videos?).  Our official portrait taken in the presidential offices is just waiting for its gilded frame.  

Speaking of the new president, instead of living in the elegant La Moneda as Chilean leaders did in the past, he has opted to live instead in the oldest colonial neighborhood in the city, Yungay.  His (more) modest home is the light green building with the curb-appeal security module in front.  

The Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra knew I was in town and greeted me with an old favorite--- Mozart's Requiem.  I sang along, much to the chagrin of the señor in front of me.   The music hall was a beautiful jewel.  

Pablo Neruda, the Chilean senator and poet, had a quirky house built in Santiago that gave off Frank Lloyd Wright vibes.  The tree trunk in the center of the living room has a shelf made especially for the phone and the dining room features a secret escape door in the wall for when the dinner party went on too long and Neruda wanted a nap. Sounds like a must-have feature the next time we buy a house!

File under construction techniques we can all get behind, the Iglesia de San Francisco from 1622 is famous for having largely survived about 15 earthquakes over a magnitude of 7.  The crucifix inside has fared even better, with nary a scratch.  According to our tour guide, every May 13 the church parades the crucifix (featuring Jesus with real human hair- it kinda freaked me out) through the streets in order to ward off earthquakes for the year.  The story goes they did not do so in 2010 and Chile suffered a terrible earthquake that year--  8.8 on the Richter scale. We were glad to hear the parade was happening this year on schedule!

What's a post from us without food?? 

So... for the most part we were just "meh" with most of the Chilean dishes we tried and found there were some dishes we just couldn't stomach.  

The first pic is of a drink called mote con huesillos which is a surprisingly refreshing and tasty combination of a cold, sweet peach drink (our Chilean tour guide said Chileans don't know diabetes haha) combined with wheat berries.  Add a half a peach and a spoon and you have a drink and a snack to beat the heat!

 

I wish we could be more enthusiastic about the soup in the second picture.  While the taste was fine, the texture and the the sight of it reminded us of the "presents" our cats would leave us in the morning-- I couldn't stomach more than a couple of spoonfuls.   Animal, vegetable, mineral-- I've blocked the actual ingredients from my memory.  Not shown-- the equally visually jarring and much more gustatorily assaulting stewed calamaris Don ordered.  I don't think he even tried it, the aroma was so jarring.  Even I couldn't take it... and I can take stuff.

 

A tour guide said in order to be a local student (Don still carts around  his college student ID and flashes it whenever he can!)  you had to eat at one of the sandwich/hot dog stands by the University.  We took the bait and, encouraged by our patient server who wanted to practice her English, we tried the Italiano-- a hot dog with chopped tomatoes, avocado and tons of mayonnaise (colors of the Italian flag). We wouldn't call it a taste sensation but it was filling, cheap and we were surrounded by locals so it was a must-do in our book. The other hot dog pictured-- basically a grilled cheese hot dog.  Again--- meh...

  

Ok, these next two meals were more like it! The stew-like dish was pollo al pil pil, chicken in a white wine and olive oil sauce-- it was blessed with more garlic than we had eaten in our 6 weeks previous in South America.  There was not enough bread on this earth to soak up all the saucy goodness.  The dish with the egg was a nod to our veg friends.  Normally made with strip steak, this Veg Chorrillana may have been an assault to all things chilean but it was a tasty mix of roasted vegs and french fries, topped with eggs.  Fun to share!

The last dish, Pastel de Choclo, was both comforting and delicious-- I love any dish with a sweet and chewy corn topping.  Camera shy-- the copious amounts of empanadas we devoured on a regular basis.  Ok, those were tasty too. 

 

Thank you, Atlas Obscura, for this travel suggestion-- La Pica de Clinton used to be called the San Remo until one day in 1998 Bill Clinton was in town and needed his Diet Coke.  He stopped by this sleepy local eatery, had his Coke, said hello to everyone as he is wont to do and left.  The clever owner, sensing a goldmine,  quickly changed the name of his place to La Pica de Clinton, immortalized the glass from which he drank and posted Clinton's face all over the interior.  Hey, it got us to go!   Manuel was all too happy to tell us the whole story, saying it was he who gave Clinton the relief he craved, perhaps altering the outcome of the Summit of the Americas for decades to come! 

A comfortable and quick 2 hour bus ride brought us to Valparaiso for an overnight.  A port city filled with universities and artists, the winding streets up many, many hills are like an outdoor museum of street art as well as graffiti.  And we had a delicious meal of grilled octopus and ceviche here-- another point on the plus side for Chilean food! 

So that's our Chilean adventure in a nutshell!  Would we return?  Probably not.  There wasn't enough there to draw us back and it's a long flight from the US  but we were glad to have experienced it.  We leave you with this post's SOL (slice of life) of some young people practicing a dance routine in the park near our hotel in Valparaiso. They asked us to join in but we didn't want to show up the locals.  (;

 

Next post will be on our US family and friends tour-- a couple of days in NM, 3 weeks with Julia here in Seattle, more family in Wisconsin and Ohio and friends in NJ.    Also time to stock up on the things we can't get overseas-- Benadryl in some countries, melatonin in others, Royal Violets cologne anywhere but near Miami!

We hope all are well, surviving the heat waves and enjoying their summer! 

As always, thanks for following along!

Don and Monica