Santiago was LA RAJA!!
AKA Amazing!! I met up with my
muy buena amiga, Margarita (she’s from North Carolina and works in Peru doing
what I do) at the apartment we rented for the weekend in a barrio called
Lastarria. It’s known as a kind of
boho/artistic/chic neighborhood, made up of about a whole 4 streets, in the
center of Santiago. The lobby of our
building let out into a plaza full of restaurants, bars, and a book shop. We were in a great location to access so
much; to see all the sights; to go to all of the interesting places; and do all the
things we wanted to do….except it was the weekend of Semana Santa (Good Friday
to Easter Sunday), therefore, just about EVERYTHING in the city was CLOSED!!!
Que suerte!!
We would not be waylaid by such petty obstacles as closed
museums, bookstores, and landmarks; we still had a city to explore! So we set out Friday morning to see what we
could find open; it was a beautifully sunny and warm day, ripe and ready to be
enjoyed. We meandered from Lastarria to
the Mercado Central, stopping to check out the Cerro Santa Lucia, Plaza de
Bellas Artes, and to get lost.
At the Mercado Central, not only did we stop to eat lunch,
we also met people that we felt like we already knew; Haitian and Dominican
guys (they were waiters)! After lunch and pictures and the low-down on what
places would be good for night-life and dancing, we were able to walk around
the Mercado Central. Apparently, they
sell the freshest fish in Santiago, and it definitely smelled like it. We stopped in an ice-cream shop to consider
doing one of those Touristic Bus Tours; and while we were in there, one of the
ice-cream servers/tour guide sales men suggested we go to a place called La
Piojera, which was just across the street in another plaza, and try terremotos.
Why not?! We’re always up for new places, and we were
curious about terremotos; he made them sound so good. Terremotos are white wine with pineapple
sorbet, and pipeno served in a huge cup.
The white wine is not top-shelf by any means and I’m not exactly sure
what pipeno is; just that it’s kind of like wine, but may not have gone through
the entire fermentation process. Either
way, it was delicious!! We should add
pineapple sorbet to more drinks! Oh and "terremotos" mean "earthquakes", supposedly, if you stand up after drinking one, it feels like the earth is moving. HAHAHAHA.
La Piojera is known as a place for guachacas, aka the people
from pueblos, that may still be rough around the edges, and not so refined
(from what I understand). It’s also a pretty big tourist spot; either way,
between the two populations, we fit in just fine. I mean as fine as the only two black women in
a rustic local bar in the middle of Santiago de Chile could fit in…. While we were ordering our terremotos, a
group of Chilean men invited us to sit with them. And we proceeded to sit, chat, teach each
other swear words in English and Spanish, drink terremotos, sing, dance and
have a great time with them for the next 5 hours. Who knew??!!
On Saturday we met up with a Thunderbird friend, Triin
(she’s from Estonia and works in Santiago) and went for a wine tour at Concha Y
Toro Vineyards. They have a beautiful
estate in Pirque, which is a suburb of Santiago. The wine tasting was fab, however I’m just
not one of those people that tastes the chocolate or the wood or the peach
flavors in the wine. I taste wine! And I’m partial to red. We tried a few of their different brands, and
it was all very chi-chi! And later on
that night we met up with more T-birds; Marcela (she’s from Peru and works in
Bogota) and Phil (he’s from Nebraska and works in Calama, Chile doing what I do) to drink pisco sours and enjoy being in Santiago.
Every city has its own vibe; and I’m definitely missing that
big city vibe. Big cities also have all
kinds of cultural events, farmers markets, crafts/artisan fairs, REAL
bookstores, and Red Robin restaurants for when you want a turkey burger
(although, Santiago’s Red Robin did not have turkey burgers!! Damn “think
global, act local!”). Either way, my big
city get-away was exactly what I needed, and it was great to see old friends
and meet new ones.
Blessings y Besos,
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