Santiago, Salvador, street art and sours

It's our last evening in Argentina today as we take the night bus to Bolivia later this evening. While I'm writing this Nick is dealing with our first theft we've had on our trip. While he was repacking his rucksack, he noticed that his secretly hidden travellers cheque has gone missing. Someone must have had a rummage through our bags while it's been loaded onto a bus. The positive side is that at least it was a travellers cheque, so we can easily cancel it, and the passport is needed to claim the money! Always have to be careful!

I don't know why, but Nick and I were in two minds as to whether or not to visit Chile, and I am so relieved that we did!

We arrived in Santiago on January 23rd and settled into our lovely hostel, San Domingo. We took a private room the first night which was lovely, it had a balcony that opened out onto the road and we treated ourselves to some Chilean Wine whilst watching the world go by. The best thing about this hostel is that they make breakfast for you. Delicious scrambled eggs, fruit salad and a smoothie! Nick was chased out of the kitchen when he tried to help!

Our first stop in Santiago was the Museum of Human Rights, which was a brilliant introduction to the city, Chile and its history. I don't think I could ever explain half of what happened here, but the 70s and 80s were a dark time for the Chileans and it was so sad to see how many people had been affected. It made me think a lot about my dissertation at university focusing on the magical realism genre in Latin America. I studied a lot about Isabel Allende, and it was interesting to see how deeply tied her family were to the country's politics.

We spent hours in the museum, and had to drag ourselves away to take the Tours4Tips tour of the city. This tour was great and I would recommend it to anyone who is visiting the city. Having spent the morning submerged in the history, it was really interesting to go the places where the events had happened.








The tour was so good that we decided to take the other tour by the same company around the markets and onto the Cemetary. The tour was great for recommending food that was tasty and cheap. We tried a restaurant in the fish market where we had a lunch of mussels and parmesan cheese while looking out over the rest of the market.




The food in Santiago was really tasty. We tried big sandwiches with lots of avocados and tomatoes, fresh fish from the market, pastel de choclo which is a corn cake with onions and chicken hidden underneath.




The other thing I have to mention about Santiago is the drinks, Pisco Sours, which is their liquor of choice mixed with lemon juice and sugar, which definitely had a kick to it. Another cocktail was the terremodo which translates to earthquake, which was a wine based cocktail. One night, whilst at a party Nick was handed a hollowed out melon filled with wine and sugar, which he took a liking to!

I really enjoyed my time in Santiago, and even wandering around the streets with no where in particular to go was interesting because there was so much street art to admire as you passed by.




We finished our time in Santiago by climbing up to the highest point in the city, San Cristobel Hill. We took up a little picnic of berries and a slice of passion fruit cake from the market to enjoy at the top. It was the only thing motivating me on the hike up, but when we got to the top we realised it had melted. Cry! We watched the sun set over Santiago for the last time and We were followed back down the hill by a white dog who made sure we got back safe and sound!









Follow me...