Well, today is supposed to be a ‘city and market tour’ but that’s not going to happen, at least as planned. A couple of the historic neighborhoods and markets on the plan to be visited are in the area where demonstrations are ongoing and need to be avoided.
Claudio (driver) skirts some areas near where the unrest is going on and it’s sad to see with clearly visible damage to bus stop kiosks, traffic lights, and evidence of burned barricades in the streets. Graffiti and trash are everywhere, the result of the protests. Sad, sad, sad.
Maurice does his best to give us a look at the city. We headed up to one of the nicer areas of town which overlooks the metro area. It’s absolutely gorgeous and a world apart from the action down below – Beverly Hills vs. Compton. Back in the main part of town we take a spin through the ‘La Vega’ public market. It’s a huge, crazy, packed place. We later enjoyed at ‘Roy Sar’, a traditional Empanada at a historic eatery. Dinner is around the corner from our apartment (craft beer!) and it’s an early night.
D.
We are scheduled to be picked up this morning by Maurice and Claudio at 9:00 am. We are doing a tour of some of the many neighborhoods in Santiago. We still need to avoid some areas in downtown due to the continuing protests. The closer to the city center, all the buildings are covered in graffiti. We also see some homeless people, the city gives them tents to sleep in.
We drive into the hills surrounding the city and have a great overview of the many different areas of the town. We also go to the large public market, La Vega. It is huge and very crowded as today is Saturday. Inside the market, we stop at one of Maurices’ favorite vendor to sample the local drink, ‘Mote con Huesillo’. The drink dates to the Colonial era and is made from husked wheat (mote) and dried peaches (huesillo) soaked with sugar water and cinnamon to make a sweet, non-alcoholic drink. Very refreshing. We go to an Empanada shop to try this original food for lunch. Made to order we have the traditional one made with ground meat, onion, hardboiled egg, an olive and two raisons. An interesting taste profile.
We are dropped off around 3:00. Later we take a walk around the neighborhood and find ‘Quatro Bocas’ (‘Four Mouths’), a cute little restaurant for a small snack and a drink. We are finishing our food and the waiter says they are closing in 5 minutes. It’s only 5:00. They are normally open until 1:00 am, but with the protests, they are closing early so everyone can get home safe. We head back to the apartment for an early evening.
M
