Well, it’s our last full day in South America before heading back to the States.
We had planned on using our time in Santiago for a walk-about & maybe visit a few museums & pubs. Alas, the social unrest has gotten worse, some descending into violence and vandalism and has reached close to where we are staying in Providencia. We never felt threatened, but the impact was visible – what was recently labelled the most beautiful city in South America is marred by graffiti, broken shop windows and burned subway stations. Most of the Chilenos we talked to were sympathetic to the demonstrators but horrified at the carnage. Very sad.
On the positive side, the hotel is very nice and has a pleasant garden area so we resigned ourselves to final packing and catching up on photos and blog work. We gave in to the dark side and had gringo food (flatbread & something resembling a wing appetizer) at the ‘California Cantina’ around the corner from Le Reve. My lucky day – one of the two ‘live’ taps was a local IPA!
D.
For the sake of being prudent, we have decided to spend our last day in Santiago at our hotel, La Reve located in Providencia. In the short week since we were last in Santiago, the protests and demonstrations have spread from the city center and are in the peripheral, with graffiti encroaching on this area. La Reve Hotel was once a grand private residence and is now a small boutique hotel. The plus is the walled courtyard where we spend our day catching up on the blog.
We elect to have dinner just around the corner at the California Cantina. The owner is from California and the manager is from Texas. Their menu normally has gourmet burgers, flatbreads and chicken wings, with a large craft beer selection and decent wine. We spoke to the manager when we arrived (we were the only ones there). He said the continued issues in the city have disrupted his supply lines and decimated his business. He took all the burgers off the menu, because they use fresh beef and he is having to throw out food. The flatbread and chicken wings were ‘interesting’. Of the twenty taps, only two still had beer. The wine pour was a nice size though. His parting comment – “We’ve been here for 12 years and I don’t know if we will make it to the end of the year”. His is not an unusual story at this point.
We get our packing done early and have requested an even earlier pickup from Maurice just in case there are issues getting to the airport. Around 10 in the evening, we hear a lot of commotion – I open the window and see many of the hotel guests standing in the street, watching and filming the mass of protestors going past on the main road.
M
