We had two great days in Santiago. We start with a picture of Chilean president Salvadore Allende. Forgive my incomplete rememberance of history, but he became president in the late 60s. He was assassinated in the military coup that put General Pinochet in power on the original and far more tragic September 11th – 1973. Social progress in Chile halted, the “Chicago Boys” brought in Friedman’s (horrendous) economic policies including “shocking” the economy and privitization of the country’s greatest assets and resources. Chile lost a generation of progress and suffered under a really repressive dictatorship.
We moved on to Santa Lucia park in the midst of downtown. It’s a large hill offering great views of the city. You can see the Andes in the background through the ever-present smog.
Next we headed to Cerro San Cristobal, a 600m hill overlooking the entire city. We did not climb this; we took the cable tram (built in the 30s) to the top for a few bucks each. Here’s a look up the hill; the wall on the left has a level top (that gives you an idea how steep this is).
The park features a statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the city.
Here’s a view back over the city. Santa Lucia park is in the middle of the frame.
The classic self portrait.
All those hills gave us a healthy appetite, so we took a lunch break at a restaurant favored by locals. Great vibe in the restaurant, but everything was in Spanish. We did our best figuring out the menu, then went for Pisco Sours, and two specials of the day: ceviche de local and causeo de patitas. We know ceviche — it’s basically Latin sushi, though we didn’t know what fish it would be. We had no idea what causeo de patitas was. The verdict? Pisco sours: sour, delicious and refreshing. Civiche: fresh, and a bit meatier than most we’ve had. We asked and learned it was trout. Causeo: mysterious cubed meat squares with cheese and olives. Is this blood sausage? Sweet breads? Not bad. We looked it up later: pig leg.
