Santiago, Day 1

Somehow, I underestimated the amount of effort to reach the Southern Hemisphere. Day 0 started from San Jose with a quick flight to LaX, a relatively long wait at LAX, then off on LAN 601, which is a Dreamliner aircraft! However, despite all the advertisement by the Everest Plant, the seat did not seem any more comfortable, though I imagine it's hard to make any almost 12 hours flight a comfortable one. 

However, I must say, provision of a USB port as well as a personalized screen was very useful. I managed to ball my eyes out with watching The Fault in Our Stars, which in addition to the lovely Riesling that I drank, made me look like I totally got too drunk...

Ignoring the odd lighting (the lighting on the Dreamliner is suppose to imitate different day lights), the meal was decent, with real utensils! The wine however, was quite excellent. Yep, I managed to chug 1.5 of those little glasses and turned quite pink, all the while sobbing my eyes out. 

Upon arrival, I learned that Chile is very strict with bringing food across the border. Apparently you had to declare all food products, which I did and the guy confiscated it... Won't even let me eat it! :(

Santiago is a beautiful city, a mix between modern and classical. It's summer time here, which did not seem so bad initially since I arrived in the morning, but when venturing at 1pm, it was 110F! Thank goodness it's not muggy like China cities, but the lack of air conditioning really gets to ya...

This is a view of my hotel room. there was a funny mix up where they thought I was a man, and placed me with my friend's husband. Upon arrival, I bring this up to the hotel person, who immediately called our guide and planner, Sergio. Part of their conversation went like: "She cannot stay with another woman's husband!" So after much sorting out and back and forth, I get a two bed room to myself! Teehee. Not that it matters much as there really isn't much to my cozy room. 

Of course, our adventures start with the subway, which surprisingly does not seem to have automatic ticket dispensers. I ended up buying a 660 ticket (off rush hour prices) with a 10,000 bill. Lots of paper and coins later, I ended up with my paper ticket. Chloe attempted to go through a senior/student only gate, which ejected her tickets and blared red at her until we saw the sign in English...

We made our way to the Mercado Central, which is near the Presidential Palace and found ourselves staring at fruit market stalls. This is the place that sells the same grapes that we are eating in America just a few days ago!! And, they taste much better (or so I think). We ended up buying 1 kg of white peach, which was delicious as it probably just came off the tree a few days ago!

One of the first things we noticed was this lovely looking drink, being sold at stalls all over the place. 

A sweet peachy drink, filled with roasted barley and half of a peach. Not sure what it's called, but at 700 pesos for a medium cup, not bad!

Exploring for lunch took quite a while, as the area of the Mercado market (which is a fish market) had many tourist eateries, and looked entirely too westernized. Instead, we found a cozy restaurant to the side, where the waitress didn't speak English and the menu said things like "lard beef", "salmon grilled to the butler." 

But of course, we must start with the Anthony Bourdain recommended starter of Pisco sour, which is a drink mixed with Pisco, a Chilean grape brandy that is rather sweet, mixed with small amounts of tiny lemons. It tasted like a lemonade with a hint of alcohol, initially sweet on the tongue but sour with the finish. Salute, mes amigos! Hahahaha! 

The bread to the side is a rather flat yeast bread, quite light on the fats, to be eaten dipped in that quite spicy salsa. 

Of course, still savoring the taste of Ceviche in Mexico from 4 years ago, Larry and I were dead set on ordering the sea bass ceviche, which looked quite different from what we were expecting. Nonetheless, the half cooked sea bass is still marinated in lemon juice and onions, topped with fresh cilantro. I still loved it regardless!

Ordering for lunch was quite an ordeal. The menu was fairly extensive at first, with scallops, squid, sea urchin, fishies galore, much bewildering to our untrained eyes. After a while though, we determined that the menu truly consisted of small tapas with various seafood, and fish of different types, either fried, grilled or "fried to the butler." (Whatever that means!!) Larry asked our Spanish speaking waitress to recommend something, which turns out to be the deep fried congri fish. Though Larry may seem displeased in the picture, the fish was quite tasty! Chloe and I both ended up ordering the reinita fish, mine grilled and hers deep fried. We finished the meal at $27,000, which equals about 40 USD? Not bad for a meal for three with drinks and appetizer, ya? 

Following trekking through a small part of Santiago for 2 hours in the hot sun, we returned to our hotel and all napped for 2 hours. Then the adventure for dinner starts! The area that we are staying in, which is around the Republica stop, does not offer a lot of food, but certainly offers enough. Thanks to trip advisor, we found this cozy Masqueria Tahiti restaurant to explore some more seafood options! 

Dinner was joined by two new friends on our journey, and thus the feasting begins. 

Pisco sours? Check. Slightly dry and mostly tasteless bread? Check. Giganto lemons? Check. Spicy salsa? Check. Above completes the premeal set up. This restaurant is definitely heavier on the Pisco, and after 4 sips, I was starting to feel oozy... 

This flaming pot of seafood should be on the recommended list for must eats in Santiago. Because of the extensive coastline, seafood here is plentiful, fresh and in all varieties. In this Paella Marina, there must be 5 different kinds of shell fish + albacore + shrimp + octopus + fish + seaweed. Not sure what the flame is all about, but it sure made a hot and salty, but flavorful soup! Now, of course, trying to figure out how to order a flaming bowl of soup in a language we do not speak is an adventure in itself. In between describing the flame, the bowl and trying to order it, Jeff also made a circular motion, and we set in contemplation if we would end up receiving one flaming bowl, or instead set the restaurant on fire with one flaming bowl each! Thankfully, our awesome Chilean waiters figured out needs and the restaurant was saved from a raging fire! 

And of course, more seafood! My ceviche was served with just as many kinds of seafood, and for such a protein heavy meal, it was quite filling! And the total above, $65,000 peso (tip included). Definitely not cheap by third world country standards, but we are definitely living it up! 

Alright, time to settle for the night, wash off the unbelievable amount of dirt that had managed to settle on my sweaty skin and start a new day of adventure tomorrow!