Santiago 2

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Chilean architecture…AND bike!

Our special dinner from the previous night

He SO wanted his photo taken!

Monday 29 November

We slept well and leisurely rose to head out of our haven in Casa Moro mid morning. We took the #1 metro line all the way to the end (about 20 minutes) to the suburb of Las Condes, the location of the Los Dominicos markets. What a delightful little tourist draw card. All these market/artisan/craft stalls built in the old traditions, including creek winding through the place with cute little bridges over the trickle. They sold everything from jewellery, tapestries and carvings to postcards, junkfood and animals! The macaw had Nic at ‘hello arrrkkkk.’ Saw too many things we wanted to buy – will decide on our final visit before we head home in January (may have to pass on the macaw, though – may have to be placated with lapis lazuli jewellery instead!).

‘Aarrrk!’
We then leapt on the immaculate metro system again to get to El Huerto for another lunch (and, yes, the word ‘immaculate’ was used in regard to the metro – pristine, efficient, and the stations sported cool artworks or mosaics at each stop). While we only sampled line one, in peak hour, a train would arrive within seconds of one pulling out of the station – unheard of in Sydney (but really, of all the public transport systems we have used in the world, and that’s quite a few now, Sydney’s is by far the worst!). However, as wonderful as this public transport is, we decided to walk the whole way back to our digs, which took a couple of hours, what with regularly stopping and sitting on park benches to enjoy the green. Walking is always a nice way to spend time when in a foreign city.

The artworks in the subway
We arrived home late afternoon. After our siesta (fast becoming a regular component of the day!), we headed down to the common lounge area of the B&B to chat with the hosts and have some white wine while working on the old blog and checking emails. By the end of the long chat, we weren’t in the mood to venture to our planned restaurant for dinner, so instead strolled to the much closer supermarket. Don’t know if we have already mentioned the obvious presence of uniformed officers – security guards, police, army, tourist police, many with bullet-proof vests. Even the supermarket had heavy-duty security on the door. Made us honest folk feel rather safe.

Santiago’s Cathedral

Our humble dinner fare consisted of an avocado, cucumber and cheese, and we added that to what was left of our wine. The evening was perfect for eating on the atmospheric ground floor terrace with the singing canary couple, the water fountain and wind chimes. Our dinner was made all the more delightful due to new guests to the B&B, Bora and Denis from Turkey, who were having the same wonderful feast prepared for them that we had enjoyed the night before. We had such a fantastic time chatting with them that all of a sudden it was 1:30 in the morning, and we had to get to bed, as we had a flight the next day to Quito and needed to pack.

School, Santiago style

About bontaks

Nic is the the 'Bon' part of 'Bontaks.' Together we are Nic and John - two travel-addicted teachers who enjoy every opportunity to go places, meet people and experience life.

2 Replies to “Santiago 2”

  1. OK..I like the school shot…and the Cathedral with all the circles and swirls… Oh and the Missing NSW. As for the Trannie…the boobs were a little disappointing! LOLOL Love the details and stories..I savor each blog!Take care and DO enjoy buyng the Jewellry Nic….thats what I'd be doing too after eating and sight seeing! Hugs to you both! Henri

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  2. Thanks, Henri! Lovely to hear from you again. It's so nice to get feedback, cause it does sometimes feel a bit full on getting the text and photos done when we are tired and lazy!xN

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