Santiago

Nicole, Gloriana, and I spent one day in Santiago, hitting up all the sites. We basically visited all the sites from my first visit, which I never posted about, so most of these photos are actually from then.

On our first night there, we ate at El Ají Seco, a Peruvian restaurant near the Plaza de Armas. I had been wanting to eat at a Peruvian restaurant because Peruvian cuisine is up and coming in Chile, with many Peruvians immigrating to Chile specifically to open restaurants. It was probably the best meal that I had had since being in Chile!

For starters, Nicole and I shared the ceviche mixto, which came highly recommended by a friend of the receptionist at our hotel:

Nicole tried the lomo saltado, which had delicious meat:

And I had the pollo a la brasa (rotisserie chicken):

It was the best chicken I had eaten in a looong time! This was one of the first times since going paleo/primal that I was offered a full plate of fries and was interested in the chicken more than them.










We woke up bright and early the next day to visit the city on our last day together. We first headed to the Bellavista neighborhood, where we took the funicular up Cerro San Cristobal:

  

It's the longest one I've been on in Chile, and was still pretty unnerving on my second ride up.  But the ride up is worth it because at the top is a beautiful statue about the Immaculate Conception:

  

And stunning views of the Andes mountains overlooking the sprawling city:

 This is a photo I took when I visited in October, when it was Spring, snow was still visible on the mountains, and there was relatively little smog. I should have taken another photo on this trip for comparison, but this time there was no snow on the mountains and way more smog. Gross.








We then headed to La Chascona, which means crazy hair, and is the home that Pablo Neruda built for his mistress at the time, Mathilda, but eventually moved into with her after they married. I've visited all three of his homes, and this one is by far my favorite. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take photos inside, so I am going to encourage you to visit it yourself! Even if you don't know Pablo Neruda, it's still a cool house to visit. Neruda loved the ocean, so he built the home with a nautical theme. The bar and dining room especially feel like you're on a boat, while the living feels like you're in a lighthouse. Plus, he collected lots of interesting things that are cleverly arranged around the home.








Then we walked from Bellavista along the Parque Forestal to the Mercado Central, the city's largest fish market. On my first visit, the fish market was full. Every stall was selling picoroco, or barnacle:

But for some reason I didn't try it that day. When I visited this time, none of the stalls had picoroco and the restaurant we chose didn't have any because they said they were too small to eat at that time. I haven't gotten a clear answer from anyone about whether there's a season to eat them. Although I was super bummed I still hadn't tried it, I guess it's something to look forward to for my next visit.











We ate lunch at Don Augusto in the center of the market. I'm sure the food is better in the smaller, less touristic restaurants on the outskirts, but Don Augusto is located in the prettiest part of the market.

Nicole and I ate the Reineta con salsa margarita, which is fish in a cream sauce with shrimp:

Again, we were happy campers:

That evening, Nicole headed back to LA, Gloriana headed to Quintay for her workshop, and I caught a 14-hour bus to Chiloé for the second-to-last leg of my adventures!