Santiago, what can I say. Is it a city of dreams or the centre of the Chilean universe? The latter I think is true. We leave Valparaiso and drive towards the city. Everywhere around you can see that the economy has been focused around this city. The beautiful mountains ahead are covered in snow after heavy rains the day before. The city sits at 500m above sea level, the mountains a further 3000m up. At first we think this is a permanent feature, but we are told that generally this time of the year the snow has all melted, evidenced by the Mapocho River at full-bore with the run-off.
The drive to the hostel through the city proves easy enough and we settle in to well run digs at the international hostel off Moneda, conveniently situated around all major sites. It is a striking place and very businesslike, but all we knew about Chile was about to change. No late mornings or excuses for breakfast and short comings and yet it still has an air of innocence about it. Chilean people, I have come to realize, are extremely shy but will do their best to offer help. We contact Esteban and Lesley our Chilean- American couple. Esteban meets us at the metro Los Heroes and we are unaware of the treat that he has in store for us. We get taken to all the sites and little did we know that as an architectural student he was compelled to study all the buildings. Boy was he a good student! We meander through the city and soon feel indebted as he pulls no stops and unselfishly offloads his city’s pride. Later we meet Lesley and we are shown both the old and most contemporary. This all happens on our first day! Then off to a Peruvian restaurant to drink Inca Cola and wait for it…..LLAMA! And was it good. It does not end here; these guys are intent on wearing us out. We are off to a local hang out called La Piojera and it is here that we experience an earthquake (terremoto) in the heart of Santiago. Don’t go rushing for CNN or the newspapers thinking you are missing something- it’s a local drink made up of white wine (knikkels), ice-cream and pineapple concentrate. One was definitely my limit and if that was not enough there is something called the “replica” or aftershock, I am too scared to try that one. The conversation is good and intense and we head for a coffee bar and nightcap, we crawl into our hostel bunk at 2 am, feeling like naughty teenagers up to no good! Our friends really treated us so well and took all the time and care to do so.
The following day we are off to find the market that Esteban had pointed out, but with all the weaving through the city we become disoriented. It is 30 degrees plus, and we are hot. I give up my male pride and go over to ask a carabinero (policeman) sitting in a car for directions. Nada espanol on my side and niks English on his, the conversation soon becomes animated. He decides this is no good and motions for us to climb into the back of the police car. What is this I think? Not sure what to make of this, we just sit there in amazement. They take us straight to the market and while driving make sure that windows are opened to ventilate the hot weather away. If they could have taken us any closer they would have had to pay our market bills as well. This was so unusual and the courtesy of the guys was just amazing, with handshakes and greetings to match. A small crowd of onlookers must have thought we were VIP’s or something, but with our limited wardrobe, I doubted that. Our whole experience throughout our travels in Chile is only complimentary of these guys. It has to be said that our police force at home can sure learn a lesson or two. It puzzles us as to why they carry their job with such pride and absolute devotion; surely it is not the highest paying job? Then we heard that the name carabineros is the same as in Italian which means military police. So they do their training in the military and any wrong foot put forward gets nailed and they are out. What a pleasant bunch; we salute them.
The drive to the hostel through the city proves easy enough and we settle in to well run digs at the international hostel off Moneda, conveniently situated around all major sites. It is a striking place and very businesslike, but all we knew about Chile was about to change. No late mornings or excuses for breakfast and short comings and yet it still has an air of innocence about it. Chilean people, I have come to realize, are extremely shy but will do their best to offer help. We contact Esteban and Lesley our Chilean- American couple. Esteban meets us at the metro Los Heroes and we are unaware of the treat that he has in store for us. We get taken to all the sites and little did we know that as an architectural student he was compelled to study all the buildings. Boy was he a good student! We meander through the city and soon feel indebted as he pulls no stops and unselfishly offloads his city’s pride. Later we meet Lesley and we are shown both the old and most contemporary. This all happens on our first day! Then off to a Peruvian restaurant to drink Inca Cola and wait for it…..LLAMA! And was it good. It does not end here; these guys are intent on wearing us out. We are off to a local hang out called La Piojera and it is here that we experience an earthquake (terremoto) in the heart of Santiago. Don’t go rushing for CNN or the newspapers thinking you are missing something- it’s a local drink made up of white wine (knikkels), ice-cream and pineapple concentrate. One was definitely my limit and if that was not enough there is something called the “replica” or aftershock, I am too scared to try that one. The conversation is good and intense and we head for a coffee bar and nightcap, we crawl into our hostel bunk at 2 am, feeling like naughty teenagers up to no good! Our friends really treated us so well and took all the time and care to do so.
The following day we are off to find the market that Esteban had pointed out, but with all the weaving through the city we become disoriented. It is 30 degrees plus, and we are hot. I give up my male pride and go over to ask a carabinero (policeman) sitting in a car for directions. Nada espanol on my side and niks English on his, the conversation soon becomes animated. He decides this is no good and motions for us to climb into the back of the police car. What is this I think? Not sure what to make of this, we just sit there in amazement. They take us straight to the market and while driving make sure that windows are opened to ventilate the hot weather away. If they could have taken us any closer they would have had to pay our market bills as well. This was so unusual and the courtesy of the guys was just amazing, with handshakes and greetings to match. A small crowd of onlookers must have thought we were VIP’s or something, but with our limited wardrobe, I doubted that. Our whole experience throughout our travels in Chile is only complimentary of these guys. It has to be said that our police force at home can sure learn a lesson or two. It puzzles us as to why they carry their job with such pride and absolute devotion; surely it is not the highest paying job? Then we heard that the name carabineros is the same as in Italian which means military police. So they do their training in the military and any wrong foot put forward gets nailed and they are out. What a pleasant bunch; we salute them.
No comments:
Post a Comment