We arrived in Chile early Saturday morning and were greeted by insufferable bureaucracy and a $140USD (a piece) entry fee at the grand Santiago International Airport. Not typically known for its generous hospitality, this place did not exceed expectations.
We did luck out with our accommodations in Santiago. Giovannina´s cousin Anna has a friend in Santiago, Camilo, who without ever meeting us let us crash at his very lovely apartment in a pretty swanky part of town (there´s even a roof-top pool!) We crashed for a few hours on Saturday before heading out to explore Santiago.
I have to admit, I was not looking forward to spending much time in the Chilean capital - this is Woody writing - but after a few hours wandering through the city it began to grow on me. The layout is somewhat European with its broad boulevards, but the buildings are more modern and the climate made me feel like I was in San Diego or Los Angeles. We did find the glorious old Mercado Centro - The Central Market - in the middle of Santiago. This is how I described it in my journal: " a moiling and toiling fisherman´s market filled with stiff smells and floors wet with entrails. Men - only men - stomped through dark narrow stone halls yelling numbers and carrying empty crates dripping with fish juice. It was wonderful. "We ate our first ceviche, which in Chile is like a fish puree with cilantro and lime juice. It was horrible - horrible - to look at, but actually tasted quite good.
On the way back to the apartment, we stopped and watched some vaudeville entertainers. They discovered us taking photos of them and decided to make us part of their act. Giovannina got a big kick out of this...Woody didn´t but loves it when his wife is happy. It was an early night for us in preparation for our trip to the beach.
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