Stopover in Santiago

The past weekend here I have been in Chile´s capital, Santiago.  After spending a couple of 'muey tranquillo' semañas a Playa Ritoque, it´s quite the culture shock to live the metropolitan, busy-bee lifestyle in a monstrous city like Santiago.  The first day I was actually afraid to leave the hostel!  Apart from braving the metro to buy a bus ticket to Mendoza, I didn´t venture out into the big city streets at all.  In addition to having difficulties trying to adjust to urban life, I´ve also been home-sick for Ritoque: kicking myself for leaving when I could have stayed three more glorious days!  (Had I known that the earliest bus ticket that I could get was not until Monday night, I´de still be spoiling myself on that gorgeous beach).

Me and Adrià

The rest of the weekend in Santiago I spent wandering about the Bellavista area (crammed with cafes, bars and restaurants) just window shopping and sightseeing.  I went to the unimpressive hillside zoo, climbed to the top of Cerro Saint Cristobal, and browsed through Mercado Central: an impressive array of fantastic and surprisingly cheap restaurants crowd the center of the market... all offering fresh seafood dishes that I unfortunately didn´t try out because I had just finished a huge bowl of OATMEAL (healthy, cheap, but not nearly as delicious as a seafood platter would have been) and couldn´t have fit any more food into my bloated stomach even if I tried.

Subjective Guess Who In Spanish

The last day in Santiago, Susanna (one of my wonderful new friends from Ritoque) walked through the door the hostel: I was so surprised!  She said she heard me laughing as soon as she got out of the cab and was in disbelief that I was there too!  Spending the day reminiscing about the past week at our wonderland of Ritoque helped to cure my longing to return, a little.  We enjoyed a cafe cortado on a patio during a refreshing sun shower, and cooked ourselves a marvelous and healthy last dinner together before saying goodbye (again).  Now I´m making my way back to BA!

Mi Amigo de Sao Paulo

San Cristibol

Santiago Through The Smog

Taking The Tram Down

Santiago