Beaches, Baby, Jazz, and Carretes

• Tcorrea's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Santiago

Trip Start Dec 06, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Jun 17, 2006 Next
Entry

  Santiago, Chile
Sunday, December 18, 2005

Having left Neil and his housemate with a 'nana' (cleaner) to clean up what was apparently the "dirtiest apartment she'd ever seen", I headed north to Zapallar, a sleepy little coastal beach town 90% of the year, and summer party town for the rich, famous and beautiful the other 10%. I saw the sleepy side, which was a nice contrast to the flamboyance and brashness of Viņa. There were some amazing houses there, really old-school with some great looking timber and stone features, overlooking the bay. Stayed in a house with one of my uncle's family, just for one night. Wasn't really good beach weather, but nonetheless enjoyed the town.

Back to Santiago for the express purpose of discovering some nightlife and live music with more cousins who live in Providencia, an area similar to Melbourne's Fitzroy. Turns out I was absolutely in luck - a jazz quartet with one of Chile's best trumpeters was playing at a nearby bar

01 - Zapallar

. Lineup was trumpet, vibraphone (amazingly talented guy, so impressive!), acoustic bass and drum kit. All for the ridiculously cheap price of CLP$2500 (around A$6.50). After being amazed that there actually existed live music in Chile, we headed out to a suburb called Bellavista, a nightlife magnet. Went to a discotheque (in Chile, also known as a "carrete") with a whole lot of very beautiful people, I felt out of place :)

Next day I swapped a whole lot of music with my cousin Diego, an avid fan of Acid Jazz, Funk, Reggae and Progressive Rock. Got a whole heap of cool stuff to listen to in my ridiculously long bus trips that begin tonight (10hours or so from Stgo to Temuco). Hung out in Diego's apartment (where i'm staying) for the afternoon, he lives there with his 2 brothers, they are all around my age (ages from 20 to 26), and all engineers as well. Had a BBQ ('Asado') at yet another cousin's place (Nicolas), and met the first member of the next generation of Correas - my first cousin once removed (son of my first cousin) Vicente Correa. very cute baby. Learnt all about different kinds of chilean and peruvian pisco (brandy-type spirit drunk with Coke or in a cocktail known as Pisco Sour), ate some phenomenal steak, and generally had a great time getting to know a whole heap of cousins with my now-pretty-reasonable Spanish. Back to Diego's place for more partying after that, and called it a night.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

02 - Family photo in Zapallar	03 - Jazz Quartet	04 - Cousins Correa	05 - Baby Vicente

Slideshow Print this entry Share Santiago hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry