We are off again, this time on much more hospitable flights, only 10 hours total! We don’t even fly out of Asheville until 6pm, but then our flight to Santiago leaves at 11 pm, so we’ve got a long layover in Atlanta – which of course we make the most of in the lounge. They’ve got sandwiches and salad and great little snacks, so we make a dinner of it, along with beer and wine, and leave with plenty time so we don’t have to rush to board the plane, Once aboard, we settle in for our 9 hour overnight to Chile. The plane is slam packed, there are only maybe 4 seats empty, and tons of other cruise passengers on this flight as well. We know a few, and then we listen to others around us and know we’ll be seeing them come Sunday.
After a mediocre dinner (Ed ate his chicken, I only ate the salad and cheese), I took an Advil PM (not the norm, but didn’t want to take any chances) and of course slept for a good long time. Ed took his sleeping cocktail and snoozed. We arrive early, which is nice for a change, and actually breeze through passport control (again, nice, I’m still not over India!), then its off to get the luggage, which also comes pretty quickly. We’re through customs in a jiffy, when we hit our first snag: Our driver isn’t there. We had pre-paid for a driver so we wouldn’t have to hassle with a taxi, but in the sea of name signs, ours is not to be found. (Oh, but the Gate1 signs were there, and we definitely had a little bout of nostalgia!) We wait a bit, while taxi drivers hit on us, one sweet guy telling us he was our Plan B! Ok – if we need Plan B, you are it, buddy! Ed calls the company and the lady on the phone tells us the driver will be at gate 4 – that’s where we are. Sigh. A little bit of consternation, a 2nd phone call, and then the guy finally shows up – a little late, but nonetheless sweet and adorable. He’s in his 60’s and the absolute definition of diminutive. A strong wind could blow him over – but he takes my bag, and guides us to his car in the car park, then proceeds to give us a tour of the city. He is so sweet! He explains virtually every neighborhood, different sights we pass, tells us the city is safe and we can walk anywhere, points out the Plaza de Armas area, the river bed, you name it, he’s telling us about it. Made for a very nice ride in from the airport.
He drops us right out front of the Bella Vista apartments, and we head up to the management office to check in where about 20 other cruisers are in the hallway in various stages of check in. Monica and Tony are there, and we have a nice reunion after all these years! Can’t believe how long it has been since we have seen them, much less traveled with them.
We get checked in and head up to our apartment #409. Its cute and basic, and sort of reminds us of Sunset Ridge – little 1 bedroom with a kitchen in an all block building. This will be a nice home base for the next 3 days.
After we stow our gear and freshen up, we head out into the streets. Today we decide to stick sort of close to home and explore the area around Bella Vista, Patronato, and across the river in Lastarria.Since it is getting near lunch time, we start off toward the markets, La Vega Chica and La Vega Central. Walking through the streets of Patronato, the shopping district, we do indeed pass lots of different stores – and of course each block is selling something different, the plastic block, the car repair shop block, you name it, it is here – very similar to SE Asia, except the prices are a bit higher (which keeps throwing me for a loop!). There are also beautiful murals on the walls as we leave Bella Vista, and also periodically in Patronato. We will see more of these colorful and artistic murals all across the city as we wander.
We finally make it to La Vega Chica and begin our first Chilean food experience: the Hawkers. They stand on the street and just yell their dishes at you. Most restaurants and cafes actually have sample plates made up in a case outside the door so as they are yelling, they are pointing out the food. Pretty aggressive, and totally fun. We are a tad early by Chilean standards, it’s only about noon, so the first yeller has no one in her cafe, so we decide to pass, especially since we aren't even inside the market yet! The market has a reputation for the meat stalls lining the front perimeter, and the food stalls lining virtually 3/4’s of the rest of the building. There must be 40 all crammed in there, each yelling their dishes out to you. Cacophony! We finally settle on a large establishment that looks more like a restaurant, and doesn’t have any plates on display. Ugh,, that’s a tactical error! The menu is on the wall though, so at least we can sort of muddle our way through it – because let me tell you – there is no English here! And our Spanish, no matter how hard I try, is not even barely passable – plus their dialect and accent make it even harder to understand them, and them me!
But muddle through we do, and somehow manage to order beer, wine (holy cow, an entire tall drinking glass filled to the brim with wine!), fried fish and roasted chicken with French fries. That will work for our first meal here! Afterward, we wander around the restaurant stalls, looking here and then, then cross over to the Tirso Molina market where the ground floor sells fresh produce, nuts and herbs, while the upper level has clothes and other durable goods. We never make it to La Vega Central! Oh well, we’re tired and it’s been a long night and day.
Crossing the rather dry river bed (which our driver said can come almost to the top during the rainy season) we wanted to try to visit the Mercado Central, where the fish market is located, but the maps are not very realistic, and what looks like one block can turn out to be really far away (as was the case with the fish market), so we aborted that effort and headed directly to the MAVI museum, the Museum of Visual Arts, in the Lastarria district. It’s a pleasant walk, although it is getting rather warm (even if it isn’t humid!), and by the time we get to MAVI we are starting to feel the lag. But the museum is easy to visit and air conditioned (with nice restrooms), so we are revived a bit! This place is truly a strange work of art – from its 6 floors, all connected together at odd angles, accessed through plexiglass staircases, there are bizarre movie reels of old shows spliced together, strange artwork, a spider piano that apparently does something because it is plugged into speakers, a mural made entirely of pipe cleaners….I could go on, but you get the idea. The mission of the museum is to be the cultural center of Santiago, and if this city’s culture is indicative of the displays, then I’d say Asheville just lost their “Keep weird” moniker. Not saying that’s a bad thing, the art was incredibly interesting and some things absolutely beautiful – but it was definitely on the edge! And a very nice little respite for our walking journey today.
We made the whole circuit fine, even detouring back to the grocery store we found to buy apartment supplies (Chilean wine! Yes!), then came back home and crashed. Yes, you read it here first folks, Ed actually took a nap. And a long one at that! We both made up a little of our sleeplessness, arising just in time to take showers and go meet for dinner with Diane and Heinz and Janet and Steve, our ship-transfer-wine tour partners for Sunday. We are all staying here in the apartments, so we meet at the front gate and head over to Patio BellaVista, a huge “mall” of restaurants and cafes. There are so many to choose from here, it would take hours to make a decision. Earlier in the week, Diane and Heinz had eaten at a place they liked, so we went there, but unfortunately they were fully booked. Wow – and it was huge! So, we drifted down one of the restaurant lanes and settled on Le Fournier, which was French, but had a few Chilean dishes. We weren’t all that hungry after our huge lunch, so I had Empanadas (chicken curry – I’m back in India – shrimp and cheese and a mixed seafood), while Ed had chicken Caesar salad (which ended up being quite huge!). The food was good (except for the mixed seafood empanada which ended up uneaten, even on Ed’s plate!), and the company excellent. It was well after 9 when we finally headed back to the apartment after a lovely evening of food, drink and good conversation.
We hung out on our little balcony for a while having a night cap, but soon succumbed to the bed calling us and drifted off to a nice sleep in a much more comfortable setting than last night.
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