the tour was great, it was one of those free ones (the only other free walking tour i did was in amsterdam and i was too busy trying to keep vital organs from kyrogenic stasis to pay attention that time), and the guy showed us all the good street food and dishes. sorry to make this a food blog, but hey, it's my blog, so here are the foods: (i tried them out over THREE days, i didn't have them all in 24 hours! haha no really, trust me)
- Drinks included the Kross beer, another chopps. there is a drink called motte con quesillo, and is cooked barley with peaches in peach nectar juice that you semi eat. it's close to chinese drinks that have bits of red bean and jelly in them. a very large drink called the earthquake which is pisco, cheap white wine, and large chunks of ice cream. i had half of my litre tube before i knew exactly why its namesake was appropriate.
- street food includes the hot dog they call Italiano. they put about a pound of avocado on it. i couldn't really taste the frankfurt because it was all green
- the really good food is served in the bohemian part of town (isn't it always). the paila marina is seafood stew and beats any seafood chowder i've had, they have very good clams and salmon, and is that abalone i see? you would not get that in sydney unless at a chinese restaurant where they charge you through the nose.
- also tried a local dish called the pastel choclo, imagine a large casserole dish with bits of steak and chicken, a random boiled egg (when i see boiled egg in my food i think of the Indo-Lankan place outside of Seven Hills station where your Biryani is served with a boiled egg as a side), some olives, and layered with mashed corn then baked. a shepherd's pie with corn for potatoes. very large portion for 10 bucks
- for another 10 bucks there's something which if introduced to bankstown could put the kebab out of business. it's the churilliano. on a bed of fries there are bbq-ed onions, strips of kebab meat, steak, and on top of that over-easy fried eggs. greeeeeaaaaaaazy. it's usually for two people, and i couldn't finish it. am ashamed. was also the only time i left my camera to charge, but i did take other photos of it
- chupe de jaiba- crab pudding. definitely very interesting, kind of actually reminds me of those nelson bay ned's pies with the seafood.
- ice cream parlour near park forestall has strange flavours such as essence of rose, melon and beer, and stuff. i tried the conservative caramel (yummmmm they really do love their caramel), and braved the green tea infused mango. refreshing
as for the rest of santiago, the place is very intact and solid for a place with earthquakes and political turmoil. for a place which dared to play with communism and paid a very high cost, it looks very unharmed on the surface. allende's downfall only shows how much the Cubans have had to fight (and still do). went to pablo neruda's house (he has two others outside the city) where he collects things, including his friends' stuff. bit of a vain magpie. good thing he could write.
noticed that books are pricey throughout south america. besides argentina the rest of the countries have a very low readership, probably due to their extremely low buying power. if you could have a massive pie for 10 bucks why would you buy a book that could feed you for a month? shame because besides neruda, they have very many good poets who are read more by foreigners than locals.
stayed up til 3 on the second night, watching 5 latino guys getting very drunk at the hostel before leaving (the bromance was starting to get a bit heated). after hotel-ing it, i admit hostelling seems rough by comparison. however when i noticed there were 35+ staying there i thought, heck if i am 35 and still staying at a hostel i will shoot myself.
caught a bit of a cold (probably from Gonorrhea Face on the plane trip) and put too much zinc on my face (no mirrors in hostel rooms besides the back of my ipod) so i went out looking like a very stoned geisha with a deep, transexual voice. good times.
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