Floating
through the air, we see speckled iridescent blue lakes nestled between
towering mountains, and then from out of nowhere, we see the sprawling
metropolis below us, surrounded by huge snow capped Andean peaks.
Touch down, we're now in Santiago, and finally at sea level altitude.
I feel my lungs gasp a sigh of relief despite the fact that it's over
30ºC today, an unusually hot day for spring here. We step onto the
sweaty hot public bus and head downtown to Barrio Brazil where we've
booked into a funky hostel called Hotel Tokyo - nick nacked out to the
hilt, with frilly lace table covers and window dressings. An old
colonial home, we feel like we've checked into grandma and grandpa's
house as we're greeted by an 85 year old man who serves us tea in
ancient china and gives us a tour of the house, complete with history
behind all the hundreds of nick nacks scattered all around. Our room
is decked out with flowery decor but the bed is comfy and for the first
time in over a couple of months we have TV, and CNN to boot! We're in
the University section of town. The plazas are surrounded by streets
full of cafes, restaurants, artists with guitars and other musical
instruments playing to the beat of their own drummer out in the parks.
It's like Del Mar in the summer time, free concerts in the plaza.
Tonight,
Chile has stolen our hearts, with her food and wine. While not cheap
compared to other countries in South America (of course we order the
cheapest eats on the menu), we gorge ourselves, each with 300 grams of
prime steak at the restaurant just around the corner from our hostel,
Las Vacas Gordas (the fat cows). We each order up the lomo (similar to
filet) and a bottle of vino tinto... far better than anything we've
eaten out at Ruth Kris at home. The fine slices of lomo slide down
easily into our tummies, and the wine, oh, we love these Chilean reds.
So while it's relatively costly here compared to everywhere else we've
been traveling, it's just that... all relative. For under $20 we have
two amazing huge steaks, potatoes, bread, a nice bottle of wine. If we
keep this up we'll most likely be dying of a heart attack before we
arrive back home... but isn't there a study published in the New
England Journal of Medicine, that a bottle of red wine with each nights
dinner helps to ward off heart problems? We'll continue to drink and
eat our way through Chile... We love this country!
