Could the sandwich be anymore massive? I couldn't decide which was the best way to eat it. It was too tall to bite into and I struggled when I tried to use the knife and fork.
This was the end result after picking it up with my hands, stuff falling out, putting it back on the plate, re-evaluating the situation, and trying to use the utencils.
We decided to walk most of the day. I have to say this was probably the worst idea ever considering it was 33 degree's cels. outside and we try not to drink too much water since toliets are far and wide and cost money. I found this lovely rat's tail sometime during our walk. Doesn't it scream hottness???
I decided I was taking too many pictures of just the scenery, and not enough of me and Reese. Here I am on just a random street in Santiago. That random man obviously couldn't mind his own business!
Here is Reese at one of the major intersections in the district we were in.
Here is a picture of the metro. It's pretty simple. The actual metro stations aren't that dirty... It's inside the trains that are a bit grubby. It's not too much of a bother though- thats what hand sanitizer is for, right?
Reese in the metro station:
Our next stop was to check out La Vega. It's the biggest fruit and veg market in Santiago.
The area was really dirty. There was rubbish everywhere and a ton of people on the sides of the street selling junk. Seriously... It was all used junk. And everything you can think of. From door handles to baby shoes.
First Reese at the entrance to LaVega, then me.
Remember how I said Chileans love icecream? Look at this old man enjoying his icecream. Pure joy! Oh, you know what else they seem to love? Seltzer water. Everybody drinks it. When you ask for water at the restaurant, you have to specify that you want "agua sin gas" or else you will get fizzy water. We have already made that mistake once!
The fruit and veg market just went on and on and on. There was soooooo much fruit/veg and it was so incredibly cheap. I was in heaven! When Reese's company finally decides to open an office down here I will definitely be at the fruit market every Saturday!
There was quite a bit of stuff that I didn't recognize. Like how about seaweed from antartica? The furthest part south in Chile is the closest you can get to Antartica anywhere in the world. So back in August when the original plan was to move here in October I looked up cruises to Antartica. How amazing would that be hey? I was rather let down when I saw the price. The cruises start at $5000.00 USD, and although it would be a once in a lifetime experience, we would have to save for a while. Oh well... Maybe someday- if we ever move here! It was still quite cool seeing something from Antartica. I guess Chileans put in in salads and stews.
Our after lunch snack was rainier cherries. We got 1kg of cherries for a dollar and they were divine! Of course we could never finish that amount of cherries so we gave the rest to a group of homeless drunk men. Hopefully rainier cherries help with hangovers...
Loads and loads of delicious looking produce!
The outside part of the market had a band that was really good! It was cool to listen to live Chilean music and watch people dance on the street.
This is just a picture of what most of the buildings looked like in the area we were in. It seems like most of Santiago comes to the market, but it's in a really poor and run-down area of the city.
On our way back to Paseo De Ahumada, the most famous street in Chile, (district of Plaza De Armas) we could see the statue of the virgin Mary on top of Cerro San Cristobal Hill. Reese says its about a 3 mile up-hill walk, so we plan on running/walking up it later this week!
More random pictures of our Saturday in Santiago! I have to say that we are seeing even more and more stray dogs. Some of them are quite big, and since they just stand/walk/lounge wherever they please I get a bit freaked at times. So everytime we walk past a dog now, Reese goes "hey puppy puppy" and I tell him to stop it and he goes "Oh Courts, they only understand Spanish". Hmmm... I am still not convinced!
Here is Reese with some mote con huesillos. It's this really weird (I don't like it) peach drink with half-sized peaches in it and some sort of grain at the bottom. It's really popular here.
A few hours before dinner, we stopped by the Mercado Central to decide on a restaurant for dinner. There are a ton of seafood restaurants around the outside of the square. Inside there is one big restaurant in the middle and a fresh fish market surrounding it. Santiago is only about 1 hour from the coast, so the fish is caught early in the morning and brought to the market to sell. Fresh as it gets.
Just another beautiful day in Santiago!
You can pick your fish and have them gut it for you right before your eyes. Delicious ne? :)
Like the produce market, the fish market is just a huge. Going on and on! You can imagine the smell...
A stand owner offered to take our picture. I had to sanitize the camera afterwards!
Then the guy put this germ-filled apron on Reese, handed him the knife, and before he could say no... put a fish in his hands!
Maybe Reese should quit his job and start gutting fish? Maybe... maybe not.
Reese told the guy we would advertise his booth for him. So the next few pictures are just for that. If you ever find yourself at the Mercado Market in Santiago, be sure to buy seafood from this guy!
Before dinner we walked to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. I'm just going to type out what is written on the pamphlet because I don't think I can explain it as clearly.
"The Museum of Memory and Human Rights is a space dedicated to the ethical reflection upon the violations to the life and dignity of Chileans committed between 1973 and 1990. The purpose of the Meseum is to generate a commitment to the unrestricted respect for human rights in the family, at school, at working, in interpersonal and political relationships, and in public and in everyday life by Chile's citizens."
No pictures are allowed to be taken inside the Museum, so I just have this one of the outside. In fact, you have to leave all your stuff at the front door. Anyways, it's a really cool place. My only complaint is that almost everything is in Spanish. I don't mind the Spanish, I just wish the information was written in English as well. Reese had to read almost everything for me, so after the first floor I just opted to look at the pictures.
The whole Museum is really modern. The first exhibition is pictures and dates of countries that had their human rights violated. This was all in Spanish, but if I remember correctly most of those countries pictured now have the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Basically what happened in Chile is on Sep. 11, 1973 the military took over the presidential palace and demanded the President to resign. President Allende's was a dictator and with the help of the United States, another guy took over. In less than a day, the President was found dead in the palace and the military had taken over. After Pinochet took over people started going missing by the masses. If their bodies were found they had been tortured or murdered and a lot of people still have yet to be found. From what I understand Pinochet must have had low self-esteem because anyone who would talk bad about him was either taken prisioner or kinapped, tortured, and murdered. It was a really cool. Even though I couldn't read any of it, I still learnt quite a bit.
Reese, my own personal tour guide!
We went back to the Mercado Central for dinner. Reese got an interesting looking fish soup. I don't really care for fish soup... way too fishy, but Reese enjoyed it!
I got the most divine Chilean sea bass and mashed potato's. It was grilled and perfectly seasoned and so delicious! BEST FISH EVER!!!
It was a really hot day and we walked about 8 miles so it was really good to get back to the hotel and rest our feet. But it was a fun day and we love being here in Santiago!
2 comments:
I think you make a great looking Chilean!
Sounds like you are going to need to learn Spanish. ;-)
Post a Comment