Saturday March 8 was a terrific day in Santiago. Blue sky and 32C by mid day. We first headed out to the Mercado Central to get some fish for dinner. The place was buzzing and we got some reineta (also known as pomfret or southern ray bream). It is very plentiful. We had the whole fish filleted with enough fish for two meals-- and only 3000 Chilean pesos-- around $6.00 Canadian. The prices are very, very reasonable- for fish, meat and vegetables. Much less than in Buenos Aires where we were last March.
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| Outside of the Fish Market
Here's our fish story, from the fish stall to being filleted:
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| The fish stall where we got our fish |
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| Our choice of reineta |
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Our fish being filleted Alano on the bridge near our apartment, in front of women selling ceviche |
After dropping off the food at the apartment we headed into Santiago Centro to take the Free City Tour at 3:00 p.m. We had some time to kill, so we wandered around Plaza de Armas where we were to meet the tour guide at the Metropolitan Cathedral. Since Santiago's founding in 1541, the Plaza de Armas (Square of Arms) has been its symbolic heart. In colonial times, a gallows was located there. It is undergoing renovation at the present time. The four major buildings around the Plaza are the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Post Office, the National History Museum and City Hall.
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| Renovation of La Plaza de Armas underway |
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| Metropolitan Cathedral- our meeting place for the Free Tour |
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| Post Office (used to be the Presidential Palace until 1846) |
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| Plaque beside National History Museum- established in 1982 during the Pinochet Dictatorship |
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| Poster for International Woman's Day exhibit |
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| Meeting our Tour guide (red shirt and black hat) in front of the Cathedral
Antonio, our guide, was terrific. There were about 30 people in the tour from all over the world- Australia, Peru, Brasil, Canada, Holland, the US and London. He first gave us some history of the buildings around Plaza de Armas. He pointed out the two sculptures in the Plaza, which are partially hidden due to the renovations. The man on the horse is Spanish soldier, Pedro de Valdivia who founded Santiago on February 12, 1541. Shortly after the founding, he went south to attack the Mapuche, the native people who settled in Chile in 800 BC. Valdivia's mistress, Ines de Suarez, was equally bloodthirsty, decapitating a Mapuche chief when they attacked the city. Valdivia was killed by the Mapuche in 1553. There are many gory stories of his death. Our guide told us that the sculpture of Valdivia sitting on his horse, has no reins, to symbolize the lack of control that the Spanish had over the Mapuche. The other sculpture at the other end of Plaza de Armas is a Mapuche- shown as a broken face, to symbolize the unfulfilled plans of the Mapuche. The Mapuche sculpture was erected in the 1990s.
Pedro de Valdivia on the horse with no reins
The City Hall on the Plaza had been a jail in colonial times. Chile declared its independence in 1810 and the final battle to overthrow the colonial powers was in 1818 in Santiago.
City Hall
We then walked to the entrance of the Museo de Arte Pre-Colombino, which we will visit at another time. Antonio then pointed out a beautiful building that was the Old Congress Building. The Congress was moved to Valparaiso a number of years ago, to decentralize power and move people out of Santiago. It didn't work as the politicians just make the 1 1/2 hour commute every day (sounds familiar).
 We then went to see the Palacio La Moneda (Government House) where the President's offices are located along with the offices of three cabinet ministers. La Moneda once was the colonial Mint which operated from 1814-1929. The neoclassical building was designed by an Italian architect in the late 18th century. The north facade was badly damaged by air-force attacks during the 1973 military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende. Allende committed suicide in his offices. There are two large Plazas on either side of La Moneda. Plaza de la Constitucion contains many sculptures including a beautiful sculpture of Salvandor Allende, wearing his trade-mark glasses.   The other side of La Moneda has Citizen's square with one of the largest flags we have ever seen.   As we continued our walk, our guide pointed out the historical markers in the ground, which pointed out the City's historic buildings. What a great idea to bring attention to historic sites. We also saw a number of stray dogs, common in Santiago.   We also stopped at the University of Chile- the site of student demonstrations a few years ago. The students were protesting high tuition rates- noting that universities in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru have free tuition for students.  We then passed by the old financial area called "New York", with many buildings located on New York Street. The Bolsa de Comercio (Santiago Stock Exchange) was recently restored. The new financial area, which is in a different part of the city, is known as "San-hattan".   As we continued our walk, we stopped for a Mapuche street drink (Mote con Huesillo) --- wheat hominy and peaches, with cinnamon and honey. Delicious. 
We then passed by the Opera House (Teatro Municipal). It is a beautiful building, but is presently closed for renovations following a fire.
  We then proceeded to the bottom of Santa Lucia Hill, a beautiful green space in the city. We didn't go up the hill on the tour-- we will return for a visit. We stopped for a late lunch in Barrio Lastarria, a beautiful neighbourhood. The restaurant we stopped at had a menu for the "Free tour"-- Alano had a sandwich and I had the Chilean favourite empanada- Pino- consisting of beef, onions and a hard boiled egg. Very pleasant taking a break and sitting outside. Probably one of the best stops we have encountered on a "free tour" anywhere.    Antonio then stopped at the best gelato place in Santiago-Emporio La Rosa- it was very busy with the Saturday crowd- so we will return. Our final stop was the Bellavista neighbourhood, teeming with restaurants and bars. Antonio made some recommendations. We ended up at one of Pablo Neruda's houses that he built for his mistress Matilde Urrutia. La Chascona (translated as messy hair) was where Neruda (1904-1973) spent time with her. We will return for a visit to this wonderful building modelled after a ship. Many of his possessions were lost when his house was ransacked by the dictatorship. Neruda had prostrate cancer at the time of the coup, and was hospitalized. He died on September 23, 1973. Walking back through Bellavista, we saw a progressive bookstore. Many books about Allende, and the dictatorship. Not sure about the Allende calendar.  Outside of bookstore   We then headed back to the apartment after an exhausting, but wonderful tour. Our pedometers had us over 24,000 steps, one of our best days ever. Near the apartment, we saw a poster for a Joan Baez concert later this month.  We had a great fish dinner. I started this post, but knowing it would be a long one opted to finish it today. |
Once again we are following the wonderful adventures of Toby and Alano as they take us on their journey with lots of photos and detailed descriptions and historical references to what they are seeing and doing. So good are the commentaries, it almost feels like we are sharing their meals and walking about with them. Well done. We look forward to the continuing blogs.
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