Today we followed up with a tour of Santiago's downtown, basically finding out what we were looking at on Monday. It was free - yes, very unlike us - and promised to show us the real city. This included the uniquely Chilean cafe con piernas or "coffee with legs" phenomenon. Cappuccinos are served to you by women in incredibly skimpy bikinis, and four times a day you can enjoy "happy minute" when they do it topless. I think I'll stick to Starbucks.
We also took in Chilean politics at the Palacio de la Moneda, enjoyed a (without legs) coffee in Lastarria, learned of the terremoto cocktail that sounds even better than the pisco sour (white wine, pisco, pineapple ice cream), passed through the Bellavista district of student bars, and finished at the house of Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda - a man who loved the sea but never stepped in it because he couldn't swim.
After all that it was back to Silvi and Ignacio's flat for a cup of tea with some dulce de leche-filled croissants. Tonight we're having a barbecue with all the Haas people but because we have to be up at 4am to catch a flight to Atacama, Silvi asked if it could start early. So it was moved forward to 8.30pm. Ahhh, Latin America!
The Palacio Cousino. A nice house with a good central location.
Tour guide #1. He's very good at leading you up steps and then jumping off.
Pot plant.
A typical Chilean family.
One of the previous owners?
Latin ladies.
Yes, it's the Sacre Coeur, a long way from home, and not on a hill.
Pigeons admire the ironwork.
We even had our own driver!
We went to Pete and Fini's for dinner, where Pete has already sold the advertising space on his daughter. That's entrepreneurship!
DELICIOUS empanadas. And Argentinean ones, which Fini claims are far superior to their Chilean counterparts. I'm not getting into that battle.
A typical Argentinean family.
Look, a smile! I knew I could get one out of her.
What could have attracted us to this tour?
At the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art. Which leads me to believe we are now post-Columbian.
The back of the Palacio de la Moneda (which used to be where they minted the coins, and was bombed in Pinochet's coup).
President Allende, the man deposed by Pinochet. He was a Marxist, and the statue is somewhat controversial. Several people shouted things about it while we were standing and looking at it.
Nuts 4 Nuts. A Chilean invented the honey roasted peanut, took it to New York, made a fortune, and was then begged by Chile to bring it back. There are on every corner now.
A slightly more civilised cup of coffee in a cafe that's an ex-castle.
Lastarria district - arty.
Maria, Heyzus and Hozay.
Someone almost as famous as them.
A rather beautiful, and ultra-conservative, Opus Dei church.
The Parque Forestal that runs all along the river.
The Mapocho River, such as it is. It needs some snow melt to make it more impressive.
Bellavista, a bit like the Mission in SF.
The classier side of the district.
Pablo Neruda's house, built to look like a ship so he could pretend to be at sea without taking unnecessary risks.
The final stop of the tour.
Enjoying the empanadas I stole from Fini last night.
On our way home, using one of Santiago's more famous buildings to find our way. It's owned by a phone company, and built to look like a mobile phone! Except it was constructed in the early 90s, and phones are a bit sleeker nowadays...
