Santiago sunsets

Our first night in Santiago started with a tropical party at our hostel, during which I participated in my first ever beer pong tournament, a short-lived venture which ended in bitter defeat for Jen and I, much to Jen’s disappointment. Not entirely my fault, I did disclose my lack of sporting ability. Yes, I am considering beer pong to be a sport. The night ended up in a nightclub called Fraternidad, my memory of which doesn’t really extend beyond the name and the fact Jen had her phone stolen there. The next morning, we made a rather hungover trip to Better Days Tattoo Studio, where I got my tattoo of the outline of Brazil, with a heart where São Paulo is in memory of my time spent in the best country of the world. Me, sentimental? Never.

Santiago

A few people had recommended a trip to the Mercado Central, and as I’m a sucker for a good market, we headed over there. I’m not sure if we somehow ended up at the wrong Mercado Central or what exactly happened, but the whole place absolutely reeked of fish and BO, and the market vendors were cat calling and harassing us to the point where it was so overwhelming we had to leave. I’m going to assume that this wasn’t the market we were meant to go to, but after being left feeling completely uncomfortable, we decided to sack off the idea of finding the real Mercado Central, and instead made our way to La Chascona, which was Pablo Neruda’s Santiago home, and has now been made into a museum celebrating his life and works. It’s a wonderful place to go if you have any interest in the poet, and the tour is done by audio guide, allowing you to take it at your own pace.

La Chascona

 We then got the bus to Valparaiso, where we stayed at Planeta Lindo for a night – we definitely could have stayed longer as Valparaiso is a really cool little city, but we were trying to get through Chile as quickly as possible because of it being relatively expensive in comparison to other places we had been. Our day in Valparaiso was spent doing a graffiti walking tour run by Valpo Street Art Tours, which was really interesting and a different approach to doing walking tours. The guide was super knowledgeable and told us all about the art covering the walls of UNESCO World Heritage site, with a particular focus on Un Kolor Distinto, a street artist couple who are based in Valparaiso and who met through their love for street art, before they started creating pieces together, brightening the streets of Valparaiso with their work. We had lunch at Delicias Express, an amazing little hole-in-the-wall place that has over 80 kinds of empanadas, before making our way back to Santiago in time to catch the sunset at Cerro San Cristobal.

A piece by Un Kolor Distinto

After watching the sun go down, we somehow managed to find our way back down the hill along little dirt tracks in the dark, and then came the most exciting part – we went for a CURRY! A real, proper, Indian curry. I’d been craving a curry for so many months I honestly think I could have cried with happiness when I saw a recommendation for New Horizon Santiago. A big thanks to @fatvicks for that recommendation. Our final few hours in Santiago the following day were spent at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, which was a fascinating museum seeking to draw attention to the human rights violations committed by the Chilean state in the years 1973-1990. It was incredibly thought-provoking and was a very interesting way to spend a couple of hours before our horrendous 22 hour bus journey to San Pedro de Atacama, which I’ll tell you all about in the next blog!

Museum of Memory and Human Rights

Un beso,
Lola