01.11.2013Food & Wine in Santiago de Chile

Arriving in Calama/Chile from Bolivia, the city seemed very civilized: The cars looked new, there were continuous sidewalks, the showers had strong water pressure and a continuous hot water supply … Sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference 🙂
After spending one night in Calama, we boarded a bus to Santiago and decided for the Cama Premium class for this 22 hour bus trip.

The seats could fully recline:

And we could watch movies and listen to music:

Every few hours we were supplied with snacks:

And relaxed by simply watching the landscape of the Atacama desert pass by:

After sunset we fully reclined our seats and cuddled into the soft and cosy blankets. What a difference to the last Bolivean bus we had taken to Calama!

In the morning we arrived well-rested in Santiago, stored our luggage in a deposit and started exploring the capital of Chile. Santiago was founded by the Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Valdivia in 1541. Mountains of the Andes chain can be seen from most points in the city. The city outskirts are surrounded by vineyards, and Santiago is within a few hours of both the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Here some pictures from the Plaza De Armas, the capital’s main plaza:

We really enjoyed the few days we had in Santiago, mostly relaxing, eating and organizing our things and next travel itineraries.
Our accommodation was a nice apartment in the city center with a supermarket just next door. Preparing food and tasting different Chilean wines was one of the things we did not get tired of:

And of course we tried the famous “Completo” you can get at every corner in Santiago. It is a hot dog with different toppings: chopped tomatoes, avocados sauce, relish (a mashed mixture of gherkins, pickled carrots and onions), mustard and mayonnaise.

Andy also tried different kinds of Lomo burgers, which were also delicious:

We visited the traditional central market in Santiago, which has a large section of seafood and fish:

But also fruits:

And meat:

Surrounding the market are many small restaurants which seem to be mainly visited by locals. We took our chances and randomly tried one of them:

We had fresh bread with a very spicy sauce as a starter:

Andy had a huge piece of fried and very tender salmon with fries:

And Tini tried the delicious garlic prawns:

The three days just flew by and before we knew it we had to catch our flight from Santiago to Rio de Janeiro in Brasil. On the way to the airport we passed by La Moneda Palace, which is the Presidential Palace:

Our first Santiago experience was quite relaxing and we enjoyed the amenities a civilized and modern city has to offer. Now we are already looking forward to our next stay in Santiago in December.