Santiago, Chile

Our flight from Lima arrived very late at night, but Helena was waiting up for us in Providencia (the neighborhood in Santiago where her apartment is located). We were so happy to see her, even though we had never met in person! The next morning we made a typical breakfast with avocado, tomato, and cheese she had bought from the store while we were sleeping. What a hostess! Then we headed out on Helena’s guided walking tour of the Provedecia area. JJ and I immediately felt like we were walking around in Santa Monica during the summer time. It was very warm, but there was a cool breeze in the air and not a cloud in the sky. In her area, the city seemed incredibly modern and almost western European. We had a nice lunch and headed out again to navigate the Santiago metro system and make our way to the out-of-town train that would take us south of Santiago.

Helena and her family invited us to come visit their family farm and apple orchard in the San Fernando Valley of Chile. This is actually funny on numerous levels since Helena and JJ grew up only a few miles away from each other in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. We got some ice cream because we could not resist seeing it everywhere we went (everyone in Chile is always eating ice cream! Non-stop!!! There are even McDonalds that only serve ice cream!) and watched the landscape change for the next 2 hours. When we got off the train, Helena’s father was waiting for us. He drove us to the farm in the “village” of Tres Puentes (3 bridges). We met her mother, her sister, and her nephew, Lucas, also known as “El Nino Velos” (the very fast boy!). Everyone made us feel so welcome and like we were a part of the family. The farm property was gorgeous and we were amazed by all of the apple trees surrounding us! Too bad they were not going to be ripe for picking for a few more weeks! Granny smith, pink lady, gala, red chief, etc. etc.! The Rojas family also had chickens, a small flock of geese, cats, and a dog named Jack. After playing with Lucas and bribing him with sweets, we sat down to late afternoon tea/dinner with their family and got to sample the local produce and homemade bread! More family friends arrived later in the evening and we began to try many, many bottles of Chilean wine!

The next day, JJ and I borrowed some bikes and took a ride for about an hour around the Rojas farm. We saw many different orchards and enjoyed the beautiful green scenery. The blackberry bushes covering the fences along the road were just too tempting, so we also stopped many times to sample them. We got a little lost, but made it back just in time for lunch. The table had moved from the pretty corner of the yard we had eaten at the night before to a section of the yard next to the small river flowing through the property (irrigating the soil of the farm). Helena’s mom called this a new “restaurant” and served us the most incredible lunch that included potatoes, tomatoes, salad, green beans, fish, chicken, wine, watermelon, and other delicious food from the neighboring farms! We were so full after lunch we had to take a nap. I woke up in the afternoon to make fresh bread with Helena. I have no idea how much yeast, flour, water, salt, and vegetable shortening when into the dough, but the result turned out to be delicious! Helena took us into the town of San Fernando to show us around and to pick up her sister from the train station. We took a walk through town and passed through some very nice parks. After another good meal that evening, Helena’s mom walked us over to the tomato orchard at one of the neighbor’s homes. We walked around the back of a home and then into a gigantic greenhouse that seemed to go on forever with some of the most gorgeous (and tastiest) tomatoes I have ever seen! We also were given some freshly picked peaches and nectarines by the nice lady who grew the tomatoes. Of course, JJ and I devoured on the amazing fruit right there in front of her to show our gratitude! On the walk back we enveloped by a clear sky full of shining stars. We could see Orion’s belt and the Southern Cross.

The next morning we woke up and had another breakfast of fresh, delicious eggs from their chickens, and said our goodbyes to Helena’s mom, sister, and Lucas. We had such a fantastic time visiting them and left for Santiago with pounds of tomatoes, pears, and fresh eggs. After a filling lunch where I got corn tamale called homida, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the apartment and avoiding the heat. JJ went out to buy some empanadas to go with our wine and we went out to have few pisco sour’s and to stroll down Suecia (a popular street for clubbing in Provedencia on a Friday night). Some of the names and themes of the bars on Suecia made me laugh out loud, like “Louisiana” with a river boat theme, and “Bed Rock” with a Flintstones theme.

The next day, Helena joined us for a day trip to Valparaiso, a very hilly, pirate-ish, historical port-city on the coast from Santiago. When we arrived in “Valpo” via bus and a metro from pretty Vina del Mar, Helena walked us straight to her favorite seafood restaurant above a local produce market. It was about 2pm on Saturday afternoon and the place was full of people! It was the best looking food I had seen in Chile and when we finally got a table, we could not order fast enough, everything looked so good! I got a fish stew with clams, mussels, shrimp, fish, etc! JJ and Helena had seafood platters with different local catches. JJ’s fish was known as a congor eel, which apparently isn’t an eel at all, but a very long, great-tasting fish. After lunch, we made our way walking up the very steep hills of Valpo towards Pablo Neruda’s home, the famous Chilean poet and politician. He had several homes, but the one in Valpo is known as La Sebastiana, after the original Spanish architect.

The home is incredible because of his eclectic, but somehow functional taste, and the 360 degree view of the entire Valpo area. JJ and I just about drooled on the floor when we saw the incredible ocean view he had from almost every room. Too bad you couldn’t take pictures of the inside of the house! We joined back with Helena and made our way down, across the hills towards the port where we could watch the big cruise boats and the small tourist boats. Later in the evening after walking through the lower parts of the city, we found something hot to drink, watched JJ pound back a local hot dog “El Italiano” (with Tomatoes, Avocado and Mayo, it looks like the Italian flag) with everything on it and piece of banana cake, then got back on the bus for Santiago.

JJ and I decided that the next day would be devoted to our own walking tour of Santiago. We set out for a long day of walking a sight-seeing after a filling breakfast of some more fresh San Fernando eggs! We began to walk along the river and through a modern sculpture garden, tried out some free and strange exercise equipment, then we crossed another big park area and to “the best ice cream shop in Santiago”, Emporio Santa Rosa. I chose berries and mint, while JJ had a cone of rich chocolate. We sat in Parque Forrestal and enjoyed the shade of the trees before setting out on the bohemian side-street, Lastarria. We made our way to the main boulevard, Benardo O’Higgins and headed down to the La Moneda, the capital building in Santiago. When we got to La Moneda, we learned that there had been a bike race, the “Tour de Chile” completed there in the morning, which explained the confetti everywhere! I admired the gigantic Chilean flag, very similar to the Texas flag, before we headed down to the Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda, the museum under the capital. Before going in, we decided to see if we could get an ice-coffee at one of the trendy cafes inside, so we asked for a café helado. The bartender could speak some English and too be sure, we asked if we just ordered an ice coffee and they said, yes of course. So out came two ice cream glasses full of vanilla ice cream, and blended ice and coffee, which was promptly poured on top, then covered with whipped cream. Not what we wanted, but so good! So, here is to having ice cream more than once in a day and also not always getting what you want! We made our way with a very strong sugar rush down into the museum, where we first viewed early 1900’s black and white print of Patagonia, Chile, the region we would next visit! Next, we entered the main exhibition, “Art in America”, which covered modern works of art from North and South American artists. As soon as we entered, a very peppy and tall, English speaking Chilean girl asked us if we wanted to have a quick walk through with her in a free guided tour! Of course, we took advantage of this as she walked us quickly through the exhibit, pointing out the best works from various artists and asking inquisitive questions. Our favorites included a large pencil drawing that was done with such skill it looked like a photograph, a more liberal and creative drawing that gave the illusion of being wrinkled from the way it was drawn, and a flip flop raft made with barbed wire. We really enjoyed the exhibit, especially with the surprise of a rare Any Warhol print of a Native American woman in neon colors.

After the positive museum experience, we made our way to another one of Neruda’s homes at the base of Cerro San Cristobal. We wound our way through an interesting and colorful neighborhood of nice houses until we found his, right on time for our tour! Our strange, but very informative tour guide took us through Neruda’s Santiago Home, known as La Chascona, the crazy haired woman! He gave the house this name on account of the mistress he had at the time. We liked this house very much and were impressed by the mix of architecture to look like a boat and the retro fixings around the house. After leaving the home, we tried a local snack, jugo con huecitos, made of barley bites and reconstituted juice from a dried peach. Then, we took the cable car lift to the top of the hill where we hiked a little further to see the Virgen de Santiago. We hiked all the way down the hill in the direction of Provedencia and made our way back to Helena’s apartment, enjoying the great views of Santiago the whole way down.

The next day, Helena helped us get things together for our backpacking trip in Torres Del Paine National Park, in Patagonia, Chile. We took an afternoon train to Conche y Toro winery, where we tasted and sampled wines from one of the largest wine producers in the world. We even got to go in the “cellar of the devil”, where the famous while, Casa del Diablo got its name from. We had a great time on the beautiful property. Later in the evening we went with Helena to meet her friends at an art light show on the river, where images where projected onto the river below us. Afterwards, we had a meal at a restaurant on Lastarria, called Patagonia. The food was great and we were very exited for the next part of our journey.