DRAFT: Santiago

• on the first night, Katie was exhausted so I went to the grocery store. which turn out to have the same branding as Walmart but a different name
• the caretaker of the Airbnb was amazing and so nice. he didn’t speak any English but went out of his way to make our stay great
• the first morning we rearranged the whole place. the stay was beautifully decorated but we wanted the self-space to make it feel like home. It made a huge difference
• we treated each day like a Saturday/Sunday. developed a routine of waking up slowly, making breakfast, working out and then going out for an activity
• Katie ordered from the Indian place the Goga recommended and it was amazing!!! go vegan Indian food
  • I was very thankful that we have been able to eat something that isn’t beef. my expectations of how meat-heavy Chile is (informed from my time in Argentina) were thankfully not true

1/21

• On the first day we walked to bicential park and learned why siestas are so important. it was so hot in the sun but we copied the locals and found a single shady tree to hid under and read
  • as we read I noticed all the birds fly away as two raptors landed on a sculpture
  • once the raptors left all the birds flew back to their perch
• we ate at la hamburgisa. intending to order take out we picked what we wanted at the host station and then found out they only do dine-in. so we sat on the patio. as we waited we played hangman on the placemats and had way to much fun doing so.
  • turns out ‘spotted hyena’ and ‘scuba diving’ and ‘touching elephants’ are great hangman words I was so surprised that they had a Jucy-lucy I had to order it…it did not disappoint
• we watched the somebody Feed Phil episode and then ate our way through Santiago

1/22

• after our morning routine, Katie took me own the ???? road to show me how they had closed it down for the day. it was packed with walkers and bikers. there were also tons of people learning how to rollerblade
  • it was really cool to see friends or couples where one was teaching the others
  • the city felt alive with change and full of potential and quickly headed to a great place
  • it makes me want to visit again in 5-10 years and see the change
• we then braved the metro and were super impressed with how well the system was designed and geeked out about how easy it was to navigate
• the subway cars ran on tires on concrete paths which was fascinating
• we then made it to the human rights museum the English audio guide left a lot to be wanted so we used google translate on everything of interest. we would quickly snap a pic with the app and read the translation on our phones
• the museum was beautifully curated and moved us both
• we quickly lost track of time and were moved by the horrific acts by the previous government
• the museum gave us great context for the change we saw in the people given how new the country was
• particularly the vote si/no vote was fascinating. I can’t imagine the courage it takes as a citizen to trust the vote and stand up against the government
• another thing that moved me where the seahorses. at one prison the only time the prisoners weren’t blindfolded was in the shower where there was a brass drain plate with a sea horse in it which was a symbol in a ton of the handmade art
• I also appreciated the explanation of how important art is in free thinking and communication of ideas. they really painted the artist as the one who forced the government to change

• the museum also gave us context for why street art is solidly accepted. …given the previous government’s horrific treatment of artists

• we got Vietnamese food and ate at Katherine’s favorite ice cream place
• we took our ice cream to the near by park to eat with the stoners by the highway

1/23

• id what we did during the day. chilled? for dinner, we went to the same bar as Phil to get the best fish sandwich ever
  • we both ordered the same sandwich and the same basil sour to drink
  • the waiter was so nice and helped us along with our order in our broken Spanish
• he then offered fires and I said yes so Katie ordered a salad in defiance of the fires
• the restaurant didn’t have a salad so the waiter listed off some ingredients in the kitchen which we said yes too
• after we placed our order another waiter came over and moved us from a two-person table to a four-person because they needed more room for the food
• as we ate/waited we enjoyed American pop-rock and worked on our year-in-review drawings
• we started with the pre-trip stuff and I can’t believe how much we did in 2022 before the flight to Italy.in part of my brain, it feels like a different era.was there anything that happened before this trip?

1/24 Market, Markets, Markets

• we took the metro to a market Katie really enjoyed the last time she was in Santiago
• it had changed a lot and was now an upscale food court with some nice souvenirs with low expectations, we decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants and were completely blown away
• Katie introduced me to ??? a sweet purple corn drink
• we then walked to the funicular but bailed on it due to the long wait,\
• so we walked to the central market and were sadden to find fish vendors with very poor looking seafood, very desperate restaurants
• we then went to plaza del armas to relax and get more ice cream (was this on this day???)
• when we got back I went to the supermarket to grab stuff for a pizza and made a half Indian half classic Italian pizza

1/25 Katies parents join us

• we went to the airport to pick them up
• we had to much stuff so had to use on of the van services
• helped them into their Airbnb
• when the van stopped they did so blocking one of the lanes in the road which many drivers behind us were not happy about
• we went back to our place to rest
• then headed to the sculpture garden nearby to do more reflection drawing
• we decided to work on Bali
  • it was so much fun to remember all the amazing things we saw and did as we lay there I noticed Katies parents walking by
• we hung out and chatted for a bit until heading back to our place where we decided to go to another of Phils restaurant
• we sat outside on the sidewalk and had amazing food and service.
• although at one point someone on the street got punched in the face. from the look on the staff this wasn’t common and security offers quickly intervened

1/26

• we meet up with Katies parents post breakfast and walked to the chair lift entrance a few blocks away. on the ride, we saw great views of the city
• along the ridge our lift ran into a few tree branches
• the last stretch was the scariest as we were very far off the ground
• we arrived at the vista with the large statue of the virign mary
• the sun was soooo hot. we were adjusting to traveling with others and were spending far more time in the sun than usually. I got really sunburnt on my nose.
• it was fun at the lookout to make out all the features of the city the school, a prison, the airport, high-density zoning, single-family house zoning, a stadium, etc.
• we then got to take the funicular down and walked around eventually finding ourselves at the Vietnamese restaurant we ate at before and then making our way back to the favorite ice cream shop and ate the ice cream at stoner park
• we then went to an artisan market where we struck out again at finding souvenirs we were interested in

dinner at Baragó

• the uber dropped us off at a very unassuming strip mall with no signage
  • we had to walk a ways down to an unmarked door
• when we entered the table on our right had some of the largest tomatoes I had ever seen
  • they were so beautiful
  • called pink tomatoes
  • they had a small harvest but if there was a larger one then we apparently would have gone home with one
• inside was stark grey and no art on the wall
• one side was floor-to-ceiling glass
• they got to watch the sunset on the mountains and a small plane with a glider into the air multiple times
• there was a traditional Patagonian feast for each dish, it would appear and all four of us would take out our phones to snap a picture before consuming
• it was so interesting hearing where each ingredient came from
• the restaurant was in the top 50 in the world
• the tasting menu is a secret but it was fun to get a few hints out of the staff and observe which tables were ahead of us to see what they were getting
• idk if it was the best food I have ever had but definitely the most unique. I think every single dish had an ingredient native to Chilie that I have never even heard of before
• there were a few tables trying out a new menu
• we were staring down there dishes which were served by the head chef
• he eventually came over to show us one of the ingredients he was showing them and we had a really nice conversation with him

1/27

• went to the Precolumbian art museum
• sadly the main exhibit was only open on Thursday and Sunday
• we then finally got to Kioso Roso for lunch and absolutely loved the churopan
• Still on the loo out for a market we walked to ne store I found on google and sadly struck out again
• At this point I was exhausted I had only planned on doing the museum and then going back to rest but I agreed to go to the centro gabriela mistral.
• the few exhibits we walked through were neat
• still being very tired we went to get some water and sat in the cafe to figure out what to next
• reflecting on our day and how this was the beginning of the end of our trip I decided to rally and go to the ice cream spot once more
• when we got there I was soooo hungry and was thinking about ordering 3 scoops with churros. which is when I said “wait if we’re getting ice cream now when do we want to eat dinner”
• we decided it would be best to eat dinner before ice cream so we went to a burger place down the street
• the burgers were delicious and had super funny American pop culture names we again played hangman with our place mats- I had eaten way too much but still wanted to get one last ice cream
• we got the ice cream and at ein stoner park
• still wanting some sort of Chilean textile to go home with we booed it over to one of the markets we hadn’t seen yet on the way, we stopped in the national library where we geeked out on the architecture and talked about our love for libraries, and the building similarities and differences to the EEOB -at the market we finally found some blankets with patterns we liked and picked up two to take home

Other

the chocolate milk-colored river runoff