Three Days and Two Nights In Santiago

After a seemingly hectic voyage from Phoenix to Santiago, I arrived at my destination, Hostal Luna Calypso, and was exuberated to drop my bags off and get some quick shut eye.  I arrived at the hostel aroun 1pm, and was delighted to find that I had a ground level room with french doors opening out to a little patio.  The summer weather was in full effect, so I opened the doors and fell fast asleep for a few hours.  When I woke up, I cleaned up and put on my sneakers, venturing out to some of the walking destinations I had found online.  My hostel was situated next to a narrow park that spanned about 20 blocks, and was full of teenagers in love, joggers, and a whole hoarde of young skateboarders in the skate park.  From there I continued on to another larger park situated along the river in the center of town, which played host to a number of beautiful statues and the academy of fine arts building.  I felt relieved to have a seat in the shade and observe all of the people and sights unseen. 
After a while, I got back on my feet and ventured across the river, which was extremely muddy and had a surprisingly rapid flow of water for the middle of summer.  I later learned that there had been a heavy northern storm and a number of large washouts that ended up closing many of the mountain passes and roads throughout the andes.  Across the river, I found the charming barrio Bellavista, which was bustling with young couples and tourists, all of them congregating in a neat city block called patio bellavista.  Patio bellavista was a great collection of bars, restaurants and shops, and I ended up revisiting the area for dinner. 
Ordering dinner was quite comical in my mind, since my spanish could always improve and I was somewhat unsure if I had ordered a sufficient amount of food - I hadn't eaten since the horrible quiche serves for breakfast on the airplane.  The waiter came back after I had ordered and asked me a question about my dish, and I had no idea what he had said, although I could tell he asked me a yes or no question.  I said yes and hoped for the best!  It ended up being an extraordinary dish with fried polenta, cubed steak fried plantanes and fresh guacamole.  Washed down with a beer, I was more than satisfied, though I was a bit surprised to pay more than $25 US for it.  Since then I have discovered that resaurants across the board are expensive and nothing beats a home cooked meal. 
The next day entailed more of the same - a walk to a certain point of interest followed my an extemporaneous walk to nowhere in particular.  My initial destination was to the national zoo and metropolitan park, but I was disappointed to see that the funicular was under maintenance and the lines for the bus to the top figured to take at least an hour.  Instead I ventured to pablo neruda's nearby house, and again was disappointed to find that it was closed.  Undeterred, I followed a random street for awhile and then decided it would be best to head south to avoid losing my bearings.  Without a map or internet access, I had to always be concious of where I was heading.  Once I crossed back over the river, I was delighted to come across two public marketplaces.  The northernmost market catered more to the everyday shoppers, with things like shoes and housewares, as well as a spattering of restaurants.  The restauranteurs were very eager to seat me at a table, but I held out for food until I found a unique and crowded place that I knew wouldnt disappoint. 
The main central market was across the street, and it was a very great place that initially reminded me of the fish market at pike street in Seattle.  I meandered through the building, and then came across a very busy storefront filled with locals ordering empenadas de pino.  for 750 pesos (about a dollar), I got a delicious meal and some great fresh juice... A well deserved treat after a lot of walking.
After lunch I continued south and found the busiest area in all of Santiago, la plaza de armas.  The  beautiful plaza was packed with businessmen and open air marketplaces.  I bought some ice cream ( Helado, helado, helado) and I was interested to see that the vendors were successfully making sales to locals just as much as to tourists.  The entire place was very functional and showed the strength of the economy in Chile.  After continuing south beyond the plaza, Ieventually found that my sense of direction had failed me, and I walked until I found a metro station to get me back to the Baquedano metro station near my hostel. 
That night, I met up with a fellow american who has been in Chile for 6 years, Isabel.  Isabel has been in the wine industry the whole time she has been in Chile and it was exciting to get a perspective on the state of the industry and hear about her experiences.  We met at a great wine bar in barrio Lastarria, called Bocanariz.  They had an incredible selection of chilean wine, with probably 50 wines by the glass and over 350 bottles to choose from.  In following my new years resolution and expanding my food horizons, Isabel and I split a plate of 8 oysters (my first ever) and settled on a more familiar favorite of mine, lamb.  The oysters were quite an experience, and I tried to put myself back in the college days and down those suckers like jello shots.  I managed to take all four down, not without the help of a ton of lemon juice, and I can finally say I have eaten oysters!  Would I order them again on my own?? Don't think so!
Isabel and I spent almost four hours and shared a couple of flights and a couple of bottles of wine, and made plans to meet up again in the near future.  She has been a huge help to me and she knows a ton of people in the wine industry, so I am looking forward to getting together for some more tasting!

In the morning I set off for valparaiso and said TTFN to Santiago, where the heat was sweltering and I found myself ready to see a new place on the coast of Chile.  More to come on Valparaiso in the next post!