Trip to Chile: Day 2

• Our second morning started off with a walk over to Santiago's Plaza de Armas (the city square). We were awed by the beautiful paintings on display by many local artists (Jackie bought one), entertained by street performers and did a lot of people watching.

Plaza de Armas



Human Statue of Chilean Miner



Plaza de Armas & Cathedral

• We also checked out the Catedral Metropolitana which is on the plaza. Due to earthquakes,  at least 4 churches have been built and destroyed on this site. They were having midday mass when we walked inside. Don't worry - I didn't use my flash to take this pic so I wasn't a distraction.

• We took the metro out to Manuel Mantt Street for lunch at Barandian Peruvian Restaurant. Peru is just north of Chile and is known for their flavorful food - it's definitely spicier than chilean cuisine.
• I had steak with sauteed onions and tomatoes
• Jackie had Aji de gallena (chicken with cream sauce)



my peruvian meal



We both had a traditional peruvian fruit drink and bread with creamy hot sauce with our meal

• After lunch we headed to the Mercado Central, a giant fish market. We walked through quickly as I was a little grossed out.
• Jackie took me to La Piojera Restaurant next to try their famous Terremoto drink. We actually had the smaller version called the Replica. The translation for terremoto is earthquake and replica is aftershock. The drink is a sweet fermented wine plus brandy topped with a scoop of pineapple ice cream. It’s SUPER strong and it was good that we only had the replica. We also split an empanada de pino – ground beef with onions, 1 olive and a cooked egg stuffed in a bread pastry. 

• On our walk back to Jackie’s apartment we went through the Santa Lucia Artesian strip to do a little shopping. Back at the apartment we packed our bags for our excursion to La Serena.
• We went back out to walk around more of Jackie’s neighborhood and then found a small Italian restaurant to stop at for dinner.
• We ordered some classic Chilean drinks – PiscoSour for me and FanSchop (draft beer & orange fanta) for Jackie.
• Our salad consisted of slices of tomato and avocado.
• Our pizza was pita bread with goat cheese and cubes of ham…no sauce
• Jackie says the only thing punctual in Chile is the busses so after dinner we grabbed our suitcases from her apartment and headed to the bus station. Luckily we made to the station with plenty of time to spare.
• Our overnight bus to La Serena departed at 11:30pm.