First time in Chile

Santiago

After living in Argentina for a year, the opportunity to visit Chile, the neighbouring country, came like a bolt from the blue. My boyfriend has a few very good friends there and as we could afford a week off and were lucky to find good tickets, we decided to go. It was my first time in Chile so I was not sure what to expect, and to be honest I thought it would be very similar to Argentina. They speak Spanish in Chile, however very different accent and dialect than the one used in Argentina, so it was very difficult for me to communicate. Even my boyfriend who is a Spanish native speaker had some difficulties to understand the Chilean Spanish. As it is the case in Argentina, in Chile people generally do not speak English. Luckily for us our friends do speak English so there was no language barrier at all.

It was November, here on southern hemisphere that means spring. The days are rather hot, but at night the temperature drops quite a lot. Our trip started on Thursday and finished on next Thursday. We flew from Buenos Aires to Santiago, the capital of Chile, and the flight was only 2 hours long. Upon arrival to Santiago airport, we had our two friends, Branislav and Sergio picking us up. We arrived quite late at night so we just quickly changed and went out to explore Santiago at night. The city was very vivid, restaurants and bars full of people. We went to the neighbourhood called Bella Vista, popular especially for the vibrant nightlife. We sat in one of the local bars and ordered quick snack and a drink. We tried the fries loaded with salami, pickles, and cream cheese; the combination of these ingredients seemed a bit weird first, but once I tried it I absolutely loved it. The drink we had was very typical Chilean and gave me such a headache next day. It was called Terremoto, which literally means “earthquake” in English. It was served in a plastic cup and looked more like a drink you would get at kids´ party. It was incredibly sweet and innocently looking, pink colour, sweet and with ice-cream on top. However, after finishing just one cup I already felt tipsy. Then I learnt that Terremoto is actually made from Pipeño, which is a type of sweet fermented wine, and pineapple ice-cream. Interesting combination indeed!

Terremoto.

The next day after we woke up and had breakfast we decided to enjoy a warm sunny day by strolling at Vitacura, visiting the Bicentenario park and the open-air market with local hand craft products, clothes, natural cosmetics and home stuff. Vitacura is the name of the area where we were staying. It is very modern and fashionable, one of the most expensive areas in Santiago. It is full of parks and green areas, fountains, statues, and memorials.

Vitacura.

Open- air market.

After spending the afternoon in Vitacura we went to Costanera Center which is a complex including a six floor shopping mall, the largest in South America; a skyscraper Gran Torre Santiago (Great Santiago Tower) and three other skyscrapers.

On the third day, Saturday, we sat on a trip to Puerto Velero which is a coastal area in the north of Chile, popular for its beaches and holiday resorts. It took us about 5 hours to get there by car from Santiago. Chile has a great web of highways, all the cities are well- connected so it was a comfortable and enjoyable trip.

On our way, we stopped in a small village called Huentelauquen for a quick snack. We had the amazing Papaya nectar and the specialty of the region which was fresh cheese empanadas. Empanadas are extremely popular in Chile and Argentina, basically in whole South America. It is a kind of stuffed pastry either fried or baked in the oven. A traditional Chilean empanada would be empanada de pino. “Pino” is the name of a filling made from minced meat cooked with onions, paprika and other spices. The empanadas we tried in Huentelauquen were, however, very unique as they were made with the local fresh cheese I have not seen anywhere else. An absolute delight!

Fresh cheese empanadas.

We stayed in Puerto Velero for three days and all we did was lying on the beach and enjoying Chilean cuisine. My most favourite dish was Ceviche which looked as a sea food mayo-based salad and it was served with crackers. Our friends told me that Ceviche is very popular in all coastal areas of Latin America and it is usually composed of fresh raw fish, lime, salt, pepper, chilli, cilantro, and chopped onions; really delicious combination of fresh ingredients! We had Ceviche as a starter and Pisco sour as the aperitif. Pisco sour is atraditional cocktail made of Pisco, which is a 35% alcohol volume brandy made from grape juice, very typical in Chile and Peru; then lime juice, ice, syrup (water and sugar), egg white and Angostura Bitters.

After that we had a hot pot of sea food which was mix of different kinds of fish, such as salmon, swordfish, tilapia, then blue crab, shrimps, oysters, vegetables (zucchini, capsicum, carrots), baked potatoes with sour cream and herbs, accompanied by warm garlic bread. As a dessert we had fresh mango cheesecake. This dinner and lovely time spent with our friends was such an unforgettable experience!

Ceviche.

Sea food hot pot.

On Monday evening we returned back to Santiago and the rest of our stay we used for exploring the city and meeting the friends. As soon as we got up the next morning we walked to the San Cristóbal hill, which is one of the top visited places in Santiago. To get to the top we took “teleférico” which is a type of cable transport with small cabins for four, maybe six people, not too sure I guess it depends on the size of people as well. This gave us a great view of the city and a bit of escape from the heat of the day. On the top of the hill there is a large statue of the Virgin Mary, a small church and a gift shop selling mainly religious items. The place had a very pleasant atmosphere with subtle religious music which was actually nice and did not sound as a typical church music at all. This Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception is probably one of the most emblematic places in Santiago.

San Cristóbal hill.

We spent Wednesday morning on the pool, sun tanning and enjoying time with our friend´s kids. In the afternoon we visited the city centre. We got there by metro which was super crowded but unlike metro in Buenos Aires it had air-conditioning. It was really hot in the city centre, people rushing here and there, a lot of traffic, the streets full of street artists, small stalls with cheap items and refreshments. The most popular stand was the one selling ¨Mote con Huesillo¨. You could find at least three of these on every street. Mote con Huesillo is a traditional Chilean non-alcoholic drink made from peaches and wheat. It is actually a sweet nectar made from dried peaches cooked in sugar, water and cinnamon. The nectar is cooled and mixed with cooked wheat. We tried it, of course, hoping to understand why it is so popular. However as it is often the case, popular does not necessarily mean good. I have to say it was too sweet for me and I did not like the consistency of the nectar, which was clear, rather thick liquid. The combination of flavours was rather unique as well and it was not even refreshing in that heat.

After a walk in the city centre we sat down for a beer in a local bar. They had a selection of maybe 15 different dips and condiments on each table. The thing that surprised me the most was a liquid salt in spray. I have never seen such a thing before. So instead of sprinkling our fries with salt, we sprayed them this time.

Liquid salt.

At night we went with friends to the Artes y Sabores festival (Arts & Flavours Festival). It was a lovely open air event with drinks, food, and artists showing their art. It was also a great opportunity for us to see our friend Sergio, a talented singer, singing live.

Artes y Sabores festival.

Such was our 7 day trip of discovering Chilean culture, hanging out with our dear friends and expanding our horizons.