Santiago Tour 1 - The Beginning

My two proud Chilean companeras, Loreto and Paula, were kind to offer me a Sunday tour of Santiago... I am thrilled to have this invitation, since there are many places they will know which not on the beaten tourist track. They are standing in front of the Palace of the Chilean President...Plaza de la Moneda. This is where the money used to be made. It was damaged by the big terremoto in February 2010.





The girls are smiling at the giant Flag of Chile that waves in front of the Palace.

They said it was so big that it would reach across the street between the buildings.

Our tour started early Sunday morning. Paula was in charge...Loreto drove so we could park in all the tight parking garages. On the way to central Santiago to see some sites, we passed by the Parque Forestal where the Museo de Arte is located.

We are planning another tour the fist of next year of all the museums in Santiago. That will be a LONG day, but I am looking forward to it...

Central Santiago is known for its Cafe con Piernas...Coffee with Legs.
Women in sexy outfits serving coffee -- a South American original.

This is tame to most...some go as far as topless! Topless morning coffee? During the day? Huh???

We did not stop in for coffee, but the smells of coffee filled the streets. It sure smelled good.

Concha y Toro is an old bario of Santiago where the winding streets are only as wide as carriages. Concha y Toro is connected to the Chilean nobility and aristocracy. The bario was once the property of doña Teresa Cazotte, the widow of Concha y Toro wine fame. It is now a favored residence of artists and filmmakers who use the barrio in their films. Here are a few scenes from that area.

The church near the bario is being repaired. Look close at the photo of the church in the banner...and then at the photo I took of the damage. Do you see what is missing?

On the walk around town, we passed by the Wall Street of Santiago...look familiar?



Next on the tour was the Plaza de Armas. In the plaza there are many artists selling their painting, sculptures, a pavillion where the Banda de Guerras play every Sunday, the central Post Office of Santiago and of course The Catedral of Santiago. Here are a few scenes...including the beautiful purple Jacaranda trees that inundate everything with their purple blooms.

Jacaranda

This sculpture is dedicated to the Auracana Indians from southern Chile. They were mighty warriors...

 Funny girl...

Banda de Guerras

In front of The Catedral there was a statue made copper. At least I thought it was a statue! When you put money in the box in front him, he moved. It was a man who spray painted himself copper to reprsent the copper workers in the mines of Chile. He spoke perfect English... He also decided to perform for us...and when he was done, he gave each of us a piece of quartz for future "Good Vibrations." I keep it in my change purse....just in case.

The Catedral

 A knave inside...

 Michael slaying the devil...

..The Post Office

Oh no....the tour is not over! Let's take the subway to see the artwork! It would be my first ride on a subway EVER!

The Museum of Art decided to let the entire public of Santiago enjoy local artists....
As you speed by these giant murals, scenes of Chile appear. They are beautiful and very realistic...

 On the way over to the park at Cerro San Cristobal, we passed by the Law School of Santiago. Our office attorney went to this school.

And so I close with a photo of the opera house. They specialize in programs for children...  One can buy season passes to see all kinds of ballets, choirs, plays, etc...  The only problem is that I probably won't be able to find this place later!





Inkan Market Shopping Extravaganza!

I have the most WONDERFUL tour guide and special friend. Her name is Jennifer Valera...
Today she planned for us to do many things....and one of them was to tour the Incan Market district. To get there, we went by bus...as do most Peruvians. It was a FIRST for me! What fun we had as we caught the bus at the corner of Larcomar by the Sea. We traveled east away from the ocean down the main avenue close to the markets...  After a long day of walking around Pachacamac and Pucusana, it was nice to ride for awhile. The air had turned very cool and I had not brought a jacket with me from Santiago...so getting inside was a relief from the winds at the ocean. Jennifer was totally unaffected...but you can see that Marisol and Misha are huddled together to keep warm!

Interesting that we had a bus conductor. Each time the bus stopped this guy would jump down and start calling people to ride...like a salesman... He helped us down to the sidewalk just nanoseconds before the bus took off again.

The Inka market was one block off the main Avenida...so we passed by this building while walking. I thought I would include this photo so show you a typical "Chifa" restaurant. The Chinese were at one time slaves in Peru. The culture is varied and mixed...  More on this later! The questions is....Would you eat here?

FINALLY...we are here. There are so many large mercados...one on each corner. ALL offering practically the same thing... Mile after mile, aisle after aisle...simply amazing.

When there is music, I listen. There was an Incan inside one of the makets playing a set of Incan Flutes... I made a movie, but can't get it to load...so I linked you to a YouTube video for scenes of of the Andes with pipe music accompaniment. Enjoy "El Condor Pasa"! I will get more and better videos when I go to Cuzco.
Scenes from the Andes

LOVE the llama and alpaca hide shops. All my life I have wanted one of these. I used to babysit for Jorge and Peru from Argentina. They had alpaca hides on their floors and on their beds. Since then I have dreamed of going to South America!

We shopped till 11:00 pm, the shops closed then... I look worn out in the next photo. I will go back for the rugs and the hides....and maybe some Alpaca sweaters on the next trip to Lima.

I bought one thing...a clock for my kitchen...to remind me that I had to see the Nazca lines by plane before leaving South America.

It was nice to have something to put on my head and to wrap around my shoulders...BRRRrrr....

Naked Dogs of Peru

The strangest looking dogs were in Pucusana...none like I had seen before. Most are fairly wild, but some had owners that put dog warmers on them. As you can see, most are hairless. I saw dogs with multiple colors of skin and hair...all in the most unusal places...freckled, spotted, some with poofs of Fraggle Rock style red hair on their heads...but most I could not capture on camera as they were wary of anything that moved...
I will add more pics to this particular post as I see these strange dogs...so you will have to check back to this post to see the most oddest photos...
They remind of the "vampire dogs" that my daughter dreamed of when she was a child....this one is for you Meg!

El Boqueron del Diablo

South of Lima, there is a crack in the mountain wall where the sea comes through and spews itself into a tiny inlet inside the tiny seacoast hamlet of Pucusana. Pucusana is the home of "El Boqueron del Diablo"....Mouth of the Devil. It is also the home of the fishing fleet that supplies Lima with fresh seafood daily. I
What better way to introduce this lovely place than by video. You will have to look sideways....sorry about that. In the background, Jennifer is telling me I should film this! More photos are below...

 The Inlet

The View from the walkaround to the Shrine

 The Spew....

The Turistas...Marisol and Misha from Tucson, and Vickie...

See the shrine of the Virgin Mary dedicated to saving the fishermen from the devil of the sea.