Thursday

Thursday we did a more in depth walking tour of Santiago.  It started in the main square of town where we learned about the history of Santiago.  Then we went inside the National Cathedral.  It was really pretty, but somewhat disturbing on the inside.  A lot of the statues were really graphic.  After that we went through a few thrift stores.  A lot of the thrift stores here are just piles of clothes on tables.  I don't know how anyone would find anything.  This is where you go if you want people to steal from you.

We went to the old train station and got brownie sundaes. They were awesome.  Then we went through these markets that had EVERYTHING.  The flower arrangements were beautiful.  There was a lot of fruit and vegetables (all huge).  It reminded me of a much more raw Eastern Market.  A girl actually had her bag cut open.  Luckily nothing was taken out of it.

Later on we went to a Pablo Neruda house.  Pablo Neruda was a very famous Chilean author/poet.  It reminded me a lot of some of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses I've seen.  It was a very nice house with very nice things in it, but the thing that annoyed me is that clearly the house was worth a LOT of money, yet Pablo was a very well known Communist.  Just a somewhat unsettling combination.

That night me and a few girls wanted the real Chilean food experience so we found this restaurant not far from the hostel.  I had a really good sandwich.  It was huge and full of avocados.  The other girls didn't like their food as much, but the waiter was really sweet.  He was probably the first Chilean guy to not be incredibly creepy and a chauvinist.