Santiago, Chile: What is a Chocopanda?

January 3, 2011

Today's journey began a little earlier than I would have liked. We had decided to take a tour of Santiago, and the bus was coming to collect us at 08.30 hrs. After a lovely breakfast that included fresh cherries, breads, cheeses, and deli meats, it was time to head out on our tour. Annoyingly, we spent the better part of an hour collecting other passengers from various hotels throughout the city. Once a bus load full of tourist had been gathered, we convened at another meeting point where we were divided up by language. Now that all the Gringos were corralled together, we were finally able to begin the site-seeing part of the tour.

First stop was a visit to Cerro San Cristobal, where we had been the evening before. We stopped off at a vista point to snap a few pictures, and the guide pointed out the U.S. Embassy, which was housed in a fortress-like brick building, along with the tallest skyscraper in Chile, the Titanium La Portada (Titanium Tower). After a few photo ops, we circled back down the hill and drove through some plesant neighborhoods before making our way downtown, past the Mercado Central and Estación Mapocho to the Plaza de Armas (central square). In the plaza, there was a huge, Coca-cola sponsored Christmas tree alongside several police on horseback (carabineros).

Plaza de Armas

We quickly visited the cathedral and hopped back on the bus to drive to La Moneda Palace, the building that was bombed when the democratically-elected Marxist President, Salvador Allende was overthrown by the military dictator, Augusto Pinochet on September 11, 1973 (many people in Chile will be quick to remind you that they had a 9/11 long before this day became memorialized in American history). The palace is surrounded by stark government buildings and guarded by soldiers (who were quite busy being photographed on the day of our tour, I might add).

Palacio La Moneda 

After getting our fill of photos at the Palacio, we were taken to a small plaza where a pair of traditionally dressed dancers was waiting to give our group a short dance recital and therein after proceeded to solicit for tips (tourist trap #1). Next, we were transported to the other side of town to an lapis lazuli jewelery shop (lapis lazuli is a rare blue stone only found in Chile and Afghanistan). The store was located in the upscale neighborhood of Vitacura along a tree-lined street with a plethora of other boutique shops (tourist trap #2). My Mom got a bit distracted by their selection of USD $300 + necklaces, but managed to pull herself away before buying anything (Dad seemed relieved). 

Tourist Trap #1 

The bus took us back across town via the newly build freeway tunnel that runs under the Rio Mapocho (quite the engineering feat!). We were dropped off in front of the Mercado Central for lunch and were immediately bombarded by a gang of waiters encouraging us to dine at THEIR restaurant. Not wanting to get bogged down in any tourist trips (#1 and #2 above were quite enough for the day), we opted to walk inside the market and find our own spot to have lunch. Inside the market, the waiters from each of the various eating establishments continued to badger us, proclaiming culinary superiority over their neighbor. After much ado, we finally picked one of the places off the main market area, out of view of any other tourist.

Mom was ademently opposed to the whole idea, and quickly marched off to find a less rustic option. We handed her a few pesos and wished her lots of luck (she needed it, considering her limited Spanish-speaking skills). Meanwhile, back at the non-touristy whole-in-the-wall place, my brother and I were served a couple not-so-cold beers, along with a couple empanadas de camaron (shrimp and cheese turnovers). Soon after, the main courses arrive: seafood soup, fried calamari, sea bass, and some sort of sea food casserole/ thick stew. Oh yeah, and some french fires (why not?). It soon became apparent that Mom's instincts were right; this place was a bit sketchy. We tried to eat what we had ordered, but it all just tasted a bit funky. I quickly lost my appetite. 

Our culinary adventure in one of the back rooms of a Chilean Fish Market 

Sadly, and to the astonishment of our fellow diners, we ended up leaving the majority of the food on the table. We quickly rejoined La Madre, who was lunching at one of the establishments in the main market area (aka, tourist haven), and apparently having a delightful time. Somehow, she had even managed to order herself something. 

Less Sketchy Dining Option 

After lunch, we took a stroll through the downtown pedestrian malls and mosied through the Plaza de Armas to the base of another hill in the middle of Santiago (Cerro Santa Lucía), which is much smaller than Cerro San Cristobal, but very beautifully landscaped. We strolled around, eventually making it to the top before returning to the base of the hill on the opposite side from where we had entered. 

View of Downtown Santiago from Cerro Santa Lucia 

Exploring all morning had turned out to be pretty exhausting, so the opportunity to go back to the hotel for a bit of rest sounded like a great idea. We caught the metro from the Universidad Catholica stop and rode along the clean, sleek Santiago metro and observed the local fashion: rattails EVERYWHERE. After a bit of research, I've now learned that the "rattail" is called pichanguera, in Chile or more affectionately, a chocopanda because it was popular among ice cream vendors selling chocolitos in the 90's. Awesomeness.

Riding the Santiago Metro 

Back at the hotel, Dad and I set about the task of arranging a rental car for our excursion to the mountains the next day. After a bit of back and forth between the rental car company and the concierge, we were able to secure a 4 x 2 truck for our trip to Cajón del Maipo (Maipo Canyon). 

Before heading out to dinner, we enjoyed some delicious red wine from the local convenience store (one of the benefits of being near a wine producing region: lots of great wine for cheap). Since the sun didn't set until after 9pm, it was easy to loose track of time. By 9:30pm, it was getting to be dinnertime, so I suggested that we head over to Plaza Ñuñoa, which is located in the same neighborhood that I stayed in while studying in Chile during the summer (South American winter) of 2003. We flagged down a taxi driver outside our hotel who turned out to be very friendly and professional. By my request, he drove us by my old apartment building in Ñuñoa and we bonded over the fact that he himself also lived in the same neighborhood.

Our taxi driver dropped us off at the corner of the plaza and we took our time exploring the area before deciding on a small restaurant/bar call El Amor Nunca Muere (which apparently has no website of its own - weird). After learning our lesson earlier in the day, we made sure to let Mom pick out the dining location this go around. She liked this place because they had crepes on the menu, and the food really did end up being quite spectacular, even if the crapes didn't look anything like what we were used to. The crapes were served in thick bowls, covered in cheese and curry sauce with an olive on top. We also ordered a round of pisco sours, which were festively decorated with a rim of green sugar. But perhaps the highlight of the evening was the conversation we struck up with a young couple sitting next to us. Considering that they were seated less than 2 feet away from us, it seemed almost inevitable that our conversations would collide. The conversation centered on our trip to Chile, but then quickly turned to nursing after we learned that the girl was a nursing student (my Mom is a former nurse, so she immediately felt a strong bond with this woman, which was enhanced by the fact that she was about 2-3 glasses of wine deep. By the end of the night, we had plans to Facebook each other, and Mom was already plotting a way for them to come visit them at their home in the U.S. Finally, around 11pm we wondered back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. //

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