The Long Termer
Day 176
It seems every hostel has one and they always seem to be the same. The long-term resident. He’s been here for a week or so sometimes more than a month. Makes friends with everyone or at least talks to everyone, and usually helps himself to someone elses food in the common fridge. Of course it was an “accident”. Brian is his name and he comes from Florida. We met him at breakfast today, nice enough guy although quite odd. From the way he talked it seemed he’s been here quite a while. He’s your typical long-termer. Its not quite clear why he travels or where he goes. Brian for example is on a 9 month trip, but with his Santiago transit pass and extensive knowledge of the hostel it seems he’s been here for quite sometime. Which is a bit puzzling, Santiago isn’t exactly the most interesting city on earth.
Jordana and I finished our typical South American hostel breakfast of bread and coffee and then headed out to see more of the city. Santiago looked like a different place today. With the holiday over shops were open and the streets bustled with families walking the pedestrian streets. We walked through the plaza de armas to the Museo Santiago. The museum was a history of the Santiago region through to the conquest. Well done but a fairly small museum.
Just behind the plaza was the mercado central or central market. We entered the market by walking through rows of fresh fish stalls. Sea bass, clams, lobster and king crab. It was a seafood lovers paradise. Just beyond stalls are several restaurants selling the fresh catches. We sat down at “Donde Augusto”, and order some beer and ceviche. Ceviche is raw fish that’s been marinated in lemon juice, it goes great with beer. For mains we had Corvina (sea bass). The food was great and the atmosphere fantastic.
After lunch we continued our walking tour of Santiago. My first impressions of the city have been mixed. The centre looks a bit rundown with modern office buildings mixed in. Graffiti is everywhere here and it seems litter is a big problem. Add to that a surprising number of stray dogs and the city is far from a urban dream. They do however have a modern, efficient, 5 line metro system that covers a large part of the city. Toronto can only dream of a system like this.
We followed the river to Bellavista, a bohemian neighbourhood that was cleaner and more interesting than the centre of town. We had coffee at a trendy little cafe and people watched. Heading back over the river we found a beautiful park where hundreds of kids were skateboarding in a large skate park. It was a great scene with the snow covered peaks of the Andes looking down on the city.
We finished our day with a couple of tasty beers and fabulous fresh octopus on a patio. It was a perfect end to a full day of exploring. There’s nothing very exciting about Santiago and not much to see. The main attraction is the beautiful mountains surrounding the city, they seem unreal at times. Back at the hostel we of course ran into Brian again. This time he’d found some new arrivals to have a beer with and make them some food. Although we think he used someone elses food. In the morning were off to Valparaiso, just in time before we to become more than temporary residents of the Green House.
Tags: Chile, Hostels, santiago, Valpariso
Michael Coroneos
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