Santiago & Valparaiso: Empanadas, Mariscal, Pescades, Completos & Pisco Sour

Santiago & Valparaiso: 6 - 9 August 2014

Chile's capital Santiago gave us our first glimpse of the Andes which provide a superb backdrop to the city. We had our first AirBnB experience in Santiago and luckily it was very positive, we stayed in nice apartment in the centre of town which was thankfully easy to find. We were introduced to the delights of Empanada, a Chilean food staple similar to a Cornish pasty, on Rapa Nui. It continued to sustain us for our 3 day stop-over in Santiago, together with tasty seafood (Mariscal), Fish (Pescades) & Chips, the Chilean version of a hot dog (Completos) and the national aperitif Pisco Sour. We also tried the national 'energy' drink Mote con Huesillo made from wheat and peaches. One day we walked through Santiago’s Old Town and strolled towards Cerro San Christobel, the hill in the middle of town serviced by a funicular. It boasts Santiago’s answer to Christ the Redeemer, which is pleasant if slightly underwhelming. We also found lots of shoe-polishers on every street in downtown which was a little surprising. The next day we took a day-trip to Valparaiso – the ‘South American San Francisco’ as it is also sometimes referred to. The faded glory of the old port town with its crumbling buildings hanging on the hill sides, graffitied walls and slowly expiring funicular system were all very charming and were well worth the trip. The Chilean bus-system is super-efficient and it was really easy to get to Valparaiso and back from Santiago. On the final day we had a superb ‘menu del dia’ at the charming Santiago central market and walked to the pretty Barrio Londres-Pariso before catching our flight to Cartagena del Indias in Colombia.

Santiago:

Valparaiso