Santiago on a Saturday

February 7, 2015

We got up rather late and didn’t get started on our sightseeing until about 11:30.  Olaya drove us to walk up the steps of Cerro Santa Lucia, a small hill in the middle of the city.

Sights on the way up the hill: 

On top was a park where we tried mote con huesillo, a drink made with wheat berries, a few dried peaches and the sugar syrup from cooking the dried peaches.  Interesting, probably healthier than soda pop.  We had a few more views of skyline.

At the bottom of the hill there was a nice looking couple having a conversation in the middle of the intersection.

We did not get to the bottom of the hill until about 5:00 and found it difficult to find a restaurant that was open.  We did finally find a place called Le Fournil that served some very nice sandwiches made with good crusty bread, fresh vegetables and real roast turkey (mine) and good smoked salmon (James and Olaya).

When we got home, we rested and then at about 8:00 commenced on our evening activities which consisted of two small birthday parties.  First, we went to Olaya’s daughter, Magdalena, and son-in-law’s house for his birthday and met several family members. We talked to the son-in-law’s mother and her brother for a little while.  He had traveled several times to Great Britain and the United States so his English was very good.

Then we went to Sandra’s apartment in a neighborhood near Cerro Santa Lucia where we had walked this afternoon.  We met David and Davis from Seattle, friends of Sandra.  It was Davis who was having the birthday.  The numbers on the cake showed his age backwards, 25.  We also met Amparo and Viviana, old friends of Olaya, and Sandra’s brother Jorge.  Only two people did not speak English but they still greeted us with cheek-to-cheek kisses.

We got home long after our usual bedtime, but had met and talked to some interesting people, some indulgent English speaking Chileans and a couple of Americans from Seattle.