First stop was La Moneda, the presidential palace (weird name since moneda means coins, but who am I to judge?). You could take a tour but we decided to forego that and instead just walked around and then went on our merry way.
La Moneda!
And even better, La Moneda with us in front of it.
We found another statue to imitate. I think this was a statue of Mr. O'Higgins who must have been Irish? And a big part of Chilean history (not to be confused with Ben Higgins the bachelor)
The biggest thing we wanted to do with our Wednesday was to make a visit to the Museum of the Memory of Human Rights. I didn't know this (shame on American textbooks for not covering any of this) but apparently there were a ton of human rights violations in South America, and Chile in particular, during the 1970s and 1980s. This museum is dedicated to telling the story of the military dictatorship in Chile and memorializing all of the people who disappeared or suffered due to the violent regime. Truly impactful and left us wanted to learn more about the history of it all. I don't have any pictures of it (photography wasn't allowed), but trust me, it's a must see.
After that we decided it was time for some grub so we headed to the La Vega, another market in the city, which is more of what I would think of when I think market--tons of stalls selling fruit, meat, cheese, and eggs (?). We had (you guessed it) empanadas! This time we went for jamon y queso (ham and cheese) and napolitano (meat lovers, we think) and it was delicious! We wanted to get some juice but unfortunately there weren't any options we saw of just juice. Smoothies, yes, but it was much too cold for a smoothie.
A cool little street truck group we stumbled across. The empanada display, how could we resist!
Frutas y empanadas at La Vega Central!
We also visited the Cemetary in Recoleta (which we'll also do in Buenos Aires so expect some comparisons!). It was full of fabulous mausoleums for the rich and/or famous families. Essentially their hope was to transcend history so that their family name would go on. But from my perspective, looks like they were building their own version of their houses in Heaven and boy were some of these people prideful!
The main entrance of the Cemetario General. The second photo is what used to be horse stables. Those are some nice stables.
Your first look at the forever homes of Santiago's elite. And we might have been transported back in history for a couple of minutes judging by this man's outfits.
It was really cool looking at all the tombs, some are quite old, others have more recent inhabitants.
And here we see a look at some of the 2 million others who are buried in the Cemetario.
Once we were through walking through the cemetary we decided to head to Costanera, the tallest building in Santiago. However, we did not pay money to go to the top because why would we after hiking San Cristobal? Instead, we shopped around in the mall at the bottom. What's a trip without shopping?! We went to the staples of Zara, Mango, Banana Republic--you know all the things we can't get at home ;)
We shopped up an appetite so we left after a bit for our reservation at Bocanariz, a suggestion from my coworkers Tom and Brianna and boy, it did not disappoint. They only have Chilean wines and the menu was overwhelming so we decided to do the winemaker's selection which was essentially three delicious courses paired with equally amazing wines. We had ceviche with sauvignon blanc, beef with cabernet sauvignon, membrillo &goat cheese with a red blend, short rib with a carmenere, tortellini with a riesling, and finally a chocolate torte & ice cream with a sweet moscato. The only thing we didn't like was the sweet wine.. but that's probably down to personal preference. We left fat and happy. I hugely recommend for any other people passing through Santiago!
Not sure I really understand the scale they are using, but we'll go with it. A list of some of the wines available at the restaurant--it's by no means exhaustive of what was actually all on offer. And the logo of one of the best restaurants in Santiago.
We took a fancy to our placemats--but unfortunately it took ill during our meal and got a little dirty. And here we have our first course: ceviche representing the sea, beef representing the land, and membrillo representing the mountains.
Note to self: that is a real rock. And here we have the delicous pumpkin and squash tortellini (possible the only true veggies we've had so far) and my short rib on top of smashed sweet potatoes. So good.
We were quite happy with our selections. And even were nice enough to share with each other so we both tasted the fabulous entrees.
And finally our chocolate torte, melted in the middle (soooo much goooey goodness) along with some vanilla ice cream.
And of course you have to end the meal with espresso, otherwise you might not be able to walk back to your hotel because food coma...
Courtesty of snapchat filters, we're loving Santiago!
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