After spending the summer in Patagonia, it was nice to return to the comforts of the big city in Santiago. We were excited to take advantage of the incredible parks, restaurants, museums, and activities during our stay there.
Best Thing I Ate This Week
Barros Lucos at Fuente Alemana
Fuente Alemana was created in 1954 by Bruno Massoni with a focus on selecting the best ingredients and producing the food on site. 70 years later, Providencia, the neighborhood where the restaurant is located, has transformed with glimmering office towers, but the restaurant still produces its original recipes with the same care.
When we arrived for dinner, there was a line out front that moved quickly and soon we were seated at a diner counter. Everyone around us was enjoying the generously sized sandwiches and cold draft beer.
It was difficult to choose a sandwich because so many of them looked delicious, and we ended up getting a few to have leftovers the next day. The Barros Lucos was outstanding, and was made with premium cut beef covered in cheese on freshly baked bread. I also tried a Completo Italiano, which is a beloved Chilean hot dog smothered in avocado, mayonnaise, and tomato. While I still prefer a Chicago hot dog, it was a fun experience trying the “complete” Chilean version and the local craft beer was a great complement to the delicious Barros Lucos.
An Interesting Fact I Learned
The complex history of Chile and Augusto Pinochet
In 1970, Salvador Allende, a self proclaimed Marxist, was elected as president of Chile in a fiercely contested 3 way election that the U.S. tried extensively to ensure he would not win. 3 years later, led by General Augusto Pinochet, the military overthrew the socialist government and established a right wing dictatorship that lasted until 1990. During this time thousands of political opponents were killed, tens of thousands tortured, and hundreds of thousands fled the country.
El Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Museum of Memory and Human Rights) is a powerful museum that states “we cannot change our past. We can only learn from what we have lived through. This is our responsibility and our challenge.” It provides extensive information about the dictatorship years and has a moving memorial to those lost during this time that is worth visiting to learn more while in Santiago.
The end of the museum depicts the results of the 1988 referendum on whether Augusto Pinochet should continue another 8 year term. The “No” vote won but only with 55% of the vote. Even today, we were advised by Chileans that the dictatorship is a sensitive subject with many focusing on the complicated legacy of Augusto Pinochet rather than solely the human rights issues. They talk about how he opened up Chile to a free market economy and brought order to a struggling country. A recent effort by the current leftist president, Gabriel Boric, to re-write the dictatorship constitution with one of the world’s most progressive constitutions was resoundingly rejected, showing Chile’s hesitation to move too far to the left.
My Travel Tip of the Week
Group Tours can be a great alternative to coordinating yourself
Most of the time, we organize our own touring by leveraging public transportation to go to destinations. When looking at multi-day activities, we normally book the components individually rather than pay a tour company to coordinate the entire experience. This allows us to keep the costs lower and tailor our time in a location exactly to our own preferences.
While in Santiago, we wanted to take a day trip to Valparaiso, the Jewel of the Pacific. After doing some research, we realized the timing would not work to take public buses to see everything we wanted there and instead booked a full day tour. In addition to solving the logistics problem in Valparaiso, the tour also had stops in Casablanca and Vina del Mar which were not possible to do in one day using public buses.
While we would have liked more time to explore Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, it was a great introduction to see a few other places nearby to Santiago. We also met many nice travelers which made the day even more enjoyable. In this instance booking a tour was well worth it.
My Additional Anecdote This Week
It is fun to experience familiar activities in a new setting
We used to go to the movies on special occasions to see films that wouldn’t be as impressive at home. Recommendations from others to see Dune Part 2 motivated us to go to the theater for the first time in another country. It was exciting to take numerous escalators to reach the theater at the top of a mall in Santiago, and the concession area served delicious snacks to enjoy during the show. The film was played in English, but the Spanish subtitles were a nice way to practice without too much difficulty. Everything felt more special in the new environment and it was great to experience Dune on the big screen.
Growing up Saint Patrick’s Day has always been a memorable day for me, and I was sad to be away from home for it this year. Luckily a local publication in Santiago listed out a few places celebrating around the city. We took the opportunity to visit 2 of them and had a lot of fun taking in the festivities in an unexpected location. There was plenty of green, bagpipers, and Guinness to go around, making this one of the most memorable Saint Patrick’s Day yet due to the unique setting of being in Chile.
