On my walk around Central Santiago, there were bells ringing from all the churches, and ladies weaving palm fronds for people as they went into mass. I’m looking forward to Easter here next week – I can’t fathom what it’ll be like.
One of my first meals – included tapas…
…main course (this is el menú pacifico del dia – tuna AND salmon, potatoes and mussels in salsa verde)–
–dessert AND coffee.
What.
What??
WHAT?!? HERE? WHY?
The Santiago police department showed off their helicopter!
I grew up in Calgary, in the foothills of the Rockies, thinking the mountains were so close.
Ha.
Preview of Easter Island.
La Plaza de Iglesia de San Francisco. The Plaza of St Francis church.
Stacked streets.
The National Library and…Met Life?
Um…
THIS is Santiago City Hall!
Fountain near City Hall. I love the little boy reaching his foot down to the water!
Church of St Augustine.
Statue!
Do we still have these in Canada?
Huérfanos, a major shopping street.
There are several side streets, often pedestrian-only, with lots of trees, off the main roads.
Statue outside the city courts.
Dedicated bike lights!
And bike paths ACROSS the road!
Part of The Catholic University.
Ladybug bollards!
Neat public sculpture on…La Avenida Libertador Bernardo O’HIGGINS.
Murals on Merced Street.
Entel Tower, and the Chilean flag, before La Moneda.
I’m ashamed that I go to McDonalds here, but I do. And they have this instead of apple pie — taro, purple sweet potato.
Yes. Purple. PURPLE. It’s good!
But even better is this. This this THIS.
Bendy straws are the only straws here. This is lemonade at a curry place I often go to. I guess they like me!
Carrefour is the supermarket closest to wear I live–it’s a French company. How Canadian am I? I picked up a can to read the English on the other side, and couldn’t figure out at first why it wasn’t bilingual!
The very aptly named Chinese version of Pringles.
Green tea being prepared. It needs its own table, cups, pots, and there’s a science to it I don’t understand.
On the left: BREAD. On the right: COCONUT JELLY CANDY.
My Starbucks name in China. (Yes, I go there too. Mostly to write.)
Look at the centre of the photo, right at the water’s surface. That’s a turtle for sale with the fish.
Karaoke, or KTV, involves beer. Lots of.
And salty snacks.
And fancy fruit for rehydration.
Live chickens in a basket.
This is why too many diseases first crop up here: NO separation between livestock and people, even in the city.
The food-handling standards are low, and washing hands with hot water – or drying them after – doesn’t happen here. But, fresh chicken!
