Puff pastry
Industrial
Cerro Santa Lucia
Santiago is the capital of Chile and sadly I cannot say that I was too impressed with this city. It is a modern industrial city, full of skyscrapers, bustle, noise, traffic and smog. I did not head up to Cerro San Cristóbal, which has a large statue of Virgin Mary on the top, as the cable car was not running and it was too hot to ascend it on foot. Instead Heather and myself ambled around the city, checking out the pretty buildings. We lunched at Cerro Santa Lucia and I was delighted to find mouth watering cheese empanadas made with puff pastry. Up until now we have been mainly having meat or chicken empanadas with a pie like crust - so finding the puff pastry was a real treat. We got panoramic views of city from Santa Lucia and enjoyed the view of Castillo Hidalgo.
The main river Rio Mapocho was a muddy chocolate colour and we noticed many people tipping their rubbish off bridges into the fast flowing river.
Lonely Planet suggested we head off to the Mercado Central, best place in Santiago for seafood, so we had a sconce around there. In this market there were numerous fishmongers selling their wares and restaurants right next to them. My stomach was barely able to hold it together with all the smells. No matter how hard the restaurant guys tried to cajole us to eat at their places, there wasn't a hope in hell I would have agreed to eat there - stomach churning raw fishy aromas, mixed with cooked foods, were not at all pleasant.
Perhaps if we had spent more time in this city I could have warmed better to it, but as I experienced it, it is just another city and one I was happy to leave behind. Harsh words but then it is late and I'm a bit peeved with the poor Internet connection I'm dealing with - so maybe don't take my ramblings too seriously.
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