Jan. 3

We slept in until 7 or did we wake up at our usual time of 5 EST? Our hotel room was warmer than what we are used to even though the thermostat was set to fast freeze. We showered and had the included buffet breakfast and then headed to the meeting place for our walking tour. 

We chose a free off the beaten path walking tour with Tours4Tips. We met our guide Marcella at the Fine Arts Museum. There were 9 in our group including a couple from Australia who appeared to be in their 20’s, an American couple from Arizona, a German who is teaching in Ecuador, a teacher from Halifax and a woman from Switzerland now living in the US. 

We first went to the markets. It is summertime in Chile so there was lots of fresh local produce. The prices were incredibly low compared to what we pay at home. Cherries were in abundance at 1000 pesos ($1.43 CAD) per kg.  Strawberries were displayed artistically at 2000 pesos for 2 kg. Marcella told us about a popular dish called pastel de choclo made with ground beef, chicken, raisins and olives then covered with a mashed corn sauce and cheese. The corn cobs used are huge and starchy and have a consistency similar to mashed potatoes. Some in the group had tried it and said it was delicious, much like a shepherds pie. 

We walked through 2 smaller markets before heading to the larger central market that covered 4 blocks. Prices in the markets are the best you can get and no batering is allowed. An average income is $500 USD. They get paid by the month and work 44 hours a week. A small studio apartment rents for $480 USD a month. There are many homeless people, most of them immigrants from other South American countries who came to find a better life. However the statistics that the government quotes of an average income of $2500 USD per month is far from  reality. 

After spending time at the markets, we got on the subway and went to the cemetery which covers 230 acres. Just like the city which has its wealthy and poor neighbourhoods, so too does the cemetery. The poor are buried in banks of crypts that fit one coffin. If the family has not paid for perpetuity, after 5 years, the crypt can s reopened and the bones put into a reclamation area and the crypt is reused. No embalming takes place, so decomposition happens quickly. The rich side of the cemetery has elaborate buildings, some beautifully maintained and others in a sad state of neglect. 

We

This tour let us see parts of the city that we would not likely have found on our own and provided us with interesting facts about the average person’s life. 

The sun is brilliant in the clear blue sky, so we were glad to grab a late lunch and head back to the hotel for some R&R. Around 7, we headed to a restaurant we had found earlier. We enjoyed a tabla mixta for 2 that was heavy on the carne and patatas fritas but was quite tasty. We ended the evening with some ice cream then had a strange encounter of the zombie apocalypse type. Not sure what it was all about but interesting to watch for a bit.