The Andes ushered us into the historic city of Santiago and reunited us with a dear friend Jeanette from our English Village in Argentina.  Our gracious hosts blessed us with rich history, true culture and a full tour of the city.  Estephanie, is Jeanette’s daughter and she took us all over the downtown area the first full day we were there.  It was almost system overload with so many old buildings to gawk at.  I loved the history of Chile’s fight for freedom and the strength of their native Mapuche people.

 

 

Sherry and Estephanie are enjoying some traditional Chilean drink, purchased from a street vendor.  It had boiled peaches, a sweet syrup and a type of rice.  It was delicious!  Behind them is an old mansion, right downtown, ruined beyond repair in the 1960′s earthquake.  Many building such as this were found all over the city.

 

 

This is another church that is now abandoned due to the earthquake in 2010.

 

 

This is their equivalent of “Wall Street.”  Several of these beautiful buildings came together at a star shaped intersection.

 

 

We then went to the fish market for lunch!  It reminded me very much of Pikes Place Market in Seattle, except the type of fish there were very different.

 

 

 

Sherry has made a new friend.  We ate this fish at lunch, very common white fish called Riena.  It was tasty!

Then it was off to the produce market.  Talk about overwhelming!  I have been to some bustling markets in Africa and this one was the same, yet different.  There was an abundance of produce and I felt we walked through acres of little cubbies selling their fresh goods.  My brain was about to shut down after all the stimulation of colors!  I would have done anything to transport that market to Port Alsworth.

 

 

 

I bought some traditional spice called Mareken, which is the bright red spice in this picture.

 

 

Ohhhh… the olives were.. mouthwatering!  I can taste them now as I look at this picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The educational walk continued and we took a subway to another part of town.  One of the hills in Santiago, known as a place the wealthy would walk.  A large garden with this beautiful fountain structure greeted us.  We climbed the hill, learning the Mapuche people were the only native South Americans to fight off the Spaniards.  They never made it into Southern Chile where the Mapuche people lived.  They were known as strong, fierce warriors…even the women fought.  One of the last battles to free Chile from Spanish rule was fought on this hill, and the Mapuche people traveled north to fight with San Martin and his army.  Pretty cool, I thought.

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed Sanitago very much, even though it’s really just another big, old city.  Being with our friends, going to their church, enjoying their culture made a big difference.  I would definitely live in Chile if the opportunity arose!