Saturday, January 12, 2008

Santiago, Viña del Mar, Valparaiso and away...Relaxed days...

Palacio Moneda in SantiagoWe met Gustavo at about 9 am...He looked different than before, he was shaved and in work clothes. After we met, we had some breakfast, with fresh cottage cheese, which was something we were longing for...Then we went to the garage and took his car to drive his home. He lives outside Santiago, about half an hour away, at a very nice house...He showed us our room, gave us some time to shower and come round...We were ready soon, so we left with Gustavo, as it was not easy to get to the city without his help!!!

He left us near Iglesia de Santo Domingo, which was pretty close to Plaza de Armas. For me, Santiago is 2nd time, I had been here two years ago, so I was quite confident about where to go...We walked on Merced Street, saw Plaza de Armas, Paseo Ahumada, Paseo Estado etc...Bellavista, SantiagoThe streets were full of people, lively, lively...We walked around and decided to separate with Piril some time, as she wanted to wander around herself. I found some menu del dia for 1000 pesos, 2 USD, wandered around, had great coffee...Then in the afternoon, when I was sitting at a cafe, I met Piril just for coincidence...I had gone to a Turkish Restaurant when I was here before, so we decided to take Gustavo to dinner out there. I showed the place to Piril, she liked it and we contacted Gustavo for meeting at 7:30 pm. We checked our mails, took some pictures, relaxed and went to the restaurant 'El Meson del Sultan, Istanbul'...Gustavo showed up at 20:00, we ordered Raki and different mezes, with some kebabs. El Meson del SultanThe raki was premium, the mezes were fresh and the shish kebab was tasty. Gustavo really liked the food, it was good for his taste. We talked, ate and really spent good time together. As he liked the food that much, Piril decided to cook for him, I joined her, and Gustavo flew us to the supermarket 'Jumbo' before it got closed. We got the ingredients and decided to cook a nice meal for Gustavo (and of course for ourselves!)... Came back home tired, chatted a little more and crashed!

The next day, we left home a little late, as we slept over a little! When we came to the city, went to Mercado Central, saw the city, I tried to go to see Ataturk's Memorial near Military School but it was far, so Feast a la TurcaI could not...I had a great calamar grill at Mercado Central, hmmm....We separated again with Piril that day, Gustavo had told us how to get home by a colectivo, so we came back home this time, constantly making him call the taxi guys!!! It was fun! Then we came back home, Sra. Ester, who is the caretaker of Gustavo's home greeted us...We started cooking at about 19h00, I cooked kofte (meat balls), Piril made Borani Funicular of San Cristobal(a mix of eggplant,potatoes, red pepper etc fried), cooked Turkish Sehriyeli Pilav (rice with noodles) made a Turkish Salad and we prepared our lovely meal. However Gustavo could not catch us, as he was busy that night...In the morning, we found out that he came late, ate everything at the fridge and loved them!!! It was nice to hear...

The next day, he left us at the TurBus Alameda Station, we got the bus for Viña del Mar, a resort town towards the northwest of Santiago. It took 2 hours to get there, we got there, wandered a little and then took the Metro Valparaiso for Valparaiso. Viña del Mar is a resort city for Santiago people, small but cozy, modern and quite rich looking...The streets were clean, everything Viña del Marlooked nice. Valparaiso is older, but much bigger, when you are approaching the town from outside, it feels like coming to Kusadasi in Turkey...Well, we made a quick walk around, see the Armada (Navy building), Mercado Central and the port. It was the resort of the bourgeoisie in the 19th and early 20th C, it is the main port of Central Chile, a tourism resort for the cruise ships...It is an important center for the Chileans...We separated with Piril there, she went to see Pablo Neruda's House in Isla Negra, View of Valparaiso from Neruda's House, La SebastianaI stayed in Valparaiso to see the other house of Neruda, La Sebastiana. I took a taxi upwards, found the house, visited it...La Sebastiana is the last house of Neruda, unlike his other houses, he had bought this one and lived here with his 3rd wife, Matilde Urrutia. The house had beautiful views and it carried the usual Neruda feeling there, usual life gusto and typical elegant furniture... We were going to meet Gustavo at 20h30, so I took the bus back to Santiago. After we met with Piril, we went to the office of Jac and got our tickets for Pucon. Then Gustavo came, picked us up and we made a stop at Jumbo Supermarket for my desert. We came back home, warmed up the leftover from our feast, I made my mosaic desert, we chatted over 3 bottles of great Chilean wine and crashed!!!

Our JAC bus to PuconThe next day, which was our last day, we decided to finish Santiago. Piril went to La Chascona, I posted some stuff to Turkey and we met over lunch to go to San Cristobal Hill and the teleferico. We came back in the afternoon, showered, made our packs etc...The sweet I made was yummy, we left for Gustavo too. Santiago from San Cristobal HillHe picked us up at about 22:30, we took the bus and made it to Pucon...

Gracias por la gran hospitalidad Gustavo! The wonderful host!

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