Stephanie and Ryan: Santiago Walking Tour

This morning we woke up around 8am (we went to bed at 8pm!) feeling 100% better than the day before. I'll tell ya, yesterday evening we were both looking and feeling worse for the wear. Its amazing what a good nights sleep will do for a person.

Marilu had breakfast for us. We had toasted buns smeared with avocado, plus sliced turkey, cheese and jam. Also corn flakes and milk. (yes, our plant-based diet has gone out the window) The coffee was instant.

Marlilu sat with us and had her coffee and cereal, while educating us on Chile, including the Pacific War and border disputes. It was really enjoyable with her eating with us. She told us about how Chileans pay very little in taxes, but there is barely any social programming, so healthcare is very expensive, and non-existent if you are poor.

After breakfast we hustled to the meeting point for our "free walking tour". It is a tour given daily at 10 and 3 and all you do is tip the person what you think it's worth at the end. Our guide Romi started us at the art museum and we walked down to a little part of town that a Justice of the City, way back when, collected all the drunk people and put them in jail, and used them as forced labor to build a bridge over the river. She told us tat Pablo Neruda used to hang out in this part of town.

After that we headed to the fish market, a combination of teeny restaurants and raw fish kiosks. We went on to the central market before heading out to the Santiago cemetery via subway.

Upon arrival to the cemetery she had us all sit on a couple benches while she told us a little about it. 3 stray dogs immediately walked up to me and sniffed my shoes and pants. Ryan was amused that they chose me out of the crowd to loiter near. Those 3 dogs would follow our group for over an hour throughout the cemetery! At one point we went into a restaurant for a drink, came out 20 minutes later and the dogs were at the door waiting for us!

The cemetery was really neat. Lots of different types of graves and vaults of both common people and past presidents. We also saw animetas - which is when a young innocent person dies a violent death and people believe they become a medium between god and the living. Like a common person's saint. They ask the saint for favors like health and wealth, and once the favor is granted, they make a thank you plaque and hang it on the grave.

Romi (our guide) brought us into a restaurant to try "tierramotos", a typical Chilean cocktail made with sweet white wine, grenadine, and pineapple ice cream. They drink was actually really strong, and i felt slightly tipsy pretty quick. This ended our tour.

Romi said she was headed back to the market, so we followed her there. We felt like the stray dogs!

She left us at the market entrance, and we tried to find the lunch spot we had walked by earlier. After some roaming and circling, we found it. We both had fried fish (delicious) and rice before leisurely walking back to the subway through pedestrians roads with most stores being closed for the day, but some ice cream shops open. The subway is pretty simple to use. There was a teenage couple on the car with us, in full lip-lock at any given moment.