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The difference between true Latin America and Argentina became apparent after arriving in Chile. After passing spectacular mountain views, rivers, lakes and numerous flower beds I stopped briefly in Osorno and strolled around town keen for a feed. The size of cafés (tiny - 3 tables), people (more 'Latin' looking) and food were all more similar to what I imagined the whole of South America to be like.
Myself and a Dutch chum sampled the local market produce, ate some German inspired tarts and checked out the most well known attraction in Osorno - El Toro. A bronze bull statue, (heavily graffitied) balls and all. In no time it was back on a bus bound for Santiago.
At the extremely inconvenient time of 6am I arrived in Santiago dreary eyed and hating life. Killing time in the Internet cafe (without the cafe) I waited for a more appropriate time to disturb my friend Amy (whom I was staying with) from a deep slumber. After waking her up she was kind enough to take me for a ~healthy~ breakfast of completos. These things are wicked. Hotdogs with every condiment under the sun: relish, tomato, onion, mustard, mayo, avo, ketchup and only $1 each! We chowed down and met up with another amigo Christian to check out the government buildings, theatre, library and scrambled up 2 hills for awesome city views and insty photos. Santiago is deceiving in size and activity. It is modern, quite large, and always took longer than I thought to get from A to B. In the 35+ degree heat I was sweating buckets, and after walking too many kilometres for my liking it was time for a mato con huesillo (barley with peach syrup) and a bunch of cold, park beers. These were consumed more rapidly than necessary and this combined with the heat, rendered us inactive for the proposed nightlife activities.
Markets in South America are definitely not to be missed. Much more hectic than Paddy's back home. I was itching to visit La Vega Market, which turned out to be an experience and a half. Nothing is spared here - fruits, veg, spices, all meats, grains, cereals and even dog food (in large drums) are all fair trade. These stalls are filled to the brim of their respective products. On top of that you have people in the walkways trying to sell bags, glasses, band aids etc you name it, it is for sale. I enjoyed a juice, classic lunch (meat, rice, salad and soup) and did a spot of op shopping (there are so many stores).
It was time to make up for the previous nights miserable efforts, we headed to a local bar, the absolute definition of seedy, for the iconic Terramoto (earthquake) consisting of hard wine liquor, grenadine and pineapple ice cream. I soon learnt why they are called earthquakes. It only took one before my legs and the ground felt less stable than before. It was actually hard to walk. The earthquake became an appropriate foundation to build on a night of violent hip movements, hand claps, singing and copious amounts of beer. We hit the club for my introduction to Chilean nightlife - non stop dancing and drinking. I danced my heart out and worked those hips like a professional hula hooper on speed. Tropical cyclone Harry was in full effect, destroying everything in its path and leaving a trail of sweat, laughs and sore bones in its wake.
It was now truly time for me to leave Santiago. A city where there is always something happening, whether it be protests, large scale group workouts of 300+ people or acrobats providing traffic light entertainment. I managed to hang out for more park beers and ice creams with some Canadian and Chilean friends before bidding them farewell for another time.
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