Chillin in Chile

I should know Espanol. But I dont know Espanol. Everyone in Chile speaks Espanol. I dont speak Espanol. Yet somehow I managed to get on a bus, then metro and find the hostel in Plaza de Armas, Santiago. The capital of Chile. Not a bad place to chill or a few days. Especially after doing nothing the first two here. Just slept my jetlag away. And had to get back into travel mode, as my ¨layover¨ in Los Angeles might have faked everyone, including myself, into thinking I was back home. Far from the case.

So here I am in Santiago. Where it feels a lot like Barcelona - only Barcelona is better. The Plaza de Armas scene is lively everyday, all day. Kids playing with birds, in fountains, whatever.Preachers and church dancers doing their thing whilst huge crowds of Chileans gather round to hear the sermon in public go on for hours. I think the locals have a lot of patience, really. Because they stand in huge crowds watching some of the worst street performers Ive seen ever. Regular guys just yapping away in Espanol with an occasional laugh here or there. I didnt understand it, but still didnt understand how they find it appealing enough to draw a crowd everyday. They even stand around to watch this clown beat up a weird Chinese drummer each afternoon. Not very comical at all. Some of the more fascinating things to see are found along the side plaza streets, where dudes balance soccer balls on their head and entire banjo bands play some good tunes. There´s also the tarot card reading scene and take a picture with a fake horse scene in the Plaza. Do all this while getting your shoes shined. Mad shoe shiners in Santiago. There is an interesting Spanish culture vibrant here though. Each afternoon in front of this artwork oddity in the Plaza these two dueling banjo type locals would run in circles whilst banging on their drums and symbols with their feet. Looks like theyre also training the kids to grow up just like them too.And I was impressed to see some guys donning the original Patrick Ewing and LJ while he was on Charlotte jerseys of the 90s in all their faded glory. Not only that, but the younger kids are seen sometimes decked out in rags and paint all over their body. These younglings I captured while walking around Valparaiso. - the port city two hours west of Santiago.Wasnt sure what the reason for this was...maybe protesting going to school or something.

My hostel had the hot overlook from the 6th floor of one of the buildings right in Plaza de Armas. You know im all about the balcony scene. Getting up and down everyday was a slow process though. But the elevator guy made things move. 24-7 they had an old style elevator guy, continually pushing buttons and opening the ancient doors all day everyday. Talk about a redundant lifestyle. And what a healthy lifestyle people live here. The only foods that appear to be available are Italiano hot dogs, burgers and empanadas de pino or queso. Loads of greesy foods inundate this city. Bottom floor of my building alone had about 10 of these joints, all selling the same greasy stuff. I tried the Italiano hot dog. Its like one of those Czech euro dogs with guacamole, tomatoes and what I thought was cheese on top. Turned out to be mayonaise. I dont feel the mayo in anything but a tuna melt yo. Gross stuff. But I see mayo is like mustard in most countries from Turkey to Australia and now Chile. So that left me with empanadas, which are really good. Especially when I asked for an empanada de pino, thinking its filled with pineapple. To my surprise it was like a beef patty with onions, some sort of egg or white mushroom and olives inside. And thats all I ate. For a dollar each too. This has to be one of the only countries where a McChicken Sandwich and McFries is the healthiest option around. And ice cream is everywhere. Good stuff. One night me and some fellow hostel travelers decided to splurge at the cafe in the plaza. They served semi normal food...chicken in oil and crap. But as we sat outside no less than a half dozen beggars, handicapped and random strangers came up to us inquiring about peso donations to their sad lives. To top that all off, a peaceful protest in support of Commander Raul Reyes - I think from Equador, Peru or Columbia - came thru the Plaza right by us. One side were hundreds of protesters as police in riot gear flanked our other side. I covered my head cause I think some signs were anti-American or Yanki haha. Sweet. Just another day sitting out in the Plaza de Armas scene. Exit to New York? Nah...not just yet =)