Day 66 - Conspiracy theories and waffles

January 20 - Santiago, Chile

We had a breakfast/lunch at a café  (Domestico) that was littered with hanging plants.  I had eyed it the day before and dragged Evan back to share a sandwich and a waffle that was coated in manjar and bananas. Before long, the pair of trendy baristas had started chatting with us in Spanglish, discussing  politics and social issues.  They quickly jumped in to conspiracy theories about 9-11, questioning whether ISIS ever existed, and asking if Donald Trump was really that bad (considering some of the other dangerous leaders out there, referring to Korea and their previous dictator).  We said our good byes and headed to check out “Cerro Santa Lucia”, another big hill in town that was an old fort. It was a maze of giant concrete steps and trees.  There were quite a few people, many families, working their way up.  The view of the city was ok, but it was just a cool oasis.

From there we walked to a bunch of artist shops.  Evan bought a homemade “Popsicle” from a man on the street – it was real strawberry (and like most everything, probably also a lot of sugar).

We walked a long hot walk to a cultural center, that was made from the old train station.  The train station was shut down after an earthquake, but there was a photo montage of all the train welcomings that happened on the platform over the years.

Back at the apartment, we rested up, then headed off to meet a friend we met in Torres del Paine for dinner.  We took the subway to El Golfo neighborhood, which was really nice.  Camilla met us near the subway station, and we walked by a bunch of restaurants, choosing her favorite pizza place for dinner.  We all had different pizzas – this place specializes in cheeses, as Chile requires cheese to be pasturized, but if imported from other countries (in this case Italy) it doesn’t have to be, so it’s a specific treat.  Dinner was lovely, and we headed to find a place to have a drink.  Everything was pretty much closed, but we finally arrived at an Irish Pub.  We chatted a bit more than headed home late.