santiago (the end)

This is my last post as I head back to the states tomorrow. I'm glad I'm finishing my journey in Santiago and that I'm taking time to see the city. It has presented some wonderful treasures and a unique character that I wouldn't mind returning to someday. In addition to the beautiful museums and churches I've gone to, everything is easy on the eyes. The cafes and restaurants, the organized yet colorful streets, the way people dress. Chileans carry themselves with a subtle dignity that I really admire. Today I went to the Cementerio General where many of Chile's past presidents (including Salvador Allende) are buried. The cemetery is like its own city with distinct neighborhoods. When you walk in, there are mausoleums like mansions and others like tenement apartment blocks. Towards the back and along the edges the graves get closer together and there are fewer trees shading the walkways. Victor Jara and many of the "disappeared" who were killed during the dictatorship are buried in that section. I didn't realize there was a whole section of the cemetery for the victims of the human rights abuses until I was walking along and noticing all the dates on the crosses were from the 70s and 80s. It was really sobering. I sat on a bench to rest and an old man asked if I had a pen. He took out an envelope and asked me if I could write something for him because he didn't know how to write. He dictated to me, "On behalf of your son, Caldo. He has always loved you." After that I went to the lively market areas, La Vega and El Mercado Central. Suddenly I was seeing a lot of cats. It seemed like every other produce stall had it's own resident cat. And they were large cats at that! I thought about what they might be eating that made them the size of an ocelot. The sun was out and I happily meandered through downtown to eat a late lunch. I found a classic 50s style restuarant called "Bar Nacional" and sat down to enjoy a pastel de jaiba (corn and crab pie baked in a clay pot). It's like pastel de choclo but with crab instead of meat. After all these months of Chileans telling me I have to try pastel de choclo and me explaining that I don't eat meat, I finally got to see what all the fuss was about (in a seafood version). Delicious! Of course I had to take a picture of my meal and of the vintage insides of the restaurant which was packed with businessmen in suits, which led the two guys sitting at the next table to ask where I was from. I gave the cliffnotes explanation of what I am doing in Chile and as usual got asked about my heritage (nope, no family in Chile, nor am I Latina). We ended up talking about the Philippines and it turned out one of the guys was married to a Filipina. They asked me why I speak Spanish and not Tagalog. And so, my trip has come to an satisfying conclusion: delicious food and impetus to now buckle down and study Tagalog = the Philippines, my next travel adventure?