Santiago, Blog 4
We left Santa Cruz to head
back to Santiago. When we arrived, we
entered a very upscale area and stopped at a very upscale store which sold items made of lapis lazuli, a stone only
found naturally in Chile and Afghanistan.
I guess they figured we weren’t going to Afghanistan anytime soon. Everything was beautiful but super
over-priced. Our next stop was a crafts
market. I was thinking “Tijuana” or
“Zimbabwe,” but it was more like San Diego’s Old Town with shops selling lovely
items in an area with beautiful bougenvelia, shade trees and fountains of water. Dan and I had empanadas at an outdoor kiosk.
We then toured Santiago by
bus going back to the center of the old town that Dan and I had visited the
evening we arrived. We saw the Presidential
Palace by daylight. The president no
longer lives there, but it is quite historic.
On September 11 (!!!!), 1973, 3000 people were killed in the plaza when
Pinochet had a successful coup against Allende.
No one knows for certain whether Allende was murdered or committed
suicide, but our guide thinks it was the latter. For years the door through which they took
out his body was a deep, dark secret and was covered up. Today it is marked, and we were able to see
it.
Pinochet is a very
controversial figure in Chile. 51% like him; 49% don’t with no one in
between. Many feel that although he was
a dictator and violated human rights, he actually paved the way for Chile to
become a democracy. Our local guide is
46 and is old enough to remember what it was like living under a dictatorship
when everyone was afraid. He stated that
Chile will never be a dictatorship again.
By the way, Chile had the first woman president in South America, a
divorced (remarkable for a mainly Catholic country) pediatrician.
When she left office, her approval rating was 75%. The term of office is only for 4 years. If someone wants to run again, they have to
wait another 4 years. This year is an
election year in Chile, and everyone expects and hopes that she will soon
announce her candidacy.
Our hotel is located in a
very modern party of Santiago with beautiful high-rise buildings. Our room is quite large with a comfortable
sofa, chair, coffee table, and a bidet. (I did my laundry).
We had dinner outside in the
Italian restaurant, Basta Pasta, which is part of the hotel. The food was fantastic, but the service was
the pits. On the way to dinner we walked
through the hotel and saw a sign for “Danny and Jenny’s” wedding to be held at
11 PM! When we walked by the room where
the ceremony was to be held, we saw a beautiful floral posted chuppah (marriage
canopy) with a tallit (prayer shawl on top!
We peaked into the reception room and saw gorgeous floral
centerpieces. The manager told us there
were going to be 400 guests. When we
expressed amazement over the number, he told us they often have 600!!
When we came back after
dinner at about 9:30, the guests were in the lobby (quite large). Waiters were passing about 8 different types
of drinks and a big variety of appetizers (this was the preparty!). I went up to a man in a kippah (Jewish head
covering) and said, “Mazel Tov!” He was
part of the wedding party and told me that there about 100,000 Jews in Santiago
with a number of synagogues. A very
wealthy Jew who made his money in mining supports the largest synagogue. We should be so lucky in San Jose! He invited me to share in a drink, which I
declined. I was hoping to be invited to
watch the wedding ceremony but no such luck.
Later Dan and I spoke to a young Jewish couple who were delightful. One of the other young women was popping out
of her dress, and there were a lot of tight, short, short dresses. Dan enjoyed the show.
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