"A little after 3 p.m. here in Santiago. Caught an 8:30 bus from Valparaiso, arrived at the bus station in Santiago a little before 10:30, picked up the subway right outside, and was downtown by 10:45. I´ve wandered around a bit, then had lunch across the river from downtown in one of the more "bohemian" neighborhoods, called Barrio Bellavista. The lunch place, the Azul Profundo (I guess that would translate as "Profoundly Blue") used to be frequented by Pablo Neruda, Chile's Nobel-prize winning poet and novelist. There were mucho pictures of him on the walls. An excellent grilled sea bream in slightly spicy olive oil, topped with some shrimp and mussels and other shell fish. And a nice glass of Chilean white wine. Lunch in Chile is late and leisurely; this place didn't even open until 1:00.
"Santiago, at least downtown, is very cosmopolitan. Lots of eating places, upscale shopping, modern buildings, public squares. Great Mercado Centrale with fish vendors and veggie vendors selling their wares. The subway - the metro - is very modern and carries something like 800,000 riders a day. The train I was on was fairly crowded, but they seem to come every few minutes.
"I´m going to continue wandering, another transect through downtown heading toward the university district. Speaking of universities, students are having a one-day strike all over Chile to protest high fees. I chatted for a few minutes with a woman who was handing out leaflets and spoke reasonably good English. I even made a small donation to the cause. Supposedly the police showed up with firehoses to disperse students at one locale. Viva la revolucion!"
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