Tour de Santiago...

I head to Plaza de Armas for a 10am rendezvous with a Free Tour. I just have to find the guy with the red "Free Tour" shirt on in front of the cathedral.

No problem. He works for tips, generally a fraction of the commercial tours. I like his style; his name is Franco. He starts off telling us about the founder of the city, Pedro de Valdivia,

who dared to venture through the Atacama Dessert to find more hospitable lands when the rest of the Spaniards were content to stay in Peru. There was a woman involved, who promised to join him when he got his act together...and she did. But then, based in this fertile valley, 200 years of fierce battles began with the many native tribes. The most vicious and persistent of these were the Mapuche.

These Spaniards were children of the Inquisition, and eventually Valdivia's wife convinced (badgered) him to let her get involved in the warfare. She instituted fear tactics, most notably lopping off the heads of prisoners and waving them around on sticks to give the enemy something to be afraid of. Valdivia captured a young Mapuche named Lautaro and raised him as his stable boy, educating him and teaching him to be a good Spanish soldier. After 5 years, Lautaro escaped to his people and eventually used the tactics he learned from Valdivia to lead his people against the Spaniards. Valdivia eventually lost his life in battle with forces lead by Lautaro!

We were shown La Moneda, the Presidential Palace and scene of the 1973 "Golpe de Estada". Salvadore Allende had been making some sweeping socialist changes that did not sit well with business or military interests, locally or globally. Aided by the CIA, Chile ended up with 18 years of repressive dictatorship under General Pinochet

La Moneda (it used to be the mint) was bombed and Allende shot himself in the process.

Allende had made moves toward providing free education and under Pinochet, education became expensive. Today there are many demonstrations pushing for reform of the system toward more accessible education.

Aside from major sites and politcal themes, the free tour pointed out other items of local interest and flavor. A recent successful business trend had been "Coffee with Legs" (Cafés where the servers wear really short and tight skirts). But now a new trend is taking over: Coffee shops with dark glass windows where the women serve only coffee in g-strings and you must be 18 to enter. Three times a day (but randomly) they take it all off for one minute.

Then there is Nuts4Nuts.

This chilean made millions selling nuts on street corners. But first he had to make it in NYC. After success there he brought the concept back to Chile and the warm, sweet nuts are on every corner.

Our tour skirted the hill and park of Sta Lucia, right next to my hotel and took a lunch break in the Lastraria neighborhood. I had eaten my two previous evening meals on this same street and the food was wonderful. At this cafe

I had my first Pisco Sour. Wow! I have been missing out! The guide says all chileans have at least one of these a day. The key ingredient is egg white. That's what makes them so smooth. Pisco is a sort of brandy, made from grapes, but has a bit of a taste of tequila. Here I break off of the tour because they are going to the Bella Vista district where I spent Saturday. I go to the GAM Cultural Center,

named for Gabriela Mistral, Chile's first Nobel Laureate poet. She is on the 5,000 peso bill and it is referred to as the "Gabriela". Most of the Center's exhibits are closed on Monday, but I note to come back, as they look interesting and it is close to my hotel.

Now I was off across town to the central markets. I buy a juice at my first stop.

Then it's off the the fish market...the real thing.

As I wander, I find on the perimeter of the market are some of the restaurants: all fish, and instead of fish mongers, there were restaurant mongers. I pick the Marisol Restaurant

and this item: Ceviche made from Sea Bass. It is really good, especially with the garlic spread on the bread

and a little salsa on top. Hmmm. There was more to this day, but it was mostly walking and more walking. It ended with dinner at a Peruvian restaurant where I violated one of my travel rules: Never eat in an empty restaurant. It worked out OK, I was just too tired to look any further and had a fish fillet (swordfish) with a seafood sauce (pretty much everything in the sea).

One day to go! Still lots to see.