Es Mejor Usar Tus Manos..

Exploring Santiago alone is amazing. I imagine it as a cross between Los Angeles, Mexico, and San Diego's Balboa Park, as mixed as that combination sounds. It has plenty of modern apartment and business high rises mixed with like 30% classic architecture, influenced by romanticism and some baroque styling (especially las iglesias, the churches). The city is also full of serene parks, dotting the map all over, some large, some smaller, and it seems they're well utilized by the local people (and packs of wild dogs), who relax on benches or stroll the dirt walkways as I pass through.

I watched this cat kick a huge dog´s ass out of his office..

Most of Santiago is walkable, and although it is large it differs from any large Southern California city in this respect.. I spent a good eight hours of walking, but made a full loop around the major parts of el centro, the downtown bustle of the city and all the major municipal parks, without taking a bus.

I stopped into a street market on the main avenue that crosses the city to look for a knife, since I couldn't bring one traveling from the states. None of the fifty vendors I passed had any, and the closest thing I found was one with a giant samurai sword. He looked friendly enough, so I asked Sabes que donde puedo comprar un buen cuchillo para acampar? (Do you know where I can buy a good knife for camping?) After some deliberation and both of us flipping through our English-Spanish dictionaries to understand each other, he told me that (if I understood correctly) concealed knives are illegal in Chile, and even if it's for camping, and if I get stopped I could pay a big fine. I told him the knife was also for my security since I am traveling alone, so I was willing to take the risk. To that, he responded, "Es mejor usar tus manos!" (It's better to use your fists!) and he took the Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" stance. We had a good laugh and he told me about the only store where I could find what I needed downtown.

Hasta,
Brian


P.S. I'm keeping a "Helle-style" journal of my travels every night in addition to the blog. For those who know what that is, I'll share when I return. And Senor Helle, if you're reading this, I'll definitely get you a copy.
P.S.S. I fixed the comments, I guess there was some problem earlier. You can now leave one (and read others) by clicking the "comments" link below.