My second week began with the visit of President Obama to Santiago. There was a ton of activity, traffic disruptions and lots of action… all of which I completely ignored, enjoying the tranquillity of my new home.
Tranquillity… something a little relative I guess because in lieu of constant visitors, being on the fourth floor facing Santo Domingo, I got to enjoy the sound of buses, police cars, garbage trucks (always in the middle of the night) and the odd vendor or crazy person. But I was so happy about having my own space again that all that was easily ignored.
Spent the first few days taking aimless walks to discover the area. To the east, there’s a park and pathway used by cyclists and joggers that leads straight to Baquedano metro and the Bella Vista area.
Two blocks north, on Mac Iver, I discovered a sweet little store that specializes in vintage comics and films, mainly horror and science fiction. Horray! I bought five little sci-fi books in spanish, and started eating them up by the pool. I would return a few times to buy more, getting a chuckle out of the owner–a tiny be-speckled woman with a permanent smile–when I commented that the books were like chips for the mind: not all that healthy, but tasting great and difficult to stop consuming.
I stopped at The Clinic–a resto-bar, one block south on Monjitas next to the Bellas Artes metro station–for supper and found it to be a relaxed and interesting place. The Clinic began as a humoristic magazine with a strong political slant (it’s named for some place in London where Pinochet wound up), which then proceeded to open a shop and finally expanded into a bar.
The walls are covered with magazines, a bunch of funny “Sabia usted que: …” (did you know that…) most of which I simply don’t get, and photos of politicians with captions that I do get and can be pretty hilarious. Even the menu is an entertaining read.
I’d return to The Clinic many times, almost always striking up a conversation with some friendly neighbours. I met one group, who were celebrating a birthday, and they invited me to come back the next day as it would be the bar’s first anniversary party. When I returned the following day, it took a while to locate them, as they were all on the third floor (which I didn’t know existed yet) enjoying the private, bar-open, party. Somehow, they got me onto the list and I got a nice little bracelet along with the right to a piece of the cake and a whole lot of pisco.
Though The Clinique is one of the more expensive bars I’d hang out in, alcohol here is always pretty cheap and the barman are generous… way generous. When you order a piscola (pisco and, surprise, cola), they basically fill an 8 or 10 ounce glass with pisco, and hand you a bottle of coke. Those first sips, when there’s hardly anything but pisco in the glass, are really something… oof.
The party was a blast, with a good people, a lot of Chilean music, cueca (the national dance), pinatas and great deal of drinking.
Spent most of the week walking around, and stopping for drinks. Visited Oxido bar, in BellaVista, for a Chileno metal show. Pretty good music, and I spent some nice time with the singer from one of the bands, but the ambiance was kind of weird with everybody doing a whole lot of standing around–no dancing, no pit, just vague head motion. Would be my only stay at Oxido for this trip.
