My Mom, sister, and brother-in-law came to visit for 10 days over Thanksgiving. Can't tell you how lovely it was to see them after an entire year.
Saturday, which was the day they arrived, was filled with rest and relaxation. They got to experience the joys of a $40 massage for 90-min, as well as a $150 hair highlight. Prices too good to beat. I was trying to convince Leah she should travel down here every 6-months, and all of the money she'd save on the services she could get here would pay for her trip. Jajaja
On Sunday, we went to Los Dominicos, which is a cute village filled with artisan workshops selling arts and crafts. The fam tried their first round of empanadas as well as mote con huesillo, which is the peach and wheat grain drink popular here. I took Mom to Mass at the actual Dominican Church. Then that afternoon we had an asado with the Rodiños, the Argentinian family who lives in our building. Everyone liked the choripan and the proveleta.
On Monday, we started our day by visiting the National Library, which is something the boys and Drew had visited in the past, but I had never gotten to see. The building itself is really beautiful, and there is a super cute coffee shop inside. It definitely is on my "must see" list for Santiago.
There is also a private library collection inside, which is housed in a room that looks like it was taken from the library at Hogwarts. All dark wood, huge volumes, spiral staircases to upper levels, the works. Very cool to see.
After the library, we hopped across the street to Santa Lucia Hill. This is the spot where the city was founded back in 1541. The fountain in front is lovely, like something you'd see in Rome. Has a nice view of the city from the top as well.
By this time, we were ready for lunch, so we went to Oda's, a yummy spot in Lastarria, which is a cute neighborhood right by Santa Lucia Hill. We had never tried Oda's before, but it was great. Would definitely go back.
Last stop of the day was the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center, which is half art display space, half gathering/workspace.
On Tuesday, we started at La Moneda, which is the Presidential Palace in Chile, the equivalent of the White House. This was the place we went to with the boys a few months ago because Emerson needed to do a project on a landmark in Santiago. Underneath La Moneda is the Cultural Center, which had totally different art displays this time, so I'm glad we went. At the moment, there is a display showing a collection of art owned by the National Bank of Chile, which is called the Banco Central de Chile (BCC). Why would a bank own art you'd ask? Apparently there was an emphasis at the Bank to preserve Chilean art history as a public service, as they see it as their "duty to safeguard national value." There was also alot of art that was paid to the bank as collateral for defaulted loans, many by private banks that went under during the financial crisis in the 1980s and the BCC took over. This piece in particular was unbelievable, because it's a painting of the Cajon de Maipo, which is the first valley we camped at in the van, and the painting is spot on. I knew exactly where it was the moment I saw it. Below the painting is my own photo of the valley from our visit. Amazing, huh.
There was also a picture of La Campana, which was the National Park with the large palm trees that we just visited. Pretty cool.
After La Moneda, we went to La Plaza de Armas, mainly to check out the Cathedral there. It is very impressive.
Tucked around the corner from the Plaza de Armas is the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art. I had never been to this museum before, but it was a highlight for sure. It was filled with art from before Columbus, which means art from Indigenous cultures. But the art is not just from Chile, but from all of South and Central America and up to Mexico. It was very extensive. But the most impressive part to me was how well preserved the art was. These pieces are 2,000-4,000 years old, but they look like they were made yesterday. And many of the pieces were very detailed and fiddly ceramic things that should have broken to bits through the ages, but they hadn't! They must have been buried in tombs to be that well preserved.
Right outside the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art is the Supreme Court building and the Old Congress building, both of which are very beautiful gems tucked away.
On Tuesday night, we went out for our fancy dinner celebration to a place called Yumcha. It was a 10-course pescatarian, Asian inspired meal, and it was fantastic. It wasn't cheap, to be sure, but each dish was incredibly delicious, the portions were generous, and it was paired with some very unusual wines/sakes/teas that were very interesting.
The last museum we saw was the Museum of Fine Art, which we went to on Wednesday. The building itself is gorgeous, with a lovely glass ceiling. Half of the art is older pieces, half more modern. I liked seeing the building more than the art, but it's free, so why not.
