Our departure from Argentina took us through the snowy, winding hills of the Andes. The border control was located on top of one of the mountains, with 18-wheelers lining up for miles on the twisting roads leading up to immigration. We made it past the rather thorough inspection, bought warm ham and cheese sandwiches, and began our descent to Santiago.

We were excited for Santiago because we were staying with a good friend of my friend Shayna, Lorena, and her boyfriend, Daniel. I was looking forward to meeting Lorena, someone I had heard about for years, and Beth and I were psyched to be out of hostels and into an actual home.

We took a cab to Lorena and Daniel’s apartment in Providencia and were welcomed into their gorgeous, ginormous apartment. We were stunned by the size, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office, a kitchen, a living room, and a dining room with a great view of the mountains from their deck. Remembering the size of our Brooklyn abode, split between four people, we were in awe.

After giving us a very thorough run-down of the orientation of Santiago and how to use the subway, we walked down the street to a cute restaurant where we had pizza and were introduced to the national drink of choice: Pisco Sours. (Beth: They taste a little like margaritas but better.)

The next day, Beth and I got up to buy our bus tickets north, explore the city, and resume our one and a half month search for an affordable Central America Lonely Planet. We had found it in Buenos Aires with a 30 percent markup from the U.S. price (we had been using $5 used books up to this point), and decided to try our luck in Santiago.

After checking out several bookstores, we took a break to meet Lorena for completos, a hotdog smothered with loads of condiments that Shayna had demanded I try. We arrived at the very busy Domino restaurant, where waiters were rushing about and customers stood up beside counters mowing their hotdogs and hamburgers.

We ordered hot dogs and strawberry juice and I was immediately won over by the completo - a huge dog, covered with a cilantro and onion salsa, cheese sauce, mayo, a massive helping of guacamole, and topped with piles of fresh tomatoes. Unreal. Despite being stuffed by the first completo, we couldn’t control ourselves and ordered another round.

Beth and I said good bye to Lorena and wearily rolled our distended selves down Providencia Ave searching in vain for an affordable Lonely Planet. We did find a very unaffordable copy, one that was selling for DOUBLE the sales price - fifty bucks, a full two day’s budget. We learned that in Chile, there is a tax on all books (Beth and I surmised that the tax was an old hold-over from the Pinochet dictatorship).  (Beth: I can’t think of anything more fascist than a special tax on books!)

We did manage to find a shop that sold fabric and found some Chilean cloth to buy for a project I cooked up. We started gathering fabric in Ushuaia for a quilt made of patches from all the countries we pass through en route to L.A. I’m hoping my seamstress mother can help with this project since I’ve never stitched a stitch in my life.

That night, we were in for a real treat - Daniel’s cooking. While Beth and I were relaxing reading and blogging in our room, we were brought home-made Pisco Sours, which included Pisco, fresh lemon juice, and some other ingredients I can’t quite recall. Daniel’s home-made version beat out the already delicious restaurant version.

We sat down to dinner after ostrich pate, and delved into an incredible dish of seafood paella.  Santiago is famous for its good seafood and with good reason.  The shrimp and calamari in the paella was amazing — and just one of the many seafood dishes we would try in Santiago.

We enjoyed a delicious Chilean Carmenere, one of Beth’s new favorites, while I picked Daniel’s brain on the secrets of a good paella. We finished the night with a shot of mint liqueur with crushed ice (which Beth couldn’t finish), and turned in for the evening.

The next day Beth and I resumed our search for the Lonely Planet. After much deliberation, we decided maybe it would be best to bite the bullet and shell out the $50. We went to the bookstore and discovered we needed to go to one of their other stores to buy it. The sales clerk teased us in English about how expensive it was, and as we walked out the door en route to get the book he said, “Good luck with your fifty dollars!”

Beth and I, who are not only miserly but extremely stubborn, stopped in our tracks outside the shop door. We were already peevish that the book was so obviously being marked up for tourists in addition to a tax we found fairly insulting and wholly disempowering, and now this guy was making fun of us on top of it? Forget it, we said.

We sat down and thought that maybe we would email my friend Ruth, who we’ll be meeting in Lima, and ask her to go and grab it for us in the U.S. and bring it on her travels. We shot off the email, fingers crossed, and finally set out to do some serious tourist stuff.

We went and grabbed some more completos at Domino, this time trying Daniel’s suggestion, the Turca, which was smothered in melted cheese and scrambled eggs. I ordered the Dinamica, and Beth ordered the Completo. For some reason hers didn’t come with avocado, and mine did. For those heading to Santiago, definitely check out Domino (http://www.domino.cl/ ), and try the Dinamica. You can also go to “productos” section on that website and you can see pictures of all the decedent dogs.

After that, we went to Santa Lucia and hiked up the 630 meters to the top of Cerro Santa Lucia where we got a good view of the city and tried to avoid staring at all the couples making out in discreet corners, and some sprawled out on park benches.

 Since we had wasted half the day on our book expedition, we grabbed a cab and high tailed it to see the Virgen, a massive white statue of the Holy Mary standing on the top of a mountain high above the city. We took a small train to the top and wandered around, looking at the even better view of the skyline, gasping at the thick layer of smog, and sitting on the steps below Mary’s feet, taking in the sounds of gospel music flowing through the speakers.

 After that, we decided to take a gondola ride across the mountain and back.  Beth shivered in fright as we were sent sailing over the trees and canyons. But we were soon distracted by yet more bird’s eye views of the city and surrounding suburbs. It was late in the day and pretty chilly, on top of the late hour of the day, so not many folks were wandering around. We didn’t get out and walk around at the stops either. 

We made it back to Mary, watched the sunset over the mountains, and took the train back down to ground level.

 That night, we went out with Lorena and Daniel to a cute restaurant that happened to be filled with the Cuban soccer team. After watching their coach reprimand them after a particularly sloppy display of drunkeness, Beth and I dove into our mechada, a soft meat sandwich covered in a sweet barbeque sauce - a Chilean specialty. We had another bottle of Chilean Carmenere with dinner. I also tried the Schop, a big mug of draught beer, and Beth had another Pisco Sour.

 The next morning we were set to leave for the north and Lorena and Daniel were taking off for a long weekend, but before we left, they insisted we take a trip to the seafood market downtown.  We took the subway in and first stopped off at the central church, which was huge and very beautiful. We then began wandering around the fish market and were surprised by all the offerings. Shell fish we had never seen before, sea anemones, tons of different types of fish, and squid were being weighed, chopped, and dolled out to waiting customers by the white clad fish market workers.

 We sat down to “brunch” (a word Lorena took much delight in saying) in the middle of the fish market in a nice restaurant. We were given Pisco Sours on the house and Lorena and Daniel ordered Machas a la Parmesana, clams covered with oil, butter, cilantro, and onion with heaps of melted parmesan cheese ontop. I was furiously writing down the recipe after nearly collapsing from ecstacy, when another round came to the table. Lorena and Daniel shrugged their shoulders. “We knew you’d like them,” they told us.

 We then all ordered Curanto, a seafood stew with chicken, pork, and sausage. It was filled with different types of fish, shellfish, and vegetables, in addition to the meat. Though I wouldn’t think to put these things together, it was extremely tasty.

After our feast, we took off for the bus station. Daniel and Lorena were nice enough to drive us there, and we made it with just a few moments to spare. We said goodbye, demanding that they someday make a trip up to NYC, and ran to catch our bus.

Daniel and Lorena — thanks so much for all of your  tour guiding and hospitality! We had an incredible time, loved all the Chilean specialties you introduced us to, and loved Santiago… We’ll expect to see you sometime next summer, up “north”!