Vlog-style travel video by Nate and Kara Buchanan documenting a day in Santiago, Chile. They describe taking a day off because of Nate’s toe, trying local Chilean foods (umita, pastel de choclo, cazuela, lucuma ice cream), shopping for boots for Patagonia, doing laundry, and revisiting San Cristóbal Hill via the funicular where a Mary statue (installed 1907) stands; visibility is poor due to regional wildfires and a planned wine tour was canceled and replaced with a cooking class invitation.
Chapters
So we took the day off yesterday. Part of it had to do with my toe. We definitely didn't have to take the day off. It's not like I completely lost my toe, but I do just get, like, grossed out by stuff, and I feel like if I put a lot of pressure on it, the end of my toe is just gonna, like, burst open. So I just kind of tried to stay off it yesterday. And really, we used my toe as an excuse to take the day off and. And get some work done that we needed to do.
We basically only left the apartment two times yesterday. The first time was to get umita again.
Having a little trouble.
So hot. I also learned that you're supposed to try umita with tomatoes and basil. So that's what we're doing today.
It's an extra dollar for the tomato edition.
Very worth it.
And the next time was to get an ice cream cone. Chileans love their ice cream cones. There's a soft serve mach all over.
The place and they're cheap. You can get two ice cream cones for a dollar.
Today we're going to start off with lunch. Our Airbnb host has given us another suggestion. She's two for two on suggestions, and she learned that we are really into local foods and so is she.
She gives us, like, the perfect recommendations that I love. Not only what kind of food we should eat, but where we should go to eat it. And not just like a restaurant, but what we should eat at that restaurant. We love really specific recipes, recommendations.
Daniela is our favorite hostess.
For any of you who are leaving comments.
Let'S go.
We're back. This must be our Airbnb host favorite restaurant because it's also where she told us to get the pastel de chocolo the other night, and it's right around the corner from our plate. Plus, they gave us bread and salsa this time, which I'm really excited about.
I love that this is a thing here.
So I thought I was ordering a plate of french fries with toppings, and it turns out I ordered a hot dog with french fries and toppings. I don't even like hot dogs. I will say this is what everybody eats here, though. Like, the hot dog with a bunch of toppings seems to be the go to for everybody for a quick filling meal.
Oh, there's a whole corn in here. I hope that's cilantro. Daniela told us to order cozuela. It is a very Chilean meal. I think it's just soup with meat and veggies, and I could be totally wrong. About this, but I looked up cazuela on Google, and I think it might translate to casserole, but the name comes from the dish, so. In the US we have casserole dishes, but they're nothing like this. I could be totally wrong, though, but it look really yummy.
Oh, yeah, that's great. It has tons of cilantro on top, which is my favorite herb, and the broth is really meaty. I think it's a big chunk of beef with an entire corn and a potato and pumpkin.
I love it.
Daniela is three for three on food recommendations. That is the best soup broth I've ever had. Next up. Today we are going to a church that we keep passing in LA Plaza, so we're gonna check it out.
La Plaza.
La Plaza.
You can't go into the big part.
So.
I feel like they should warn you at the entrance that when you walk in, you're literally at the altar where everyone is staring. I saw multiple tourists walk in and look very shocked once they realized where they were, including me. It was very pretty. You go get some ice cream.
Branched out to try Lucaba. Never heard of it before, so I'm currently trying to Google what it is. Apparently, it looks kind of like an avocado, and it's the world's newest superfood, according to this first website that I found.
I don't know. It really doesn't have that much taste. It kind of tastes like, a little bit like vanilla, maybe, like, if I squirted a little drop of perfume into my vanilla before I turned it up into ice cream. It's not bad, though. Pretty sure it's not healthy in its ice cream form, but I love that you can have cultural experience through ice cream when you're traveling.
We are back at the tallest building in South America. I talked Nate into coming back to the mall to get the boots for our trek to Patagonia next week.
Still not sure if this is a good idea. We need them for, like, a week, but then we'll have to carry them for, like, two months where we won't use them until we get to Machu Picchu. Then we might use them again. Oh, no. I'm just so torn. It's gonna make our time in Patagonia way more enjoyable. I hate to have to carry something for so long that we're barely getting used.
Gonna try it out. We may end up throwing them away.
Yay. My feet are gonna be so much happier. In Patagonia.
We don't shop much on this vlog.
Was A good day. Couldn't bring myself to buy any. Me hiking in my Nike breeze. Maybe I'll find some between now and Patagonia.
We are heading back to our apartment to do some laundry because it'll be our last chance before we head into the desert. And we want to be clean in the desert. Duh.
Never quite sure how to use foreign washing machine. Looks like it's working.
All right. Round two of visiting San Cristobal Hill. Except this time I'm wearing closed toed shoes.
Hopefully no more bloody toes.
And we're riding the funicular.
Got the tickets? We have an excuse to ride the funicular now that I hurt my toe. So we're gonna take advantage of it.
I'm glad we're not hiking this thing.
The breeze is so nice.
In case you missed it in our last few episodes, the visibility here is really poor because there's wildfires in the mountains surrounding the city. So the smoke is just covering the sky. So you really can't see that far at all. But it still looks really cool.
Sam.
We're on the top of San Cristobal. We learned that there used to be a cross up here back when Santiago was first.
What's the word? Founded. And then an earthquake destroyed it. And in 1907 they put this Mary statue here. The visibility is seriously worse up here than it is down. Like in our apartment building. You just can't see anything. The smoke is so thick. It's so sad. We only have 10 minutes until the last car goes down the mountain. So we are running back.
He's closing it right now.
We caught the very last funicular down the mountain. I'm very thankful I didn't have to walk on my hurt toe all the way down or Kara would have had to put up with me in a very bad mood. So we're calling it a night. Heading back. Hopefully we can find one of those peach drink things on the way back.
I was way too hungry to hike back down that thing.
I wonder who would have been in a worse mood. You hungry or me with my hurt though.
Fill me in.
So we were supposed to be going on a wine tour tomorrow, which we were really excited about because Julie's supposed to have some some really good wine regions just like an hour outside of Santiago. But I just got an email from the company that we were supposed to go with and the tour has been canceled due to wildfires in the area and other complications. But I'm so sad. They have invited us to come to their cooking class tomorrow.
Oh yay.
So next best.
Oh, I'm much less sad.
Next best thing behind a wand tour would be a cooking class. Cooking class might even be better.
You almost lost your foot.
This is a dangerous place.
So dangerous.
Glad you cut your toe.
My feet just find all the holes and fall in them. I'm a little confused at how I'm supposed to eat corn on the cobbler.
I feel like that's not right.
Just as good as I remember.
Thanks. She's trying to tell me about it. Maybe it's good to eat with spicy food. I don't know. It's delicious.
