La Moneda, the Presidential Palace
Christmas Eve. Tomorrow, we fly home.
The morning news is not happy. Striking rail workers started a riot in Buenos Aires. A letter bomb blew up in the Chilean embassy in Italy.
We started off the day by visiting the markets. Central Market is ringed by little mom and pop eateries. The eateries in the center of the market are a bit more upscale and tourist friendly. The whole place smelled like fish.
We then walked across the street, and over the river, and went to La Vega market. The economic disparity between the two markets was palpable. La Vega is grittier and rougher around the edges. But it was more crowded and lively.
Here is Bourdain at an annex of La Vega. He captures the food perfectly, but not the working class conditions. Go to 5:29:
We move next to La Moneda, a highlight for me. On September 11, 1973, a coup toppled Salvador Allende's government. I wanted to see where it all went down.
The square facing La Moneda has four statues, one on each side. Allende stands in front of the Ministry of Justice. I think they could have picked a better looking statue. It looks like a huge bed sheet got blown onto Allende.
The other statues are of Frei, Allesandri, and a dude from the 1860s.
We had lunch at a sushi joint called Kintaro. With fresh avocados and seafood in abundance, the meal was extraordinary.
After a power nap, we sat at a park, eating ice cream, and watched people walk and play with their dogs.
It's nearly 4 p.m. on December 24 and we haven't done any Christmas shopping. So we went to ONA, an artisan craft store, and loaded up on alpaca fleece garments to distribute.
Dinnertime. Everything was closing and people were rushing home. We tried to go back to Bar Nacional. About a block from the restaurant, we see our waiter from yesterday. He recognized us, smiled, and told us they're closed. We ended up eating at an empty Chinese restaurant, served by a kind Brazilian immigrant who spoke no Chinese, English, or Spanish, over the din of the Chinese owner yelling at somebody over the phone about something.
The End