Visit to the Mercado Central

Friday October 7, The major tasks to accomplish today was to exchange more Dollars for Pesos, pay the balance of our housing (as I had already wired the equivalent of two days rent to the real estate agent in charge of the property as a downpayment) buy some groceries and get a "BIP" Card (pronounced "beep" because that's the sound it makes when you pass it over the entrance). The BIP Card is a magnetic card that you can electronically charge with money, everytime you use it to get on the Metro, there is less money on the card until it's time to recharge it at a nearby cashier; a very effective system. There's a subway entrance near our furnished apartment so we decided to go on our first adventure downtown with our newly purchased Metro Cards. It was a learning process to figure out how to ride the subway, come to think of it, everything we do here is for the first time so there is a learning curve that makes us look like foreigners. We visited the Plaza de Armas, the central cathedral and the Mercado Central. We decided to eat our "main" meal of the day (which in Chile is mid-day) at the Mercado. The historic building was full of mostly seafood stands, seafood restaurants and one or two fruit/vegetable stands. The seafood was of every possible type of sea-creature and then some; the smell was overpowering for Margaret who admitted that her stomach wasn't feeling well after the experience. There were "hockers" out in the narrow passageways giving out business cards and trying to get us to dine in their restaurants. We passed up a Jamaican guy who spoke to us in Jamaican English in favor of a guy named Julio who was newly moved to Santiago from Talcahuano (a town where I served in the South). Mallory ordered the Chilean seabass (Corvina), I ordered the Congrio (eel) and Margaret ordered fried chicken (how Gringo can you get?) After our meal we visited a panaderia (bread store) and picked up dessert, 3 galletas (cookies). Walking back to the Plaza de Armas we stumbled on to a three story indoor mall with a huge food court full of people. The Plaza was also full of people when we returned. There was a huge group surrounding a guy that was doing, what we later found out was a comedy routine; with the donations from the audience, I guess that's how these people make their living. Off the Plaza is the main cathedral of Santiago, classic architecture, stained glass, and statues of every imaginable saint adorn the dark corridors that surround the main central sanctuary. From what I could tell, most of the people in the cathedral were just tourists checking things out like us, there were less people actually sitting in the pews of the central sanctuary having a spiritual experience. Along the perimeter of the sanctuary were booths set up where priests would sit to take confessions or otherwise give priestly advise. To alert people that the priest was available, they would turn on a red light that sat on top of the booth (I wondered if there was any symbolism of the color-scarlet as sin?). From there we got back on the Metro and felt proud of ourselves for having made it back to Providencia without getting lost. Santiago has a very elaborate mass-transportation system, starting with the 5 subway lines that crisscross the entire length and breadth of the city (when I was in Chile as a missionary, they were just beginning to dig the first line), next is the bus system both of which take the "Bip" card for payment. The other way people get around the town is by taxi, usually small black sedans with yellow roofs that can hold up to 4 passengers. They are very reasonably priced, unless you get one who is trying to take advantage of you being an out of towner. The taxi drivers honk at you if they are looking for a fare and you happen to look foreign (Margaret and Mallory blend in with their dark hair and olive complexion, but I stick out like a sore thumb - it's gotta be that Danish heritage; but I speak Spanish and they don't). The other two changes that I noticed in terms of transportation around the city relate to the growing economy of Chile. Because of their robust economy (based on their huge exports of copper and agriculture products) people who once couldn't afford to buy cars, can now afford them. Back in the mission days of 73-75 when I would tell adults that  I owned my own car back home, as a 19 yr-old, they were blown away. With all these extra cars on the roads, the highways needed to be upgraded, which they have, they are modern and efficiently move people around town at peak traffic hours of the day. Everywhere you look in the downtown and business sectors of Santiago you see new construction, high-rises and skyscrapers (currently the tallest building in South America is being built in Providencia - the business / financial district where we are staying). All of this is attributable to the solid economy of Chile (are we just a bit envious living here in the US?)