Santiago tour and lots of eating

Today is a city tour to explore Santiago. After breakfast at the hotel, Claudio meets us with a giant bus. He points out several sights on our way to the funicular to the top of the hill to see a statue of the Virgin Mary. The weather is quite foggy so we don't get a great view. By the time we go down, it's starting to clear up and you can see how close and dramatic the Andes are. We drive through some ritzy areas of town towards the city center where we pass many government buildings and plazas. The main church is quite spectacular on the inside. There are police everywhere. It's a Sunday so many streets are quite deserted but the Plaza de Armes is very busy.

Lunch is at La Casa Vieja, and is on the late side. The place is packed. The food is delicious but portions are huge. We had pisco sours or sparkling wine to start the meal. Starter was empanadas with ceviche. My main was a fish with potatoes. The potatoes here are amazing. The dessert is an amazing cake called lucuma meringue cake. Lucuma is a local fruit. The cake is sweet but light. So good! We all roll back to the bus for a short break at the hotel before an evening lecture. We learned a bit about each of the tour guests. Dr Ed Crumb talked about eclipses in general and what to expect.

Then we gathered back on the bus for dinner. Our location is Como agua para chocolate, which is Chilean-Mexican food based on the book. This is another amazing meal, with huge portions. I had Chilean sparkling wine this time. My starter was ceviche. I've had it several times and they are so fresh and delicious each time. My main is conger eel with cheese sauce over creamed spinach. The eel was so good I even ate some spinach! Dessert was a three layer chocolate mousse cake with berry sauce. I didn't finish any of the dishes but they were all terrific. We rolled out of there to the bus for the ride back to the hotel at around 10:30.