Chile in September September in Chile. The city changes its face. Flags grow like mushrooms everywhere. People get ready for THE week off to celebrating: las festas de la patria. The celebration is about Chilean started thinking of being independent. The idea sprouted when Napoléon overthrew the Spanish king (Ferdinand VII) and placed his own brother Joseph Napoléon on the Spanish throne back in 1810. It took 6 years for Chile to be independent after blood shed and battles. Chile signed its independence in February 1816. Another visit of one Santiago´s neighbourhood or let´s say streets: The London - Paris ones. Any gathering is an excuse to celebrate 18th September. Le´ts visit and learn more about Chile! The first Franciscan Church built in Chile - dated back 1554 when Pedro de Valdivia invaded Chile. The church because of earthquakes needed to be rebuilt several time. Therefore material and shapes differed from time to time. Franciscan owned a large territory here in Santiago. In front of the Church was held a flower market called La pergola. It was not only a market but a place where politicians gathered and families strolled. In 1940 the market moved to the North of the city. A famous Chilean theater piece is named after the market: La pergola. Londres Paris streets - neighbourhood The neighbourhood consists of 2 or 3 streets. It should represent Europe, maybe the Colonial era at its best. It was a upper class neighbourhood where wealthy people lived but moved away when middle class and artists began to move in. It turned into a prostitute area and had a bohemian flair. There is a story about the prostitute: la Mariposa nocturna (nocturn mariposa) and a killer: el enano maldito (the cursed dwarf). The nocturne butterfly was murdered in that hotel called now La vegas. To close the case the police charged the cursed dwarf that spent much of his life in prison for a crime that he finally did not commit. He already had some cases so he was an easy catch. At some point the real killer was caught and did not spend much time in jail as he was old and sick. Now Chilean used the expression enano maldito in their language as a common expression. There are a second case: a young and rich Brazilian couple who went to Santiago and stayed at Las Vegas hotel. The young girl disappeared and was found dead several days later. Her husband went back to Brazil. No one was found guilty at that time but the police figured out that the husband was the murderer! Londres 38 - London nb 38 A country has to heal its past and to live with it. This is one of the place where tortures took place during the 70 - 80´s. This place has been turned into a museum. Names´plaques on the pavement have been placed to remember victims of the systems. Londres Paris is a neighbourhood with companies, the extreme right party, and universities, It was a very nice tour, learned a lot! La serrena Another story in Chile. We end up in an Italian restaurant where half of the menu is pizza. The group I was with arrived quite early, 1 p.m. For Chile it is an early time to have lunch. Actually only our table was ready! The waiter told us that the oven to bake the pizza was out of order. It meant no pizza. What???!!! I was looking forward to it so badly. That day I could not change my mind so I decided not to order anything. Out of the sudden, 30 minutes later, when everybody was almost done with its meal, the waiter made an announcement. Pizza can be ordered now! I chose a blue cheese, mozzarella, cheese, and ham pizza. It was tasty but missing mozzarella and blue cheese! I did not have a pizza since I left China.... It did not matter. I enjoyed it! On my way back home. striking colours...
0 Comments
|
Archives
November 2018
What´s next?
visiting Chile |