A walk in the park

Tuesday 8th April

Today I went to Parque O'Higgins. Its one of a few places with Irish names, and in fact in this case the park is named after Bernardo O´Higgins who liberated Chile from Spain and was its second president. There is a lot named after him, inclusing the main street in Santiago.

The park itself turned out to be a nice enough place, but the various museums it housed, insects, fish, and the most bizzarre, hats, all turned out to be the usual not very good museums that I should have come to expect. There was a spaceship parked in the park though, well actually its just the dome of a big concert venue. But it looked pretty cool.

When I got back to the hotel after lunch, just in time to watch some Champions League action, I was greated by the strangest sight, 5 bellydancers dancing in the hall outside my room. I have no idea what it was all about, some sort of keep fit thing I guess, but it was strange, and loud. But it stopped before the first goal so I could hear the local commentator go mad with his goooooooooooooal clebrations. Actually you should hear how excited they get over corners.

That evening I went to the suburb of Bellavista for dinner. The restaurants there are definitely better quality, but you are paying for it. There were also a few different cuisine options, even a that restaurant. I went to a spainish restaurant, mostly because the waiter at the door seemed to recognised me as a English speaker so tried his sales pitch in English. Because I was on my own and it wasn't that busy I then proceded to get his life story. And he had a friend living in Dublin (don´t they all).

Afterwards I spotted the Dublin bar (maybe thats where the waiters friend lives) so the rules say I had to go in. This had to be the least Irish, Irish pub ever. There was no crap on the walls like all the others, and in fact other than the name and some green neon lights, I couldn´t really see what mafe it Irish. Of course the lack of crap on the wall probably means it is more like a pub I would want to drink in in Ireland than most Irish bars.

Had a couple of pints there and then walked back to the hotel. Even though I only had 3 pints, including the 1 with dinner, I felt a bit more drunk than I should have been with that much drink. Not sure why, hope its not the altitude because Santiago is not very high compared to where I am going to be over the next few weeks.