Santiago: First Day and Food

I arrived in Santiago, Chile on Wednesday, March 11. The first thing I noticed was everything is expensive. It was $30 USD for a taxi from the airport. Do you want to sit down at a restaurant and eat? It will be a minimum of $8 USD with a 10% tip. Sadly, I have not found a kimbapchunguk (김밥천국) in Chile.

I arrived in Santiago around 9 am and I spent my first day walking through the city center looking for food and looking at the different shops and plazas (public parks). After the jet lag began to hit me, I took a nap (the first siesta). Later, I met my friend Alex, another teacher from Busan in Korea. Of course, on our first night in Santiago, we went to a frisbee practice. The team is called Blue Wings and a lot of the team's players are from Venezuela. Although we liked the team, we can not play with them due to a conflict with our work schedules.

After frisbee practice, we walked through the city center to look for food. Ironically, it seems like hot dogs and hamburgers are the national food here--and empanadas, of course. The hot dogs are called "completos" and the hamburgers are called "lomitos". Below are photos and descriptions of the food I usually eat at restaurants in Chile. Next time, I'll write about my trip to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar.

Empanada: Baked bread filled with various ingredients such as cheese, meat, seafood or vegetables.

Lomito: Hamburger bun filled with sliced pork, guacamole (avocado), tomato, sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) and mayonnaise.
Completo: Hot dog with guacamole, tomato and mayonnaise.
French Fries: Pretty good when warm.