Chile

Santiago 

 Alberto at The Louisiana Restaurant, Santiago, Chile Back in Santiago, it was time to experience some of the local food.  By this time, I was becoming more comfortable with Santiago as a cosmopolitan city and its population of six to eight million people (depending on who you ask).  
 
Less than a block from our hotel, actually just a short walk through a commercial courtyard, was a small restaurant district.  I was just out walking around, seeing what their was to see, snapping a few pictures, and hoping to get a glimpse of some restaurant menus.  To my surprise, as I passed each restaurant, the restaurant host would approach me, show me the menu and invite me for dinner.  Commercial - yes, but not overbearing.  One of the more entertaining hosts was Alberto, pictured above in the pink shirt.  He noticed me taking pictures and quickly Shanghai'd a waiter and posed for the picture.  He then came over, shook my hand, introduced himself, welcomed me to Chile and we must have talked for ten minutes.  He must have been a good host because we ended up going back there for dinner the next night.  Restaurants at Night - The Louisana is the green waterwheelI told him I would put his picture on the web, left him the URL, so Alberto, if you're reading this, thanks for the memories.
Another cultural phenomena is that the restaurants get busy later than they do in the USA.  I was taking some pictures from the roof of our hotel and looked down into the restaurant area in late afternoon and it was deserted.  However, later in the evening, it was bustling with business.
 


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