Chile, Day 22

Stay away from El Mismo...

I have to say, I’m thrilled to be leaving Santiago. Not thrilled to be leaving Chile, as I basically liked it, but Santiago…get me out of here and get me out of here fast.

I’m leaving Santiago more or less with the same kind of ridiculous encounter that I had in my first hour here when a belligerent drunk took a swing at me as I was trying to photograph a building. Tonight, the owner of a restaurant where I went to eat, El Mismo (511 Monjitas Street), which is a “local” establishment more or less next door to my hotel, asked me where I was from. I said, “Estados Unidos.” He scowled and replied that in Chile people call my country, “Putos Unidos.” I didn’t know what this meant, but by his demeanor I immediately wondered if he was insulting me. Not that I’m paranoid, but he didn’t seem very pleased that I was there. This feeling was reinforced when the man, who at 50-something should have known better, kind of dropped my food on the table and wouldn’t respond to my waves or calls of “Señor” to get the bill, even though we were twenty feet from each other and no one else was there. When I got back to the hotel I looked up the word “puto” and found that it means “homosexual,” but in a more derogatory way.

So I went downstairs and mentioned this to the hotel manager, who speaks English. He told me that in Chile the United States is often call “Estados Juntos,” and "juntos" is synonymous with "unidos." However, the restaurant owner didn’t use the word “Estados” in his response. Also, even though my Spanish is bad, I can definitely distinguish between a Spanish “j”-sound and a “p”-sound. I can also tell when there is or is not an “n” in a word. And since I’d never heard the word “puto” before, it’s an odd coincidence that this is what I remembered and then looked up. But the kicker is that he was rude. Also, not surprisingly, his food wasn’t very good.

So I’ll put up a photo of his restaurant along with the address so that anyone who happens to be in Santiago and staying in the vicinity of Mosqueto and Monjitas in the El Centro district – for example, at the Andes Hostel or Hotel Ciudad de Vitoria, which are a stone’s throw away from the restaurant – doesn’t support his business.

Like I said, I’m happy to be leaving Santiago. I’m sure Santiago has many nice people – millions, in fact – but I have had too many bad experiences with rude people in this city to leave with positive memories. Chiloe I loved. But Santiago…