While we were in Santiago (Nov 15th) , workers in the center of town were setting up their Christmas decorations. They were in the process of building what looked to be a huge Christmas tree. The customs are strange down there, though, they appear to hang teamsters from the tree to celebrate the season.
When I say the square in the middle of the town, I really mean the middle of the whole country. And they have a kilometer zero marker to define it. The country is measured from that mark.
Appropriately they also have a statue of Pedro de Valdivia, the founder of Santiago and first royal governor of Chile, in the same square. After a glorious career he was eventually captured during a battle with the indigenous peoples and they executed him by pouring molten gold down his throat to satisfy his thirst for treasures, eek!tags: Santiago, Christmas
Molten gold... how extremely awful but also very creative. It certainly has more resonance than simply hacking someone to death or whatever. Reminds me somewhat of the grisly fate of King Edward II.
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