The Stare Down

Being stared down here in Santiago at dining establishments is a common occurrence. It's as if there is no tourism industry at all in this city. Unlike Buenos Aires where there are gobBsAs staff on major street corners and in the tourism information centres, they actually give you information on the attractions. In Santiago's tourist info centre, I barely got a map out of the staff member who was too enthralled in her conversation with her friend to help me. Thank goodness for guidebooks in times like that.

Anyways, one night I went to a small cafe called Cafe La Jolie one block away from Happy House Hostel and across from the Cumming Metro Station on Av. Catedral. It looked like a warm and inviting kind of cafe from its decor and name but I stepped inside and found all of the wait staff sitting around doing a crossword puzzle. I went up to the counter and tried to order but the waiter intercepted me and took my order instead. He told me to sit by their table so I did. It took all four staff to make my one hot chocolate. One to take the order, another to make it and two to discuss whether or not I needed an ashtray. The ashtray thing was quite funny as I didn´t know the word for ashtray which is ciencero. When the waiter said it, I thought he asked if I wanted trecero which is a third. I said to myself, “a third of what?". Finally, he asked fumar or no fumar. When I said no fumar, the search for the ashtray was called off. What I noticed most was that one member of the wait staff kept starring at me. It was unnerving. Why? I'm not that interesting. Just a tourist wanting a snack. At this point, I didn't have anyone or any book, journal or magazine to keep me occupied so I was extremely conscious of everything going on around me. Luckily, one of the wait staff brought me a magazine and local arts and entertainment paper and asked if it was my first time in Santiago. After about 10 minutes which seemed like an eternity to me, the hot chocolate arrived. One of the waiters continued to stare me down so I gulped down the drink and got the heck outta there. It's hard to go into these places when you get stared down. From other traveler's stories, it is a common occurrence for a tourist when you go to a place that normally only locals frequent. Shame really, because then it's harder to get a feel for the city.