Los Dominicos Handcraft Village

Los Dominicos Handcraft Village

Today 35 Bryant Bulldogs visited the Handicraft Village in Santiago where we had a chance to further explore the Chilean culture. Over the course of this entire trip, it's been incredibly important that we immersed ourselves in the culture completely. For me this meant trying to speak Spanish, eat traditional food, and purchase gifts made with products found in the country or products made by hand. 

A look inside the market

I started my time here with some friends by expanding my taste buds and trying the local cuisine. While in Latin America, I've recently discovered my love for empanadas! I immediately gravitated towards this on the menu and then also picked a Greek Salad. Our friends a few tables over let us try their Pastel de Choclo made with chicken. This contains corn and meats and is very traditional in Chile. I was incredibly excited to try this dish because every person I spoke to told us we needed to try this dish before we left Chile! I really liked this dish and I hope I get to eat it again before we leave on Friday. Lunch was fantastic and my friends ordered beef empanadas and ham and cheese sandwiches which are also sold many places in Chile. Mary Killoran said "the empanadas were the best I've ever had!" We ate our meal quickly which powered us up for an hour of shopping. 

                                                      The traditional Chilean dish Pastel de Choclo

I started off exploring as soon as lunch was done! I was incredibly excited to poke my heads into the small shops and see what each merchant had to offer. Overall there were many merchants offering handmade goods from the dominant industries which export products in Chile such as copper, alpacas wool, wood, and pottery. There were many beautiful hand painted landscapes, wood carved animals, and handcrafted pieces of jewelry that required years of skills and talent.  

One section of the market! 

One local artisan who hand painted pottery

I was incredibly impressed with the atmosphere of the market. I immediately noticed that when we entered there was an iron gate which gave the place a sense of exclusivity and prestige. Wherever you looked there were shops stuffed in every nook and cranny. Cassidy Forsley stated, "The South American architecture was beautiful as the gifts inside." Every shop keeper I talked to was so friendly and willing to explain the history of the products. The only thing I wondered was how tourism season actually influences the purchases made in the market.  I ended up happily purchasing our alpaca decorative pens, a friend purchased jewelry, another purchased two beautiful scarves. 

The main gate of the village

This is me with my Alpaca pen!

                         A friend bought a beautiful necklace with black onyx and white stones. 

Overall this was market made me feel like I was going back in time and away from the commercialization of the busy street corners in the city. The handmade products partnered with the atmosphere made the day extremely pleasurable. Emma Laudano stated, "Walking into the market was little walking into a new little town. Everything there was so beautiful and tranquil."

If I was to go again I would love to have more time in order to explore more stalls and try to see what other hidden gems I could have discovered. Santiago was an incredible city to explore and exploring the city tomorrow should be another exciting adventure.