New Year's Eve in Santiago

Santiago is a ghost town on New Years Eve. Half the city absconds to Valparaiso for a huge party and fireworks display. Those who remain tend to dine with their families and then gather by the Entel Tower for some more modest fireworks. The only place we could find to eat, other than our hotel (which wanted an offensive $120 per person for a buffet, ruthlessly exploiting the lack of alternatives), was a Chinese restaurant downtown called Lung Fung. The place has existed in its underground lair for 40yrs, and the decor is amazing.Everything is carpeted or covered in velvet -- including walls, doors, and some ceilings. Those pieces not covered in carpet or velvet are brightly adorned with wood carvings and colorful paintings. The food was middling. The taxi ride home continued my fine tradition of finding an aspiring Formula 1 race car driver on New Year's Eve in South American capitals (see: Buenos Aires, 2007-8). He cranked up a remix of Another Brick in the Wall and hit 80+ mph on the empty boulevards.