Head to Patronato and scavenge hundreds of small stores, with a kindred Colorado soul, to shop!
To be fair, Derek coincidentally also wanted to buy a pair of non-jean pants. He only brought one pair of pants to Chile! I at least have had 3 options.
What is Patronato? One of the most diverse sectors in the city and the capital of commercialism. You can buy tiaras, dog leashes and scissors from vendors on the streets. Peak into a store for high-waisted jeans, second-hand US clothing, neon leggings, or prom dresses best suited for horror films. Did I mention store owners from around the city come here to buy their merchandise, then mark it up at their store 30 minutes away? And people pay.
Good thing Derek was focused and had a vision: buy pants that aren't jeans. But in a city where almost EVERY guy is almost always wearing jeans, could it be possible? His plan: start at cafe con piernas (look it up), walk the streets to see our options, find the one store with a dressing room and a woman who can look you up and down and know your size - and then leave because all she sells are jeans - then, at the 5th hour, find the only all-men's store. He got lucky!
Just to let you know, I bought a cute casual dress for $8US from a guy (now I've got a guy) with about 8 racks of clothes, all in plastic bags shipped from China.
Why you MUST go there: the diversity of jeans is incredible. You'll find a mannequin with dusty overalls. Neon leggings. Stereotypical Latina dresses that are too short for a short person. And, US sports team sweatshirts and shirts for $5US.
Don't got to Patronato with expectations. Go with 15.000 Chilean pesos (or less).
After 5 hours in Patronato (we just couldn't get enough), a Chilean completo and finding a sexual fantasy book next to a Japanese cookbook, I still didn't have any non-jean pants.
Still dreaming of not wearing jeans, I decided it was time to to go to Costanera Center (not the same day! that would be too much). The mall of all malls. Costanera rivals any US mall in size, lighting, quantity of stores and snacking options. It's the place you go if you need to feel "at home." Thanks to the same economists who brought credit cards to Chile, there are US-inspired malls.
Located off metro Tobalaba, the entrance is a cylindrical walkway above bustling traffic. This neighborhood is the start of "Sanhattan," because its skyline looks like a puzzle piece for a New York City jigsaw. You'll find Starbucks, Calvin Klein, MAC, Banana Republic, Armani Exchange, Guess, Clark's shoes, department stores and TopShop and Zara.
Why do I like it? Each mall floor is a category: women's fashion is the main level, above it is the men's fashion floor, above that is the technology and home furnishings. One of the floors is a random stores floor: beauty salons, cell phone companies, stores to buy charger converters (important!!), calculators, surge protectors, hair dryers, or scissors.
Plus, it is clean. SO clean. They don't have loud music blasting from stores or nauseating smells from butter, cinnamon, chocolate, orange chicken and French fries. What do they have? Security guys chilling at the front door. What a great job: check out hot ladies shopping all day.
Here's the toughest part of shopping in Chile. What size pants am I in Chile? In the States, I'm a 6. US sizes are on some clothes, so a 6 should be a 6, right? I couldn't fit the size 6 pants up my thigh. If you know me, you know my legs are rather skinny (or so I have been told my whole life). Good thing I don't have self-esteem issues or I wouldn't be eating for months and I'd be working out twice a day. Well, I did go to CrossFit Bulldog Fitness yesterday...
After failed attempts at TopShop, Zara and another store, I headed to Umbrale. It's the Starbucks of clothing stores here (but I don't actually see people wearing their clothes). How do stores here thrive? Short version? People here wear black, grey and more black. Umbrale racks are full of colorful and fun clothes and prints. Walk down the sidewalk, pop into an office and you'll be lost in a sea of black pants, suits, tops, jackets, scarves, socks and shoes. Black.
FINALLY. Found a pair of coffee khaki linen pants for spring & summer. They FIT! I have no idea what size they are and I don't care.
Morals of the story:
- Clothes size are not standard within a country, why would they be in another country?
- Patronato is a must-see neighborhood; you've got to buy something there for your next theme party or to count the number of US sweatshirts you see in an afternoon.
- Costanera Center will blow your mind away.
- There is no math formula for converting clothes sizes, unlike converting temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius.
- Shopping in Chile is like New York - barrios for scavenging the racks for cheap clothes and barrios for fancy, overpriced clothes.
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