One of the benefits of Santiago is the number of repair places, for your clothes, your shoes, your electronics, etc. Handiwork seems to still be valued here, and it's a great thing to pay a few pesos to get a favorite clothing item back in useful condition.
I recently had piled up a small stack of clothing that needed a repair -- jeans with a hole in the crotch (don't ask), dress pants (that I had just bought) with a 3-inch tear at the back, and a button-up shirt with multiple seams falling apart. I made my way to my tried-and-true repair shop (that I used before for a few items), Josephine's Taller de Costura in Providencia. The cheerful lady said she could get the repair done in less than a week for 9,000 pesos (USD$19). The next Thursday I picked up my garments, all repaired with care, and snapped a very proud photo of Josephine (and least I think she's Josephine....I'll ask next time).
After I picked up my clothes I grabbed lunch at the little diner next door. I enjoyed a tasty meal of a quiche-like thing (with vegetables), a salad, rice, a drink and watermelon for dessert.
I had another problem with my dress belt -- one of the two screws that attached it to the leather belt had gone missing. I took it to a shoe/leather repair shop (that also makes keys), and the guy quickly put a rivet in the buckle to make it as good as new again. An awesome deal for about USD$2.
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| Josephine's Taller de Costura (Sewing Workshop), my go-to place for clothing repairs. |
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| One of the ladies of the packed workshop. (Could it be Josephine? I don't know, will have to ask next time.) |
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| $4 lunch next door to Josephine's. |
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| Key and shoe repairshop, a location for a belt repair. |
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| The inside of the shop, taken from the perspective of the shoe-vice tool. |
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