Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Repair Shops of Santiago

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.

Josephine's Taller de Costura (Sewing Workshop), my go-to place for clothing repairs.
One of the ladies of the packed workshop. (Could it be Josephine?  I don't know, will have to ask next time.)
$4 lunch next door to Josephine's.
Key and shoe repairshop, a location for a belt repair.
The inside of the shop, taken from the perspective of the shoe-vice tool.

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