Unfocused

Do you ever have those days where concentration just escapes you? Today has been one of those days. No matter how hard I’ve tried to focus on the task at hand, my mind continues to wander to unrelated topics. This turns out to be somewhat of a problem when I have 300 + pages of contracts to read and analyze at work.

First I was really tired this morning and thought about having a cup of Ceylon tea. But then I was worried that in order to wake up, I am starting to need little bits of caffeine. So I decided to research Ceylon tea and its caffeine contents. Turns out, it is pretty low (especially when compared to coffee and pop) and they said it would take about 8-10 cups of tea per day to reach what is considered to be the maximum amount of caffeine a person should safely consume. So I decided that my daily cup of tea was just fine. Plus tea has a ton of antioxidants and really, our bodies can’t get enough of those little guys.

Then my mind started to wander onto the topic of my birthday, which happens to be in about 3 weeks. I want to have a birthday party, but I have yet to find the perfect spot. This whole topic got started because I received an email that was promoting two fancy restaurants here in Santiago, Zanzibar and Lamu Lounge. While I would L.O.V.E. to go to either of these places, I’m thinking they are a bit *too* much for a birthday gathering of 15-20ish people. Ideally, I am looking for a bar/restaurant with buena onda, a space to call our own, yummy food (even just the appetizers), great drinks and good music (and perhaps the possibility to dance, although not a requirement). My birthday is on a Friday, so I was thinking starting the fiesta around 9ish, or earlier if we can make a happy hour. Lamu Lounge looks as if it could fulfill that list, but in the reviews I have read, the crowd seems to be 40ish nerds and women on the lookout for young men. Did I mention that it is pricey? Right….so not exactly the best place for a 24th birthday party. At least I don’t think so…any opinions to the contrary are welcome. In fact, any recommendations to places in Providencia, Las Condes, el Centro, and Bellavista are openly sought. I’ve received a few recommendations for places, and visited some of them, but have not found *the* place yet. Here’s a quick rundown of those places:

• Basic Bar-while the parmesan & garlic French fries might be to die for, a sports bar is definitely not the environment I am looking for.
• Bar Ecléctico-great sangria I must say, decent goyosas, and a fun little spot, but waaaayyy too small and smoke-filled for the likes of me (recommended by Katina as well)
• Playback (Pedro de Valdivia)-stopped by this place for someone else’s birthday; it is a karaoke bar and was actually really lively and fun. Happy hour was 2 for 1and the French fries were tasty too. Karaoke book was filled with both Spanish and English songs so there is definitely a variety and the crowd seems to be amusing—lots of all girl groups out for happy hour and not afraid to sing. This is a possibility, but I’m not sure how well the karaoke thing will go over with everyone…and if the rest of the crowd is a miss that evening, it could result as not too fun.
• Barcelona-a Spanish restaurant recommended to me by Katina. Haven’t been there yet, but I’m thinking it is a bit too restaurant-y for what I am looking for. I am def interested in going there, just don’t know when.

I just had an idea, salsa dancing might be fun. Anyone know a good place?

There are a ton of cuico bars in Vitacura that might fit the bill, but I was just hoping to keep the celebration close to where everyone lives. Although one of the micros definitely makes its way up to Vitacura, and was at least running at 1am when we left a different bday party a while back.

I also became somewhat obsessed with what I was going to eat for lunch for some strange reason. Normally I have either brought lunch or already have plans. Today I had neither. I had a craving for kebabs, but I didn’t find any Arab restaurants close to my work. Then I thought about going to Pizza Sí, which I have heard has really yummy pizzas. At as I was trying to think of even more ideas, a light bulb went off—“I’ll go to Unimarc (the grocery store close to my work) and get things for a sandwich. It’ll be much cheaper than buying the same ham & cheese sandwich from any type of convenience store and I’ll get to buy chips if I want.” So me and my genius self went to the grocery store. Low and behold, I am not the only person who thought it would be a good idea to head to Unimarc for lunch. The place was packed. It took me a whole 30 minutes to pick up less than $3.000 (US$6) of food—bread, two slices of turkey breast, two slices of cheese, cracker/chip-like things, Tifany’s candies and a Gatorade. And although much cheaper than a typical lunch in the Tobalaba/El Golf neighborhood, it definitely wasn’t as satisfying as a kebab or pizza would have been.

Throughout the afternoon my focus got a bit better, but not much. The carb overload from lunch took a toll with some sleepiness and that mixed with contracts does not equal fun. But I made it through the day and I still feel as scatterbrained as before....ugf.

Democracy in Chile

Considering that elections were just yesterday here in Chile, I thought I’d try to shed some light on the political parties in here and the voting procedures that are different from that of the States. I was very surprised to find out certain facts, such as voting takes place on a Sunday.

As far as political parties go in this country, there seem to be many more than in the States. However, I by no means claim to be an expert or knowledgeable about either country’s political parties. In the States, the big players are the Republicans and Democrats. I believe there are a handful of independent parties, but mostly the R&Ds rule the scene. Having been brought up to think these two are worlds apart, I have continually been confused by the number of political parties in Chile. Taken from the State.gov website, this is the clearest explanation of the situation here in English that I could find:

“Political parties: Major parties are grouped into two large coalitions:

1) the center-left "Concertacion", which includes the Christian Democrat Party, the Socialist Party, the Party for Democracy, and the Radical Social Democratic Party; and

2) the center-right "Alliance for Chile", which includes the National Renewal Party and the Independent Democratic Union.

The Communist Party joined the Humanistic Party and a number of smaller parties to form the "Together We Can" coalition in 2004, but none of these leftist parties have recently elected congressional representatives. A new center-left party, "Chile-First," was established in October 2007.”

According to what the US government publishes, there are 2 main divisions in Chile among the political parties, but some of the other sites that I found said that there are normally three clear divisions among the right, center and left. It is common to hear terms like socialism, communism, the right, the left, thrown around and every time I would ask what the party stood for, I normally received a very complicated answer. Sorry for my ignorance, but I never really know what socialism and communism meant. I now have a much better idea, but I was so surprised to find out that Democrats & Republicans really aren’t that different when put into the gamut of Chilean political parties. From what I understand, they both sit on center-right side, but never arrive at that right extreme. That was like revolutionary for me.

But what I find much more interesting about the Chilean democracy than its political parties is its voting system. Here are a few facts that I learned about this weekend:

• Voting takes place on Sundays
  
• Men and women must vote in separate places (we are talking completely separate buildings—I was not allowed inside the men’s voting location).
  
• Speaking of men voting, we saw two cross-dressers with a ton of people filming them as they went to the men’s location to vote. Later in the day there was a news bit about it on the TV, because certain cross-dressers want to be able to vote in the women’s location.
  
• Although it is voluntary to register to vote in Chile, if you do register, it is an obligation to actually go and vote. If you do not, the government will fine you.
  
• There is no such thing as absentee ballots. You must go to the location that is assigned to you, wherever it is. If you registered in your hometown and the moved away, you may re-register or change your location but otherwise you would be required to vote at that hometown location.
  
• The people who work at each location to give ballots, take names, etc. are randomly chosen to perform this service, similar to how we are chosen for jury duty in the States. Supposedly you’re only supposed to have to do it once, but my sister-in-law has done it like 3 times. Call time to be at the location is between 7am and 8am and each mesa (table, as they are called here) must be open for 8 hours straight. Then after they close the table, they must stay and count the votes.
  
• If the people who are assigned to the mesas do not show up, the first person who arrives to vote is forced by law to replace the missing person and stay the whole day. Apparently there are a few exceptions of how to get out of this if you happen to really not be able to stay.

Group Blog Topic-Racism & Classism in Chile

I find this topic really hard to write about. Although Chile could be considered the capital of classism, there are so many aspects that come into play that I think it would take me several months to be able to write a piece of work that I was happy with. It is a topic I would love to learn more about and I would want to do research to figure out why it is the way it is. Here in Chile, social classes are divided by multiple variables—your last name, in what sector of the city you live, the way you talk, the way you dress, down to in what university you study. All of these characteristics mix together to give a person a status and that status—be it high or low—is assumed as “correct” for that person. If you are born into a poor family, it is typically assumed that that is the way life is and all you can do is live with it. It is not too typical to hear stories about people who are trying to better their situation and change the future of their family. It is not too typical because in Chile, it is extremely difficult economically to better one’s situation. Here, the country’s wealth is one of the most unequally distributed of the world.

I took a Cultural Anthropology class in 2006 at La Católica in Valparaíso and it was one of my favorite classes that I have ever taken. We talked quite a bit about the distribution of wealth and I have never forgotten this one graph that my teacher showed to the class:

In this graph, which is from 2000, the Chilean population is divided into 10 parts (deciles). The top 10% of the population controls approx. 44% of the wealth. The next richest 10% only control 15% of the wealth.......uh, that is a HUGE change. For any of the populations that are not in these last two deciles, it is very easy to slip from middle-class to poor, or from poor to indigent. It is also much easier to slip downwards that increase your wealth. I’m not sure how the statistics are today, but you can bet that they are probably not too different. However, I have seen this before. Well granted, I have seen the fruits of them rising from a poor-class family to a middle-class one, but I was not here in the past 50-something years to see that change happen. All I know is that they worked extremely hard, saved all they could and put all five children through the University.

As for racism, I will just briefly touch upon the subject. There is a very similar tension here in Chile between Chileans and Peruvians as there is in the States between Gringos and Mexicans. In general (very general terms), the Peruvians are not looked upon as equals. People joke a lot about when you go to the Plaza de Armas, you go to Peru, because many illegal and legal Peruvian immigrants hang out there, waiting for work as nanas or perhaps in construction. They come to Chile with the hopes to look for a better life just as Mexican families risk their life to cross the border and do the same with their life. I find it very unfortunate that any culture is looked upon is such a way.

If you would like to read other POVs on Racism & Classism in Chile (or other countries), check out the following links:

Clare
Cachorrita
Lydia
Kathleen
Abby

Tip-Toeing To Work

It has now happened to me twice (you think I would have learned the first time)—the stub of my heels has fallen off on the way to work. This first happened about two and a half months ago and I didn’t notice it until I heard a strange clanking sound. Yes, that was the sound of the metal part of the heel hitting the pavement as I was strutting my stuff in my favorite hot pink heels. Then today, as I was walking inside the metro station, I kept slipping more with my left foot. Once I got to a point where I could take a look at my shoe without being trampled by human traffic, I saw that I was in the same boat again. This time the stub didn’t fall off, no not at all…what really happened is that it wore down to the metal part! Yes, that is what happens to heels here in Chile—sidewalks kill them!

Luckily there are a ton of shoe repair places in Chile. I’m sure that is because demand has not died down thanks to the perpetual shoe homicides. In the States, I can’t recall ever even seeing a shoe repair place like the ones here…maybe just in the movies. The first time I had to take my shoes to the repair man, I had to leave them there for 3 days or so. I’m sure there are places that do immediate work, but the whopping $3 they charged me to fix them was worth the wait. I’ll have to take these heels there too, but obviously not today or I won’t have shoes to walk home in!

So what is a gal to do when her heel stub falls off? My advice is to take a taxi cab to wherever you need to go in order to avoid walking on the sidewalk, BUT if you can’t avoid walking, then try to walk on your tip toes more than anything. For example, the shoes I’m wearing today have a very low heel so it is easy to get away with tip-toeing. Plus it is a good calf workout too!

Time Has Stopped

Why is it that when we really need time to “pass” quickly, or at least seem like it is, it never does? But of course, when we want to savor each moment, time beats the speed of light?

The very thing happened to me at work today. First of all, I am sick. Yuck. A cold and no fun right when summer is starting. And since my symptoms just started today, I have felt progressively worse. In the morning, my throat felt a bit funny but I tried to chalk it up to allergies (after all they have been crazy strong this year). The morning flew by quickly and I was able to read a good chunk of the 160 page contract I am currently analyzing. However, during the day, the funny feeling turned into pain, my body started to feel strange and weak, and my concentration started to fly out the door as sleepiness entered the picture. Then, at around 4:45pm, it seemed as if the time stopped. I would try to read as much as I could in the contract before getting confused, perhaps get up and walk around a bit, drink some water, or call my husband, and then look at the clock—and not even 10 minutes had passed. That made the rest of the work day hard to get through because I had visions of my bed and a hot bowl of soup dancing through my head.

What I wouldn’t give if time:

*Would speed up when: we are sick, work/school is boring, we are crammed on the hot subway or stuck in traffic, we are traveling to see loved ones, and bad things happen.

*Would slow down when: we spend time with loved ones, you meet the love of your life, moments like your wedding day or child’s birth happen, you eat a good meal, and we are having fun and laughing.

The other fome thing about feeling sick is that I had planned on going to the gym…but considering I barely had enough energy to get home in Transantiago, I don’t think going to the gym would be a good idea. Thus I have resorted to taking care of some blogging/email/wedding loose ends and go to bed early.

What are the times in your life you wish time would fly/crawl by?

"Please Sarah" video

Youtube video really worth watching that I got from Amanda's blog.

I just voted!!!

I just placed my Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot in the mail about 20 minutes with my vote for US President! Go Obama!!!

You should vote too! If you haven't received your offical ballot and you're living abroad check out Vote From Abroad and send in you Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (which is totally valid)!
The FWAB is a back-up ballot that you can vote TODAY. If you subsequently receive your state ballot, vote that, too. The FWAB is only counted if your state ballot is not received by your state by the ballot return deadline. It is SUPER easy and totally worth it!

I sent my ballot via Correos Chile with 72 hours priority, costing only $1.200 (or $3.40USD). The 72 hour international priority means that the letter will leave Chile within that time frame, and from there will reach its destination within 2 weeks....but we all know the US mail is pretty fast so I doubt it will take 2 weeks! (And even if it did, my ballot should get there before Nov. 4th!)

*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*VOTE*

Some Interesting Articles Thanks to the NY Times

I've been wanting to get these links up for a while now....

A Debilitating Disease That Is Often Unknown - Celiac disease is a somewhat silent and overly-missed-diagnosed disease. It is an extreme gluten intolerance that leaves a person without the ability to even share a sip of water from another person just because that person might have eaten something with gluten hours earlier and drank from the same glass. I would find it impossible to live in Chile with this disease.

The Push to ‘Otherize’ Obama -I found this article on Amanda's blog, and it is great at busting some of the most popular myths against Obama.

Girl Power at School, but Not at the Office -An ESPECIALLY important article for those of us type-A personality, straight-A's all our life, perfectionist-type women who want to kick ass in the real world.

Connecticut Ruling Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage -Congrats Connecticut! It's only the 3rd state to allow same-sex marriage, so we've got a ways to go, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

Cancer Vaccine Used by 25% of Girls 13 to 17 -Article about the Gardisil vaccine used to fight against cervical cancer.

Job Hunting Is, and Isn’t, What It Used to Be -Do you remember looking for a job before everything was on the internet?

Group Blog Topic: Hardest Custom to Adjust to in Chile

After pondering upon this topic for a few days, I finally realized that I was able to become accustomed to many of the Chilean traditions, but those which I either refuse to adapt to or find it hard to, are all related to the kitchen.

One thing that I’m not a fan of here is the fact most Chilean households wash their dishes in cold water with little-to-no soap at all. I don’t know how many times I’ve witnessed “washing” a spoon to be just rinsing it off in cold water, no soap, no nothing…just cold water. Hmmm….right, that doesn’t seem like it will kill the germs to me. And just think about when you’re dealing with raw meat. Yuck.

Now, the thing I absolutely detest and cannot handle is that fact that they do not refrigerate meat (cooked or otherwise) much in this country. I remember when I finally started picking up on this living with my host family. I started noticing that when we ate left-overs, my host mom would take them out of the oven. And no, she wasn’t reheating it up in the oven because she always proceeded to put the food in the microwave. I began realizing that she used our oven as storage for food that she cooked 8 hours prior, or the day before, etc. I might understand this habit if we had not had a working refrigerator, but we most certainly did. And there was space to squeeze in the food. My suegra does the same thing. I can’t eat her empanadas except for right after she makes them because they always sit out on the counter for days until they are eaten.

It is very typical here to use any space you have as storage…and with good reason since most apartments and houses are tiny. BUT, if you have space in your fridge, you should store your food there instead of inside the oven. Perhaps they do it because people aren’t used to having a fridge (speaking to the older generations), or perhaps because they find it too hard to heat up cold meat without a microwave. That too could be a valid reason, but I’d rather eat a cold empanada than one that has been sitting out for a day and a half. And just for the record, I don’t have a microwave in my house so I deal with reheating food issues all of the time.

Back when I was studying abroad, I would come up with reasons as to why I wasn’t hungry or didn’t want to eat. Or sometimes, I just bit the bullet, put the thoughts out of my head and eat the food. Obviously I didn’t die, and I can’t really recall ever getting super sick…but I also had a very different mindset back then. Everything was an adventure on study abroad and I figured, “what the hell, if it doesn’t kill me it’ll make for a good story.” That mindset lasted for about 6 months until things started to calm down, nothing really seemed new anymore, and living here became normal life. That is when the food issues started surfacing as I was eating at home more instead of going out with friends, and I was becoming more and more grossed out with meat as time went on. Plus I remember horror stories from other study abroaders who got horribly sick thanks to an empanada they bought at some random place.

From what I understand, cooked meat will not go bad as quickly as leaving raw meat out. But I think more than a time span of lunch-to-dinner is too much time out of the fridge. I just can’t handle that one. I’m too picky of a meat eater and too much of a germ-a-phob when it comes to food to give in on this topic. Luckily now that I am living in my own house with my husband, I can put everything in the fridge if I want too. And I do.

Enjoy the other bloggers' entries about the same topic!:

Sara
Heather
Abby
Rita (Colombia)
Lydia
Clare
Amanda
Kathleen (Ecuador)
Lori (Brazil)
Renee
Shannon
Carlos
Katina
Emily
Jessica
Kyle

Group Blog Topic: What Chileans Think of Gringos—My POV

So I´m about 2 weeks behind on this topic thanks to two things: 1. lack of time and 2. lack of inspiration. I have even refrained from reading everyone else’s posts on this topic because I figured that I’d get around to writing it one day. But the lack of inspiration for such a topic is an important one and so I had to wait until it came. And it did: on Sunday night when my husband took me out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday.

We arrived at the restaurant at about 7:30pm and surprisingly there were a lot of people. Most of them gringos, sitting at the bar, drinking beer and eating food from the all-you-can-eat buffet. We ended up sitting in a booth right next to the bar, and therefore next to the gringos. All of them were older, white business men, some with less hair, others with more...and from the accents I could pick up--all from the States.

Now, my objective during this evening was not to ease drop on what these guys were doing or talking about, but there was one particular old fart who made it IMPOSSIBLE for me not to pay some attention to what was going on. Obviously I didn’t talk to them...I played Chilean, but my half of my hearing was definitely dedicated to listening to the absurdities of this man and unfortunately, my fellow compatriots.

So what do I think that Chileans (and probably any other foreigner) thinks of people from the U.S.*, they think we’re loud, cold, selfish, rude, ignorant, self-absorbed, rich and exaggerated. Wow, why such harsh words? Because I’m just stating the facts here people. This is what they think of all of us (according to my point of view)....and why would that be? Because of the type of people who travel around the world who are like that old man in Ruby Tuesdays.

Let’s take a look at a few examples. This man, let’s call him Bob, seemed to come from Texas and liked his beer. It was only 7:30 and the huevon was already slurring his words. We were at the restaurant for about an hour in total...and Bob introduced himself to the same 5 men, three times (exaggerated)! At one point, he asked another guy for his business card, who then said that he didn’t have any with him. Bob said “Oh, ok, well I’m sure I’ll see you here tomorrow or Tuesday.” WHAT?!—I thought to myself, this man comes here SO frequently...that is not normal. Then Bob started talking politics, and the other men simply stared into space or drank their beers. And then he started telling everyone his “story”, even though none of the other five gringos was really paying much attention to him (self-absorbed). At one point, the men decided they wanted to watch NFL football on TV and they began discussing what channel the games would be on. Bob felt the impulse to repeat ESPN about 10 times....and yelling it....for absolutely no reason. Right......So the men told the bartender to change the channel. And no, they didn’t tell her in Spanish they yelled at her in English...trying to make the poor thing understand. And when she was flipping through the channels and none of the games showed up (because the cable didn’t include ESPN), Bob kept yelling louder “No, keep going, No go back, No, No No!” (rude, cold, loud, ignorant, exaggerated). I felt so bad for the poor bartender who had so patiently been waiting upon these jacka#@es the whole evening. The huevones even made the comment that “Oh my god, a woman is going to change the channel for us!” (selfish). What made most of the interaction between the gringos and the bartender so bad is that none of them spoke Spanish....not even a little (ignorant). Ok, really, Spanish is NOT that hard to learn...you could at least take a freaking dictionary with you to help communicate. It would be a different story if we were in Asia where the languages do not look anything alike! Bob actually made the comment that all of his work is in English, the functional currency of his business (at Merrill Lynch) in US Dollars, “so he never wants to learn that stupid language” (ignorant, ignorant, IGNORANT). At this point I was ready to throw my dinner knife towards Bob's head. Ugf, I’ll keep in mind that this huevon works at ML so that I NEVER apply for a job at the same company....I cannot stand people like Bob. They travel to foreign countries and don’t even try to 1. learn the language, 2. learn anything about the culture, 3. learn the social norms so they don’t look like idiots, etc.

These are the type of people who give all us gringos such a bad name. I don’t know how many times people have been shocked here in Chile, Peru or Argentina that I am a gringa because “gringos are so cold and you, well you are practically latina”. I take pride in the fact that I have worked by a@# off to become fluent in Spanish (although I’m not saying everyone should do the same), but for god’s sake, if you live in another country that speaks a different language—you should learn at least enough to get by (meaning going to the grocery story by yourself, etc.). None of this “I’ve lived here for 20+ years and still don’t understand Spanish.” Now that is IGNORANT. And rude. Do not move to another country (that is presumably not considered “developed”) and try to live like it is the U.S.—that is just not going to happen and it is like taking a dump upon the culture of the country where you are at. The least people can do is *try* to assimilate and learn the accepted behaviors in the places they visit. I mean, you have to be just stupid not to, because doing so actually helps you keep much safer.

As you can see, this topic infuriates me and I could probably go on forever. But I won’t. I’m done...I’ve vented about stupid Bob and all the bad gringos that give us good gringos a bad rep. And just to tie it all up: I think the impressions most people keep are negative ones because I feel like they make such a big impact on a person (especially if it is the 1st impression). Plus I feel like more ignorant gringos travel than ones who are open-minded and ready to welcome new cultures....and that is exactly why I think Chileans and other foreigners think we gringos are all alike (and not in a good way).

*I say “people from the U.S.” because I don’t like the term “Americans”. That word does not just related to gringos from the States, but to EVERYONE who lives in North, Central and South America. I don’t know where we gringos got off thinking that just we are Americans, when really everyone is. So to me, when someone asks you where you are from and you say you’re American and they too are from some part of the Americas, you just made yourself look stupid.

And now, here are the links to everyone else who participated in this group blogging post:

Carlos
Flo
Clare
Sara
Abby
Katina
Emily
Amanda
Renee
Kathleen
Lydia
Shannon
Emma
Heather
Gus
Kyle

Help Someone Else by Helping Yourself

One of my new gringa friends, Kyle, and her Chilean husband are up to something AWESOME. They have decided to give the gift of knowledge to a less fortunate person here in Santiago who has worked his butt off to get where he's at....Unfortunately, now he has hit a plateau all because he lacks a higher education which is the requirement for any type of decent salary in this country. Kyle and her hubby have decided to fund this young man's 2.5 year degree in order to help him get ahead in life.

Now, don't jump to conclusions here....Kyle nor her counterpart are rich, old people--they are both under-30 hard-working young adults. S. (Kyle's hubby) works in construction, which in Chile means like 6 days a week, and 10-12 hour days--no joke. Kyle works long days as well between being a professional blogger and a super-star up-and-coming photographer. In fact, her photography is what is going to help pay for this other young man's education.

Kyle has decided that any sales she has in photography prints and postcards between today and Nov. 6th will ALL, 100%, go towards funding the first, second, and how every many more semesters the money can stretch....and if print sales aren't enough...these two generous people are going to foot the bill with their normal salaries!

Right, so how can you help someone else by helping yourself? Well check out Kyle's pictures and postcards and BUY them! The more we all buy, the more money will be raised for this young kid's education. The best part about it for those of you in Gringolandia (USA) is that shipping is FREE. For those of us in Chile....well I don't really know how shipping works, but Kyle explains it all here on her blog. So by buying yourself something, you are taking part of changing someone's life.

All I can say is:
1. If you want to read more about Kyle and her hubby's decision and the selected young man's story, check this out.
2. If you want to buy some photography prints to spruce up your house or give as a gift, check this out.
3. If you want to send some awesome Chile postcards around the world, check this out.

Feliz Cumple Christian!!!

Esto sólo es un shout-out para mi lindo esposo, quien está de cumpleaños hoy día!!!

¡¡TE AMO MUCHO!!

A Saturday Afternoon Outing

This past Saturday, my hubby and I decided to go exploring Bellavista, which is an artsy barrio fairly close to where we live. It’s on the base and side of Cerro San Cristobal. It’s famous for its variety of restaurants and its nightlife. It is also where one of Pablo Neruda’s house-now-turned-museum is located (La Chascona, check it out here) and where you can take the funicular (tram) up the cerro (hill) to get to the Virgin located up top.

We walked around quite a bit, making our way to La Chascona (although not entering) and heading back towards the Patio Bellavista, which is the cute little patio area which is very touristy. It has a feria artesania (equivalent of craft shops), but let me say it again—it is very touristy....so in case you aren’t picking up on my point = it is much more expensive to buy a pícaro indio in the Patio Bellavista than it would be at a normal feria artesania. It also has quite a few little restaurants, and that was exactly what we were more interested it. Figures, huh?

We ate some yummy-licious pizza that was definitely not on our post-dieciocho diet. But it was the weekend so what-the-hay?! It was nice to spend alone time together, outdoors in the sun, and forgetting about work or any other stress-related topics. We also spent the afternoon taking pictures. Christian took most of them, but I took a few. Here are the best of the bunch from both of us: