Barrio Brasil and the Vegetarian Restaurant

Barrio Brasil is always referred to as a 'bohemian' neighbourhood by the Chileans, because under Pinochet, it was where the left-wingers and anarchists plotted and where the hippies came to eat vegan food. Hence, this would have been the logical choice for any vegetarian outing. In fact, it wasn't even us who chose the restaurant today- it was our new friend, Pablo, an acquaintance of A's colleague (hmmm one day I'll have to start using names...). He took us to the main plaza, turned promptly into a discreet doorway and climbed the dark stairwell lined with dust-encrusted empty bottles of red wine which led to a shrine to Che Guevara. We continued past the shrine. Logically, we emerged in a library.

Cunningly concealed in this library, however, was a vegetarian restaurant run non-profit by three very friendly Chileans (not the three above, who are two very friendly non-Chileans and Pablo). We had a three course meal consisting entirely of vegetables and fruit followed by tea for under 2000 pesos (about £2.70), and gleaned as much knowledge as possible about the socialist movement under Pinochet from our new mates. Overall, a very entertaining afternoon!

La Entusiasta

xxx

Induction Day!

The night before my induction into La Católica, I tagged along with my Brazilian flatmate's friend, Bárbara, to watch the São Paolo footie match. After having eaten dinner with Anna, I wasn't expecting to have to sit through the 90 minutes of appalling football with a mountain of meat and black beans in front of me- somehow, I managed to eat a chicken heart which appeared to have been marinated in salt (luckily, my caipirinha assuaged the disgust...). Bárbara taught me a bit of Portuguese and chatted up the Brazilian waiters, so overall I'd say she had a pretty good night, but I was exhausted by half-time. Sadly, my exhaustion was not reason enough for Bárbara to let me go home. We continued the night across town in Bellavista, at a packed club where we had to queue for half an hour at the smoke-filled bar for a can of beer. As if this wasn't enough, a Bolivian exchange student had taken a liking to us- so much so, that he nearly followed us into the ladies' toilets! My Brazilian flatmate, Cris, eventually arrived to save me from both the bar and the Bolivian, and I escaped at half past 1 to nab a taxi home. Phew!

In anticipation of induction day today, I arrived early at the campus- which was lucky, because, of course, I got a bit lost. Luckily a few friends from Bath joined me and together we found our meeting and received our official credencias to identify us as students- which means heavy discounts on the metro!!!! Oh, the excitement...
A tap on the shoulder during the break, and suddenly I was face to face with (you'll never guess)... the Bolivian from the previous night. My heart sank. I quickly made my excuses and plonked myself between a Finnish girl and an American who were looking to do business courses as well. An hour later, and the coast was clear: I was not going to be followed home by the Bolivian. Satisfied and having heard the responses to every conceivable question relevant to business modules, I headed home to the prospect of Ruth (of whom more is to follow) sleeping on our sofa tonight. Joy...

La Entusiasta
xxx

Valpo!

Hello! Here I am, posing with Ruth's umbrella (more on Ruth in another post. She deserves a whole one to herself) in front of the bus which is taking us to Valparaíso, a port town to the north of Santiago. Buses are a key mode of transport in South America, and they're actually quite luxurious! More legroom than an airplane, more convenient than trekking to the airport, and some of them sport seats that recline all the way into beds!! After flying to Chile with Iberia, this bus was positively sumptuous! The journey to Valpo was less than 2 hours, and we had no real plans for the day apart from general exploratory wanderings. As luck would have it, we fell into the trap of asking a tour guide for a map, and were promptly sold a day on a tour bus, which drove through Valpo as well as nearby Viña del Mar and Reñaca, which are beach towns.

The tour guides swapped in and out throughout the day, but our first one took us up a cerro to see the view of Viña's beautiful beaches, pumping 'Smack my Bitch Up' (sorry Mum, but it's true!) out of the bus speakers. We visited a shop where lapis lazuli is sold at double the going price, half-justified by the fact that the semi-precious stone is only found in Chile and Afghanistan (and I know where I'd rather visit at the moment...). Sadly, I hadn't brought my millions with me that day, so we left empty-handed and continued to Reñaca to feast on Peruvian-style seafood and Pisco sours, as well as the interestingly luminous Inca Kola (below).

We got a bit distracted after lunch, as the beach looked like this:

!!!!!!!

When we finally got back on the tourbus 10 minutes late (which, frankly, is early for Chileans, but our fellow tourists were Brazilian...), they gave us a round of applause. Oops!

There were a few stalls outside Pablo Neruda's house, La Sebastiana in Valparaíso, and one of them was selling these enormous rabbitskin slippers with sheepskin linings. I would have been tempted had they not still smelled of cuddly bunnies...
The day was rounded off with a browse round the markets, where I very nearly bought various knitted goods made from alpaca and llama wool. Nearly, but not quite.


In fact, that's a small fib: The day was actually rounded off with us getting on the wrong bus back to Santiago, and accordingly chucked off of it. All great fun :)
I'll be back with stories from La Vega soon!


La Entusiasta
xxx

The Earthquake at La Piojera

Despite my lack of obligations over the past week, my flatmate A had been busy slogging through translations at her placement in Tobalaba, and deserved some sort of celebratory drink. Upon the suggestion of her fellow interns, we all ventured by metro to La Piojera, a bar on the other side of town (and when I say 'other side of town', I do mean it in that very class-driven way which implies that the 'other side' is much rougher than 'our side'). We were the only 3 remotely blonde girls within a 10 mile radius, which, unsurprisingly, earned us a round of applause as we entered the bar- luckily some of the interns were slightly less conspicuous, otherwise it could have turned into a standing ovation.

Now, the explanation for this sudden desire to visit what was essentially a back room in a Mexican-yellow warehouse was the drinks menu: namely, the famous Terremoto, or Earthquake. This devilish concoction consisted of white wine, Fernet and pineapple icecream- basically, to consume more than 2 would have you rolling on the sawdusted floor. We all managed to finish about 1 and a half to the tune of 'Este Farol no Alumbra' before heading for Bar Constitución medio-curados* to have a boogie with our new Peruvian friends.
Our only regret was going on a Thursday- A had to go to work the next morning!

La Entusiasta
xxx

* medio-curado = half-drunk

First Night in the New Flat

After having traipsed halfway across Santiago (and back... several times) looking for the perfect flat (which we found on the 2nd day, manifested in the unattainable upstairs floor of a downtown Starbucks), we chose the first departamento we'd visited. Typically, this first of many was by far the best in terms of location, interior and neighbours. Having said that, the title of 'best' isn't so difficult to obtain when most of the competitors we visited were blighted by massive internal cracks, remnants of the earthquake (terremoto) earlier this year, or otherwise rendered unsuitable by either a) being located in what was essentially a shed at the back of someone's garden, or b) being inhabited by what I would term 'junkies' suffering from interminable hangovers.
The first departamento, which had initially seemed imperfect and easily beatable in our Ikea-loving eyes, suddenly seemed like our little corner of paradise in this city of earthquakes, sheds and junkies. The kitchen is now where we drink our tea and eat Nutella on toast, rather than a tiny galley of lurid green cupboards. The water, which is most frequently lukewarm for showers and washing up, feels positively boiling in comparison with the icy water of our previous accomodation. They even put a bed in my room!! 
So it seems A and I have found our home for the next 6 months on Avenida Holanda, a short(ish) walk from Tobalaba metro station and a slightly longer metro ride to my university. In fact, we have been very lucky in finding this departamento, mainly because of our extremely friendly neighbour and all-round caretaker, Alejandro (feel free to insert a Lady GaGa lyric here). Yesterday afternoon, he and our Brazilian flatmate Cris(tina) cooked a mountain of traditional Brazilian and Chilean cuisine for us and the new tenants upstairs, including blood sausages, pan amasada, farufa, tomato and onion salsa and steak. I have to admit, I did sneakily donate my Chilean black pudding to A's plate, but the rest was absolutely delicious, and we couldn't have felt more welcome.
It's A's first day at work today, so I am left to fend for myself- luckily, our friend M has arrived from the UK and has a couple of weeks left before she starts work, so we are planning trips to the ski slopes and thermal spas to occupy us for a while. Today, we're off to explore the shops in Parque Arauco, where I hear Toy Story 3 is playing in the cinemas... My nephew may well be jealous!!

Besos,

La Entusiasta
xxx

We Made It!!!

After much kerfuffle over heavy bags and disorganised handluggage, A and I have finally made it to Santiago de Chile! In fact, the entire journey was rather uneventful and punctuated only by a few hours of wakefulness. Can't say that I'd want to spend another night on an Iberia Airbus again anytime soon, though...

The plan is to scout out a pair of sim cards for our unlocked phones, and then explore a bit of the city. Think we've been a bit lucky arriving today, as the hostel is doing free pasta and wine tonight- what more could you ask for?!

Updates prontisimo

La Entusiasta
xxx

Fantastic Fiesta

¡Hola!



A mahoosive thank-you to everybody who came to have a go at merengue dancing last night for my leaving do! About 70 people showed up in the end, so all those hours slaving over chilli con carne were well worth it (but I still never want to see a pound of mince or a tin of kidney beans again...). People came from up north, the other side of the M25 and even all the way from Gavlarland (aka Billericay) to say goodbye, so I felt very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends. Most impressive by far, however, were my parents, Auntie J and my sister, all of whom spent the majority of the time running around to cater for everyone- Thank you!


Just off to do some last-minute packing now after an afternoon sat in the British sunshine :D


Hasta pronto,


La Entusiasta


xxx

The Last Slog

Hi everyone!


Time has been racing by, and it's now only a week and a day until I venture out into the big wide world! This week is going to be packed with all those niggly jobs, like getting my phone unlocked and somehow getting hold of some Chilean pesos- and what's more, I've got a leaving party to organise for Friday!!


The party is going to have a latin theme, with a merengue teacher and free-flowing margarita (which I have yet to buy...). Today I went to Sainsburys with my sister and nephew and bought an obscene number of bottles of fizzy drink at my mother's request, and then headed to Lakeside to scout for dresses. Finally found a lovely one in French Connection (and it was on sale :P bonus!!) thanks to the help of about 5 shop assistants dashing about trying to find me something. A big trip to Costco is stil on the cards for tomorrow, though!


I've nearly filled my immense suitcase with vacuum-packed jumpers and, at the insistence of mama, pillows, but I'm a tad worried it will be too heavy for me to lift. That's not to say it will be over the weight limit, but I'm only little!


One last word on the subject of Skype: it's brilliant, isn't it!? Since my lovely BF left for his placement I've fallen in love with Skype- my only issue is that the sound is a bit temperamental. No need to faff around with letters now though, eh? (Although I'm still expecting a couple, *ahem*).


Will hopefully fit in one more post before I leave to fill you in on the fiesta :D


Besitos,


La Entusiasta
xxx