Random things about Santiago

1. There are loads of McDonalds here, but most of them only sell icecream. Not that I object, particularly, to the overconsumption of icecream, but part of me does wish it was a Ben & Jerrys on every corner rather than a rubbish Mr Whippy drowned in manjar (like dulce de leche).

2. In almost every apartment, there is a tiny annex for a live-in housekeeper, also known as a "Nana". They do all the housework and cooking (hence why Chilean kitchens are so pants), and often take care of the children as well. This tickles me, because in my family we use the word "Nana" to mean "Grandma"... so, essentially, my mum is a Nana! Hehehehe...

3. You can see the snowy mountains whilst sitting under a palm tree

4. The postal service. is. terrible. It basically consists of a few men on bicycles with cardboard boxes taped to the handlebars, riding around and chucking the post in the general direction of where it´s meant to go. It is currently the bane of my life. I will say no more.

5. It costs less to buy a three course meal than it does to get a Big Mac meal. Not that I´ve had a Big Mac.

6. For some unknown reason, chocolate here, in the birthplace of the cacao bean, is the worst I´ve ever tasted. I crave Green & Blacks!!!!!!

7. Supermarkets are open until 9pm most nights, and the metro is open til about 11pm, but they close earlier on weekends. Where is the logic?!

La Entusiasta

xxx

Adventures in a Narrow Country

We had a barbecue on Friday. Three girls had just moved into Alejandro's apartment on the second floor, and it has become some sort of tradition to throw a celebratory asado to welcome newcomers to the building. The party ended up comprising 15 people- and somehow we still managed to buy too much food! Alejandro drove Anna and I to the working class outskirts of Santiago (the class system is very apparent here, and nobody seems embarassed of it), where the buildings change shade from the creams and brick-reds of Providencia to the Mexican yellows and pistachios of the graffiti-strewn suburbs. The butcher that Alejandro frequents is located in someone's garage in one of these communities. We pulled up to the curb, waking a couple of stray (or otherwise uncollared) dogs, who were free to roam in and out of the butcher's premises, and were introduced (with besitos, of course), to the butcher, his family and coworkers, and their resident pooch, as Alejandro's two 'rubias'. Seeing that we were English, they promptly offered the obligatory "Hello, how arrre yew". But we weren't interested in niceties; we were just worried that there were no gloves or plastic sheets involved in touching, weighing or wrapping the hunks of steak and sausages we were about to buy. "They'll be cooked anyway..." we told ourselves.

Screeching away from the butcher, we spotted a lady selling vegetables in her front room, so Alejandro reversed at about 30mph into oncoming traffic to backtrack and buy some tomatoes. 5000 pesos and 4 bags of vegetables later, we headed home to start cooking. The pisco flowed freely, and there was so much food left over that we're still eating it today! Anna and I headed to bed as the others ventured to pubs and clubs at 2am- we were planning on paragliding the next morning...

Five of us girls headed into the mountains the next morning with the intention of finding some sort of adventure, and, although paragliding didn't come into play, we happened across a national park and decided to ride some horses. I'd never ridden a horse before, but Choncho took fairly good care of me in spite of the occasional wild canter and frequent pitstops (he definitely had the munchies). I reckon our horseride through the wilderness, with the snow-capped mountains peeping up towards the sun, was the best thing I've done so far in Santiago. It was tranquil, but exciting, and I still ache- that must mean it was good exercise! There's still a way to go before I attempt the 6 hour ride and asado on offer, though!

La Entusiasta
xxx

Thoughts for the Day

1) I'm dangerously close to developping an addiction to True Blood

2) If Ruth comes round today, I might pretend I'm not here...

3) I'm reading Pride and Prejudice online

4) Uh oh... keys in the door...

5) Not Ruth. Phew!

6) Meeting Finnish Mirva for coffee at 4 to further avoid Ruth

7) Should have bought some wine from Concha y Toro... gonna have to go to the supermarket now!

8) Just finished the last of my Galaxy bar :( but still have 4 Flakes :)

La Entusiasta

xxx

Houston: We have a problem

...and the problem is Ruth, our million-mile-an-hour landlady who, tonight, is planning to sleep on our sofa. Let me introduce you:

Ruth was widowed in November of 2009 and she talks about it a lot. In fact, she talks about everything a lot. You could sit and listen to her for 3 hours solidly without ever needing to have understood a word she said, because she doesn't stop for breath. Behind her high-necked coat, which she frequently adjusts to ensure it covers her mouth, she babbles (mostly unintelligibly) to us, dropping every other letter just to cement our confusion. She has never lived on her own, and her second husband is a much-missed companion around the house: as a result, she terrorises her daughters (of two different fathers) and grandchildren, flitting between their houses and our flat several times a week. Unfortunately for us, her daughters are used to their mother's antics by now, so they no longer answer the phone to her and they don't let her have the keys to their houses (oh! that we had caught on quicker!)- this is what has landed us in a predicament tonight, as she can't get hold of anybody to let her in to her daughter's house, where she's staying for a while before moving out of the city to Rancagua.

This is our current situation: Ruth is in the living room chatting away to our Brazilian flatmate, Cris, and a friend who has come round to see Cris for a drink; meanwhile, Anna and I are plotting how to get rid of Ruth without offending anyone. Cris' friend obviously finds Ruth as difficult to understand as we do, despite the fact that they are both Chilean, and he is starting to get frustrated with the gooseberry in their little party...

I'll keep you updated on how it goes and whether we are sharing our Cheerios with Ruth in the morning...

La Entusiasta
xxx