Helsinki, Finland

Work has given me another great opportunity to travel, and this time it's Helsinki for 4 of the next 8 months. I've been here 4 weeks so far, and enjoying the loooonng summer days (almost 19 hours when I arrived). The first challenge to face = sticker shock. Everything costs about 2x that of Austin in this socialist country, and the tax rate is 23%! Employment taxes are approx. 50%! Do we really want government provided healthcare? :)

Helsinki is north. I'm talking Anchorage, Alaska north. You can really feel the earth turning up here! The sunset has changed from 12 midnight to 9p in 4 weeks. With such cold, dark winters the summer months are full of activity. The parks are full of skateboarders, basketball games, and soccer practice and the city is full of outdoor concerts, food markets, and flea markets. Most Finns enjoy the long evenings with a picnic blanket and a bottle of wine. My apartment is just a few blocks from the southern coast, and I have a beautiful view of the water on my walk to work every day. This picture is taken from Kaivopuisto Park. I'm off to Tallinn, Estonia for a day trip on Saturday, so more pictures to come soon.

hei nyt, Chris

Mexico City Recap

I'm sorry to say that I didn't post one entry while I was in Mexico! I'll list a few highlights of my 4 months here, as a brief summary, and for a reference for anyone who may visit for a short while.

Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world, with 24 million in the greater metro area. Behind the scenes of this crowded, polluted, bustling place are some wonderful people, food, and

culture.

Most Chilangos (locals) leave the city limits on the weekend to enjoy the temperate local climate. I visited the cities of Puebla, Valle de Bravo, and Acapulco during my weekends. All are cheaply

accessible via Mexico's extensive bus system. Taxis are very cheap as well, with a full 8 hour day trip in a personal car available for $100

USD. I was fortunate enough to see the Monarch butterfly migration near Valle de Bravo, and plenty of old beautiful churches like this one located in Valle de Bravo's Zocalo.

Inside the city, there is also lots to see. Bordering the Zocalo in el Centro Historico, is one of the finest collections of murals painted by the fa

mous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He adorned the interior of the constitutional palace. From a historical perspective, it's interesting to trace the history of the city before, during, and after Spanish rule. Mexico City was formally an island surrounded by a huge lake. The Spaniards helped route the water away from, and under the city to create the modern day landscape. Most of the city is built on a dried lake bed, and the city continues to sink as more and more water is pumped from the ground.

Growing up in Texas, my love for Mexican food is strong. There's nothing like a plate of rich, cheesy enchiladas, a chili relleno, or a bowl of queso with chorizo. However, us Texans have truly been missing out on some simple, delicious flavors in nearby Mexico.

1. fresh made corn tortillas

2. fresh pork, chorizo, or beef tacos wrapped with #1, and served

with onion, cilantro, and lime

3. soups! traditional tortilla or pozole (hominy stew)

4. tamales (they are infinitely better here. Pork, Tomato,

Chocolate, Green Chile, and the list goes on.)

5. The flan, tres leches cake, and many other sugary treats

That's all for now. SO many other things to share, so please ask if you have questions! :)

~Chris

Ciao for now South America

After a whirlwind of traveling through the Andes by bus from Mendoza to Santiago, then flying from Santiago to Lima, stay in Lima for 12 hours, then flying back to Austin, I am exhausted but happy. It is good to be home after being away for so long.

On my last day in South America, I am happy to report that I survived touring the city ON MY OWN and speaking Spanish to cab drivers. Granted, I am sure they only understood like half of what I said at best. But, hey, at lest I tried and lived to tell the tale ;). I even negotiated fare to downtown Lima to see Iglesia de San Francisco and the catacombs underneath it. The catacomb is one freaky place. Because I arrived basically right before they closed and was the only English speaker, I totally got a private tour! It is pretty awesome. Seeing tons and tons of bones and skulls can be slightly creepy but they have arranged them in very interesting ways so as to remove the creepiness a little bit (at least for me) They have no idea how many levels of catacombs there are as they have stopped extracating due to fear of the church tombling down. The catacombs are basically the foundation of the church. The church and museum itself is pretty cool as well. Too bad there are wayyyy too many pigeons in front of the church and I do not like rats with wings. EWW.

Lima downtown is pretty neat with lots of cool architecture/buildings. Too bad it is so far from where I stayed (Miraflores). On the way back to Miraflores I was impressed (scared to death) by the way people drive in Lima. Two cars in one lane on a free way. One of the cars was the one I was in. The other car? was right next to my door. Wow.

After a quick and LARGE dinner at Makoto which was located at the mall near the beach, my hotel called a car for me and back to the US I go!!

I biked and I wined

After a few mishap in the morning, cab driver tried to scam us by not running a meter and telling us our fare is $40 (we had a shouting match...in Spanish, which consisted of me repeating 20, 25 in Spanish. ha.) and realizing that we were at the wrong airport, we arrived in Mendoza. The city is NOT what I had imagined in my head at all. I was thinking...similar to Sonoma where there is this beautiful plaza (there is a plaza) surrounded by cute little restaurants and cafes. It is much more a city than I imagined. After orienting ourselves, eating $15 peso pastas (about usd $4), we set off to figure out how to do some wine tasting tomorrow.

The next day, armed with information in hand, Paige and I set off to find the bus that will take us to Lujan where the big wineries are. After about 30-45 min of walking back and forth between bus stops trying to find the bus and enlisting the help of various locals, we decided to change our plans and go to Maipu instead. One of the locals who was helping us works for Bikes and Wine but he didn't push the tour at all on us while he was trying to help us get to Lujan. So, as a thank you, we decided to go with Bikes and Wine to rent our bikes once we get to Maipu. These guys are great! Two guys hopped on the bus a few stops earlier to make sure we'd get off on the right stop. Nice.

After we received the map and picked out our bikes, Paige and I set off on our little adventure. First stop, the wine museum, it is ok. Next, we went to this small olive oil, chocolate, and liquor store next to the wine museum to learn about olive oils. Did you know olive trees can produce up until they are 600 years old?!? WOW. We got to taste some interesting liquors, they even made absinthe with wormwood (the kind that makes you hallucinate). Considering my low tolerance to alcohol and more bike riding in the immediate future to more wineries, I decided to not taste it.

We stopped for lunch at Di Tommaso, one of the oldest wineries in the region. It is really cute and is exactly what I'd imagined a Mendoza winery would be like. Since the original winery is a historical site, they can not make changes to the buildings. Instead they use their old ferment tanks as a place to store wines since the tanks are made of bricks and cement shipped from England and Germany (uber expensive back in the day!). Paige and I learned that for every year the wine is aged in the barrel, you can store it for 3 years in the bottle. Interesting...

After a leisurely lunch, tasting, and tour, we only had enough time to stop at one more winery before needing to head back and return our bikes. We decided to stop at Tempus Alba. Really contemporary building, totally different than Di Tommaso. We tasted all but one of their wine between the 2 of us. It was fabulous!

With lots of wine in my blood, I paddled back to the bike shop with more energy than before. Along the way, I even had energy to shout back at the whistlers and the hollers. If Paige and I had a dollar for every time we were hollered at on our bike ride, we'd be able to pay for a nice room at the Park Hyatt in town. Once we got back to the bike store, they gave us MORE wine! So we sat and chatted with other fellow wine bikers before heading back into town.

It was FUN! Seeing as how I don't exercise much normally and am usually a couch potato by choice, I had a LOT of fun riding bikes. Something about it just give you a carry free feeling. Or it might have been the fabulous wine we drank all afternoon.

A great way to end my month long trip through South America. Tomorrow I head back to Santiago via a bus through the Andes and then fly to Lima for one day before I leave for the good ole Texas.

Ciao!

Flood, Bio Weapons, and Sushi = I am officially a puma!

AH civilization...sophistication...mosquito attack...BUENOS AIRES!!

Paige and I arrived in Buenos Aires and was glad to be in a warmer climate. Though I could have done without the humidity, thank you very much. A short cab ride to our hostel, dumped our stuff and out we go to explore the neighborhood, Palermo Soho. We walked by a couple of places that Chris and I went on our last trip through South America 2 years ago. Then I realized...we stayed not too far from Paige and I's current hostel 2 years ago. A HA! For dinner, we went for sushi at Tenkuu in Palermo Viejo (I think...). YUM!!! After a little over 6 weeks of NOT much variety, I was in heaven! Hello asian food, I have missed you.

The next day we decided to do the tourist thing and went to see the cemetary in Recoleta. Beautiful blue sky, sunny, HOTT, and definitely make the cemetary less creepy. We also walked by and saw the Floralis Generica by Eduardo Catalano. I actually remembered how to get there from the cemetary. YES! After being out in the hot sun...we decided, it is time to explore the finer side of Buenos Aires, ie shopping!! Off we go to Peatonal Florida, an avenue only for pedestrians and LOTS of shops. This is where things started to go a little downhill. First, came the near robbing experience where Paige felt someone tried to lift her purse out of her backpack. Luckily, Ms Pagina here is an excelent packer and packed VERY smartly. Despite BOTH zippers on her backpack being COMPLETELY UNZIPPED, all the culprit got was a tourist map. The map that was to point us to delicious Thai food near by Plaza San Martin. BOO! And then, as we walked around trying to remember exactly which street the delicious spicy food is on, she got pooped on by a bird. FAB. So we decided to duck into this rather nice Japanese restaurant and have our lunch (and so she can clean up). What can go wrong here? well...how about the waiter forgetting to tell me that they are OUT of curry katsu until they brought out Paige's food? So I watched Paige eat and then she watched me eat. Damn you Irifune! The food was good though. I'd give them another chance. As we sat at lunch, the weather forecast slowly went from sunny to cloudy to chance of rain...to rain. Well, deciding that we must see the Obelisk since it is close by. We hauled butt to get there ONLY to be stopped by a torrential downpour. Luckily, there are lots of cafes with wifi nearby. It rained so hard parts of BA flooded and I learned the word 'hail' in Spanish (Granizo). We took the subway home because there was NO free cabs anywhere and they were letting everyone ride for free due to the weather. Back at the hostel, we plunked down in front of the tv and I learned the beauty that is Curling. It is like shuffle board but with bigger 'puck' thing. And the guys scrub at the ice frantically. Hilarious.

Next day, 2/20/2010, the day known as the last day of my fabulous 20s was spent dining and shopping. YES! I bought a cute pair of shoes and a dress to wear to dinner that night. My birthday present to myself is my justification for shopping and buying more stuff when I have to sit on my pack to zip it up. Dinner though, was the highlight of the day. Paige had schemed and schemed for the last couple of weeks to set up this amazing dinner at this closed door restaurant called Salt Shaker (http://www.saltshaker.net/ or http://www.casasaltshaker.com/indexen.htm check them out if you are ever in BA). It was super delicious, especially the pea gazpacho with a dollop of gelatined watermelon mixed with fresh crab. HEAVENLY! It was the perfect way to send off my 20s and welcome me to the 30s in style.

For our last day in BA, we decided to do some more sightseeing. We went to San Telmo where they were having the weekly antique fair at plaza Dorrego and arts and crafts stands all down Defensa. It was just as I remembered but with a LOT more people. Maybe it was because Chris and I came during BA's winter that we didn't see as many people when we went sightseeing. We got to see some tango dancing in the streets, not to mention a choripan and bifepan stand (awesome!). After a leisurely lunch at Territorio (where Chris and I ate at on our previous trip), we went to check out La Boca. It was hopping with people and just as vibrant with the colors as I remembered. On the way back, our taxi driving, upon learning that we understand some spanish, decides to give us an impromptu guided tour of the city as he sees it on the way to our hostel. Fab.

Bioweapon, this deserves its own little paragraph. So, Paige needed to mail back some stuff back to the states (all the winter/trekking gear) and off we go to the post office. Paige explained to the woman behind the counter that she needed a box to put the clothes/shoes in to mail it to the states. The woman responded with basically, you can't mail used clothing. After double checking our hearing, which prommpted the woman to write on a piece of paper 'ropa usado, no'. We asked her why. Her explanation is that it might make people sick. New clothes you can mail but used cloth that is yours and that you want to mail to yourself? NO. Incredulous! Who'd have known used clothes is counted as bio weapons!? Hello defense department, are you getting this? A lot of taxpayer dollars can be saved here...I think Argentina is on to something. LOL.

Next up, WINE!!!! Hello Mendoza...here we come!

Who saw the glacier fall? who who who who?

Woke up at 6am and got picked up at 7am from Puerto Natales to our next destination, Perito Moreno and El Calafate. The ride is long and quite boring. I fell asleep a lot despite the beautiful but unchanging landscape. Paige and I bumped into Andrew at the Chile/Argentina border crossing and found out that he is also going to Perito Moreno/El Calafate! What a great surprise!! :)

After about 5 hrs we finally arrive at the glacier park. As we drove in toward the glacier, one is simply amazed at how expansive and beautiful it is. First up is the boat ride up close and personal to the glacier Perito Moreno. It is even bigger than I imagined up close. The color of the ice is so blue and the result is turqoise lake water. Saw some minor ice chunks fall off the glacier but nothing major. After one hour on the boat, we got back on the van to go to the walkway where you can walk to see a different side of the glacier.

As Paige and I stood at the walkway looking in amazement at the expansive ice (secretly hoping for some ice falling action), our prayer was answered. A HUGE HUGE HUGE chunk of glacial ice fell off and we were able to capture it in sequential shots. It was amazing!! and VERY LOUD!

Who saw the glacier fall? I did! I did!

I want to put a penguin in my pocket

Today is the day we saw penguins. Hundreds of thousands of Magellanic Penguins in Magdalena Island (just waiting for me to take one home...ha!). We took the boat to the island, about 2 hrs. Relatively calm on the way out, saw some penguins swimming in the ocean which I first mistaken it for seals...then I saw their beaks so I thought they must be those sea diving ducks. NOT so smart here but I digress...

When we arrived at the island, I could not believe my eyes!!! The guide books aren't lying when they say the whole island is covered with penguins. IT IS AMAZING!!!! They are so adorable and not really afraid of people. Groups of them would walk across the pathway in their cute wobbly movement. I tried to touch one...and it tried to attack my friend Megan (definitely not afriad of people). Sorry Megan! I got to see baby ones, old ones, middle aged ones, and ones that are obviously way too fat for their own good. It is really neat to see them in their habitat, chilling in their holes that they dug up and generally ignoring people. I even saw some couple penguins snuggling together and cleaning each other, SO CUTE! There was also a lot of seagulls there too, I was afriad I'd get shat on. Luckily, I made it out clean.

It was one of the best days of my life. Penguins...I want to put you in my pocket.

90km plus wind and one sun

Waking up to rain on the day we begin our trek through Torres Del Paine is never a good thing. And the bus showing up 10 min early (really? 10 min early? are we not in south america?!?) didnt help as we scrambled to stuff our face with our breakfast and check out. The bus ride to the national park was uneventful if not a little too bumpy. After 3 plus hour bus ride, we arrive at the ferry place to catch a boat that takes us across lago pehoe to lodge paine grande where we would begin our hike toward glacier grey. After a quick lunch (5min), we take off in the rain toward glacier grey and refugio grey, where we would be staying for the night.

As we hiked through the rain, the wind picked up. At some point, it was DEFINITELY greater than 90km. It made the rain felt like hail, ice against my face...pelting me, punishing me as I struggled to go forward. Not to mention sudden gusts of wind threatening to push you down...down the side of the mountain. Awesome. After 5 hours trekking through rain, mud, rock, and WIND, we made it to refugio grey. In comparison to people who are camping, it is heaven and we'll just leave it at that.

The next morning, we woke up to super cloudy sky but no sign of rain (yay!). Before we hiked back to Lodge Paine Grande where we would be staying our second night, we went to the lookout point for Glacier Grey. Super windy but nice view of the glacier. It is HUGE! Took us about 4 hours to hike back to Lodge Paine Grande but we made it. Started to rain about 1hr before we got back to the lodge, fun. The lodge is REALLY NICE and it even has internet, hello connection to the outside world! After assessing our situation for the next couple of days (ie trekking in more rain, Megan is getting sick, and Paige's back is not cooperating...), we decide to get off the trail the next day. Funny that I was the only one wanting to continue on...yes, prissy little Rita. HA!

HOLY MOUNTAINS is what we woke up to on our third day in the park. It was sunshine with hardly any clouds in the sky. GORGEOUS! We hiked toward Valle de France from the lodge. AMAZING view!! Totally recommend going from the west to east on the W just for this view. I know everyone goes to Torres Del Paine to see Las Torres (the towers) but man, Cerro Cuernos, in my personal opinion, is better! With the different layers of rock, it is just really interesting to see how nature formed these mountains. After crossing a scary draw bridge, Paige and I stopped a little ways into Valle de France. Found a comfy rock and just sat there in awe of the amazing views. Saw some glacier ice/snow fall off (kind of like an avalanche).

Though we got off the trail early and didnt get to hike up to see Las Torres (only saw them from the back side via Valle de France) and we didnt get refund back on the next 2 nights food/lodging, this third day made everything worth it.

I can't wait to come back to Torres Del Paine. Who would have thought? Me? Nature? Hiking? ;) Patagonia changed everything.

Ferry to the South

After a nice trip to Chiloe and Puerto Varas, we boarded our ferry, Evangelista, for our travel southward toward Puerto Natales. (man they sure like to have lots of puertos in the city names). Our cabin was tiny...when I first saw it with our luggages in it, I didn't think we'd be able to fit in there at the same time. Once we put the luggages away in the nice little cubbies, we got room to groove. kind of. The bunk beds are nice, though you really got to watch your head. I hit the back of my head pretty hard getting back to bed one night. The sound of head connecting with wood was so loud that I woke my friends up. If I seem dumber in the rest of my blogs, thats the reason why.

The food on board was surprisingly decent and so was the bathroom facilities. The showering was interesting. There was this knob thing that you had to keep pushing in order to keep the water running. Part of the water conservation effort I think. Definitely makes showering an arm work out and an entertainment.

We pretty much lazed about the days playing cards with each other. Picked up a cute British boy traveling by himself who taught us the game, shithead. Pretty fun. Megan also taught me how to play spite and malice. We were also alerted to go on to the front of the boat deck occasionally to see the boat 'manuver' through a narrow channel. Usually pretty boring and cold. Though we did see some sea lions swimming around, clouds, mountains, and a ship that got stuck on a rock years ago. We stopped and got off the boat in Puerto Eden. Not much to see but good to stretch our legs. We also got to see Glacier Pio XI. It was HUGE!! and I was freezing. The weather had turned bad so the pictures didn't turn out well but you can still see the blue in the glacier. So amazing.

After the disasterous bingo night they hosted for us. Disasterous because I DID NOT win and I had to go dance in front of everyone with Paige and Megan (who had won). We arrived in Puerto Natales to a clear, beautiful day. Thanks to my motion sickness patch, I remained sea sick free! Can't say the same about half the boat though. HA!

Next up...Torres Del Paine.

Caudillo del Congrio

This is Pablo Neruda's favorite meal. After tasting it at El Reloj Restaurant, I completely understands why. It is delicious and wonderful on a cold day in Puerto Varas where we stopped off for a night before and after we visited Chiloe.

Doesn't this look great on a cold and rainy day? mmmm mmm good! :D

Rain Rain Go Away!

In the midst of rain, we arrived at the mystical island of Chiloe (off the coast of Chile, close to Puerto Montt where we are boarding our Navimag ferry a few days later). First time I have seen rain since I arrived in Chile, slightly disconcerting. On the way to Chiloe, I got to see a whole bus (i mean a big one) get loaded onto a boat among other cars. AND I got to see sea lions playing in the water, WAY COOL! We stayed at Castro, the capital city of Chiloe. The hostel we stayed at, Palafito, is more like a really nice bed and breakfast. It is definitely the nicest place we have stayed in thus far (and future as well...). Fantastic breakfast with a warm fire. Not to mention that it is right on a lake (inner bay?) that has its water recedes and rises with the tide. We would wake up and the entire area has been drained of water where you can totally walk across from one side to another. I wanted to put this hostel in my pocket and take it to go!

It wasn't all rain all the time. On the second day we got some decent weather, enough that we took a bunch of buses (collectivos) to different cities to see some really old churches. We went to Ancho and Dalcahue, cities on a small island to the northeast of Castro. The church in Dalcahue is really interesting with a painting of Jesus mixed with mythical local creatures. The intention is to encourage conversion to Catholicism by use of local myths. Pretty clever of them. Megan bought a book about the local myths and read some to us. Most of them have to do with witches and warlocks.

My favorite part about Chiloe is that it is the place where I was introduced to Maico. This delicious mash potato ball thing filled with shredded pork and fried. I mean DELICIOUS! Probably not the best thing for me but man...I could definitely go for one right now :)

Volcano: 1....Rita: 0

"Today," I thought to myself, "is the day I shall climb to the top of the Volcan Villarrica". Boy...was I overly optimistic! Volcan Villarrica is a live volcano standing at 2847 meters tall and covered in snow. Walking around the town in Pucon, I can see the volcano from almost anywhere I stood and it is just begging for me to climb it.

5:30am - the car comes to pick us up from our camp site after I had gotten grand total of 3 hours of sleep thanks to the partier who came back from the Hot Spring at 3am.
6:00am - the car came to a stop due to a pretty bad accident on the only way into Pucon. we almost had to walk the last 7km to town, luckily for me, they let us pass 30 min later.
7:00am - fitted for volcano climbing gear (ice pick, heavy duty hiking shoes, gaiters, crampons, water proof pants, windbreakers, and a backpack filled with snacks, water, camera, etc) and off we go in a van toward the volcano
8:00am - HORRAY for ski lifts!! Our other friends who had climbed the volcano in the last 2 weeks all had to walk up because the ski lift wasn't open to take them up the most slippery/steep part of the hike.
9:00am - The weight of the gear is starting to weigh on me and my legs are begining to feel like lead. I make it to the first stop.
10:00am - I am in between the first stop and the second stop, standing on a slippery slope of ice (slowly dying on the inside) and trying to figure out how in the world i am going to make it to the next stop since going back down is more difficult than going up.
11:00am - I made it to the 2nd stop (HORRAY!!!), the big one right before everyone leave on the trail to ascend to the top of the volcano where there really is no turning back. This is the point where I quit. I have NEVER had a more challenging climb in my life (I haven't climbed a whole lot...but man this was brutal).
11:30am - I slide...slide...and slide down the volcano. NOW this is the part that makes the whole climb worth it (on top of the amazing view). :D wheeeeeee!!! SO fun. I want to open a slide only slide park in the US.
12:30pm - Back down to the van. Heads back to Pucon.

Volcano: 1....Rita: 0

Camping...'nuff said

I kicked off my traveling adventure post MBA exchange program with 2 night camping trip with Paige, Molly and a bunch of couchsurfers at Carburga, about 30min outside of Pucon. For those of you who know me, I am sure you are re-reading the first sentence a couple of times right now. Rita, camping?!?!?!? how is that possible. I am here to tell you. It is possible and I did it. Will I do it again? Probably not for another 10 years ;)

However fun it was, meeting new people and sitting by the camp fire, I missed the following things: eating on time, sleeping in a bed, access to proper bathroom/shower facilities. I also learned that I am far too old to go camping with people who are going to party until the sun comes up...3 days in a row. Good thing I went rafting the first day I got there so I was super tired and assisted by Piscola and wine, passed out in no time. The next night I was not so lucky but at that point, I am so tired, I slept through the hard ground, the cold, and the party chants. Unlike the volcano, which I will go into in the next entry, the camp did not conquer me. Another day, it would have. Luckily, we had a room at the Tree House hostel in Pucon and I got to reset my memory of my traumatizing experience showering at the camp site. (It is too traumatizing to talk about still...the wound is still raw). Lets just say, I have never slept so soundly in a bed.

Vienna, Austria

While Rita is travelling in the warm summer sun of Chile and South America, I took off for Vienna for a week-long work trip. It was anything but summer in Austria, but the snow was a fitting backdrop for this beautiful European city. For the first time in my life I wore a wool sweater, wool coat, hat, scarf, and gloves for 5 days straight! This photo is a picture of a pedestrian shopping district in the RingStrasse (inner city ring).

After a a long week of work, I unwound Friday night at Figlmuller, a viennesse restaurant claiming to have the largest Wiener schnitzel in the world. Considering I couldn't even see my plate, I have to agree. It was delicious! Just a little squeeze of lemon and a glass of wine to compliment. Suprisingly, there was really good Asian food including Japanese and Sushi in the city, as well as some great Italian.

Saturday I started off the day with a visit to the Applied Arts Museum, or the MAK. I didn't realize camera's weren't allowed until after taking a picture of the interior, and being told 'Nein photos'! There was a great display of architectural hand models, including 2 models by Frank Gehry, and 1 by Daniel Liebskin. Furniture building goes hand-in-hand with architecture, and there was a great display of chairs built over the last several centuries. I couldn't help myself and snuck another picture!

I noticed in Santiago that...

Today is my last day in Santiago, until Feb 24 where I will be back for a day to pick up my bag that Ale and Paul are kindly storing for me. Paige and I will also be flying to Lima from Santiago on the 24th. It has been a fun and fast 4 weeks here. We leave on the 10:50pm bus to Pucon tonight and thus kick off our month long travel through Chile, Patagonia, and Argentina.

Before I go, here are some things I have noticed in Santiago this past month...

1. Helado (ice cream) or any cold desserts are popular. Especially around 5/6pm. Seems everyone is at an ice cream palor or have a popsicle in their hands
2. Excuse me (in spanish, not english) means nothing on the subway. you say it and you push your way through.
3. PDA is very much everywhere.
4. So is breastfeeding in public, it requires no cover up.
5. Short shorts should be worn with leggings. I can understand short skirts...but shorts? really? It is summer...not winter people...
6. Colorful bra straps are the "in" trend with the younger girls.
7. I stop traffic, literally. Guess they never seen an Asian walking around, much less one that walks around most times with one or two blonds. Example: one late night walking home, this car slowed to a crawl while the driver was rubbernecking me. weird.
8. Chinese food sucks big time here, yet the owners are asian. porque?!? como?!?
9. No one is around on Sundays. Its like a ghost town. Nothing is open.
10. Palta is avocado and it is on everything. And it is especially good on choripan (chorizo and bread).
11. When you say no mayo, you still get mayo. No mayo is not comprehended.
12. Recharging your cell phone with minutes is super easy. Just give $ to the rep at the metro stop and they'll do some magic thing on your phone...viola, minutes added. less than 1 min.
13. Though people generally look at me with a perplexed look when I speak to them in my badass spanish, they still try their hardest to help me. Nice people.

Santiago is an awesome place. I will be back!

Ode to La Mar

Paige, Molly and I went out to Las Condes this past Sunday for a little girls 'brunch' at La Mar, a Peruvian restaurant recommended by Paige's friend Roberto. I have decided to take a page out of Pablo Neruda's book and write an Ode to La Mar.

Oh wonderful La Mar, how far you are
yet how wonderful you are
making delicious causas, cerviches, and 'paella'
for me to eat with my friends
most expensive meal thus far
but the best meal in santiago

ok, I never said I was a poet. Sorry Pable Neruda...I have disgraced you. The restaurant is super trendy and looks to me is where the 'upper' class of Santiago dines. And of course, the tourists :)

Here are some pictures of the deliciousness:

Causas (little balls of mashed potato filled with various toppings)


Cerviche (3 different kinds)


Fried seafood rice (looks and tastes more like paella to me)

Britney Spears for Wine Tasting

Cousino-Macul, Oldest winery in Chile, so they say, and use to be one of the world's richest people (this I can believe). We took the metro to Quilin and hopped on a cab to get to Cousino-Macul, it is the cloest and easiest vineyard/winery to get to from Santiago. It is HUGE!! The ground is beautiful but most are closed off to visitors as the family still owns the vineyard and lives there. Compared with the hustle and bustle of Concha y Toro, Cousino-Macul is much more low key and tranquil. Much like how I imagined a winery should be like. Everything feels very leisurely. Our tour guide walked us through where they make wines and the wine cellar. In the wine cellar, Cousino-Macul has a wine 'library' where theyt store every wine they have produced in the past. According to our tour guide, the oldest drinkable wine in that cellar is 1968. I tried my best to bat my lashes to get him to let me in unfortunately, only the family has the key. Doh! Down in the cellar we tasted a 'rose' cabernet sauvignon wine called Gris. Delicious!! And VERY affordable (2 buck chuck price and a whole lot tastier). I asked if they sell this over in the US, and to my disappointment, they do not. Cousino-Macul produces such low volume yearly that only certain wine gets exported to other country, especially the UK. Thoughts of moving to the UK popped in my brain as I drank this wine. After the tour, we went to taste their cabernet sauvignon and here is where the title came from. Britney Spears was playing overhead. TOTALLY out of place, yet somehow, I felt slightly comforted by the fact that Britney was there with me, via Oops I did it again. A fabulous ending to a great winery.

My Obsession

This is the drink/dessert I have been obsessing over since I arrived in Santiago, Mote Con Huesillo. It basically consists of a sweet liquid syrup made with dried peaches (huesillo) and mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat (mote). I been tempted to try the street vendors but haven't exactly muster up enough courage to do so. Not sure I really wanted to test the boundry of my stomach stamina in a country where I would need a translator should I need medical attention. Luckily, I found it at this random restaurant that Paige, Megan and I stumbled upon while out on our sleeping bag shopping excursion.

The taste was pretty good though a little too sweet. Obsession complete.

Toasting on the Toaster

Yes. This is how I toast my bread in Santiago. Because they have gas stoves here, the bread toasts WAAAAAAY faster than my toaster oven in the states. I have to say...this is a better toaster for my toasts.

Question is...HOW to fit into my already packed suitcase?!? mmmmmmm

Early Bird Gets the Worm

Another week in Santiago...another weekend trip to plan. We were thinking of flying to Buenos Aires and Paige found $150 flight on Pluna for the weekend. We would be flying into AEP so we wouldnt even have to pay the $134 recipriocity fee. Super sweet deal. What did we do? We wait to book it at lunch and the flight was back up to $850. YIKES! Lesson learned. Must act quickly! So we decided to stay in and around Santiago this weekend to explore some more and see the presidential election on Sunday.


We went to Luke Soy Tu Padre briefly on Friday night before heading to Subterraneo, a club. I was SUPER excited to go to Luke Soy Tu Padre, a bar that I walked by every morning and afternoon going and leaving my spanish class. With a name like that, I expected a Luke Skywalker or Star Wars shrine inside the bar. Alas, no. Most disappointed!! Its completely normal inside. So we went to Subterraneo, a popular club. It was happy hour (uh...happy hour until 1am!??! can we get that instituted in the states?!?!) so it was buy 2 drinks for the price of 1. I ordered gin con gin and it was more like gin con gin con gin con gin con more gin... It was basically half a glass of gin with a tiny little can of ginger ale. Alas...it was enough to power me through on the dance floor until 4am. Yes, the girl who sneaks out of bars to go home at 12:30, 1am stayed out until 4 am. Miracles do happen.




My hangover cure the next day was to visit a winery, Concha y Toro (most of us wine drinkers in the states would be familiar with their Casillero del Diablo brand). Paige's classmate Joel, who was out with us last night, had volunteered to accompany us and drive us out there. It is about 1.5hr outside of Santiago which we could have reached by metro and taxi but Joel made things a lot easier for us :) Not to mention we got to see the pretty countryside. The winery is huge and really pretty!! Our guide who Paige thought was cute, I thought was slightly serial killer-ish. He didnt smile much and was very intense (in hindsight, I think he was probably just tired). It was especially creepy for me when they dimmed the light in the 160 plus year old cellar to tell the story of how Casillero del Diablo came about. Luckily, I made it out alive to taste some of their wine that isn't sold in the states (a total shame!!!).




Today is the presidential election day. In Chile, if you register to vote and you don't vote, you get in big trouble. Interesting tactic. While in search of dinner, (Almost EVERYTHING was closed today b/c of the presidential election) we stumble upon Pinera's campaign headquarter at the Crown Plaza Hotel. Pinera is the candidate who won today. It was maddness!! People running around waving flags (Chilean and Pinera), throwing confettis, and shuting chants of "Pinera! Pinera!". Cars driving by waving flags and HONKING non-stop. Can someone explain to me the purpose of honking non-stop to show your support?!? Is that really necessary?!?

I think I am going to have to find my ear plugs to sleep tonight. Wish me luck. Sigh.