We're Missing the Chile! (#2)

Cursory observations:
-Dogs everywhere (that is #2 on the Chilean danger list...#1 is men)
-Palm trees everywhere (summer, 30 degrees during the day, still wearing fuzzy socks at night)
-Police cars are green
-The street signs are whacked out (Examples include: speed limits signs have a red circle with a number in the middle; pedestrian crossing signs have different people on them; they're in Spanish)

Personal victories:
-Figured out what to do at the airport (missed connecting flight due to inclement weather so went to Dallas instead of LA, put luggage in the right place, talked to the right people, got through customs, got a visa. Woohoo!)
-Kicked a pigeon in Santiago (heh heh heh)
-Attempted the "Himno Nacional de Chile" on Blackie (the pocket trumpet).

Sites seen:
-The Palacio de La Moneda in Santiago (saw Freda paintings, she was probably crazy). Map.
-Mall del Centro in Rancagua (went to Yogen Fruz, they have those in Chile too). Map.
-Unamed restaurant on outskirts of Rancagua (had empanadas out of a brick oven and the place had a dirt floor and flowers on walls and ceiling! It was great!)
-Street vendor with an alpaca (snapped a photo, thought it may have been a vampire alpaca, will check to see if it shows up in the picture)

Personal musings:
-Itchy nose (allergies? pestilence?)
-It's weird being a minority and being "muy alta"
-Can you feel like you belong but not understand what the heck is going on? Why yes...yes you can.
-Cats are comforting.

Current irritations:
-Got hit on by some guy (didn't understand what he said, which was probably a good thing)
-Pesos (there's so many of them!).
-Can't speak Español yet.

Did You Know:
-The presidenta de la Republica de Chile is Michelle Bachelet Jeria. An inspiring woman who has a graduate degree in medicine, has survived torture and exile, and became the first female Chilean president in 2006. Also, her Mom is an archaeologist.
-The symbol for the Chilean peso is $. One Chilean peso = 0.00187987503 Canadian dollars so that means that for the sack of oversimplified conversion 50pesos= a little less than 10cents; 1000pesos = a little less than 2dollars; 2000pesos = about 3.75dollars.