Salsa Dog

I continue to wait for little cp's Missing the Chile: Epilogue post. Beware for I will be merciless in my postings until my demands are met!

p.s A sighting of the great FSM's visage in Chile, truly it is a blessed country.

Creepy Gnome

Sweet zombie Jeebus! Little cp better keep on her toes if she goes back to Argentina! The gnome sightings in Argentina are apparently part of a chupacabra-esque craze that came to its climax in 2007-2008. The story was reported by El Tribuno in Argentina, then The Sun in the UK, and then picked up by Fox News. There is of course the usual he said/she said back and forth that surrounds all urban legends, with skeptics saying reports of the extremely high percentage of locals that belive in or have seen the creature are unverified (which is true) or exaggerated (which is probable) and that the video or photographic evidence is faked (which is easily done). However, locals have apparenlty reported seeing gnomes (or duendes) for several decades already, but reports of sightings vastly increased in 2007 after some railway workers reported seeing one running around the tracks.

Argentinian teens shot this video of the infamous "creepy gnome", whch is the most well known evidence. And it struck again in Clodomira, province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina!


p.s. This post is in lieu of a We're Missing the Chile!:Epilogue post that may never come from little cp (hint hint). Be forewarned! I will continue to post creepy things like this about your beloved South America if my demands are not met!

We're Missing the Chile #16: Brasil Edition

Saludos from Brasil to all the "Chicken!" readers out there!

So this will be the first "Missing the Chile" post written by little CP herself! I am constantly reminded by big CP that the fans need their Chile, and all the spicy details (ha ha ha...chili joke... moving on). So, I am sorry for the lack of Chile postings... but i am here for the Brasil edition.

My latest adventure has been to Salvador de Bahia also known as the Capital of happiness! Salvador is the Capital of the Northeast state of Bahia. Also, an interesting little tidbit, Salvador is the third most populated Brasilian city (after Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro).

Salvador is very mountainous and whatever is not mountain is deep blue coastline. So beautiful! I loved it so much! One of my favorite things about the city was how it was built; how the houses and buildings were built in the mountains. It is an interesting mix of old and new, and when we drove down some of the narrow streets I could imagine the history and the start of this beautiful city.

The architecture is so beautiful! There are many sculptures, statues, and the really big elevator ! The fountain statue in the picture to the right is the "Fonte da Rampa do Mercado" ("Fountain of the Market Ramp"), which occupies the site of the old Mercado Modelo. The elevator in the left picture below is called Elevador Lacerda. It is like an elevator for a mountain that overlooked the ocean. It was huge and so interesting and it just goes top to bottom, it does not stop in the middle (and where would you go if it did?). The elevator is the first to ever be installed in Brazil (in 1873). It links the upper (Cidade Alta) and the lower (Cidade Baixa) parts of the city, which are divided by a huge escarpment some 85m high (with the cathedral and most of the buildings on the high ground and the Northwest region of the city on the lower ground near the shore). It was really, really huge!


That's all for now. Thank you Chicken! readers.

-Little CP

p.s. Archaeology nerd note (by big CP):

The Historic Centre of Salvador da Bahia was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. It was the city's centre during the Portuguese Colonial Period, and was named for the pillory (Pelourinho) that stood in the marketplace for almost 30 years in the early 1800s. According to UNESCO: "As the first capital of Brazil, from 1549 to 1763, Salvador de Bahia witnessed the blending of European, African and Amerindian cultures. It was also, from 1558, the first slave market in the New World, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations. The city has managed to preserve many outstanding Renaissance buildings. A special feature of the old town are the brightly coloured houses, often decorated with fine stucco-work" (as shown in little CP's picture).

We're Missing the Chile #15: Brasil Edition

New fave food: Mugunza - a dessert made with hominy. Hominy is nixtamalized maize kernals (see pic below).

CP sez "increase your wordiness":
Nixtamalization is a process by which the hull and germ (pericarp) of a grain is removed by soaking and cooking the kernel in an alkaline solution (e.g. lime water or ash solution). The process was first developed in Mesoamerica (the word actually derives from Aztec and Spanish words) some 3500 years ago for the preparation of maize and the term usually refers specifically to this activity.

FYI: While unprocessed corn is an insufficient dietary stable, a combo of nixtamalized corn and beans does a body good because the corn picks up free niacin from the processing and the beans provide amino acids and protein. Mugunza has peanuts in it (which is a legume fruit like beans) so this dessert is actually a full meal deal. Except that little cp doesn't like the version with peanuts. So basically she likes corn with coconut milk.

Fave activities: continues to be Forró. So much forró...so very tired...zzzzzzzzz...

Places visited:
-Forró Caju (2009) - a huge place for partying (Badalando). Here's a map with a bunch of crazy things attached to it.
-Fazenda Boa Luz (a resort/farm) for dancing, drinks, and carrying on. Got flowers from a weirdo. Here's another crazy map.
-"Vila do Forró" - a traditional place where we have typical food and songs.
-Went to "Fazenda Mercedes" - the uncle's farm. Good sentimental times. Lorena was mushy.
-Colégio Master and Colégio Ideal - checking out various schools with the sisters, just being proactive with the edumacation and all.

p.s. Did you know the June 12th is the Brazilian version of Valentine's day? It's called Dia dos Namorados and it occurs on the eve of the feast day for St. Anthony of Padua, one of the 3 saints celebrated during Festa Junina. Also celebrated are St.Peter and Saint John the Baptist, hence the more common name for the festival, São João (Saint John).

We're Missing the Chile #14: Brasil edition

Travel log: Aracaju
Home base while in Brasil. Capital and largest city in the state of Sergipe (the Brasilian Federation's smallest state).

Monkey work:
Monkeys are known as macaco in Portuguese (but remember that "macaques" don't live in South America). Little cp met some monkeys that frequent the trees where she is living. I'm told the monkey we want goes by the name of "mico" which generally refers to certain species of Marmosets and Tamarins. Specifically, Goeldi's Marmoset (Callimico goeldii) is called Mico-de-Goeldi and the Common Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) as well as the Black-tufted Marmoset Callithrix penicillata) are called Mico-Estrela. The Lion Tamarins (Leontopithecus sp.) are called Mico-Leão with another descriptor depending on the species (e.g. the Golden Lion Tamarin (L.rosalia) is Mico-Leão-Dourado). We also know from Saskwatch-esque photos of the creature that it is brown with white head tufties and about squirrel-sized. My bet is the Common Marmoset (see the picture), which is found on the Brazilian northeast coast but has only recently (as in the last couple of decades) been introduced to the state of Sergipe.

Bugs:
Giant green caterpillar probably from the Saturniidae family (it's a moth larva). Sorry, can't do any better than that without putting more time into it than I am willing. So many different species of caterpillar in Brasil! The monkey identification was much easier, there was less than 20 likely species for that!

Foods tried:
-Ate some crabs. Mmmmm...Cancer pagurus.

Drinky poos:
Caiparinha the national cocktail of Brasil! Made with cachaça, sugar, and lime. Note that you can substitute another fruit for lime and still call it caiparinha, but if you use vodka or white rum for cachaça it is called caipiroska or caipiríssima, respectively.
Recipe: 1 lime, 2 ounces of cachaça, sugar to taste, ice cubes

Dances danced:
Forró - a Northeastern Brasilian dance/type of music. It's THE dance to do/music to listen to there apparently, especially during Festa Junina. There is a whole pile of variations and styles within the three major rhythms of xote (slowest), baião (the original forró), and arrasta-pé (fastest).

The Brazil episode (Simpsons, "Blame it on Lisa", season 13 episode 15). Apparently this episode got a very negative response from the Rio Tourist Board. They were mad at the depictions/mentionings of crime, rats, flesh-eating monkeys, the invention of the macarena, etc. The Simpsons people apologized but the controversy became a running gag none the less.

From Crackle: Blame it on Lisa

We're Missing the Chile #13

Drinkies tried:
-"Somo" a type of corn juice.

Activities participated in:
-Went to Blanca Elena estilista (with sexy results). It shall go down in history as that time when little cp was a model. Remember that time?
-Got Brasilian Visa (with sexy results)
-Hopped on a plane from Santa Cruz to Sao Paolo to Salvador to Aracaju. Whew!

Then it was "Goodbye Bolivia" and "Hello Brasil".

Ramblings about Brasil:
-Brazil is English, Brasil is Portuguese.
-Portuguese is the language of Brasil because it became a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until its independence in 1822.
-When Cabral first landed on the Brasilian coast at Porto Seguro, he thought it was an island and called it the Ilha de Vera Cruz (Portuguese for Island of the True Cross).
-In the 16th C, they realized it wasn't an island and renamed the collection of colonies Terra de Santa Cruz.
-Cabral appears on the bronze-plated second series centavo coin that began circulation in 1998 (but they stopped making them in 2003 and most retailers now round their prices to the nearest 5 or 10 centavos. 1 Real (R$) = 100 centavos. Bolivia also has their own centavos, 100 of which are worth 1 Boliviano (Bs), only they have stopped making coins worth less than 10 centavos. 1 Real is worth about 3 and 1/2 Bolivianos (actually 3.64297) or 1/2 of a Canadian dollar (0.580592).

We're Missing the Chile #12

Travel log: Cochabamba

Fun Facts:
-The city’s name is derived from the Quechua words khocha pampa (meaning "swampy plain").

Drinky-poos:
-Famous for it's chicha (fermented maize drink).
Nerd Notes: Chicha is archaeologically widespread and has been identified using stable isotope studies (among other things) on account of corn being a C4 plant as opposed to C3 grains etc that have different stable carbon isotope ratios.

Unfortunately little cp didn't get to see a lot her first time there since she was only there for one day. But she saw the Cristo. It's like he's on the dashboard of the entire country! As well as the town square and went to the market. She got some great picks of the city too. Fun times! She intends her next visit to be more thorough.

Checklist of sites to see in Cochabamba:
1. El Cristo de la Concordia - Giant Christ statue that is situated even bigger than the Cristo del Corcovado in Rio.
2. La Coronilla: Hill with monument dedicated to the women who defended the city from Spanish forces in 1812.
3. various former residences and holdings of Simón I. Patiño (e.g. Palacio Portales and Pairumani aka. Villa Albina)
4. ubiquitous churches (most famous include the Catedral and the church at Plaza 14 de Septiembre, etc.).
5. archaeological curiosities (e.g. the Museo Arqueológico and the Casa de la Cultura).

p.s. This post was originally supposed to be up in May but was held back in case little cp went back before she headed to Brasil (so I could combine here two visits into a crazy super-post). Ah well next time.

We're Missing the Chile #11

Little cp's adventures now take us to Bolivia for a stay from April 13 through to early June with the home base in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. FYI Bolivia is divided into 9 departamentos and Santa Cruz de la Sierra (commonly called Santa Cruz) is the capital city of the Santa Cruz department. Each department is further divided into provices (provincias) and then into municipalities (municipios). Bolivia is pretty awesome (check eTravelPhotos for some good images). It is home to such treasures as the colonial cities of Sucre (the legal capital of Boliva and a UN designated World Cultural Heritage Site) and La Paz (the governmental/working capital of Bolivia, Bolivia’s largest city and the main international hub), the Altiplano region containing Salar de Uyuni (the world's largest salt flat - come for the salt, stay for the famous Salt Hotel, it's made of salt...SALT!) and the Potosí silver mines (Potosí claims to be the highest city in the world), and of course there is Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world, birthplace of civilization, home of the Uro people and their floating reed islands). Cool beans!

Home base log: Santa Cruz

Personal musings: Santa Cruz is different than anywhere else in Bolivia. It's a working town and most of the money is there. More different kinds of people.

Activities participated in:
-went to a dance class
-enrolled in Spanish class
-10 massages for $70!? Outrageous!
-have nails again, got nails done
-new found love of going to concerts (more on this as it develops)


View bolivia in a larger map

p.s. I recognize that "Missing the Chile" is kind of a misnomer post title now that little cp has spread her South American wings...but what'er ya gonna do.

We're Missing the Chile #10

In which we continue our recounting of little cp's adventures in Argentina. Sites seen in Buenos Aires:
1. La Boca - Little cp's favorite part! Colourful buildings, restaurants with live tango dancers, musicians playing sambas in the streets...What's not to like? Some musicians just walked into the restaurant little cp was eating at and started playing! Then some customers started dancing! Good times! Also, saw some street dancers doing national dances and walked along the Calle Caminito.

Scenes from La Boca:


2. La Recoleta Cemetery - Interesting and large cemetery in upscale district. Click here for a walk through. Some of the tombs had been broken into. One had a cat living in it! Mostly famous for being the final resting place of Eva Peron.

Historical Note: The life of the much loved, much popularized Eva Peron is interesting and fraught with political and personal strife, but I'm not going to talk about that because we're talking about the cemetery (focus people!). More appropriate to the topic at hand is the crazy story of what happened to her after she died. After her death in 1952, the corpse was embalmed and put on display at the headquarters of the General Confederation of Labor (many thousands of admirers would come from far and wide to see her, light candles, hold vigils, and other fun Catholic things). It was due to the meticulousnes of her embalmer, Pedro Ara, that the body managed to stay in such pristine condition, potentially forever (he even preserved the body with all its internal organs, which are normally removed). Apparently he was going for Lenin-quality preservation...it took him a year to accomplish. Anyway in 1955, the military leaders who overthrew Juan Peron confiscated Eva Peron's corpse because they were afraid that the opposition would use the body to rally the populace. Since the body was such a powerful symbol (for the nation's poor especially) they couldn't just destroy it or they would risk massive repercussions. So they tried to hide it, but they were never able to keep it totally hidden/secret from locals, who would bring flowers and other offerings. This was in spite of trying to trick people by employing multiple wax replicas of the body that Pedro Ara had made. One story goes that, after many stays in various and sundry military installations in Buenos Aires, the body was taken to the house of an army major who stored it in his attic. But (and this goes to the legend of Eva's haunting of Argentina/her corpse/her resting place), the major mysteriously shot his wife and so the body had to be moved again. The military decided to send the body to a secret site in Italy where it was buried under the name "Maggi"(this was in '57). Juan, who had been exiled to Spain, managed to recover it in 1971 in exchange for granting his blessing to the new Argentinian regime of the day. He stored it in an open casket in his house! Far from being weirded out by this, his then wife Isabel performed daily devotions and even combed it's hair. Peron was re-elected in 1974 but promptly died and Isabel went back to Argentina to succeed him as president and brought Eva with her (persumably to lend support to her presidency). The body stayed at the presidential estate until 1976 (when Mrs. Peron was overthrown) when it was finally buried in the Duarte (Eva's maiden name) family tomb in the Recoleta Cemetery. She lies in a glass case 6 metres underground, surrounded by bank vault-esque steel plates. Whew!

3. Casa Rosada - President's house. Pink-coloured because mixed white and red (the conservative and liberal colours).

4. Obelisco - The Obelisk of Buenos Aires, built in 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the city's founding.
Fun things to do with your Obelisk:
-acrobatic highwire acts
-hang signs geared at silencing the masses
-celebrate football wins
-put a giant pink condom on it
-dress it up like a pencil in remembrance of la Noche de los Lápices.

5. Floralis Generica - giant metal sculpture of a flower made by architect Eduardo Catalano in 2002. It is 23 metres tall and has a mechanism inside that opens the 6 petals in the morning and closes them at night. Cool! It is located in the Plaza Naciones Unidas (behind El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes).

6. El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes - The National Fine Arts Museum houses some of the most important art pieces in South America. Showcases important pre-20th Century works from all over the world (and the occasional contemporary artist). I don't know much about art but they have a Monet that I recognize from that Monet coffee table book my parents have. I dunno, you could spend days there looking! Also the building has an interesting history...

7. Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo - Spitting distance from #5 and #6. Cool museum with a grab bag of fancy pants decorative art from furniture to porcelain housed in what was once one of the country’s grandest single-family homes in the early 20th century.

Personal observations:
-So many plazas! San Martin (of course), Chile, Uruguay, Francia, Republica, etc. Also there are so many museums in Buenos Aires! Too many things to see in a day! Sensory overload!
-Saw a local dance troupe doing capoeira. Neat.
-Buenos Aires has amazing ice cream!
-The wealth disparity in the city is clearly evident in it's slums with hole-ridden buildings and people begging for change to live. Upsetting and makes you appreciate how much we have in Canada.

FYI: Italian connections:
Did you know that Argentina has a significant Italian/Italian ancestry population? It's true! Italians formed a significant portion of the immigrant population to Argentina since the late 1870s (although the flow has stemmed in since the 1960s). Many features of Italian culture have permeated Argentinian culture such as customs and food (resulting in the many many Italian inspired, Argentinian fusion restaurants). If Wikipedia is to be believed, Argentina has 1.5 million Italian speakers and 60% of Argentinians have some sort of Italian ancestry. Hmmm...coincidence that little cp like this place so much?

p.s. Check the detailed map below and see if you can find the places mentioned (click to embiggen).

We're Missing the Chile #9

Stardate: March 10-ish
(Note that this comes a week or two after Pichelemu in the WMtC timeline. Sorry, I've been dropping the ball on the posts here. -CP)

Travel log: Argentina

Took the bus to Mendoza:
- road was bumpy, zig-zaggy, & crazy (as mountain roads are wont to do).
- went through the Paso Libertadores (aka. Cristo Redentor), the main route through the Andes from Santiago (Chile) to Mendoza

Mendoza:
- small and pretty city
- plazas abound (e.g. San Martin, Independencia, etc.)
- lots of plazas to San Martin everywhere
- Historical Note: José de San Martín (aka. José Francisco de San Martín Matorras), the national hero of Argentina, general in chief of many and varied armies, instrumental in the liberation of the majority of Spanish-speaking South America from Spain by the 1820s. Not to be confused with Andrés San Martín the Argentinian footballer.

Buenos Aires:
-traveled from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.
-Stats: Capital of and largest city in Argentina. Home to some 3 million people just in the city proper. Highly dedicated to music, art, historic, and cultural pursuits on both a grand and small scales it features one of the world's greatest opera houses Teatro Colón as well as spontaneous dancing in the streets. Needless to say, little cp loves her some Buenos Aires.
-bought a tourist-y map and went to all the places (to be discussed).


View Argentina in a larger map

p.s. How Argentinians make popcorn:

We're Missing the Chile #8

Travel log: Pichelemu
-Meant to go surfing but didn't end up getting to. Shopping ensued.

New Discoveries:
-They had these 1/2 monies called 1/2 escudos! The escudo (Eº) was the currency of Chile between 1960 and 1975. This came between old pesos (1000 pesos = 1 escudo) and new pesos (1000 escudos = 1 peso). Ahh inflation...

We're missing the Chile #7

Travel log: Isla de Chiloé (continued) and Southern Chile
-Checked out Ancud, Castro (already mentioned), and Quellon.
-In Southern Chile saw Colbun and Puerto Varas

Puerto Varas:
-Stayed 2 days in a mansion-y hotel with the best shower encountered so far in Chile. Good times.
-Went swimming in the lake
-Thumbs up to this beautiful little city.
Check out this virtual 360degree tour of Puerto Varas.

Then a short detour to Valdivia to meet a buddy.

Colbun/Lago Colbun
-Hot and humid!
-Man-made lake was super muddy and gross (turns out that was a good thing - FYI bikinis are not for diving in).


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We're Missing the Chile #6

Personal musings:
-Keep coming up with new random ways to do things differently than the Chileans.
-Chileans like to laugh at things that are different. Fun times.

Travel log: Isla de Chiloé aka Isla Grande de Chiloé
-You ride a ferry to get to the island
-Staying at cabin on Lake Natri (Lago de Natri)
-Went to Castro (the capital) and saw houses on stilts (palafitos)
-Saw wooden churches (UNESCO heritage site)
-Bought an alpaca sweater (CP note: You should have bought a people sweater!)
-Went salmon fishing but apparently didn't do it right (hearty laughter ensued).

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Archaeology nerd notes:
Evidence suggests that Solanum tuberosum tuberosum, the most commonly grown potato in the world, is indigenous to Chiloé.

Also, Chiloé has a very diverse mythology stemming from folklore from multiple indigenous populations mixed with Spanish conquistador fiddle-faddle, shaken (not stirred) and let stand in an isolated environment.

Did you know that Darwin visited Chiloé in 1834? It's true, he wrote about it in his diaries. If you're curious "The Voyage of the Beagle" can be read online in its entirety (either at Project Gutenberg or here), chapter 13 is about Chiloé. Anthropologically it's pretty interesting reading (*cough*ethnocentrism*cough*) although Darwin was a naturalist, not an anthropologist (Dammit Jim!). Here's an excerpt from December 1, 1834 when Darwin reached Castro, (keep in mind that Castro was the capital of the province until 1788 but didn't become capital of the province again until 1982):

Early on Sunday morning we reached Castro, the ancient capital of
Chiloe, but now a most forlorn and deserted place. The usual
quadrangular arrangement of Spanish towns could be traced, but the
streets and plaza were coated with fine green turf, on which sheep
were browsing. The church, which stands in the middle, is entirely
built of plank, and has a picturesque and venerable appearance. The
poverty of the place may be conceived from the fact, that although
containing some hundreds of inhabitants, one of our party was
unable anywhere to purchase either a pound of sugar or an ordinary
knife. No individual possessed either a watch or a clock; and an
old man who was supposed to have a good idea of time, was employed
to strike the church bell by guess. The arrival of our boats was a
rare event in this quiet retired corner of the world; and nearly
all the inhabitants came down to the beach to see us pitch our
tents. They were very civil, and offered us a house; and one man
even sent us a cask of cider as a present. In the afternoon we paid
our respects to the governor--a quiet old man, who, in his
appearance and manner of life, was scarcely superior to an English
cottager. At night heavy rain set in, which was hardly sufficient
to drive away from our tents the large circle of lookers on. An
Indian family, who had come to trade in a canoe from Caylen,
bivouacked near us. They had no shelter during the rain. In the
morning I asked a young Indian, who was wet to the skin, how he had
passed the night. He seemed perfectly content, and answered, "Muy
bien, señor."

We're Missing the Chile #5

Personal musings:
Pestilence continues unabated (although it isn't impacting the quality of life too much)
The peanut butter is gone! Noooo!
The inefficient way of purchasing goods in the store in Rancagua is probably to keep people from shoplifting.
The flowers here are crazy and everywhere! (Here's a website for Moms. Let's all learn about Chilean native plants! Huzzah!)

New toys:
A spanky new cellular. It's with Entel but it's pay as you go (that's what everyone has in Chile).

New drinkies:
Melon con vino - basically a hollow honeydew with wine, sugar, and melon chunks. Mix and pass around. This video uses a cantaloupe. Recipes vary. (CP note: Also a Chilean punk band. I kinda like them even if I don't know what they're saying, they have a few downloadable songs on PureVolume).

Travel log: Valparaíso
Went on a boat ride. It was a blue and white boat, just picked the one that the sales guy didn't look whacked out.
Saw war ships in the harbour
Saw seals
Beach was pretty but cold (chilly if you will)
Bought a T-shirt that says "fin del mundo". Did you know that the most southern point of Chile is only 20 minutes from Antarctica?



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Travel log: Viña del Mar
Got hit on by a bus driver while walking with a new buddy. Was probably a good thing he was looking at the tall gringas because at least that means he saw them and wouldn't run them over. They'd be the only things he wouldn't run over.
CP note: Did you know that Viña was the birth place of Alberto Hurtado (a Catholic saint)? It's true! Also, Tom Araya (from Slayer).

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We're Missing the Chile #4

Feliz Navidad todos!
















New Discoveries:

Mantecol - the irrsistable argentinian candy bar

Indio Pícaro - hahaha...gross.

We're Missing the Chile (#3)

Personal musings:
Got sicky. Turns out it was pestilence. Gram says it's common to get sick after long flights.
Dancing Reggaeton takes more drinks than just one. YouTube it if you aren't scared...it's like an interpretive dance of sex!
The unregulatable shower temperatures prompt yelps of "Aye!"
Remember not to flush the toilet paper.
Greater than a 1:1 ratio of guys to girls helps with stemming the flow of cat calls.
The food:
Chinese food is better in Chile
Made gnocchi which turned out good but the sauce was crazy (more like salsa).
Piscola=good. Also good is Pisco sour (but Señor says Peruvian ones are better than Chilean ones though).
Went on search for peanut butter (crema de cacahuete aka. mantequilla de maní). Found it on the top shelf behind a post. Turns out others seem to like it too because it keeps lessening when her back is turned.

More humorous signs:
Wet floor sign (Precaucion! Piso Mojado!). It reminds CP of this "Caution! This Is Sparta!" image that was going around the interweb. Heehee.

Habla Chileno?:
Little cp says "no" like a Clilean now. Kind of a singsong "nuuhoao" sound.
Speak slowly dammit! One at a time!
Starting to lose English ("Let's go back to that...building thingy...where our beds and TV is").

Sites seen:
Unnamed Chinese food restaurant in Santiago.
More peeps (everyone lives right there:)
Kamikazee discoteca.

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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.