Happy holidays!

The Saturday before Christmas Jason and I went to el Santuario de la Naturaleza Yerba Loca with other students from Escuela Bellavista. It's only 90 minutes of steep winding roads away from Santiago, and scenery on the 7km round trip hike was beautiful! We tried to capture it with our camera, but as with most large landscapes, the reality was far more impressive. Still, there's enough here for those of you planning to visit Chile to decide whether Yerba Loca should be a destination. The landscape itself is easy to navigate, but the altitude (we reached 2,080m) made the hike more tiring (for me) and the sun far stronger (for Jason, who is still peeling off pieces of his head) than expected.


Chileans seem to celebrate Christmas more on the eve before than on Christmas Day. We purchased small gifts (regalitos) for the family that operates the hostel we called home during our first month in Chile, and when we delivered them Sunday night discovered that they were already in full-blown party mode. The next day we invited EEUU and TeachingChile coworkers Matt and Jordan to join us for a (non)traditional Christmas grill. After a few false starts with the coals, everything went well, and I think we all enjoyed the holiday a little more because we were able to share it.

Jennifer

Apartment, and a haircut... two bits!

OK, I know that doesn't really work. But anyway, Jen and I signed a lease for an apartment today. Yeah! It is in Providencia, which seems to be right in the middle, as far as nice place to live vs still affordable. If you look at this map (PDF), our apartment is about two blocks south of the Tobalaba Metro stop (on the far right-side of the map, just below Cerro San Luis). I also started to geotag our photos in Flickr. Sometimes this page works for me, sometimes not. If it chooses to work for you, our apartment is off to the right (marked with a #13 -- click on the circle for the pictures). If not, the pictures are on our Flickr page.

The place is completely furnished. So much so, that the only things we NEED to buy are sheets, towels and a desk chair. Nearly everything in the pictures is included -- furniture, the TV in the bedroom, plates, cups, cooking utensils... even crystal if we decide we want to have a fancy dinner party for eight! It has a nice little yard (we bought a BBQ from the previous owners, both Americans), a 24-hour concierge and the back of our yard butts up against the only "American" church in Santiago. It is also about three blocks from one of the few gaming stores in Santiago. Not that I planned that or anything. grin About the only downside I can think of is that our cellphones don't work in the house -- we have to go into the yard. We move in on the 20th. I am very excited to have a desk at which to work.

And... I got a haircut. I got tired of my hair (or what was left of it), so I decided I'd try this for a while. We went to a barber down the street from our hostal. It was one of the hair places where all of the people there, employees and customers, are old men of at least 60. The guy must have used five different blades on his clippers, plus two or three different kinds of scissors, plus a straight razor. It took close to 45 minutes. And I think it cost about $6.50.

Jason

1/2 Crude to the Canapes

The big news of the day here in Chile is that Pinochet died this afternoon. There are both supporters and opponents of the ex-dictator on the streets and in the many plazas of the city, singing, waving flags and drinking champagne. So far, things have been peaceful... but we're staying home. Strangely, some of the songs that we can hear sound somewhat like If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands. No idea what THAT means.

Jen and I started our Spanish classes last week. She has class for 3.5 hours a day for five weeks, while I have a one-on-one class twice a week for 1.5 hours, for at least 11 days. My first class, I told my professora Carolina that I was 301 years old, and that I WAS the United States. I think I'll require more than 16.5 hours...

Some of the restaurants have English language menus. Or at least, they claim to. I didn't get a picture of one of the other pages, but it included a dish called "mud loco." We weren't brave enough to order it. And what the hell is 1/2 Crude to the Canapes, anyway?

The food at restaurants is interesting. The owner of the hostal owns a very nice restaurant just down the street from the hostal -- we've been there three times. The food there is much like you'd find in an upscale American restaurant, with, of course, local variations. But, we've eaten at a few other places (such as the "mud loco" place). They have dishes that often involve either fried eggs, mayonnaise, or both. Today, we grabbed lunch at a place while looking at apartments. Their menu of the day was bread (good), tuna salad on artichoke halves (good), over-done flank steak with a side of fried onions, both with a fried egg on top (not so good) and ice cream (good). Some places have very good pizza. But we ate at a place where their idea of pizza was... bad. Very bad.

Oh, and American culture is alive and well here in Chile, although Buzz is looking like he had just a bit too much to drink last night.

Also, I posted some more pictures of Quinta Normal, the park near the hostal. It is lovely.

Jason

Teletón!

(American Idol + good cause)¹⁰ = Teletón! This National two-day event is held bi-annually to raise money for children with physical disabilities. The extent to which the entire country gets behind this effort is amazing. Friday and Saturday we were in some alternate universe where all television stations played nothing but Teletón! entertainment, interviews, and donations calls; bank workers voluntarily stayed open beyond their usually strict M-F, 9-2 schedule; and everyone (including me) was incessantly humming the Teletón! theme song. This event is so huge that politicians one year debated postponing the elections so that political advertisements wouldn’t interfere with those for Teletón!.

Jennifer

Cerro Santa Lucia

Jen and I went to Cerro Santa Lucia on Wednesday. There are quite a few large cerros (hills) around Santiago -- they make good landmarks to orient yourself. Santa Lucia is a park that was created in 1872 by the mayor, Vicuna Mackenna, and built with prisoner labor.

The hill itself is about 2,065 feet high, and there are paths that criss-cross the entire thing. 

 

 

 

A fairly good-sized building is at the base of the hill, and it houses the tourist office.

 

 

There were lizards, and giant aloe plants, and people even carved graffiti into a plant! But to me, the coolest thing was the amazing view from the top.

 

Clever, clever Jen stitched the panoramic image together from three or four pictures she took from the platform at the top of the hill -- we have a bigger (MUCH bigger) version if anyone wants it. Oh, and on Flickr, you can click the All Sizes button to see larger version of some of the photos.