El Mercado Central

On November 2, 2010, I made my first visit to Santiago's Mercado Central (Central Market). It is not, as I had partially expected, a big market with lots of fruit and veggie stands. It is mostly known for its seafood, both for purchase-and-take-home, and also in the form of restaurants. According to my rough translation of the website blurb:

"The Central Market of Santiago is the place with the largest concentration of gastronomic locations that commercialize typical regional dishes. In its installations you can enjoy varied dishes that come from the maritime zone or from rivers, from the hands of the best chefs of the Metropolitan Region (i.e. Santiago). Thanks to its historical transcendence it has been transformed into a place that people demand to see, proof of that being the great quantity of tourists installed in the urban area."

Like I said, it's a rough translation. But you get the basic idea. You can also find various touristy trinkets and mementos that you can mostly find throughout the rest of the city, too. All in all it is neither terribly big nor terribly impressive, but a place you should visit if you make it here, and fantastic if you like seafood.

During my first visit I simply went for lunch with a friend and tried the paila marina, a seafood soup, which was heavy but excellent. It is a typical Chilean dish and I definitely recommend it.

I took very few pictures on this occasion -- two, to be exact -- but the second one was a pretty nice view from the second-floor of the restaurant we were at:

My next trip to El Mercado Central came a few weeks later and was not at all seafood-related. To be covered in an upcoming post. :)

Apartment Post #2: Apartment Dilemmas

So it looks like "once a week" has turned into "once a month," but that's still a bit of progress. :)

I have lived in my apartment for more than four months now, and it is almost completely finished. A few things are still lacking (living room lamp to cover the bulb, nightstand, desk?) and I need to catch it at a particularly clean and organized moment to take pictures of the "finished" product, but it's a nice little depto. There were, as there tend to be, some hiccups at the beginning, however.

Exhibit A: The Fusebox

Less than a week at my new digs and the electricity goes out, which I soon discover to be a burnt fuse. Luckily the electrician got there pretty quickly and I didn't have to try to survive a night without light (ha! that rhymed...).

And before I knew it, my fuse box was as good as new:

Hooray!

Exhibit B: My First Refrigerator

Once upon a time Ingrid moved into an unfurnished apartment and needed to buy a refrigerator, the first major appliance she would ever buy. After hopping from department store to department store in Santiago Centro searching for the best quality for the best price, she finally decided upon what she thought was the perfect refrigerator. It wasn't too expensive, it had enough room for her gastronomical needs, it was energy efficient, and it even had a pretty sparkly silver coating that made her smile.

The only thing Ingrid did not love about the refrigerator was the ugly sticker on the door. Assuming that no one in the world would want to keep an ugly sticker on their fridge door, she concluded that it must come off quite easily. Little did she know it would take several painstaking minutes, totaling close to a full hour (spread out over a much longer period), to remove all but the little white remnants of the big ugly sticker. What remained was almost as ugly as the sticker itself had been.

Being the super-resourceful and internet-savvy 21st century girl she was, Ingrid turned to the incredible infallible internets to search for the best way to get rid of the last of the ugliness that remained on her new fridge so that it could at last shimmer in all of its sparkly silver glory, blemish-free.

She rejoiced, for the thought she had found the best remedy! Thank you, O Internets! She rushed to the kitchen for the sponge and soapy water that she had been instructed to obtain and began happily scrubbing the sticky spot, until all the ugly white bits disappeared!

Alas, as she looked at the spot where she had been scrubbing, she realized that the ugly white bits had taken the pretty sparkles along with them! This left an even UGLIER gray splotch on her previously perfectly sparkly silver surface.

Ingrid did the only thing she could think to do: try to find something big enough to cover the splotch and stick a magnet on it.

Moral of the story: you can't always trust the internet. Who knew?

"Finished product" apartment photos in upcoming post...stay tuned!

The Big 2-5

Okay, so I completely and utterly failed at updating while I was home for the holidays. And SO much has happened since then! Due to the continuing lack of internet in my apartment, I hereby pledge to get my butt to a wifi spot at least once a week so that my blog doesn't remain lonely and post-less (and so Julia doesn't sass me).

Perhaps the most major event that has happened since I last posted is that I have officially completed my first quarter century on this earth. Huzzah! To celebrate, I had my second annual birthday Tea Party "slash" Fiesta de Té here in Santiago. You might be thinking, "A tea party in January, what a fantastic idea!" and I wholeheartedly agree with you. However, there are a couple of extra challenges to having said party in Santiago de Chile as opposed to Stateside: 1) people here have no idea what a "Tea Party" is (the translation is literally "party of tea," quite a foreign concept in a place where 99.9% of parties involve some sort of alcohol); 2) here, January is summertime, making the prospect of drinking a hot beverage less appealing that it would be in, say, July.

But thankfully my lovely Chilean friends' desire to compartir with and humor me on my birthday seems to have outweighed the strangeness and gringa-ness of a summertime tea party. Plus, I did it last year, and it was a big hit!

I served a variety of tea, hot and iced, mostly Tulsi Tea from Organic India (hands down my favorite!), and finger sandwiches. I was a little under the weather, which is my excuse for the lack of a birthday cake (d'oh!) and photos, but I (and I hope my guests) had a great time. The guests were a good mix of Chilean friends and "family" that I have met over the years in various contexts (I ended up being the only gring@ in attendance). It was a nice treat to have all of them in the same space -- and for many of them it was their first time in my apartment.

All in all, a great way to officially start my 26th year.

(Another big life change has happened since I last posted, which you probably know about if you talk to me on a regular basis or have seen my facebook...details to follow in an upcoming post!)

Felices Fiestas!

Hello followers (which, as far as I can tell, is about four of you thus far -- works for me! :) ). I apologize (mostly to Julia, who is now OBLIGATED to recognize my blog as legit) for my lack of updates. A series of events including a brief trip to la clínica (the hospital) and a continuing lack of internet in my new apartment put my blogging on hold for awhile. However, I am now in rainy California to spend navidad with my familia (enjoying the sprinkled Spanglish?) and my casa here (oh look I did it again!) does indeed have wifi. So hopefully over the next few days in addition to family socializing and last minute gift shopping, I will be publishing some posts saved in my drafts and others saved in my head, including (but not limited to): El Mercardo Central, Apartment Post #2 (and maybe even #3!), and Thanksgiving. Stay tuned!

Apartment Post #1: My Apartment!

I still don't have internet in my apartment, so I am taking advantage of the wifi here at La Tetería (one of my FAVORITE places in Santiago) for a quick post introducing my new apartment!

I currently live in Barrio Bellavista, Santiago. It is a bit further downtown from where I lived before, and a much younger area that is basically a nonstop carrete (party) at night, so there's lots of accessible nightlife. This is perfect for me, the old lady that I am who cannot keep up with Chileans that party until 6 or 7am. This way, I can go home when I want -- and I don't even have to pay cab fare!

The apartment building is gorgeous and brand new, and comes fully equipped with a pool, event room, TV room, and lavandería (laundry room), which was lacking at my last place. There was a washing machine in my old apartment, but no dryer, which was pretty crazymaking for my spoiled self. Now my laundry is done in a couple of hours instead of a couple of days! Ah, creature comforts...

My apartment is walking distance from the Cerro San Cristóbal, where you can find a beautiful view, mote con huesillo (a sweet Chilean drink/snack), barbecue pits, and the Santiago Zoo. It's also a good hike...for people who like hiking. My depto is an even closer to walk to Parque Forestal, a beautiful place to sit or stroll, and an area that I can't wait to explore more.

Here are some photos of the apartment as it came -- bare as a baby's bottom. At the moment, it does not look like this -- it looks more like cyclones had made their way to Santiago, specifically to the 10th floor my apartment building. I did manage to get the basics in place (bed, refrigerator, light bulbs), but it is still lacking in the furniture department, and technically speaking, it is a freaking mess. When it is all finished and pretty, I'll post some after pictures. For now, I hope you enjoy these!

Jáppy Jálloween

Halloween in Chile is a gringo-ized holiday. Most of the Halloween traditions here (from what I gather anyway) are the bits and pieces that people put together from what they see of United Statesian Halloween on TV. You can find various orange and black decorations around and about, as well as pumpkin- or bat-themed things for sale. And of course the notorious street vendors will be happy to sell you a witch's hat or devil ears alongside their normal inventory of scarves, wallets, sunglasses, and pirated DVDs. But in general, Halloween (pronounced JA-lo-ween by Chileans) is definitely not as big a deal here as it is Stateside.

So while I did not exactly find myself in a sea of costumes walking down the street over the weekend, Halloween was not forgotten by the gringos. And since Monday was a holiday (por casualidad), there was partying all weekend long!

Personally, I started on Saturday with a friend's house party, which was super fun. Due to things like work, buying furniture for my apartment, and laziness, I had neither the time, money, nor commitment to buy a costume, so I made due with what I had the night of, hence my costume of "fancy pirate." (Fancy because I wanted an excuse to wear my pretty sparkly top.)

When I got there, the hostess was kind enough to replace my oversized scarf for my head with one that fit and matched the rest of my "costume" better, as well as add to it with a rockin' skull tattoo on my arm.

Aren't I the toughest fancy pirate you've ever seen?

You can't see the white pants and black boots that match the black and white headscarf, but trust me, it was awesome.

However, despite the awesomeness, people seemed to have a hard time grasping the pirate concept without a pirate hat or eyepatch (I think the fanciness might have thrown them off), so Sunday night I opted for a different costume. Once again lacking in time, money, and inclination to buy a costume or costume parts, I decided to throw on all my Chile gear and some sunglasses and go as a "gringa tourist."

Complete with my "¿Chile, cachai?" cap, my "I Love Chile" tee, Easter Island earrings, a backpack, and sunglasses (not pictured)...this was still a hard one for people to get without me explaining it. So I was 0 for 2. But people did seem to enjoy my costumes once they understood what they were!

First Post!

So, I did it. I decided to start a blog all about my adventures way down south. I've only lived here for slightly over a year...but hey, it's never too late, right?

Although I have spent a great first year here, I am not-so-secretly hoping this blog will encourage me to do some of the things I have not quite gotten around to yet -- like, travel outside of Santiago -- and take lots of pretty pictures which I will post for your viewing pleasure.

Since I have just moved into an unfurnished apartment and have yet to install internet in said apartment, posts will be somewhat limited at the beginning. But, unlike a failed attempt at a slightly more 'intellectual' blog (which I do hope to actively update one day), I am making a commitment to post here regularly so as to not lose the aforementioned motivation to...you know...do things. Plus, if you are reading this, obviously you have been going through a severe lack of constant updates of the goings on of my Chilean life in the last fifteen months. But fear not -- I'm here to fill the void. :)

My posts will be in English, though I will probably insert some Spanish/chilenismos every now and again.

Look forward to upcoming posts and pictures about my fantastic new apartment, Halloween, friend and family visits, and more!

Saludos desde Chile!