Things I Don't Miss About Home/Love About Chile

Perhaps I should split this into two separate lists, as I was noticing when I did the combo Things I Miss in the US/Things I Hate in Chile post, but I think there is too much interconnectedness.

-I do not miss my car. Not one little bit. See, that leads into THREE things I love about Chile, which is public transportation, the brilliant colectivo system and living in a walkable city. Or rather, these are things I love about Valparaiso because this sure as hell is not the case in Santiago, ugh. Valpo has innumerable micros, or buses, which are very easy to figure out because they have signs in the front window listing major stops and streets. Unlike Blo, which just lists the end station, where the hell is Elmwood Loop? I have no idea. There are trolleys and buses within the city, buses to Viña, Reñaca and other cities nearby for a paltry sum. Then there are colectivos, which are cabs that run on a fixed route and are often just as cheap as the bus or cheaper. The system fails sometimes though, around rush hour when there are lines 10 deep of people waiting to catch a colecivo up the hill after work and before I figured out where to catch certain routes, I had a couple of long waits. But generally, I can get around in minimal time with a couple coins, or, better yet, I can just walk pretty much anywhere I want to go.

-Don´t miss my TV. Actually, I kind of wish I had one here because I have learned a lot from watching shows with subtitles. But overall, I don´t miss the distraction. OK, I admit, I found projectfreetv.com this week and devoured the second season of Mad Men in no time at all. But that is neither here not there.

-Work. You think I'd be bored down here, now work or school to speak of. Actually, I have started working for a friend who has a gallery here but 10 hours a week doesn't really count for anything. Plus, I am at work right now and I am sitting on my butt, writing to you all. Anyway, my days feel full and happy and I could easily live as a leisurely lady who lunches for the rest of my days.

Well, that ends the Things I DON'T miss, now on to Things I Love.

-The feria. I love, love, love the biweekly market that sells fruits and vegetable and flowers and eggs and kitchen utensils and so on. It is super cheap and I would imagine it's mostly local produce. It's funny how quickly I got acclimated to prices. A few months ago 500 pesos (less than a dollar) for a bag of brussel sprouts seemed great, now I scoff if they are asking more than 250 pesos. Also in the beginning, I was less than willing to call out a vendor when I knew I was getting the short end of the stick, now I just cut them my "Are you kidding me" eyes and they sigh and concede. In keeping with how much I adore living in a totally walkable city, it is just so EASY here to go to the market every few days and load up, making my three weeks without a refrigerator much less of a pain in my ass. Sidenote: In my new apartment, the sink didn't work and so we had to empty out a big bucket every time we washed dishes, there was no hot water so we had to heat it up to wash said dishes and I had to cook on a hot plate for three weeks. We all know how much I LOVE camping! All remedied now, except the hot water in the kitchen sink thing but something tells me this is not a matter of urgency for the roomies.

-Street Vendors. Yes, I know they exist in the US but not so much in fair Buffalo and I don't mind if I do partake in a manjar-filled churro as I stroll to the feria and a sopaipilla on the way home. Except, good Lord, the churro-lady in Plaza Victoria is so disgusting, every time I pass her by and think I could be tempted by the hot, sweet fried dough, I see her commiting yet another egregious act. If she's not smoking and letting the ash blow all over the treats, she's letting birds roost on a mountain of churros. The other day, she was mopping the ground with a horrifyingly dirty mop and no bucket of water or sink in sight. She makes me sick, that lady. But the guys in Parque Italia are pretty friendly and clean, although they're kinda stingy on the sugar. Oh, and those hot peanuts with sugar, which I've never sampled but the smell....ooooooooWEEEEEE. Actually, speaking of smells...

-...there are innumerable bakeries here and while I am generally unimpressed with a lot of their sweets and the daily pan amasado, the smells just kill me. A while back, I was lamenting about the lack of bakeries in the 'Lo, a friend new to the area asked me about a good place to get baked goods on a lazy weekend morning and I had to say Wegmans. I love Wegmans just as much as anyone but it's not exactly what you think of when you conjure up images of quaint, neighborhood bakery. I found a place recently on Plaza Victoria that has LOVELY stuff, including these glazed, whole chesnuts that are DELICIOUS!!!!

-Speaking of chesnuts, have you ever had chesnut puree? I know it exists other places, I'm just wondering if it tastes the same as it does here so I know whether or not to fill up my suitcase with it on the way home. Lucuma puree is another current favorite, it's a fruit here that I suppose has no translation, wiki calls it eggfruit, like chirimoya/custard apple, this does nothing for me. The flavor reminds me of maple syrup (and wiki says sweet potato, I can see that), the good stuff, and it is a wonderful addition to yogurt, oatmeal or straight out of the jar. I have no shame. It's also my current, favorite ice cream flavor, mixed with a little Cuatro Leches (yes, like my beloved Tres Leches cake, but as an ICE CREAM flavor. And with coconut milk as the fourth milk!!!!!)

-Fixed lunches. I mentioned above that I would like to be a lady who lunches. In fact, I do quite often. Most places do a fixed lunch menu, three courses, for anywhere from $1400-$3500 pesos ($2.50-$6). Well, the really ritzy places might be as high as $5500 pesos but I'm not referring to them. At that price, I could eat out daily and often did when we were, ummm, "camping" those first few weeks in the new place.

-I realize I have been talking only about food, sorry! Even though I sometimes get annoyed with the relaxed sense of time here, I have learned to take advantage of it. For example, the other day I was supposed to work at 11 but I didn't feel like it so I called the boss and told her I'd be there at 3. She does it to me all the time so why not turn the tables? And it was totally fine! That would NOT fly at home. I learned this tactic from my bestie Amy-she used to drive me crazy when we'd be sitting on the couch and she'd say "Cleatis (that's what we call each other)? Get me a glass of water?" I'd look at her exasperated and say "But you're closer!" to which she'd reply "Yeah, but I'd do it for you!" And she would, so instead of being annoyed about it, I just started asking her to pick stuff up at the grocery store for me when she was on her way over. Likewise, instead of getting crabby that someone is 45 minutes late, AGAIN, hit snooze! Let 'em wait! Have another cup of coffee, whatever!

-Back to things that crack me up linguistically, I am super-enamored with the use of the words super,yapo and especially appropriated words form English. Chileans like to put super in front of everything and for some reason, I find this super-chistoso. It's also super-easy to do in English so you can expect to hear it super-a lot from me. We've already discussed how the suffix 'po' is used and I especially love it after 'ya,' which means already but here people use it in many ways like "ok, got it, ready to order? be right there, enough, cut it out." Add po on the end and I am dying. The little boys I live this would use this all the time with each other, drawing out the syllables "Pero Manuel, yaaaaa-po!". You can imagine my delight when I came upon the Yapo store.




Excuse the abrupt ending, but I need to close up shop and head home!