Lunch in Santiago

One major bonus of making my own English teaching schedule is making my own lunch. But there are days where I want to be served. Days that I want a plate of food to appear in front of me instead of exerting effort to wash, chop and mix up a lunch at home.

Remember, if you are from the US and in Santiago, service at restaurants is very different. There isn't service in Santiago. In the States, I think about how waiters almost dance around a restaurant and make the dining experience just that - an experience. Here, you're lucky if they remember your order the second after you order.


In Chile, you walk around the restaurant to find your own table, and sit wherever you want. You have to tell someone that you are there, that you want a menu and you want water from the tap (which seems uncustomary). If you ask for changes to a plate - except to hear, "No, you can't do that."

Coming from the US to Chile? Expect food to have LOTS of salt. If you like salt, you'll like the food in Chile. Sometimes, I think they put salt in their tap water because my thirst is never quenched. Plus, if you order a jugo natural, it actually has loads of sugar, tastes great but my hips can't lie about the calorie intake.

Major bonus in Chile = no one rushes you out of your table. You ask for the check when you want to leave and leave when you want to leave. No one is staring you down to run you out of your table. Sit, enjoy and take your time. Ojo, tips are NOT required and it isn't like the States where a minimum tip is expected. If you don't want to tip, don't. If you do, leave no more than 10%. 

So Where Should You Go? 

El Huerto: Vegetarian/Vegan in the heart of Providencia. Fresh natural juices (order without the sugar if you want to stay healthy), gazpacho is good. They've got big salads, interesting entrees and nice patio seating. Gets really busy between 13:00 - 14:30 for lunch so be prepared to wait. I think a few servers speak limited English.

La Vega Chica: It's a large fruit, vegetable and everything-else market but upstairs there are small restaurants where you will eat like royalty and have fun!

Best Bet? Go to a small little place that has a Promocion del dia on a chalkboard and get the day's menu. You can't go wrong! Those are the best value - the right amount of food, for a minimal price.

Just don't go to Lastarria where you'll pay high prices for low-quality food. Or to Patio Bellavista - the typical tourist trap with prices above the quality of food. Except for Galindo. That's good.

Santiago Airport (SCL)

I've said it 3 times in 3 months so I think that constitutes a blog entry. Planning a visit to Santiago and want to be ready for the airport? WELCOME! Here's what you need to know. 


INSIDE THE AIRPORT:

• The airport has English signs but not necessarily English-speaking people. 
• US citizens pay $160 reciprocity fee. You pay it before going through Immigration
• Immigration is easy. Give them your passport, your Immigration paper and answer a few questions. Yes, they may ask questions in Spanish and because I speak Spanish, I don't know if they speak English. Someone let me know :) 
• Don't lose that Immigration paper because you need it to leave the country. Guess what? I lost mine so I had to go to the Chilean Police desk and they were super official and stamped a piece of paper twice. 5 minutes later, I was back at the Immigration window.  
• Duty-Free is fun to watch. People STOCK up on candy!!! It's unbelievable. 
• Baggage claim in Santiago works like baggage claim in the US. You wait for your bag to appear on the carousel. It's chaotic and the first sign that things in Chile may not be efficient, but things still get done.
• Don't bring butter, fruits, nuts, vegetables or seeds into the country. And those Declarations guys will find any jams or watermelons you are carrying, so leave 'em at home. 
• There are always lines in Chile because 6 million people live in Santiago and lots of people come to visit :) Be ready to stand in lines for Immigration, for the bathroom, for Declarations and for a taxi
• If you change dollars to pesos at the airport, you will not get the best rate. There are many exchange places within Santiago. 

OUTSIDE THE AIRPORT: 

• Taxis to the city are muy caro (about $50 US) so here's what you do if you don't have lots of money = don't take a taxi. Take TransVIP and you'll pay about 7.000 pesos (about $15 US). They have a desk in the airport, right after you get out of Declarations.
• Taxis don't take credit cards.

Punta del Este, Uruguay: La Barra

I pulled off a perro muerto today. Yup. I did it at the Crepes place in La Barra. What's a perro muerto? In Chile, it's what we say when you leave a restaurant without paying!

I don't even feel bad. The kid working took my order, then took the cute teenage girls' order - and they paid. I was still standing there, and waited for my Roquefort crepe and for him to take my money. Took the crepe and casually walked away. Just like in the movies, walk casually and don't attract attention. It worked!

My sandwich the day before cost $18 - chivito: a typical Uruguayan meat, tomato, lettuce, and egg sandwich. It should have cost $8 because of the quality and simplicity.

On that note- Punta del Este is Expensive. But not luxurious. The prices don't match the quality of the items food, clothes, beach chairs, drinks, or beachside corn on the cob.

There are people that sell dresses, towels and shorts on the beach. I checked out a dress and had a Price is Right $10 tag in my mind. Try $40. What?? Remember when you bought $2 jewelry in Mexico? You could do that 20 times!

I went out to eat with 2 girls from NY and ate deliciously! A gazpacho, entrecot (porter steak? The steak from between the ribs) and a bottle of red. Price is Right? $55 each!!!

Drinks on the beach? A Corona costs $8. Didn't drink that.

Would I go back to Punta? Yes. With lots more money, a sexy man at my side and blonder hair.

Hot Summers in Santiago

There is something distinct about Santiago heat that is more intense, hotter and more uncomfortable than anywhere else I've lived. And I lived in Phoenix, Arizonan for 2 years + 1 summer. I am working out what makes it different than the smoldering oven that is Phoenix, the sticky humidity of New York or the drowning heat of summers in Chicago.

And what do Chileans do when it is unbearably hot? Eat ice cream and gelato. It's insane. Almost everyone walking down the street at 3PM has a frozen treat. Just a guess, 1 in 3 Chileans eats an ice cream in January from 1PM to 8PM. Us gringos? 1 in 10. Do they know that isn't going to cool their body temperature down and only add centimeters to their waistlines?

typical: 3 kids. 3 ice creams

Could it be… 

• We don't have air-conditioning? There's no where to escape the heat here! You heard that correctly. I take freezing cold showers here con ánimo.  

• The Chileans say there's a very thin ozone layer above Santiago and the sun is stronger here. Is it true? 

• We live in a concrete jungle.  When I run, my feet BURN! That damn pavement sizzles! 

• I swear the days are longer here. The sun is up at 7AM, on full-blast and doesn't disappear until after 8PM. Maybe that hot Latin passion lights up the sun longer?

I was SO hot the other day, just walking around and enjoying a free afternoon, that I bought a super cute Chilean-made summer dress. Tried it on and wore it out the store. The Brasilian working the store thought I was a crazy girl. I love doing what I want here, no matter how crazy it is.  

There's a wind that cuts through the city and that is what keeps us alive here, hidden between the Andes and the ocean. A light breeze through bedroom windows, a cooling vent that rushes through the streets. The breeze is better than finding a $10.000 in my dirty shirts.

Girls still wear skin-tight pants and the men are in full business suits. It makes me uncomfortable to see people with so many clothes on. Take them off! Wear shorts or a dress! Plus, everyone is sticky-rice sweaty on the metro. How can it be professional to have everyone sweaty and sticky in a business meeting? It's an uncomfortable time to be in Santiago.

Heading to Santiago for January or February? Pack an air conditioning unit as a carry-on! 

Embarrassingly Awesome

I don't even like greasy Chinese food.

There is a Chinese restaurant less than 30 steps from my house. So, my roommates and I have taken to their una luca spring rolls ($2US) and wonton soup for dinner. Kelsea and I go, Annika and I used to go - sometimes, we'd all go together. Or at different times on the same day. Or alone.

How much do we go? Chinese Mom gave me a packet of spicy dried red peppers to cook with.  

The Chinese family that runs the place: Mom, Dad, and teenage daughter are so sweet. Mom came to Chile first to work with her cuñado and then brought Dad a few months later. That means their teenage daughter and younger daughter, now about 8 years old, lived alone in China for 6 months. The girls came to Chile on their own and now they live and work all day in the restaurant.

The daughter answers the phone and speaks MINIMAL beginner Spanish and beginner English. She has a journal full of Cantonese- English-Spanish words. The girl learned her Spanish from a book in China. She struggles so much with Spanish. And her English is so basic. I don't know how she does it.

Chinese Mom had me and Kelsea help her with a phone call one day! My question - does that earn us free spring rolls? 

I was walking home from a nice dinner + Pisco Sour on Lastarria Street and saw the Chinese Mom sitting at the table, in an empty restaurant. I waved and walked in to say hi. To my neighbors, the Chinese family that runs the restaurant. She started talking in her broken Chilean Spanish and we talked about how the restaurant was busy at lunch, she needs a permit to have patio seating, the heat is too much and she made rice soup today. Then, she offered me a bowl of soup.

"Te regalo una sopa por el calor. Hice una sopa de arroz. Quieres?" And I told her no, I just ate. But she insisted.

So we continued to talk, I ate and a few customers trickled in and out for take-out Chinese. They even told me where to find dim-sum in Santiago. +sarah luk we are finding dim-sum in Santiago!

So I had a on-the-house bowl of rice soup at 10:30PM on a Thursday night in Santiago, with my friends  - the Chinese family in Providencia.

Celebrate New Years in Santiago

Happy New Year! Feliz Año! 

No, I did not wake up at 6:22AM. I was AWAKE at 6:22AM. And at 7:22AM. 

Cotillon = sparkly, shiny party favors! 

Chileans know how to celebrate a New Year! There were no naps on the sofa, no shots of Red Bull. This was pure joy and celebration. With Piscolas (Chilean Pisco + Coke), Cotillones and a bilingual song list, we seized the first day of the New Year.

We could have paid 25.000 ($50 US) pesos to go to a club party. Ewe. But we all know how those are - open bar, long lines for drinks that aren't that great, shoulder to shoulder with people you don't know and won't ever talk to, just to uncomfortably dance to bad techno music and pretend to laugh. So, we had a small group of random and new friends come to Pablo's infamous balcony. From there, we could see the clubs in the park and watch groups of partiers leave at 7AM, some to be stopped by the ever-serious police.

First sunrise of 2013

What time did you start your New Years celebration? Try starting at  1AM. When 3:30 AM rolled around it felt like State-side 10PM. I made guacamole and Pablo grilled some choripan to refuel and keep the party rolling. At 5AM the darkness of the night crept behind the mountains and the moonlight started to switch to a faint sunrise. I still felt great. At 6:30AM, I couldn't believe it. I was still having fun at 6:30AM? No way. Someone said it was like I was a little kid who just saw Santa Claus and really believed I found him. Pretty good description since I was staring at the sky like I had never seen it before. 

I'm the girl that gets up to run at 6:30AM before the summer heat. Now, I'm up with friends to bring in the New Year until 7:30AM? Here's what I used to do between 6AM - 7:30AM:

• Run 10 miles
• Drive to the mountains to get a free parking spot at Vail
• Make coffee 
• Arrive to school to grade papers, have a parent meeting, plan the day's lesson, make copies
• Participate in "team" meetings with fellow 9th grade teachers
• Sleep

This New Years has layers to it… until most others which were just 1 party, start to finish with the same people with the same trajectory > sober... to needing a Bloody Mary for breakfast. 

• Dinner at my house with the house clan. Prepared by Jo, the gourmet chef. She made 2 plates: watercress, carrot puré with pork belly (brined in homemade Kombucha) and then homemade gnocchi with a roast of lamb ragu. On the table was also homemade hummus' and delicious bread. For dessert, a blueberry lemon pie and a chocolate ganache torts. Plus, we were drinking delicious Raspberry Pisco cocktails. May have had a few of those….

• Pablo's Apartment: Part 1 - Chilean-International. Represented was Germany, Holland, Brasil, the USA, and Chile. Lots of English, some Spanish and some bilingual conversations. Theme: legal pot, traveling in South America, and making ceviche. This was a very random group: travelers, my Chilean sister and her friends, Pablo and Feña. 

• Pablo's Apartment: Part 2 - Chileans + Me. The #trendtopic was something new every hour but one thing is certain. I laughed a LOT. Thanks, Feña ;) Raul, his friend (who studies at Madison Wisconsin!) Barb, Cristobal, Pablo, Feña and I held the fort down. When I can't breath because I'm laughing so hard, that's a sign of some good people. 

Vancouver - Are you ready for this Chilean hipster? ;) 

Andrea! Don't we look like Latina sisters? 

 Thanks for lending me your cotillones Andrea! 

Raul and Andrea made it until about 6AM. The rest of us - past 7AM. 

Want to celebrate New Years and ring it in with sparkles and a sunrise? Come to Santiago!