Mini Galatos Reunion

On Saturday Oli, our old flatmate in New Zealand, came to Chile for three months. She's flew from the Czech Republic where she is from. Jeff and I took the bus to Santiago for the day so we could hang out with her and Nacho. Nacho picked us up then we went to pick Oli up at her hostel, which was in a huge old building.

Nacho was our chauffer for the day. We went to San Cristobal and drove up the hill. There's a ton of parks and gardens all along the hill going up. It was very pretty. It was similar to One Tree Hill in Auckland. At the top we ate empanadas and Nacho pointed out all the parts of his city. He knows quite a bit of information about the city and its history. It was great to hang with Oli again. She's a lot of fun to talk with. It was also nice to know we weren't the only ones that thought Chilean people drive crazy. Nacho and Oli on San Cristobal:After San Cristobal we went and chilled at Nachos for a bit. We then met up with Maria Jose and drove up to this rich area to see the sun set. We got there kind of late but it was still a pretty view. We dropped Maria Jose off then took Oli back to her hostel. It was so great seeing her again! She was only in town for the day because she flew to the south the next morning to meet her friend. We're planning on partying with her in June before she goes back to the Czech Republic. Nacho dropped us off at the Metro and we took it back to the bus station then went home. It was a wonderful day! Here's a picture of Nacho posing with his Peugeot that he gets for free. I wish we had Peugeots in the US. I would definitely buy one.Tomorrow Debbie and Devin are hopping on a plane to Chile to visit us for a week. They get in on Thursday morning. We're super excited! Although Debbie convienently got in a snowboarding accident Sunday and hurt her leg so she can barely walk and will have crutches. Oh well. They're bringing us lots of goodies like macaroni and cheese, chapstick, cheddar bunnies, ramen, and a drumpad.

This Thursday is also the day of the Radiohead concert in Santiago. I've been eagerly awaiting their concert! Not only are they my favorite band ever but they are simply amazing live (I've had the pleasure of seeing them twice before). Plus, Debbie and Devin are going too, which should make it even more fun. Next week we're all taking a trip to Mendoza, Argentina for a couple days. Jeff and I need to get our tourist cards renewed. It should be fun, I hear there's lots of wine tours.

This Friday and the days leading up to it there's supposed to be crazy riots in Santiago for the Day of the Young Combatant. We got a warning email about it from the US Embassy. We plan on going back to Valpo in the early afternoon on Friday just to be safe. I googled Day of the Young Combatant to see what it was and it came up with articles and pics of protesters getting beaten, cracked windows, fires, and some bombs. Pretty crazy stuff. I hope we will miss it.

Guerra de Titanes

Wrestling is lame. That's really all there is to say.

Carly and I saw these crazy-looking banners for the "Guerra de Titanes" in Valparaiso, and for some reason we decided to go because it was cheap. I guess we should've know that the $1.75 entry price was an indication of its quality. The match was in some old basketball gym; every gym I've ever had in school looked better than this place.

The people seemed to be really into it, which made it fun. It was interesting to see the old man in front of us get really worked up and yell at some of the "evil" wrestlers. When the wrestler from Argentina came out, people use both hands to flip him off. We never really could understand the dramatic story lines though, but our guess is that that wouldn't have made a difference.

We left at the intermission and got dinner from some street vendors in the park nearby. It was an insteresting way to spend a Sunday, but I understand the appeal of wrestling even less after seeing it with my own eyes.

Carly admitted that she was really into wrestling when she was younger. She said she knew a lot of the names and had all the video games. Where were her parents!? (HAHAHA Just kidding.) It was kind of amusing when she was able to tell me the names of several of the wrestling moves.

Guapo es mi mejor amigo.

I have a new best friend in Chile. Thanks to Robyn we now call him Guapo (though today I thought about changing it to Sucio which means dirty). Guapo always hangs out near our place in front of the Gato Tuerte, a tourist place with shops and a restaurant. He's really friendly and gets excited whenever he sees me. He trots over to me, wags his tail, and rolls on his back so I can rub his belly. I want to take him home sooooo bad! I love him! We haven't seen him the last couple days but when we went out tonight he came wandering up the hill and we were all happy to see each other. He even put out his paw for me to shake. I didn't even know he knew how to do tricks. I'm not sure if he belongs to someone or if he's a stray but he's super friendly.

This weekend was the International Day of the Woman in Plaza Sotomeyer. We went down to check it out and ended up watching a cool rap show. It was actually a rap group for kids but we enjoyed it nonetheless. The beats were pretty catchy and the dancing was impressive. We're not really sure what they were rapping about but we enjoyed watching and listening. The kids there liked it too because most of them were dancing around in front of the stage. It was fun to watch.

Here's a video of the group performing. I think they're singing about a lost dog but I'm not sure.


Jeff and I discovered a new food called Choripan. It's actually a sausage/hot dog thing but it's delicious! When we first saw a lady cooking it we thought they were real hot dogs. They have people in the parks that have portable grills and they cook choripan along with meat on sticks and sell them. It's only $600 pesos for the choripan which they put in a delicious bun and they provide ketchup, mayo, mustard, and hot sauce to put on it. It's quite tasty and and reminds me of hot dogs at home. A cheap, delicious lunch. Mmmmm.

Amazing Lunch! Twice!

We finally had a real "Chilean" lunch yesterday!

Since lunch is probably the most important meal of the day here, many people eat a good sized lunch. Most cafes offer a daily lunch that includes soup and/or salad, bread, an entree, beverage, and dessert. Carly had been wanting to try one of these for a while, so we finally did and it was amazing! and only $4.50 each!

Afterward, we walked down to the boats on the water. Another cruise ship was in port, the Star Princess, and it was quite "touristy" down by the water. It's fun to watch the little tour boats move around. We also rode the ascensor up to Cerro Alegre. There's lots of asencsors in Valparaiso, but only two are owned and operated by the city. This one is; it's also a lot cheaper, cleaner, and in excellent condition.

As usual, we saw lots of stray dogs. We've seen this guy several times, and he's huge.




Carly also fell in love with a new dog over in our hood. We named him Skittles.

While walking back from the market, we passed a little stand selling choripan, which is a sausage. However, the stand had great buns and ketchup and mustard: It was like a real American sausage! It was so delicious. They don't really eat hot dogs like we do in the U.S., they eat "completos." If you don't have a queasy stomach, click here to see what a completo looks like.

Domo Domingo 4!!

Lazy Sunday.