Stuff I forgot to tell you, in no random order

We went to a winery- Balduzzi Winery, and it was badly damaged, as were so many, in the earthquake. Here are pictures. You can see the metal containers were crunched. See how funny Richard and Tina think they are. This was before they got sick, and they were really having a good time pretending to hold up that damaged tank. That purple junk is what is left over after the machine squeezes the heck out of the grapes. It smelled really strong. We, of course, bought some wine, and some Margie might actually like when she gets here, as it is sweet and clean tasting!

Mi esposo está enfermo

Richard got sick. It's all of our faults, as we egged him on the eat a barnacle. It was a nasty looking little booger, but he was a trooper and ate it, and then he started to, well, let's just way he was NOT WELL. He had 103 temperature and couldn't keep anything down. The doctor at the spa had to come see him 5 times and finally just gave him 2 bags worth of IV fluids and medicine. We decided to stay another day but- DENIED! The stupid hotel was full (which was ever so different because there were not 30 people there the entire time up until this moment). They had some special group coming in. FINALLY, after pleading and begging, the management found a suite for us (1 bedroom and a fold out couch, which doesn't' exactly scream SUITE to me, but it did have a door in between the two rooms). One drawback- ONE BATHROOM! At this point one would think that Murphy's law would be applicable, and things did start to get worse. Guess that barnacle didn't make Richard sick after all because then- Tina got sick. In the middle of the night I heard Tina and the toilet becoming acquainted in not a good way, so there were two down for the count. No sleep for Tina that night, but at least Richard was somewhat better. The next day we had to go, and we GENTLY all piled in the car and made our way back down the mountain and home. It was a very long trip back, but Tina's illness wasn't as severe as Richard's, and we managed to complete the drive without an "accident", if you get my drift....

Snowboard nuts and a blizzard!

Here's a decent picture I got of Chris and Tina going to the lifts. It was from far away, and they look a little blurry, but you guys get the picture.

They both had a great day snowboarding the day after our arrival, but the next day was better. BUT- night of day 2 - BLIZZARD! Now, if you think a Texas person doesn't know a blizzard from a cold hole in the ground, you would be WRONG! I lived in Canada, and I am actually an Honarary Canadian, so I know snow! This was a comin down, folks, and by the next morning we had about a foot of the white stuff stuck to and piled up on everything. Pretty winter wonderland. Tina and Chris snowboarded and went up so high that they looked like little pin heads on a sheet of white.

Nothing to do here but let the pictures tell the story.

Winter wonderland, or what it's like in August on the other end of the world!

Finally we pulled into Termas de Chillan, which is the thermals (or hot springs) of Chillan. WHOA! SPA TIME!!!!! It was a beautiful ride up, and when we got to our rooms, we felt like we were in Heaven. Heaven might have been a little cheaper (they don't actually CHARGE to go to Heaven, I don't think, although I don't know that) but it had to have been as beautiful as the mountains of Termas de Chillan. We stayed at the Grand Hotel, an all-inclusive resort. It was very nice. The views, as you can see, are spectacular, and the weather was good for skiing for a few day.

http://www.termaschillan.cl/en/granhotel.php

They saw us coming....

Chris, Tina, Richard and I all were excited to stop at Rari, a little village in southern Chile, on the way to Chillan. The people here (mostly women) are famous for their horse hair weavings. They must have seen us coming, and they must be laughing all the way to a bank account in Switzerland or the Caribbean, because we bought a BUNCH of this stuff, and it ain't cheap, fellow North Americans. Now, granted, it takes forever to make one of the little creations we bought, but some stupid horse gave up it's tail willingly, I'm sure. (ZERO cash out, to this point in time) The cost in this is the labor, but what else do these women have to do? It's not like they watch soaps and play golf or cards everyday!

We bought stuff from this little lady in the picture, and she was delighted that the gringos came down her dusty little dirt road to purchase. She had learned this skill from her mother, who had probably learned it from her mother, and so on. She was feisty, had hard gnarled little hands and a very weathered face, but she was smiling at us and our pesos, which we gave her most of for the stuff we couldn't live without. STUPID TOURISTS!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rari,_Chile

Pisco Sours- OLE!

If one wants an official UNofficial alcoholic drink of Chile, it is the Pisco Sour. One makes you HAPPY, two makes you HAPPY and compels you to DANCE ON THE TABLE, three just makes you puke.....

If you want to try this drink, I will leave it up to all of you as to which stage you wish to try-

1. Euphoria-

2. Energetic pandemonium

3. Wish-I was-dead-and-and-I-don't- remember-my-name

The drink recipe is:

2 oz pisco brandy1 oz lime juice1/4 oz simple syrup1/2 egg white1 dash Angostura® bitters

I am also giving you all the information about Pisco Sours and Pisco itself, in case any of you are on some game show with strange questions or come across this tidbit in the form of a Trivial Pursuit question in the future. You'll be armed and ready to win! But only if you haven't had one of these before answering!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisco

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisco_Sour

Earthquake sadness along the way to Chillan

We all piled in the car (I wish I had taken a picture of that) and made it towards Chillan, which is 6 hours south of here so Tina and Chris could ski. Here are some pictures of our trip. The first is a church that only has the front and back left- the middle just fell in as a result of the earthquake. We are traveling much closer to the epicenter of the quake, and this is quite evident by the damage.

We navigated a few detours of damaged and collapsed bridges, and saw evidence of the massive shakes' destruction. After spending the night in Talca, a little town on the way, we passed through another little town and, there, the devastation was heartbreaking. Out of respect for the dead, I did not take pictures.

The adobe facades of little homes may had been impacted, in some instances, but the roofs and side walls were caved in. The bomberos, or firemen, spray painted a huge circle and divided that circle into 4 parts, like a pie, on what was left of the front walls of these homes. In these pie parts there were numbers- mostly zeros, but some had " Uno nino, uno adulto" in the parts. This was where they found bodies, we think. I cannot imagine how horrible it was, and to still have that reminder on the fronts of these broken facades was so sad.

Veggies and the US flag- how much better can life get?

A better picture than my last photo of the vegetables being covered by US flags! Just another piece of fabric to these guys.

Mote-con-huesillo

I copied this description from Cook Diego Cook, because he described this drink so well. It's MUCH better in the summer, and too sweet for winter, but the kids had to try it. Richard had already given it a go a few months ago.

"This drink is made by rehydrating sun dried peaches and then sweetening the poaching water with sugar, cooling and serving with boiled husked wheat or barley.
The dried peaches pefume the water with rich preserved smells of summer unlike any fresh peach could produce. The sweet and tangy liquid is perfectly accompanied by the chewy and refreshing barley.
If you can find dried peaches I highly recomment giving it a try."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mote_con_huesillo

Fishy photos

Fish market madness- nuff said.

Run it off, or what I did on my summer vacation

Tina is in training for a marathon, and she had to do a 40 minute run on this particularly yucky day. This is on a major business street, so to say that she was a bit of a novelty was not an exaggeration.

Women here do NOT wear that sort of thing on the street, so she got a few whistles and catcalls. But it got the job done, and she looked "mahvellous".

Eat, drink, and be merry

This is a scene that won't mean much to anybody, but they are good pictures of the kids at a bar in Bella Vista. The picture of the steps are in front of Pablo Neruda's house, which we did not get to visit yet, but it is on the next agenda. The step area is for poetry reading, etc.

If you don't know Pablo Neruda, here is the link- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Neruda

You guys might want to read a line or two from old (well, dead, actually) Pablo, because he was a bit of a drunk, so the drinking he would have liked!

Trees of a different kind and Let's Go Fly a Kite!

After a nice long winter's nap, we took the kids to Los Dominicos, the quaint shopping area. We didn't buy anything, but Tina and Chris did pose against some really strange trees. One is a HUGE palm tree and the other is a chorisia speciosa (vicious!) tree. Look at the tree bark on this puppy! This just SCREAMS "Go ahead, try to climb me. Make my day!". Those are some WICKED thorns on the trunk.

Check it out-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorisia_speciosa

After the shopping experience we bought a paper kite and a spool of thread and managed to get the thing off of the ground for a good 10 seconds. Note how the kite looks like the Chilean flag which looks like the Texas flag! Cool!

The kids, and I don't mean baby goats...

Tina and Chris are visiting us for two weeks, and we have done so many things that there will be many blogs about our adventures. They arrived in yucky weather, but things improved in the next days. First photos are of the airport. Our airport here has many flat screen TV's mounted on the walls so people can wait in an area, spot your loved ones on screen so you know to go snag them at the exit! The TV picture is actually them leaving the restricted area to exit. Pretty darn ingenious, I think! Anyway, the kids are here, and I am attaching photos and will start the story in the next blog.

Got any spare walls?

I got another canvas (I'm up to four now) and have "created" a wonderful masterpiece for the study. It's a mixed media, (meaning I glue junk on it) and is very contemporary and neutral in presentation. The unique texture of paper versus spun llama wool gives the eye various focal point opportunites.

HEE HEE That sounded pretty good, didn't it!

The only problem is I am running out of sheet rocked walls. The concrete ones are too much trouble to drill into, so I am limited in locations.

I guess there is always the ceiling.....

Routine traffic stop, or what do you do for a living?

This is one of a bunch of different types of street performers that come out at all times of the day to entertain and take your money from you for displaying their talent. What is amazing is that they never get hurt, they always get out of the way when the traffic resumes and they never lose their balls (take that any way you'd like). I was walking when I spotted this duo. Their act was pretty good, so I gave them some jingly coins and went on my way.

Lay your weary head to rest

This is a hard blog to write. I am again writing about the thousands (yes, I DID say thousands!) of dogs that roam the streets of Santiago- homeless. They eat what is given to them, sleep wherever they want and poop and pee wherever they want. They are usually pretty well fed but have skin issues and look old way before their time. The people here are so used to seeing them that they step right over or around sleeping animals. See photo- this dog was asleep at the top of a busy subway stop. People just side-stepped or walked over him. He never batted an eye. He looked dead.

Sometimes these dogs get homes, from what I understand, but most of the time they do not. There are many more in the poorer parts of Chile, but this one just caught my eye.

Material Girl

I drug poor Richard to the pewter factory today, and came home with a few mementos. I wish I could tell any of you that follow this blog that I had purchased for you, but it would be a big fat fib. I found all sorts of things for myself and did not feel a bit of remorse. I guess if any of you had wanted pewter, you should have been here to get it for yourselves. SELFISH SELFISH ME!!!! Anyway, it was a very dusty crude place, and was fascinating. We watched the workers polishing the pieces and saw equipment from the early 1900's being used. See the hand drill shown. It had so much dirt and grease on it! The workers were more than willing to pose for the gringa buying their junk. HEE HEE for them and HOORAY for me!

Sports, and what NOT to do on your vacation

We went to a sports mall today. Not only do they have every sport represented, but each is in its own store. In the middle of the mall is a skating rink, a viciously steep rock climbing wall and a challenge course. There is a man made pond outside where real sailboats and fishing boats are tied, just waiting for someone to take them home. I am posting a picture of the challenge course that is three stories high. The participant (or idiot, whichever phrase you prefer) is harnessed in and proceeds around this course. It's difficult and scary (no, I do not know that firsthand, I am not that stupid, at 60 years old) but there were boneheads up there. From the looks on their faces it was the first and last time they will try that!

Baby Jesus, and a way to make a buck

These are a couple of the street performers. These two have covered themselves with white clothing, white face paint and gloves and appear as nativity statues in the large street area. My friend Linda and I passed them once, and when we passed again their little basket was full of coins. They seem to be doing well, but was it worth it- all of that white paint? Makes me want to scratch my face just thinking about it!

Corny, but good

Pastel de Choclo
OK, this is a very popular Chilean dish, and because it is CORN season, I thought I would share:

5T olive oil
4 med onions, coarsely chopped
1 small fresh hot chili pepper, seeded, chopped or 1/2 t crushed red pepper
1/2 lbs lean ground beef
2 t cumin
1 t paprika
1 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs fresh boneless chicken meat, sliced
2 1/2 c fresh or frozen thawed corn kernels
1 1/2 c milk
1/4 c slivered fresh basil leaves
1/2 c pitted black olives
1/4 c seedless raisins
3 hard boiled eggs, quartered
2 T granulated sugar

In large skillet-- 2 T olive oil, onions and chili peppers-cook but do not brown. Remove to plate and use hot oil remaining to brown ground beef. Discard any meat fat. Stir in onion mixture and other spices listed. Reduce fire and cook for 15 minutes. Transfer this to deep casserole dish.

In another frying pan, cook chicken in 2 T olive oil until browned. Lower heat and cover , cook for 20 minutes until chicken done.

Combine corn and milk in blender and puree. In large saucepan heat 1 T olive oil over med heat and add corn mixture. Stir in basil- cook 5 minutes stirring so not to burn. Should be the consistency of thick porridge.

Spread chicken on top of beef in deep baking dish. Sprinkle on olives. raisins,and hard boiled egg quarters. Pour corn mixture over, sprinkle with sugar- bake uncovered 350 for 30 minutes, then increase heat to 450 and bake another 10 minutes until brown. Serve hot.

A new creation, and room at the inn...

I, again, have too much time on my hands, and I've painted another "wonderful" masterpiece. The problem is that these works of art don't take but about an hour, and then I'm right back to my "What will I do now?" state of mind. Anyway, I've already hung this one and bought another canvas from the guy down the street. He can't understand a word of my Spanish, and his English is non-existent. I actually had a dictionary with me yesterday, as I was on my way to Spanish class, so we were able to "talk". That would have been a You Tube Video winner! My hands flailing around, speaking broken Spanglish, and his head cocked to the side, like a puppy that doesn't get why he's in backyard timeout for a yellow puddle.

On another note- I now have Tina and Chris (my daughter and son in law) coming August 21st, My mother coming in late October or November, and my sister and brother in law coming December 26th. All of the other times are up for grabs, people. It's winter here right now, with some great skiing, and around Christmas we will be warm and relaxed in flip flops. The accommodations have not been Zagat rated, but I am sure they will suffice. It goes back to the old beggars and choosers philosophy, so take it or leave it. No one has died from my cooking yet, so odds are for all of you that the same will apply to your visit. AND- I have a washer and dryer, so the sheets will be clean. Bets are off on the towels, though..... We were only supplied 4, and we're too cheap to purchase any new ones, so share and share alike!