Santiago

Thursday, September 16, 2010

My new boyfriend

I was walking down the street in front of our apartment yesterday and this little fellow was with his mom. They were going to a Dieciocho Festival for children. This little guy was all decked out in his finery, as will everyone this weekend when the party starts. Note the spurs! He was really "workin' it" until I asked him if I could take his picture. Then he became so serious!

This weekend looks to be a blast! I can't wait! It will be fun and educational!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Dieciocho, or party down, dude!

This week starts the Independence Day festivities, or Dieciocho, here in Chile. These people go nuts, and this is a bicentennial year, so it will be special. I am giving you a link to a site about this, as well as showing you a picture of the bottle of Chicha we have already bought. It's a fermented grape drink, and above that, that is all I know. Richard gets off Friday and Monday, and that is because these people are on a serious party binge that will take a while to recover from. Too bad we are the only ones here! As my son would say "Sucks being all of you!" You're missing one heck of a party!

http://www.worldandi.com/subscribers/feature_detail.asp?num=25181

Look at the dress the woman dancer is wearing at the bottom of that site. Dresses of that style are being sold all over Chile, and the children wear costumes of the same look. It should be colorful. (colourful for my Canadian friends)

Richard and the fabulous tree

There are some knotty trunked trees here that would probably make beautiful wood. Here is Richard beside one.

Knife sharpener man, or how how I was duped on a Sunday

This is the knife sharpener man. If you forgot this man in my former blog, this guy walks the streets and blows this loud, shrill whistle and people come out and he sharpens their knives. Here's the story-

1. I have missed him a jillion times.

2. I wanted to show you guys his manual way of doing this.

3. My knives wouldn't cut butter, so this was getting to be a need, not a want.

He sharpened my three knives. He let me take his picture. He was smiling because the STUPID gringa was in the RAIN, didn't ask him the PRICE, and had a tiny little pink camera! He thought "SCORE! A DUMB GRINGA!"

After he ground up my knives, he charged me 8000 pesos, which is about $16.00 dollars American. I could have bought new knives for that! What I do to amuse all of you!!!!

Did you know that Fred Flintstone lived here?

There is some pretty "interesting" architecture here, and I'm posting a few of the best. Enjoy!

PS- The building with the big Chilean flag on it in the rear of the picture is Richard's building- 29th floor.

All we wanted was a t-shirt....

When Tina and Chris were here, we went to the US Embassy here in Santiago. We tried to go to the commissary to get a few souvenirs, but were DENIED! It seems the woman who worked there was in a meeting, and we would have to make an appointment. One can't just walk in, you have to check in with a passport, leave your phone and camera at the gate and then be given a number so you can be taken somewhere to get a badge. Bureaucracy at work, again.

I did take this photo in front of the Embassy of the kids beside the shield. It is a very pretty shield, and too bad we couldn't get the stuff with it embroidered on the front, because it's nice.