a history of travel hair

evidence of bad hair 2010-2011

I think these photos pretty much prove I have no sense of what to do with my head.
My automatic reaction when it gets "really" bad is to chop it off again....in my case, this literally means to the skin....rrrrrrrrr........buzzin it up!

Hair History 2010:
Tokyo Japan - Normal nice looking long hair
Bali Indonesia- Minor toe bleeding incident snorkeling caused by long hair in face, gets angry at hair
Bali Indonesia - Bzzzzzz....hair removed completely, leaving large hair pile outside of Balinese salon doorstep
Malaysia - Locals wonder "Is it a boy or a girl?!?"
Thailand and Laos - Still uncertainty on gender from long haired locals - "Perhaps she is ill?"
Africa - Gives up on hair completely, resolved to only wear hats for rest of life
USA - Begs mother to sew her cloth head bands to hide fact of weird hair
Chile - Grows a mullet to blend in, discovers she has a mullet, freaks out

Which brings us to today!

Here's the thing, I LOVE not having to deal with hair!  Especially when it's hot and there's no easy access to hot showers regularly with limited soap - like we even carried shampoo in Africa...ha!  With dust and dirt and sweat, hair is the last thing I wanted on my head.  Plus, while traveling, having bad hair is acceptable!  No one knows you long enough to complain about how weird you look and we're all out there looking to "find ourselves" anyway, right?  I'm finally coming to terms that I'm no longer a traveling lady and I'm starting to accept the fact, I look pretty weird without hair, it's best to leave it be and perhaps try something new!

Like HAVING hair!
People!  I'm growing it out!
(parents, friends and loved ones cheer!  YAY!!  WAHOO!!  YIPPEE!!!!)

In honor of growing it out, I cut it.....with a swiss army knife scissors....in my bathroom.....I know.....
But guys, Chilean style hair is not my thing....the whole point of getting a hair cut at a salon for me is for the mullet to be removed, not accentuate it!!!!  Mullets.....ewww...

me at this very moment, typing away...mouth agape at my incredible hair cutting skillz....wow....

See!  Improvement, right?!?  (Psst!  Say yes!)

Who knows!  Perhaps some day my hair will come full circle and I'll be doing THIS AGAIN!

thanks mom for this...how I miss giant puffy turquoise head bands!

Talk. Eat. Buy!

El congresso

We just got back from four days in beautiful, boisterous, decaying in all the right ways Buenos Aires.

Of course we ate it, shopped it, walked it and spent unforgettable days talking, laughing and all the previously mentioned activities with one of my closest lady friends Susanna!  YAY!  Great times...great, great, great! (except the public bus transportation, but that's another blog)


We had three main goals for our four days of Buenos Aires bliss and all were achieved more or less.

TALK.  EAT.  BUY!

Friend time.  Food time.  Fun time!

Talk:

We got to spend time with my wonderful college friend and roommate Susanna, who moved down to Buenos Aires five years ago and has somehow managed to learn how to blend into the crowd!  Talking, dressing, getting around like an Argentinian...pretty darn impressive and extremely inspiring for me!  It was great to laugh and catch up on each others lives!  There is nothing like spending time with an old friend, it's like time has never gone by!  Everything in the world seems better after a belly laugh with a good friend!

Eat:
So, one of our main objectives in heading to B.A. was to eat!  Lots of foods can be found in B.A. that just doesn't hit the spot in Santiago...I love you Santiago and all your fresh fruit and veg....but when it comes to pasta, pizza, ice cream and coffee?  B.A. all the way!

Coffee!  Good god how I missed you!  You're lovely! Nothing like a cafe con leche in a Buenos Aires cafe with tres media lunas - (half moons - croissants) to munch on....just loveliness!  They always serve your coffee with a little cup of fizzy water and sometimes a cup of juice as well!  Maybe even a little cookie!  I love it!

pasta + cream + cheese = big bellies

Pasta!  Where you order the type you want (there's 20) and the sauce you want (there's 20) from different lists and combine them for the perfect experience...is this serious pasta eating or what?!?

Milanesa!  A purely Argentinian feat of breaded thin cut meat topped with love...for me: a large chunky slice of blue cheese, ham, pickled red pepper, and under all of that, melted mozzerella...mmm....






Asado!  We were invited for lunch to Rodolfo's cousins home for an Argentinian style family barbecue that lasts for delicious hours and hours...I won't go into details, cuz it's mean (it was that good) but did we ever eat  some MEAT!

la familia

Vino!  Argentinian Malbec.  Delicious in every sip.  Drunk slowly with friends while listening to a true Argentian sing true Argentinian tango in an Argentinian hole in the wall bar with guitar accompanist.... locals belting along at 2am with tears in their eyes.  Unforgettable.  Can you get more Buenos Aires?!?!?







Oh!  And the helado!!!  (ice cream)  Dulce de leche and chocolate ice cream before bed time after walking all day...love, love, love!

3 old chums in La Boca

BUY!

Rodolfo had one purchasing goal in mind for me in Buenos Aires.  He wanted me to buy some real legit Argentian made leather boots...I wasn't against this, but my feet were.  I have big feet.  9.5 USA/42 Argentinian.  Argentinian ladies have smallish dainty lady feet.  I don't.  As much as I love foot wear, it's best I stick to the mid west to purchase them....boo...days searching for nonexistent boots can be fun, but also slightly depressing with all of that delicious leather footwear surrounding you with no foot to put it on.  Now I know how all of those non-cinderella chicks felt - the ones who couldn't fit into that ridiculously small shoe.  Pauvracita's!

So instead, to spite Argentina's lack of love for my feet, I splurged and pitied myself in the duty free at midnight in between passport stamps and purchased my first ever big girl bottle of  eau de toilette!!!!

Argentinian made with a soft hint of orange, a hint of sweetness, but not at all floral
yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy...
my ending thoughts to my unforgettable days in Buenos Aires as I sniff my arm yet again....
mmmmmm.........

how to eat a tuna (cactus fruit)

Rodolfo with tuna cactus

TODAY it's TUNA TIME!

Here in Chile, Tuna's don't just swim in the sea, they grow on trees!!!! or well, CACTUSES!!!!  EVEN COOLER!
But it's not a fish, it's a FRUIT!

What is a tuna?
It's the fruit that grows on a special kind of cactus, as demonstrated in this photo to the right....those little balls on the ends?  Rodolfo wants to eat them!

This happens to be Rodolfo's favorite fruit in Chile!
Inside of those baby cacti is sweet, juicy bright green fruit unlike anything I've had before!



But, how do you eat the fruit of a cactus?
Luckily, R man is here to demonstrate for us!

Step 1:

Smile with fork and sharp knife in hand!
caution: cactuses are prickly and so is it's off spring.
DO NOT TOUCH THE TUNA!

Step 2:

Cut off of the ends of your tuna fruit with a sharp knife, then slit along the top.

Step 3:  peel the sides down with your knife and roll the little bugger out of its spikey shell...remember, no touching!

Step 4:

Cut the bright green seedy tuna fruit into chunks with knife and fork

Step 5:

Take a moment to appreciate the beauty that is a Tuna

Step 6:

Chew CAREFULLY!
There are big black round seeds throughout the fruit, which to my American raised horror, you swallow with the fruit!  GASP!  But, you get used to it, just don't bite down, or you'll break a tooth!

Step 7:

Repeat steps 1-6.
That last tuna was so good, you are going to want another!

Can't make it down to Chile this year for Tuna season?

Rodolfo and I were meandering thru our local Asian food market in Madison while we lived there and discovered boxes and boxes of Tuna's, which we then took home with us.....perhaps from Mexico?  So, they are around, you may be surprised where you might spot one!

And now!  If you do!  You know how to eat it!!

Happy Tuna Times!

so, what's the recipe?

Written lists of ingredients that combine to create a feeling of happiness bite after bite...

Perhaps it's pencil scribbled index cards, notes written down on scrap pieces of paper by mothers of mothers of mothers, or some crazy concoction written on the back of some junk mail from some cooking show by some crazy British guy on a lazy Sunday afternoon...all of this perhaps in between the pages of cookbook after cookbook after cookbook....

Worn down pages that permanently open to favorite recipes from overuse while leafing thru sticky pages covered in egg, flour and other interesting smelling mystery substances.

I can no longer make blueberry muffins, because it's permanently glued with a flour paste for all eternity between popovers and waffles!

Perhaps this is a women thing?  Perhaps this is a crazy me thing?

Do you have a favorite recipe of all time?  Where did it come from?  Who did you first cook it for/with?  Was it edible the first time you made it?

So.  You don't HAVE to tell me, (TELL ME!  TELL ME!!!!!), but think about it...try to remember what it was like to make perhaps your first batch of pancakes or cookies!?!?  Horrible?  Easy?  Disgusting??  Did you learn from a book or a t.v. show or straight from mom or dad?!?


I was talking about bread baking with someone here in Chile and we were discussing how people used to always bake their own bread and spend perhaps days making the traditional foods for special events...like, pastel de choclo or empanadas, but now, it's just easier/faster/cheaper to buy it at the store.  I feel like this is happening everywhere and knowledge that used to pass down from generation to generation just, well, isn't!

I don't know.  That makes me kind of sad.  The idea that "special family secret ingredients and recipes" are a dying breed.  Little handwritten scraps of paper with the scribblings of ancient knowledge disappearing, but is it?

For example, I've become a huge fan of allrecipes.com where you can search and skim thru 1,000's of recipes, read comments and evaluations and see pictures, which is great when I'm traveling and can't bring my 50 pound stack of favorites along...(although I do have plenty scanned into my computer as well, thanks mom!)

It's incredible all the different kinds of recipes you can find now with a click of a button!  Something our great grandmothers with their alphabetical card systems couldn't dream of!  Well, on this exact website I discovered this recipe for Black Magic Cake and fell in love with it...and then I stopped to read some of the 910 comments.  Some women mentioned how similar it was to a cake recipe their mothers or grandmothers used to make but the recipe had gotten lost, then their was someone that mentioned, "Hey!  This is the recipe from the side of an old Hershey's cocoa box!"  nice.

....or...how about the "Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie" recipe off the side of the bag, which I think most cookie bakers consider sacred, I'm sorry, it just doesn't get better!....

Sometimes when I ask my mom for that old special recipe she used to make me as a kid she'd say, "Sarah!  It's easy!  Just check the side of the box!"  Ancient and old indeed!  HRMPH!

So, perhaps it's important to remember that so many cultural food traditions won't die away simply because we lost an index card when we moved.....information flows and evolves and changes, old arts become new ones and the recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies aint goin' nowhere!!!!!

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 large eggs, 2 cups (12-oz. pkg) Chocolate Chips

So, what's your favorite?

nescafe

no.  it's not coffee.  not really.
nescafe.
it can try and trick us all it wants with its fancy labels and descriptions, "bold and brilliant'  hmf!
what Chileans lovingly refer to as coffee, it's not really coffee.
it's crap.
crystalized freeze dried grains of nescaca....not cacao.  poopola!  I mean seriously, if you look at it and smell it straight up...if the shoe fits!

If you order a coffee in Chile and you want the real deal, you have to say, "Cafe, cafe".  RIGHT!  Twice!  As in saying, "I'd like the COFFEE coffee please!"  If you ask for "cafe" you get Nescafe!  Which is ALWAYS on the menu for those poor lost souls included in its cult following.

Here's what I don't get.  Totally mystified.
In many other countries, drinking crap-o coffee makes sense, perhaps because it's hard to get access to fresh foods, or people tend to prefer other local beverages...silkworm poo tea for example. (Louang Probang Laos)
But Chile?
Chileans drink a lot of coffee!
We're talking perhaps 5-10 cups a day!  They love it!  It's a coffee culture!
- pre work day cup
- coffee break at work cup
- pre lunch cup
- after lunch cup
- after work with "once" cup
- after dinner cup

It's a part of almost every social interaction here!

You would think that a culture so set around drinking a certain beverage would want that beverage to be really good.....
*you can find good coffee here, generally a small shot of espresso being the way to go when it comes to the real stuff in a nice restaurant or cafe, but when it comes to an "American" style cup of Joe?  No percolators in sight!  SOLO NESCAFE!

But what's really disturbing me?
After what, 2 months only?  I'M DOING IT TOO!!!
I went from only having one cup of coffee in the morning, to drinking Nescafe all day long!
I now connect studying Spanish, finishing a meal, surfing the internet (in reality Facebook) all with sipping Nescafe!

When did this happen?!?!?
You know what I think?  Drugs.  Lots of em.  Brain training drugs to stimulate the impulse to love crappy coffee laced right in there.

The perfect corporate world domination take over!  I'm on to you Nescafe!!!  (sip)

orange jello

So, I'd love to blame my bad attitude on the full moon, but yesterday I woke up with a stuffy nose from a cold, blood shot itchy eyes from pollution and a bad attitude about all of it....

A nice person would have this moment of green mucus, pussy, angry irritation, have a coffee and get over it...I however, decided on the worst pre coffee choice possible and decided to throw some cranky ranting at my lovely, sleepy pre coffee husband....

you know that phrase for couples, "don't go to bed angry?"  Well, for us it's, "don't talk before coffee"

Bad idea.
Baaaaaaaaaad idea.
Never again.

After many, many, many hours of, "grr...roar", "grr" "snap!" "ROAR!!!!" Rodolfo took me to visit his work where we got to eat in the cafeteria!  I haven't had cafeteria food in SO LONG!  What was it that finally snapped our bad mood into a good one?

ORANGE JELLO!

I had no idea how happy that could make me!  Everything about it is awesome!
(don't think about what's in it, just how cool it is as a substance!)
The texture, the color, how you have to bite/chew/swallow all at once...like a bichallow!
Even the smell is unique!

I haven't thought to make or buy Jello in oh, about ...never, but now?  kind of loving it!
Anyone from the midwest/or anyone who may have gone to a wedding/funeral in the midwest remember jello marshmellow fruit salad??!?!?  (Once again proving how we (proud midwestern..perhaps Minnesotan women) can take a label like "salad" and create the most unhealthy bowl of love ever!)

Ah memories.....

So it just shows you, you never know when a bad day could become a great day, with a gooey-bouncy-see thru - edible - square of love!

what are the chances?

So what happened yesterday?

I got pummeled in the head by a pigeon.
Fly by knock out punch, with some additional confused wing action.
Wham, bam, continued flying, thank you mam...

First his friend gave me the brush in the face with a wing and when I turned to see what was going on....
PIGEON.  In.  the.  face!
WHACK!
I didn't think this was possible!  I thought pigeons were somehow designed to defy disasters and death at unusual means....that there was some kind of inner radar they followed...like cats falling on their feet....

This could explain why so many pigeons are missing appendages/feet/wings and generally look stressed here in Chile..perhaps not enough healthy grains in the diet...
That, or he considered me threatening?  That's her!  Take her down!!!!
Kamakazi pigeon with no will to live?

Here's the next part, at the time of this pigeon attack, I was at a metro station at rush hour, right in front of a row of bars with about 100 local Santiago after work businessmen having beers....what do you do exactly after a head on collision with a wild bird?!?  Start screaming profanities at a...pigeon?  Smile and laugh?

Weird.
Bird.  Straight.  In.  The.  Face.
I am so confused.

Gringa Shock - Seguridad

Seguridad is the word for safety or security in Spanish.

It's one of the first words I picked up when I arrived here, because you see it everywhere!  There seem to be a plethera of private security companies and schools lining the streets but you also see it on advertisements for homes, condos, schools, parking lots, gyms, etc.. just the word 'seguridad' is everywhere!  The business of 'seguridad' is thriving here!  They love it!

This is not to judge that Chile is any more or less safe than anywhere else in the world, that....I really couldn't say. I have to be honest, I feel safer here then many other countries in the world, perhaps this is due to all the 'seguridad'?  or Chile isn't that unsafe?  I don't know.
Granted, Santiago is a big city with a large contrast between the rich and poor, which leads to a lot of petty crimes and theft that you have to be aware of....but dudes toting semi automatic weapons or some such?  nah!

Chileans in general seem to have a need to feel that they are protected and safe, which I don't mind, but they've taken this concern and created a continual feeling that "you are being watched," which for me feels like an invasion of personal space....even sounds feel invasive....this feeling...definitely something I've needed to get used to.

Honk, screech, car alarm goes off, honk, hammer, hammer, honk, car alarm turns off, repeat!

Last week I accidentally wished our upstairs neighbor 'salud' when he sneezed, thinking it was Rodolfo!

It doesn't really help that Santiago just has a lot of people in a compact space, which means people live VERY close together!

For your viewing entertainment, their is also the 24 hour live reality show above the tree tops.....windows upon windows upon windows of people pretending not to look at each other, which is pretty fun, but blinds are very necessary!   I'll be honest, I'm a watcher myself....  Their is this adorable elderly man with a pot belly 5 floors down across the street that sits and reads his paper everyday at 3pm in his man chair by the window drinking coffee, it's really cute!  My buddy....sometimes I smile and wave.....but he hasn't seen me yet, I'm waiting for my invitation for once!....yes...I know it's weird, but he's so cute!  I want to bake him cookies.

La Seguridad of Santiago is based upon watchers.  Everyone pays guards to watch their buildings, their cars,their property, which is all behind brick walls and 10 foot fencing as it is!  Walking down the street, I could stop at any moment and look around and see from a window/door/street corner/car a pair of eyes glued to my every move....this is not including the security cameras perched on the sides of buildings, on fences, in the elevators, stores....anywhere and everywhere you go, you are being watched!

Seguridad!
AHHH!!!!!!!!!

There are eyes and ears everywhere and it's not just the professionals who do it.
Chileans LOVE the gossip, they love to judge what everyone is doing, wearing, saying, who doesn't?!?  It gives the old ladies something to do during the day to sit on a street bench and critique the promenaders.

I'll make a big presumption here, why not?!?  I think Chileans are very curious people but in a timid way.  They like to know and watch what's going on, but they don't like to be seen doing it...which perhaps helps explain the heightened security awareness and slight paranoia...?!?  A war of watchers!  You must hire people to watch the people who are watching you of course!

This game of big brother does have its pros!
I'll be honest, it's comforting to know that in the middle of the night while I'm asleep, their is someone awake and alert watching over us.  I sleep better at night knowing this, that is, after our neighbor turns off his car alarm.

"this isn't the USA"

That's what people like to tell me here in Chile when something doesn't go quite right....when we have to pay a guy to park, when papers take a while to process, when the coffees don't come out quite fast enough and perhaps it's not real coffee....things like that.

There is a very strong belief here and in a lot of the places we've visited that life in the USA is and always will be better.....things work...you can trust people....you have access to anything you want.....you have rights...the government isn't full of scandal and corruption....I think somewhere along the line, there's been some kind of misunderstanding.....

My first day back in the States last fall I got sick and needed to see a doctor, but happened to be heading to Canada in a few days....I waited for Canada! It was easier and probably cheaper to pay the $150 "non Canadian" doctor fee there than go thru the hassle of trying to get help in the States and not know how much it would cost.....my own country.....how embarrassing!

There is a belief that the reason American's don't travel so much internationally is because we are lazy and afraid of the rest of the world....did I see many Americans on the road?  Nope.

When we explained to fellow European travelers that it is because we only get about two weeks of vacation a year and people are afraid to lose their jobs which would mean losing their health coverage, car, home, future, they were dumb founded.  (Many Europeans can receive unpaid extended leave from their positions and return to their job when they're finished exploring once every few years, this is on top of their 3-4 weeks, if not more, paid yearly vacation)

Most of my friends can't afford to travel, because of the debt they have to pay back for their higher education expenses, cars, homes, children, assuming they've had good health insurance and haven't maxed out their credit cards when they fell off their bike and had to pay for the x ray and cast out of pocket while working 3 part time jobs...true story.

This morning I woke up to screaming in my mind and then I read the news and found those screams to be real....to some of my closest friends in pain and anger, confused and uncertain after spending days protesting in the cold fighting with all their might against an unfair government.....and being stripped of their rights anyways.....

....just writing that feels wrong.....protesting?  unfair government?  stripped of rights?  this is my country?

Michael Moore  (one of my documentary heroes) shouting in the streets of Wisconsin  "Don't Give Up"

You know things are bad when Michael Moore starts shouting too!

Teachers crying in the bathroom ......

Making a teacher cry is like kicking a puppy in the stomach....you just DON'T DO IT!  It's SICK!

Granted, the rest of the world has its own problems, no country is perfect, but the more of the world I see, sometimes the sadder I feel for the myth that not only the rest of the world believes, but that I believed myself about my own country growing up, that I come from a fair and just place where people thrive if they do what they believe is right....

I'm not seeing that.

So yes, this isn't the USA....health care, job security, one full paid month long vacation, that exists in Chile!

The fact that my quality of life would be better not living in my own country?  

That makes me really sad.

The backpacker syndrome

There he is.  Awkward and tired.  Khacki Pants.  Thailand T-shirt.  Lonely planet and free tourist map in hand.  Special black sport sunglasses.  Standing on the street corner with that look of....

......uh.......

Of all the people I see on the streets of Santiago (or anywhere really) I judge backpackers the harshest.

"Ooh!  Rodolfo!  Backpacker!  Ooh!  Ooh!  10 o' clock!"
That is, if I say it first, Rodolfo is just as judgmental, observing every detail and then playing the game of "where is he from"  Germany!  No.  France!  Definitely France!  You can tell by the backpack and the angry face....

Perhaps because we've been there.  We've gotten the very same look/discussion/judgment hundreds of times, like being part of an elite secret club you can only join after you've been hungry, tired, dirty and have to pee for more then four hours straight, all with local onlookers goggling and laughing at your expense.  Members of this kind of club don't like fakers.

If you haven't peed in awkward situations, if you haven't eaten street food, if you haven't slept in questionable circumstances.....EEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!  Not in.  Yes.  I'm labeling myself as "in"....I can do that after peeing in the places I've peed.  Where have you peed?  hmm?

That guy on the street corner.
He looks miserable!
A part of me doesn't understand him at all.
Who would want to do that?

Why would you want to carry around your home on your back in extreme heat not knowing where you're going to sleep or what you are going to eat, all while looking like a stupified loser....sounds tantalizing.....

That all being said, I can't WAIT for our next trip!!!
and when we do it, I'm TOTALLY going to BE that guy!
Will I plan ahead beyond perhaps the purchase of a Rough Guide?  (R.G's waaay better then L.P.'s!)
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Would I choose to experience all of those dusty, hungry, dirty days over again?
BUT OF COURSE!

That look I'm giving that poor bloke with the embarrassing pants?
Pity mixed with....admiration....
I'd rather eat dirt then be in that guys shoes.
hmmmm....
Dirt is supposed to be good for you once in a while....
helps your immune system or something, right?

Oh baby that's what I like!

After a year plus of trying all of the alternatives, this is how I like it:

1. Coffee: regular caffeinated, paper filtered in a Mr. Coffee, beans freshly ground (can be frozen) of a medium price range with a nice aroma drunk out of a 'big ass' mug topped with 3-4 tbsp cold skim milk.  *no sugar, 'big ass' cup essential to the experience

2. Bread: Thickly sliced multi grain goodness.  I'm not a toast, white bread, bun, baguette person, but I do enjoy all of these occasionally with the right foods in the right circumstances.
* Bread is not my carb of choice is all, I'm a rice girl!

3. Beer: Not too light, not too dark, with some thickness and flavor!  There's nothing like a tall pint of wheat beer with a good chunk of fresh squeezed lemon on a hot day.  Oh Great Dane how I miss you!

4. Eggs: FRIED!  Sunny side up with a runny yolk and a solid white....with a slice of thick whole wheat buttered toast....drool!

5. Rice: My favorite-est carb in the whole wide world!  (close second, creamy mashed potatoes...mmm...)  Before the trip, I was enamored with my Black and Decker rice maker, but after plain white rice for every meal 6 months straight...aeh...For me post Spain, there's nothing like a quick pre fry in some extra virgin olive oil with perhaps a bit of herb or spice for that "je ne sais quoi!"  That's how we do it!

6. Cheese: (for straight up eating)  This one's tough, but I got it down to my top 3!
 - Smoked gouda - an oldie but a gouda...hee..hee...eh, ok.
 - Extra Extra Sharp Wisconsin Cheddar - on a multi grain cracker or paired with green apple and a handful of walnuts....OW!
 - Soft Chevre (goat cheese) - on a crispy sesame cracker or baguette, good god!  My ultimate goat cheese moment so far   - Lyon France on a salad with smoked salmon at a hole in the wall restaurant where the chef looked like Mr. Boyardee with his shirt off singing an Italian opera....awesome!  The lack of shirt plus singing totally added to the flavor!

Variety is the spice of life - foods I love to switch up!


7. Tea:  After green tea in Japan, milky sweet chai tea in Malaysia, freshly picked mint tea from Abuela's garden in Chile and a strong black tea in London, it's always good to be open to trying new teas!!


8. Olives: I've never met an olive I didn't like!  I married a man who can eat a bottle in one sitting, so I've learned to be a competitive olive eater....survival of the fittest!  Some of the best I've ever had?  Madrid Spain from the olive aisle of the grocery store...you heard right!  Anchovy stuffed green big boys in a tin.  We went back to buy them again...and again and again and again!

9. Wine:  I should be embarrassed by this, but I love trying lots of different wines of different price ranges from different countries.  Cheap boxed white spooned out of a canteloupe with sugar camping on a hot day....nothing better....  it all depends on the moment, the people, the food.....I enjoy it all!

10. Cake:  There are A LOT of crappy cookies in the world not worth trying.  If you want to try something bland and nasty while traveling, buy some cookies.  Yes, I'm an American cookie snob....we do it right.  But cake? Now that's something that is always fun to try!  It usually tends to involve fruit, cream, nuts, more cream, perhaps cheese....to know what local people like to eat, buy a piece of freshly made cake, you will almost never lose!

amber waves of...condiments!

“You will see me probably drink an obscene amount of maple syrup. I’ve never had maple syrup before about three weeks ago, and now I could freebase it. Pints of it.”


That's from this!  The New York Times article, "Not just a muggle, with song and dance"


The article wasn't about syrup, it was about Harry, errr...  Daniel Radcliffe and his future, but this blog entry?  Definitely about maple syrup!  That article totally got me thinking about people who are passionate about condiments and how cool that is!  It's downright, AMERICAN!


Random little bottles of things that always live in the center of tables and on walls of fridges all over the world...a universal, international passion...condiments, but nowhere more so then the U.S.A..


They add flavor/fat to foods generally in a liquid form...sweet and/or sour and sometimes spicey!  


There's the basics....
USA:
ketchup and mustard
salt and pepper


Chile:
Aji, ketchup, lemon juice, oil, salt


Thailand:
salt, sugar, chile flakes, chile oil, vinegar


Then there are the unusual condiments...... these particularly are the ones in discussion....
(the reason our fridge in the States had no room for actual food) 
The new American pastime!


You watch an Italian/Asian/Greek/Mexican cooking show....
So you go out and buy a little/big bottle of something purely to make dinner....and the next thing you know, you own:


fish sauce
soy sauce
white cooking wine
white vinegar
apple cider vinegar
balsamic vinegar
I mean...just look at all that vinegar!?!?


I love that Harry...er...Daniel had never tried maple syrup until 3 weeks prior!  Welcome to America! It's probably the equivalent to my first experience with brown sauce (British A1) in London!  I was fascinated/disturbed, although, you definitely wouldn't want to consume it in pintfuls....which goes to show, we do our condiments up right in the States!


yeah...I'm feeling some U.S.A. pride right now, roll with it!!!  


Americans will be fascinated to learn, you can't find maple syrup in Chile...but you CAN find PALM TREE SYRUP, which we actually consume in the States on our pancakes, because we like it better...so much for that pride....


You also can't find peanut butter or molasses in Chile...but I did find avacado oil on a shelf last week in Jumbo, the ginormous grocery store here!  How crazy is that?!?


Harry's maple syrup impulse is my addictive equivalent to Mayo.  I did try mayo in almost every part of the world, but for the most part (not including France) nothing could compare to the wonder of Hellman's...which I'm not allowed to consume any longer due to the concern that I will get very fat and die.  I love mayo.  If you know me, you know this, and know you must hide mayo in your home if you want to have any left if I visit you.....it's a problem and I'm working on it!  Luckily/unfortunately, they this condiment up right in Chile....Mmmm...mayo....I even love the word mayo, say it out loud, doesn't it sound nice?


I think that obsessions with condiments may perhaps be an American thing because we have so many options!  Let's face it, we are a bit of a melting pot of condiments.  We have access to 100's of different kinds of condiments, especially if we hit up the ethnic food stores and markets....that can particularly effect our fridge space!  


Yes, there's yellow mustard, but then there's so much more!  You would know this if you lived in Wisconsin and got to visit their beloved mustard museum in Mount Horeb!  Yeah, so Europe has the fancy ones, but the 100's of options?  USA baby!


For example:
We are the land of Sriracha Sauce for crying out loud, created in California!  I can tell you, they don't buy pad thai sauce in a bottle in Thailand!  You won't find ranch dressing in a European refrigerator...ok....perhaps that is for the best....


What do I miss the most when away from the States?
CONDIMENTS!!!!!!  
What do I appreciate the most about new places?
CONDIMENTS!!!!!!


So now I know, being obsessed with Condiments?  Open mindedness towards new condiments?  Downright American!

Gringa Shock - El Asado

El Asado - THE BARBECUE!
This is pretty much the definition of manhood in Chile.
If you can't grill a piece of meat with wood charcoal and a hole in the ground and/or piece of rounded metal, you are not a man!

The imfamous Chilean barbecue experience!  Probably the best reason to be in Chile....if you eat meat!

Ladies, this meat cooking man is taken!

Me and Ignacio, aka - Senor Mayonesa.....
Ignacio grew up in Spain and paid attention to his mum in the kitchen!
Igacio can make a mean Aioli....
5 years ago I met Ignacio and tasted my first taste of heaven, AIOLI!  It changed my life forever, and just may have something to do with my love for Chile!

Man at work.  As it should be.

Being cooked on this wood charcoal slow cooking grill cleaned with wedge of onion....that's how you clean a grill here....grunt.....
Chicken and big giant pieces of beef...grunt grunt...

not pictured: Chorizo + pan = Choripan (bread and spicy sausage)
Longeniza is a more southern type of Choripan, also delicious!

Choripan: a type of spiced sausage you eat with bread, mayo and pebre!  Kind of like a fancy hot dog!

Pebre: a mix of chopped tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro, olive oil and salt....fresh salsa

The perfect condiment for a freshly grilled lightly salted chunk of slightly bloody beef...mmm....

A slightly bloody lightly salted piece of pure bliss....

this calls for a belly rub!

Pan, pebre, mayonesa, carne....heaven.

But the best part of Asado?

that would be this!

Gringa Shock - La Calle/walk about

Gringa Shock - Part 2
LA CALLE - The street

I think the streets of Chile are the biggest shock to Westerners when they first get here because they aren't very pretty.  Anywhere in public domain tends not to be as cared for.  Most people have private gardens within their yards or community living areas.  All things of beauty are hidden behind walls.

This is what you see in the "nice" part of Santiago

• Fences, big ones!
• If you're lucky, sidewalks!
• If you're not lucky, big giant dogs with big giant barks!
• Once in a while there's a security guard sitting in a little box.
• Once in a while there's a gardener or a maid out watering their square of grass...if the sun's down.

What's crazy to realize for me is that Santiago can be exceptionally beautiful, once you cross the fence!

A lot of people choose to live in gated communities.
This is where Rodolfo grew up, with a little private park to sit around to talk to friends and a big giant parking lot/driveway to kick a ball around and learn to ride a bike.

This is a view of the private park you have to pay money to picnic in.

$6 for your car or $1 to walk in.

$10 per picnic site - more for one with a fire pit.

My point is, anywhere that's pretty to be, you generally need to have money to be there

  

Today happened to be trash day!
Hopefully you can see the pole with the basket on it....that's a Chilean garbage can!

You try to leave things of value or anything potentially recyclable on the side so that the bicycling dumpster divers can get at your cardboard and glass a bit easier.

This confused me when Rodolfo explained the "recycling" system.
People scoot around all day sorting thru the trash before the trucks drive in.  It seems to work

If you don't have a basket on a pole by your driveway, the norm is to hang your bags on a fence or tree.

below

Santiago has the perfect climate to grow fruit!  It is everywhere!!!
Which means, you have to watch where you walk!

above!

Plums, berries, lemons, pears, apples, peaches, anything that grows on a tree or bush seems to grow here!  Most of the time, they're behind the fences, but sometimes, you can get berried on!

Something I didn't get a picture of because it felt wrong: maids in actualy maid outfits is quite normal here.  Maids are a regular part of life for most households.....watching kids, walking dogs, watering plants, doing laundry...pretty normal stuff here.

double duty: cactuses and graffiti

Something Rodolfo hates is the normalcy of palm trees here!  The invasive species of palm trees to be precise wiping out the native plants of Santiago...trust me, you don't want to get him started!



Lastly, you can find public schools in Chile, but they are known for being crap.  If you have the money, you send your kids to a private Catholic School.  This is actually one of the major issues we discuss over which country to raise our kids in...religious private institutions with uniforms, or getting into the right suburban school district in the States......decisions, decisions....

Santiagoans can diss their public transit all they want, but I think it rocks!  You can get almost anywhere in the city for around a buck!  I really like that the buses and subway system are connected and I really love my "bip!" card because you can't get scammed as a tourist or outsider, like so many other places I've been to.  You see people from every walk of life using them and they stay extremely clean!  Buses and trains are on time and run fairly regularly.  I love it!

Bolson, Argentina

In every country, there is one little town known for their hippy-dom.

Arts and crafts, smelly people,  fancy soaps (if only the two would mix)

We were fortunate to get to spend a few days in Bolson Argentina which fits this description perfectly.

A valley where dinosaurs once roamed near the town of Bolson

Incredible food, many a microbrew (which my plump tummy is now paying for with more plumpiness), mountains, lakes and a particular "art gallery" on the top of a mountain peak that is truly one of a kind!  Art that was once alive and impossible to move.

This art is unique in that it is literally rooted to the mountain.

The wood carvers must come to the mountain top and find a suitable "canvas" to complete their work!

Once created, it will never be removed, accept by time and mother nature.

The only problem?  To appreciate this art, you must ALSO climb the mountain, which is an hour long dusty trek up the side of the mountain!

women and the moon

A little place in the middle of mountains, lavender, berry bushes and nothing else called Pirque.

Owned by a family of chefs!

Here I got to try curanto (cooked free range lamb)  in a blueberry glaze with roasted potatoes carrots and eggplant.  Yum!