Chilean Jam Sessions

Being friends with some musicians down here has made for some excellent party nights and unexpected moments. First one of the most enjoyable ones from the weekend of music in Coñaripe and the second is from a recent birthday party.

bikes stolen

stupidly, i have to say we were very responsible for having our bikes stolen several weeks ago. we took off for a quick trip to the grocery store and left our two bicycles together on the same cable lock. did we use all the locks we had? no of course not. we ended up taking two of the locks with us into the store instead of throwing them on separate bikes. we also parked them a little further away from the store than we should have.

when we came out probably 2 hours later (pretty big shopping spree), they were gone. scott found the cut lock in the garbage nearby. we talked with a barber shop owner who i had noticed standing close-by, outside, smoking a cig. no he hadn't seen anything, but he confirmed it was a pretty rough area (you know, what the hell are you doing here kind of statement). we asked him about the carabineros and whether they would be willing, whether it would be worth it to report it. he directed us to a carabinero station (which we couldn't find) so we went to the one we knew was close to our house.

it was quite an experience... the carabinero we had was kind of like barney rubble. he didn't listen to anything we said and was kind of talking to himself a lot. quite notable was the fact that there is no basic form to fill out in this situation. our officer took about an hour to draft a letter about my missing bicycle. i told him several times how to spell the street name and he refused to listen, electing to get his information from his friend at another station. i told him several times throughout that two bikes were stolen but he only really allowed himself to listen at the end. i could hear him talking to his supervisor, accusing us of not telling him about it until the end. it was funny though, as he was selecting our nationality in the system, i could see there was no option for a person from the united states. we ended being "other american" in their system.

the system was quite interesting. it was like ms-dos and reports were printed on that paper that was around in printers in the late 80s, early 90s. you know, the kind with the edges that you need to rip off and you have a carbon copy underneath? anyway, it wouldn't let him file the report until he had entered my mother's appellido. i thought that was great.

as a follow-up, the other day i got a letter from the carabineros stating that my case was going to be "archivada provisionalmente" due to a lack of leads... in fact, we didn't follow up as much as we could have. later on the day our bikes were taken, we met a guy who worked in that same grocery store. he gave us the number to the store and assistance if we needed it. we also never checked in with the store to see if they had anything on their cameras.

no, we decided to be renegades. we looked for our bikes at a feria the next day but, to no avail, they were not there. but, we saw we could buy bikes for 15mil (compared to the 50mil my bike cost). benefit from someone else's misfortune and buy a stolen bike? well, at least we'd be in good company...

this is the letter i got from the carabineros about a week after i filed the incident report. it states both of my "apellidos" and says that the case will be archived unless any new evidence comes to light.

tenemos paltas

yes it's true, paltas aplenty!

$4.80 USD

Fast Food Nation

As you all know, food is one of my favorite things to discuss and experience. For example, I've been fascinated by comparing the Chilean diet to my, more habitual, North American one. The Chileans seem to eat more sugar, smaller portions, and more frequently. The Chilean day generally has 4 meals instead of three. They insert an 'once' which happens around 5-6PM and eat a light dinner closer to 10PM if they're still hungry. This seems to make for a population that is far thinner than the US but not as thin as a stereotypically European society. One of the biggest differences that I can pinpoint...outside of these eating habits...is the total absence of high-fructose corn syrup. In a country with a serious sweet tooth, I have been surprised to find that everything from coffee to candy has just plain sugar in it. Also, most of the food consumed in Chile is very fresh and the canned/boxed food sections of your traditional grocery store don't exist in any recognizable form.
Some interesting research into the affects of sugar, fat, and salt on the brain has been recently talked about and I would encourage you to check it out. The source is former FDA Chair David Kessler and he posits that fat, salt, and sugar can affect the body and brain in very much the same way traditional drugs do. Thought provoking stuff and a good way to look at your diet in a different way. Check out this video of Dr. Kessler drawing the links between the science of this research, the way we eat, and the real cost of health.
Here are some pictures of the food we've been cooking, finding, and eating :)

top 5 brian clark moments

1. in a toast to brian's trip to santiago, scott and i say "to brian" and brian holds the glass up to his mouth and only says (practically to himself in a less enthusiastic tone), "brian."

2. many of brian's stories included his trip to spain. you know how it is, when you're out of the country you are always reminded of experiences of other international trips you've taken. anyway, at one point brian says.... "so guys, from now on, many of my sentences are going to start with these five words.... when i was in spain..."

3. brian noticed that many, if not practically all, spanish songs contain "corazón." we started to pick up on this quite a bit during his trip. frequently, brian would start singing to himself... "mi corazónnnn."

4. brian noticed that rarely do restaurants give decent-sized napkins for dinner or any meal-time. without commenting about this directly he says, “let me just go ahead and wipe my nose on this receipt."

5. while at a camp fire we had constructed in the desert, brian heard the sounds of a chilean marching band, of sorts. dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, wearing tall white socks and a headlamp, he couldn’t have looked more gringo. he gets excited, rubbing his hands together and then thrusting them close to the fire. he says something like, “i’m there in two.” then he takes off running in the direction of the roving band; we can see his headlight bobbing in the distance. i'm pretty sure he had quite a nice time.

brian- thanks for coming!! we had an awesome time. i'm also appreciative of all of the out-door equipment and peanut butter!!

Reading Rainbow...Never a Better Show

the abundancy of english words

i've said before i'm surprised about how much english on signs and in general there is here, and with that, how little English people know. this is perhaps a meager example but this is a sign that hangs in our gym on the roof. the machines are of course, manufactured elsewhere (perhaps Europe) and have English signage. this sign serves to translate for those spanish speakers using the treadmills and whatnot.

but hey! at least they have translation for anything they need. at home, immigrants have little access to translate services, especially on an emergency basis.

i can only imagine how life would be different for me in the united states if i had to translate in order to use daily equipment, access public transportation, etc. now, most things are certainly written in spanish but the type of language barrier that exists here is something i take for granted when i am in my home country.

car accidents do happen

i said a while ago that we often would hear awful screeching noises but never an accident. well, we had gotten so accustomed to this that we never expected an actual accident. this was a sad reminder that they do indeed occur.



the response time was pretty decent, i would say that it took about 3 minutes for a medical professional to happen upon the scene. there were about 10 carabineros, 4 ambulances, 3 fire trucks. i hope everyone is ok.

a green forest.

remember when you used to pretend you had a tree forest with your mashed potatoes and broccoli? well, 20 years later and 5,400 miles away that fantasy is realized with celery trees which you can purchase for about $1.50 USD. Eating this beast is a community effort...

notice how scott is clutching the thing...

mendoza, ar

we went to mendoza about a month and a half ago. the trip through the andes was probably the highlight (though mendoza itself was awesome). we went up a road that twisted and turned and just went up and up and up. the trip took about 5 and a half hours. coming down was definitely harrowing. no guard-rails and really nothing keeping you from one length of road to the next.



view from the front of the bus...


there were so many colors of blue, green, red and brown.

views of the failed trans-andes railway were particularly eerie.


there were so many things we wanted to experience once in argentina, the empanadas, the bike riding, coffee, maté, parrilla, fresh air, beautiful trees, fine chocolates, the vineyards...

the first thing we did when we got there was to rent bikes to ride around town. mendoza is a really nice place to wheel around in. less traffic, more consideration for bikers. so far, the transition from chile to argentina was like going from new york city to montreal, lovin' it! anyway, the first place we hit up was walmart, yeah i know... i know... first time i had been to walmart, legitimately, in years. but we thought, maybe they had peanut butter... scott was looking for cheddar cheese and i was oogling at the ice cream section (argentina has amazing ice cream). i also bought delicious alfahores, loving the argentine/chilean peso conversion.

i ate the weirdest combination of meats/meat products in my parrilla (intestines, kidneys, steak, chicken, ribs and blood sausage). it was the weirdest but also on the whole, the most delicious. we made friends with a rather forward argentine who was complaining about the USA while we dined on our intestines. the malbec we drank with it made such a good contrast; on its own it is so dry.

our second day included buying fine Argentine chocolates, going on wine tours on bikes through vineyards and in general enjoying the day. we stopped at an artesanal fair and bought specialty alfajores from Mariel (a nice chica we met) and rosa mosqueta jam from her friend. when we left the vineyards to take the bus home, we were short of exact change. this wouldn't have been a problem except argentina doesn't have enough coins in circulation. for a while it looked like we weren't getting home until scott asked the second shopkeeper (i was doubting random acts of hospitality). the clerk was very nice though and although she didn't have change, she solicited shoppers to fund us. we eventually got home although we didn't really know where we were going and took the bus about 7 stops too far.

major differences between santiago and mendoza

• many more people spoke english in mendoza
• easier to communicate with argentines (in spanish)
• accent is clearly different (ja ja versus aa-o-can't explain you just have to be there)
  
• maté cups abound in argentina
• argentines are less distant and in general, more straightforward (the guy at dinner)
• buildings are warmer in Argentina, natural gas is abundant there. cars run on natural gas.
• european influence is more apparent in argentina (bakeries, general attitude, differences at the border)
• mendoza is greener and smells nicer (there are street canals that take excess run-off and water the trees that sit in them)
• old cars!! mendoza has tons of old cars (ford falcons, old trucks and beetles). santiago has mostly new cars from all over, really.