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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.

reason number 1

here's a pretty good reason not to learn chilenismos if you are planning on returning to north america any time soon...

you may ending up calling someone's child an asshole without realizing. in asking what i can say instead of "guapo" or "guapito" for a cute child (which moreso has the translation associated with potential partners and mates in chile- that's someone's attractive), someone said, oh "here we call them pendehos." being cynical, i thought this could be a joke. alas, it was not.

chile is just that unique, oh chile!

* i don't recommend trying to strike up a discussion about babies being like little aliens and whatnot (even as a light joke); it has never been good conversation fodder in santiago. this kind of behavior will surely identify you as American, if your sarcastic, somewhat bitter sense of humor hasn't already. probably because of the close-knit family society, everyone just loves kids (even when young adults are in their most "selfish" years).... and wants one of their own one day...

Jimmy Carter: The Words of God Do Not Justify Cruelty to Women

Jimmy Carter takes modern/organized religion to task for its responsibility for and role in the subjugation of women around the world. He is speaking as a member of the The Elders and is apparently firing the first salvo of this group's focus on this issue. He not only nails the fundamentals of the issue itself, but also acknowledges the political realities and difficulties facing all leaders of our world. My favorite part of this op-ed is that it lays out facts that have been known for years, and places them in the light of our modern society. He isn't calling for the removal of organized religion or the elevation of atheism. He merely wants us to be better. In many ways, he is only asking for the fulfillment of religion's ultimate goal.

I recently caught Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness" and felt that warmth and inspiration as his character listened to the Glide gospel choir in San Francisco perform, "God, Don't Move That Mountain". Faith and religion have a place and it's an important one.

While the message about women's unfair and lesser status in our societies is an important one, it's not the chord that is struck the loudest for me. The cynicism that says we can't change the way religion acts, that says we can't change the way we produce our energy, that we can't change our politics... all suffers from the same basic fault. It's the same cynicism that your mother combated when she told you to eat your vegetables and brush your teeth. If you'd just try it, and give it an honest shot... you might find yourself down the road -of your own volition- brushing your teeth after eating some vegetables!

The link above for "change our politics" is for a piece by Glenn Greenwald. He uses the example of NBC's Chuck Todd to make the case that our government could be closer to the way we'd like it, if they weren't in bed with the establishment press. The long entry by Greenwald ends with this follow up interview with Chuck Todd...at Todd's request.

As I've noted many times before -- though it still never ceases to amaze me -- the most revealing fact about our political culture is that the group most opposed to investigations of high-level political officials happens to be the very same group that was supposed to lead the way in investigating: our journalist class. Thomas Jefferson said:

Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues of truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is freedom of the press. It is therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.

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The video below is what we could do today to change the way our power is generated and our dependence on an internal combustion engine. It is both fascinating and breathtaking simply because of how far from science fiction it is. What's clear is that we just have to try the vegetables...and if we did that...we might just like them