In other news, it was another super fun week here in Chile! I was able to do a lot of fun and different things around Santiago, despite the cold weather that has officially stopped creeping and is officially settled in. On Tuesday after my exam I interviewed with three Chileans from La Católica as they asked me questions about my experience thus far, why I chose Chile, etc for a sociology project. It was great language practice for me and they were really nice. Later that night I went to my first (and hopefully not last!) fútbol game! It was a lot of fun and a great first game to go to. The game was La Católica vs. Universidad de Chile and ended up being a tie, which disqualified La Católica from the championship. Bummer!
The stadium is in the worst pa
rt of town and this is the norm with fútbol stadiums in Chile. If they build them in the poorer parts of town they are 1) paying a lot less for the property and 2) catering more to the locals who cannot afford to entertain themselves in other ways. Overall it makes sense, it also just makes it harder for a group of gringos to go to the games. A few funny things about the game: there were cops everywhere (which was expected) but they looked like soldiers, it was crazy! There were barbed wire fences separating the different sections of the bleachers instead of a simple bar, the fans did not stop cheering the entire time and the cheers were never repeated! I tried singing along when I could pick out the words, but after a while I decided it was in my best interest to just enjoy the atmosphere. Lastly, before exiting the stadium we had to wait about 45 minutes until the fans from the other team had all made their way out to prevent uncontrollable brawls of course (I only wish I was joking). It was pretty interesting! Oh, and I loved the Rosaries on sale in support of La Católica, pretty comical. "Sure I'll buy a Rosary, and then I'll beat up that guy from the other team!" There just seems to be a strange disconnect there...On Wednesday I didn't do much of anything except go to class and pick on Mama. We danced in the kitchen, joked around and she teased me for still not wearing shoes in the house.
On Thursday Ellie and I went out for Tai food after class with Pablo and a few of his friends; it was a lot of fun!! We didn't leave San Joaquin until about 7:45 pm so we ended up eating dinner at 10:00! Love that Chilean way of doing things! But in all seriousness the food was really good and well worth the wait. I also tried one of the hottest peppers in the world. It is so hot that in fact the R-rated name of the pepper tells the consumer that their mouth will indeed be on fire if they choose to eat it and will proceed to shout profanities.
On Friday night I taught English again, this time alone and afterward there was a gathering/dinner for all of the teachers in the Belen UC program. It was at the house of an apparently pretty important man, Carlos Larraín, who is the president of Sebastian Piñera's (Chile's President) political party, La Renovación Nacional. His son is in charge of coordinating our program so I didn't actually meet don Carlos. The 350-year-old house was absolutely gorgeous, despite the damage from the earthquake and it was really fun to spend time with some Chileans that reminded me a lot of my friends in Madison. It was also nice to see a different part of Santiago and practice my Spanish without feeling any pressure whatsoever. Score!
On Saturday we did a walking tour of Barrio Yungay 
which was really cool! We saw a couple of churches, tons of cool graffiti, and saw some of the oldest, most European-style parts of the city. Apparently back in the day when Chile was colonized by the Spaniards the Plaza de Armas in each city was always the first thing to develop and then the rest of the city would be built up around it, expanding outward. Plaza Yungay was the first plaza outside of the Plaza de Armas in Santiago to develop in this way and it is part of a really neat, tranquil neighborhood. After we finished the tour we stopped at Peluquería Francesa, which is a pretty well-known coffee shop/barber shop in Santiago. It's pretty old and has a 1950's feel with the barbers trimming away downstairs.
After enjoying the café, a couple of us split from the tour group and walked around town, strolling through Mercado Central and Barrio Patronato to Barrio Bellavista, where we stopped and had a quick, cheap lunch. We then proceeded to walk up Cerro San Cristobal, enjoying the beautiful afternoon and the views of Santiago. I really don't think I'll get sick of the views from the top of the cerro, they are just so beautiful! Ellie's friend Caleb is here for a little while so we wanted him to see all of the best parts about Santiago. We continued to the top where we shared a mote con huesillos, which is a
delicious drink/treat that consists of, yes it will sound strange, corn and peaches in a peachy nectar type liquid. 
It's actually really good and when it's hot out you cannot walk down the street without seeing masses of people with one in hand. After thoroughly enjoying that we watched the sunset over the mountains and made our way back down on the funicular to save about two hours of a hike back down.That night Pablo and his friend Mario took us to a sweet discotheque that was definitely not near the Santiago that we know but was a lot of fun. Great people, free entrance for women, balloons, confetti, Madonna, Eurythmics. Need I say more? It was a lot of fun, especially with Ellie and Caleb, and we never would have been able to go all the way there had it not been for Pablo! He is really generous with his auto and it sure makes transportation easier, and more fun!
On Sunday after spending time with my family at home there was an asado (barbecue) at Ellie's so I went over there and got teased by Ellie's family for a little while. That was fun. Her dad convinced me to give the grapes a shot, even though I have been avoiding them after what happened to me last time and before I knew it they were almost all gone! And for those of you wondering, the next day I had no problems. Also, on Saturday my "sister" finally showed up! Her name is Loreta and I think she is 26 years old. She's really sweet and she was just spending some time in Germany and Italy (hmmm sound familiar?) and will be here for the week until she returns to Iquique in northern Chile to get back to the grind.
On Monday we all met up again, this time with Laura too, and went to the Santiago famous bar, La Piojera, which is one of those things you just have to do here. It actually got its name in 1922 when some friends of the president took him to the restaurant for a drink and after seeing the unfavorable conditions of the place he asked, "¿Y a esta piojera me han traído?" which translates to, "And this is the flea-hole that you brought me to?" That should tell you a little bit about the fine establishment. We sampled the famous terremotos, which are combinations of very cheap wine, fernet (a type of disgusting alcohol) and pineapple ice cream.
It was a pretty fun experience and the guys at the table next to us paid a photographer with the world's largest camera to take a picture of us and then just gave us the picture for no reason! It was a little hard to concentrate on their offer when the host came by clearing the table and doing doing Michael Jackson dance moves at the same time. Oh, and don't forget about the 65-year old curado (drunk man) singing at the top of his lungs while the rest of us clapped him on.
We spent the rest of the day enjoying the city by walking around downtown, watching some guys play uncontrollable checkers, stopping to have some delicious 2 for 1 pizza, and then finishing off the evening in Bravissimo, a wonderful gelatería with a plethora of options. It was a great time to sit around, enjoy good company, and watch Caleb drown in his tricolor, especially the Blistex-flavored favorite.Overall, a super fantastic week and I still love Santiago! Until next time! Chau!!
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