Odds and Ends

With the trip coming to an end in a couple days, it's probably time to put down a few of the things I've seen here and haven't described or that I wanted to mention in further detail...

One of the first things that's different about Chile is that everyone is kissing everyone else. Well, almost everyone. When being introduced to someone new, when meeting a family member, a friend or a relative at a home or on the street, when in almost any situation that in the United States you might shake hands or smile and say, "how are you?" - here you kiss each other one time on the right cheek. Men kiss women. Women kiss girls. Men kiss girls. Men kiss young boys. Women kiss young boys. Young boys kiss girls. But - men and older boys shake hands with other men and older boys. Both when arriving and when leaving. It can make for some interesting times like at some of the asados when a family of 5 arrives and they work their way around to everyone (all 20 other people) and kiss. Same thing when they leave. When sitting on a park bench in Concepción I saw three policemen meet a policewoman and they all kissed... Once I got used to it, I got used to it.

The second thing that's different about Chile (and this is common just about everywhere in the non-USA world) is the number of smokers. The smoke is something I've found harder to get used to...

Coming from Seattle, the home of Starbucks, I was immediately surprised by the coffee situation here. Order a coffee (cafe) at a restaurant and you get a pot of hot water and a jar of Nescafe and a spoon. Order coffee with milk (cafe con leche) and you get a pot of hot water, a pot of hot milk, and a jar of Nescafe and a spoon. Always Nescafe. Occasionally there will be espresso machines in restaurants, but to get something from them you need to order specifically - saying, "cafe latte" will probably work but saying, "cafe con leche" definitely doesn't. I saw one sign for "drip coffee" in a restaurant window in Puerto Montt - but that was the only evidence of what we would call "just plain coffee" in the United States. What's Nescafe taste like? I'd say the best description is probably, "just plain coffee".

Along with coffee, I should mention bread. There are many, many bakeries here. Small bakeries appear in many blocks and almost all neighborhoods. Most of the grocery stores also have their own bakery. The bread comes in a variety of styles - almost all of them around the size of a hamburger bun. The most common is called hallulla (pronounced "I you ya") and is small, round and relatively flat. Here's a photo. Every bakery is pretty similar. The warm bread is dumped into big wooden bins about three feet wide and three feet deep. Different breads in different bins and a price is written above the bin. Tongs are attached to each bin and customers put their bread into plastic bags. These bags are then taken to an employee with a scale who weighs them and marks them with a price (usually computer generated). Then another employee runs the cash register and takes the money. The bread is delicious!

Television Sports - ESPN, Fox Sports, and a couple other sports-only channels all show soccer almost all of the time. I've never cruised through the channels without seeing a soccer game or soccer highlight show. Mostly they show European league games - England, Italy, Spain. Also some games from Argentina. They also have a lot of rugby and field hockey. Even polo! A real change from American TV...

For Nancy, Ward's wife, here is a picture of the only Araucaria "forest" that I've seen. It's actually just 4 of the Araucaria trees growing in a plaza in Valparaiso. There have been many of these trees in people's yards (usually small ones since they are slow growing). I haven't seen the famous forests full of the trees. The tree also has a nickname "Monkey Puzzle Tree" because some of them are so covered with spine-like bark and branches that an early observer noted even a monkey would be puzzled about how to climb them... Check out this page http://www.victorialodging.com/monkey_puzzle_tree.htm for additional information.

Hot water is another difference here. In Seattle I turn on the tap with "H" on it. In Chile to get hot water a calafon needs to be lit with a match (here's a picture of what the calafon looks like) - every house that we've been in has a calafon. When a hot water tap is turned on, water then goes through pipes in the calafon and is directly heated by a gas flame on it's way to the tap. After only one mistake you get used to checking if the calafon is lit before jumping into the shower...

Kitchens are almost always small and efficient. Tabletops work as multiple types of workspace and creativity is vital to a successful outcome. Here's a photo of Paula and Lola putting together dinner in the kitchen here. Some great meals have come out of very small spaces on this trip...

I'm sure there are things I've missed. Chile is a great country to visit since it's not that much different from home. The people are generally friendly when approached and the food is recognizable. But at the same time, to make things a bit challenging, everyone speaks Spanish and very few people can carry on conversations in English. If you're looking for an adventure without too much hardship - Chile would be a great destination.