Nuggets from Santiago
Holly wrote a post! here it is – enjoy!
1) We live on the 25th floor of our building. I’ve only ridden the elevator one time in 3 weeks where the other people did not say “hola” upon entering and “ciao” upon leaving. Friendly folk down here.
2) They do not eat Mexican food here. Chileans don’t like spicy foods at all. It is all about the SALT. I saw a woman at a bus stop eating an apple like we would eat an avocado or a tomato–salt, then bite; salt then bite.
3) Speaking of avocados…they call them palta down here and they are ubiquitous. They really like to smash up at least 2 for each hot dog. That’s what they call an Italian style hot dog–a crapload of smashed avocados, some tomatoes, and a whole bunch of everyone’s favorite…mayonaise.
4) There are no tortilla chips for these delicious avocados. Ask a Chilean about tortilla chips and they go, “yeah, Doritoes, yo conoczo doritoes.”
5) It’s all about the power suit. There are more woman than men in Chile: 60/40, and all the working women wear black, TIGHT power suits. Pinstripes are very in, and monster clevage is essential. We live in a business district and between 2 and 3 (lunchtime for them) I love watching all the fancy suits eat their afternoon ice cream bar.
6) We splurged yesterday and spent $6 for a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.
7) Back to clothes for a minute…outside of the business atire (which, I didn’t mention that the men all wear really nice, always black, suits with pinstripes and super wide ties in bright colors–I think we should take the hint) I’m suprised at how similar the clothing is here to Portland, really. We always see t-shirts with english sayings on them, and as long as I don’t open my mouth, I can blend in pretty well here. Different story for my blonde amiga–but the cat calls have been harmless and seem to me more polite than in the states.
They call rush hour taco hora, which of course, we love, as long as we’re not trying to ride the subway.
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