Danger!!

One day I was walking down the street and something fell on my head. It was a power line that this guy was working on.



Seems dangerous, huh?

Besos,
Allie

Hair and Hike

During my first week in Chile, Luciano, the director of the Spanish school I was attending, did his best to acclimate me to my new surroundings. This included tours of Vina and Valpo with less of a tourist spin. For example, we covered the intricacies of the local bus system, where to find los completos mas ricos, and the cheapest haircuts in town.

Cheapest haircuts in town.... I too was skeptical if this was a good thing. Do I want the cheapest haircut? I don't know..... maybe I could settle for the 3rd or 4th cheapest haircut....

Well, when the time for me to get my first haircut came, I could still barely say a thing in Spanish, and therefore, wasn't really capable of asking where a reliable but mid price range salon was located, so off I went to the cheapest place in town.

The place that was pointed out to me turned out to be a whole galeria, or small indoor shopping center, of mini salons. The building was constructed with an internal spiral shape.... something I clearly am unable to descibe. Regardless, the walls are cotton candy pink. I picked a random store front and went for it. The haircut turned out surprisingly good, and to be exactly what I wanted. Girls, I'm sure you all know that that is difficult to find, even when there is not a language barrier involved. On top of that, it only cost me 2,000 pesos (about $4).

I've been going back to this place even since. The woman who owns the place tells me every time I come in that all the girls in Paris have my hair style. Yesterday when I arrived, she was excited to show me magazines that her daughter had sent her from Switzerland featuring many shots of my hair style. What can I say? I'm an international trend setter.

Hair style pictured below:



Last weekend I hiked Cerro La Campana with two friends. Read someone else's blog post for more information.

"Mountain! Hike it!!"



View from the top:



Someone trying to send a text message:




Team Awesome:



Good work, team.

Besos,
Allie

New home (yes, again!)

I moved again and I love love love (love love love) my new apartment. Here are some pictures:



My favorite feature of the new place is the wall of windows in the dining room (pictured above). Light from this room seeps back into the kitchen and the back bedroom through a series of indoor windows. Pictured below is a window that leads from the dining room into the back bedroom.



I love my kitchen. Love it.

Meredith is my new roommate. Read her blog post for a more in depth description of the place.... I'm having spring time allergies and I'm just not feeling capable of writing anything coherent right now.

On a side note, I've recently become really into baking pies. This one is apple raspberry.


The little ones, or piecitos, make me want to talk in baby voices. The pies below are pear red wine, apple pear, pear red wine and strawberry, strawberry apple, and strawberry banana.

I'm thinking about going into the piecito business. Thoughts?

Besos,
Allie

DUNES!!!!

Alright. There are sand dunes in Con Con, which is a little north from Valparaiso, and sand dunes are fun. I've played on dunes in Long Island, dunes in Colorado, and wow was I excited to play on some Chilean sand dunes. Not only are these dunes on the beach and easier to walk on than I've previously experienced, these dunes have the extra benefit of being located in Chile, where you are free to do things like drive on the dunes. So cool. Its also cool that I am lucky enough to have a friend here that would let me drive his car on the beach.... and into flocks of seagulls. So so cool.

Look at me fall!


I was stuck.... and yes, I am carrying a handbag.


Driving into flocks of birds.... yayyy....



Yeah, so as you can probably tell, I haven't been in the mood to be at all reflective about my life through this internet forum. My six month anniversary with Chile recently passed and after a relatively minor FREAK OUT, I renewed my interest in learning the Spanish language. As I've said before, despite my lack of trying, I am slowly learning Spanish, but now I'm actually making an attempt to be more social... take more classes.... and not be such a whiny little baby about sitting down with a book and doing some studying. We'll see how it goes...

Besos,
Allie

Papapleto: a guaranteed way to lower your life expectancy.

So the city of Valparaiso has a new website, and its pretty good. Those of you who have mentioned the desire to come visit me should check it out. Its in Spanish and English.

So, I was looking it over when I stumbled upon yet another dictionary of chilenismos. Word on the street is that Spanish in Chile is totally different than any place else, and everyone wants to talk about it, all the time. According to the internet, the Spanish is Valparaiso is even MORE bastardized than in other Chilean cities, so its not surprising that the tourism website would have its own little Spanish to Spanish translation guide. I was reading through it when I stumbled upon this:

Papapleto: sándwich preparado con pan de mesa, palta, tomate y mayonesa que, en lugar de llevar una vienesa -como el completo- se rellena con papas fritas

And here is my rough translation:

Papapleto: a sandwich made with bread, avocado, tomato, mayonnaise, and in place of a hot dog -like in a completo- it is filled with french fries.


I almost spit out my tea when I read that. Like a completo isn't bad enough.... actually, what is worse for you? A mayonnaise smothered hot dog or french fries?

Ewwwwwwww. Ew. Ew. Ew.

Besos,
Allie

Nuez: Danger!!! (Mom, don't FREAK OUT!)

Most of you know that I'm highly allergic to nuts. In Chile, this, as well as countless other topics, can be linguistically complicated. See the Dictionary.com Spanish word of the day for more information:

Spanish Word of the Day
Sunday, August 17, 2008

nuez, noun
walnut

English has a general word - nuts - to cover hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, and so forth. There is no such general word in Spanish, and each kind of nut has a specific name, as with las nueces, walnuts. In cookery, the oil from walnuts is sometimes used instead of olive oil.

el aceite de nuez
walnut oil

Another very common ingredient in cooking is la nuez moscada, nutmeg.

Espolvorearlos con un poquito de nuez moscada.
Sprinkle them with a little nutmeg.

La nuez is also used in a surprising way to replace a different fruit in English:

la nuez de Adán
Adam’s apple

Right. So, there is no word in Spanish that equates to the English word nut. Strangely, nuez has served me fine in Central America. But here, yeah, it really only means walnut. Chilean host Mom suggested that I use the term frutas secas, or dried fruit, which kind of over encompasses what I want to say, but has worked so far to keep me alive. What also helps is taking out my epipen while I explain how allergic I am. I should really do this when I am in the US too, since most of the reactions I've had were when someone had told me that there weren't nuts in something when there actually were. Pulling out the epipen adds a little element of "I'm going to have to stab myself in the leg... in front of you... if you are wrong about this..."

In general, my tactics here are the same as my tactics in the US. Carry an epipen at all times, don't completely trust anyone, and avoid foods that are likely to contain nuts, especially in establishments which are likely to be creative with ingredient choices or where there is a language barrier.

And look, Mom! I'm still alive!!!

Besos,
Allie

Cat Sitting

Doing it.