around the big city

ahh. today was a day full of completo italianos, plazas and some good old fashioned chilean dancing.

i woke up late, after a good night's sleep. i emailed amanda so we could meet up in plaza de armas later that afternoon. since i had run out of chilean pesos on saturday night (that last underground club cost $6000 pesos to get in, like $15 usd!), i had to find a way to change my argentine pesos. armed with a few hundred AR pesos, i braved the financial district to find the best cambio with a decent exchange rate. after a half hour, i walked away with $66,000 CH pesos. feeling rich, i found a little starbucks-esque cafe (they served ridiculously sugary espresso drinks in paper cups) and settled down for some good reading time.

i wandered over to plaza de armas after a bit. realizing i had over 45 minutes to wait for amanda, i took out a notebook and started taking notes on the people i saw. and thus was born the "official lists of weird south american culture." here's a sneak preview at what i have observed so far:

official list of weird t-shirt phrases written in english and worn by south americans:
1. "pure, white, sugar" (seen by susie on a guy in BA)
2. "MANUAL LOVE" (on a wrinkly old, overly tan woman. the grossest t-shirt ever)
3. "Made in the US of A" (on a small, stocky, definitely-not-US-citizen in santiago)
4. "Teenage Playboy" (with a playboy bunny, on an old woman in the customs station)
5. "I am watching you" (a larger girl in santiago)
6. "BUY NOW!" (a stocky chilean in the financial district)
7. "justify my love" (a punk teen in santiago)
8. "myth of egoist" (not sure, just weird)
9. "HERO" (chilean teenage boy)
10. "Japan Force 18" (on a small, chubby boy)
11. "National Pornographic" (seen in the markets of Parque Forestal)
12. "Kiss me!" (on a possibly 11 or 12-year-old girl's shirt)
13. "What is your sister doing tonight?" (seen by Susie, in BA)

to be continued...

note taking continued for half an hour or so (and don't worry, there's also an official "Odd South American fashion" list, including descriptions of the parachute pants). then amanda arrived, with her friend shawn. for some reason, i assumed shawn for from chile, even though his english was perfect and his name was not chilean. and, as i found out two hours later (after explaining to him where i lived in the US and drawing him a freaking map), he was NOT chilean, not latin, but from new york city! he laughed and said that he and amanda had planned it out as a joke. i gave him a lot of crap about tricking me for a bit, but we became friends in the end.

the three of us went shopping in the market near parque forestal, and then explored the actual park. it was gorgeous! climbing to the top of an old, old tower in the park, we could see the whole city at dusk. after the park, we walked around for a bit before finding a place called "la piojera." piojera turned out to be an absolute hole-in-the-wall local joint, as evidenced by the stares we got when entering. the food was amazing, the music was incredible (two guys with an accordion and a guitar serenaded everyone amidst the sounds of chileans shouting "drink drink drink!"), and the terremoto kept everyone dancing to the traditional music. at the peak of it all, an old man stood up and pulled out his fancy handkerchief, inviting his wife to dance. everyone in the pub clapped along and cheered for the couple who, although their walking was a slow shuffle, their feet flew when the music came on.

after a few hours at the pub, we all headed home to sleep. i am feeling a bit sick, but hopefully a good night's sleep will do be well!

words / concepts of the day:

cambio: a money exchange service place. on avenida augustinas, there are about 6 in a row, so you can check for the best rate.
terremoto: a specialty drink here. strong white wine with a huge scoop of plain gelato. its best when stirred around a bunch. the place to get it is la piojera, on bandera and san pablo, near the market.
"me duele el/la ____ :" my _____ hurts. a great phrase to use when your throat (la garganza) hurts and you need medicine, or your stomach (el estómago) is upset. just visit the closest faramcia and explain what hurts. if you don't know the name of the body part that hurts, pull out a huge picture map of the human body and point to a part (as amanda did haha)