Christmas at the Beach

We decided to spend Christmas at the beach. La Serena is a quiet little town 6 hours north of Santiago, a beautiful ride up the coastal highway on I-5.After an afternoon on the beach and in the water, we walked back into town and came upon what seemed to be wild protests and drunken hooligans revolting in the streets.


We kept our distance and observed from a safe vantage point until someone explained to me that the Colo Colo futbol team had just beat Universidad de Chile in the annual day before Christmas Eve soccer match. The festivities went on until late into the night. Such is the nature of soccer fever in Chile.
The next day we joined the throngs of last minute shoppers in the streets. A little kitten caught our eye, shivering on the roof of a parked car. A young couple had rescued it from the mouth of a hungry dog and were trying to find a home for it. My wife had wanted a kitten, and after a few minutes of deliberations, we decided to take her. What have we gotten ourselves into?! We ended up carrying her around town all day!
We found our favorite Chilean snack, candied & chocolate coated strawberries and apples.
The Japanese gardens in La Serena provided a quiet respite from the crowds.
We, and the kitty, took the scruffy micro-bus to the next town down the coast--Coquimbo--to ascend El Crucero del Tercer Millenio, opened by the pope in 2000. The view from the top was good, but the overcast sky was gloomy.
The folks who ran the bed & breakfast where we stayed invited all the guests to join their family in a traditional Chilean Chistmas eve dinner. They were very kind and hospitable, and we had a great time learning about their traditions.
Around 11:00 pm we attended the Christmas eve services in a local cathedral, and made our way back home through the eerily darkened streets on Christmas day morning.




Dave Berry wraps up 2007 with his very funny year in review.

The Week Before Christmas

On a recent Sunday, we took the subway over to the aquarium and Mirador Interactive Museum (MIM), and had a lot of fun at both.

The turtles were crawling over each other to beg for scraps at the turtle exhibit.

The sea lion show. We tried to keep up with the Spanish spoken by the narrators, but most of the activity didn't need words.

Across the street at the General Bernardo O'Higgins national military academy, the cadets were practicing for graduation. Later that evening president Bachelet flew in on a helicopter to attend the ceremony.We had some friends over for lunch on Sabbath afternoon. A fun bunch.

The little one is real handful--got her hands all into our Christmas candles and made a mess!
My wife has been baking up a storm this month. We had fun making the ginger bread men, using the cookie cutters on the sugar cookies, and eating the rich Russian tea cookies with green tea.
On the first Friday of the month the consular section is closed for regular business so we can work on training, projects, and staff meetings. Everyone also brings in munchies for breakfast. This time my honey baked cinnamon rolls. Some folks argued whether they are store bought or home-made. I guess that could be good or bad.

Granola hot out of the impossibly tiny ovens that are common in Embassy housing.

Much maligned and misunderstood in most corners of the world, fruit cake is popular in Chile, and also a favorite in both of our homes. My honey baked some and we relished it with milk like guilty children.

My wife's merengue pie, a family recipe with a bigger-than-life legend behind it.

Shaken, but not Stirred

On Saturday afternoon just after our lunch guests had left, our building began to sway. "Earthquake", I called out to my honey. I stood in a door frame while she stood frozen in the living room floor. Fear does that I guess. We waited together under the door frame while the shaking seemed to go on forever. It was probably less than a minute. It seems that the quake was about 5.8 or so, and the only damage was on the coast, where some glass was broken, and the city metro suspended service for 5 minutes. I'm glad the buildings are built to earthquake codes here. The USGS has a graphic of the globe showing all the latest earthquakes as they happen.

I am the Embassy duty officer this week, so I fielded calls from the Ops Center in DC discussing the impact of the earthquake here. At least it makes the duty officer rotation interesting. Other than that, I have worked with 3 Americans around the country who have had their passports lost or stolen.

There it goes again! As I write this, our apartment on the 14th floor is swaying again. Must be an aftershock.

La Siesta

The siesta is alive and well in Chile. Normally folks don't eat lunch until 1:30 or 2:00 pm anyway, and its not uncommon to see bodies lying in semi-repose anywhere they can get comfortable on a warm afternoon. In the park
Near our apartment
Downtown
On the church stepsA whole group of workers.
What a MINUTE..... They aren't napping!

Its common to see parks crawling with amorous lovers getting better acquainted. I'd like to learn how to say "get a room" in Spanish.



A tired tourist on Santa Lucia hill.

All this talk about naps is making me drowsy.

Friendliest Country, Unfriendliest Skies.

The New York Times takes on air travel in a special guest opinion section.

Chilean Chit Chat

A recent In the Loop column investigates absentee ambassadors. Nonetheless, in defense of our ambassadors, there are many, many very hard working men and women who put in all they've got to represent our country abroad and never leave their post except for very valid reasons, like attending consultations at headquarters and a bit of much needed vacation with their families.

Macarena Paz & Javiera after preaching in the youth program at church.

The J1 Work-Study Exchange visa program is in full swing--many Chilean university students are going to fill jobs at ski resorts & beaches in the US. Educated students are willing to work as ski instructors, lift operators, waitresses and dishwashers during the austral summer vacation "to improve their English and learn about American culture."

All the boys and girls waiting outside the embassy for their interview appointment. In some countries these could be restless students protesting US foreign policy, but here they are peacefully, eagerly applying for visas. At least for now.

Inside the embassy, the tree is finally up. Our shipment from Pakistan still hasn't arrived--hopefully soon so we can set up our tree before Christmas.
The Consular Officers take a quarterly windshield-tour of different parts of the city to get to know where our visa applicant's are coming from. The streets in this northwestern barrio were pretty deserted.
A few blocks away, school girls wait at the bus stop after class.
Farewell happy hour at Ruby Tuesday's.
The Quinteros family had us for lunch at their place. A friendly bunch.

That night we had a great view from our living room of the musical gala at the Military Academy across the street.
My wife's Spanish tutor invited us to attend a cultural folkloric program at the senior center, where her mother is an active member.
La Cuenca is the traditional Chilean dance.
The guitar chorus.
On the walk to work, the bankers in the financial district have set up their competing nativity scenes. Nothing says Christmas in Santiago like several pin-striped suits struggling to hoist a plastic wise man into position.

Isla Negra & San Antonio

A week ago we visited Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda's home in Isla Negra.

After a 30 minute ride down the coast on a jaunty bus, we came to the port town of San Antonio.
Sea lions were in abundance, begging for scraps from the fishermen and visitors.
Pelicans and seagulls were more plentiful than people in this little town.
Dozens of squid were lying on the wharf.
Up close and personal with a local resident.
A fisherman caught this octopus on his hook. An old lady came by and felt sorry for the little critter, so she threw it back into the water.
This pelican was slowly starving to death because he had swallowed a tin can and could not regurgitate it.
Preening for the camera.

Jose the sharkmeister plies his fishy trade.
"Fresh" raw seafood niblets on sale in plastic cups. I nearly gagged at the smell.
The local specialty is pure sea lion oil. Its good for health, of course. Gracias, no.
Instead we turned to the candied and chocolate covered strawberries and applies, only about 50 cents/stick. Divine. A gitano (gypsy) singer serenades along the boardwalk.