Santiago!

<-- Plaza de Armas in Santiago

This past weekend was a long weekend and I went to Santiago with my host dad's family and Nacho. It was amazing! We stayed in my host dad's father's house, who lives in the northeast corner of the city, and we arrived at about midnight on Thursday (or...technically Friday?) and Tata Miguel (my host dad's father) had a whole spread of bread, cheese, ham, and hot drinks laid out for us and even though everyone was exhausted, we stayed up until 3 AM talking and eating.

On Friday we drove an hour to go to the zoo and spent a few hours there walking around, looking at all the animals. We went to an animal show around 3 PM and the hawk that they were showing took off and flew RIGHT OVER MY HEAD! Thank God his foot was securely fastened with a cord otherwise he could have easily terrorized the whole audience!

On Saturday all of us except Tata Miguel went to Santiago center to go sightseeing, including my host dad's 2 little kids, 4-year-old José Miguel and 18-month-old Josefa. Without a stroller. Which meant that my poor host dad had to carry a hefty 18-month-old around Santiago and refused me every time I offered to carry her for a little bit so that he could rest. Since it was their Labor Day, Santiago was much emptier than usual (therefore much more conducive to touring with small children).

First we went to La Moneda (a.k.a. the Chilean White House). The weird thing about La Moneda is that it is right in the center of downtown Santiago and there is very minimal security compared to the White House--you only have to present your bag to a guard and have him pass a metal detector wand over you to pass through the courtyards that lie inside La Moneda.

Our next stop was the Supreme Court where all Chilean lawyers are sworn in after passing the bar exam. Because it was a holiday, we had the entire Supreme Court to ourselves!

After taking a small snack break and buying Josefa a new shirt to change into (because her old one had french fries and ketchup all over it) we visited the Cathedral and the Plaza de Armas, a truly beautiful place full of street vendors selling paintings and trinkets for tourists. By this time we were all exhausted and the decision to return to Tata Miguel's house for lunch was unanimous.

<-- The Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas

That afternoon while the younger children went with my host dad and his wife to a local park, Tata Miguel took me on a driving tour of "Nuevo Santiago" (New Santiago), a brand new and expanding neighborhood where the up-and-coming Santiago businessmen are building their houses. Nuevo Santiago is to Santiago as Beverly Hills is to Los Angeles, only Nuevo Santiago is in the process of being built. However, I think that Nuevo Santiago has a distinct advantage over Beverly Hills because it is right in the middle of the Cordilleras, the mountain range right next to Santiago.

Sunday morning I made everyone my favorite version of scrambled eggs: sauteed onions with garlic, scrambled eggs, basil, salt, pepper, and cheese. The Chileans had never seen eggs like that before, and were completely fascinated by them. However, I miscalculated and made way too many eggs, but luckily Tata Miguel was able to use my old scrambled eggs in the Chinese rice he made with lunch so they didn't go to waste. After breakfast, we went to Los Dominicos, a beautiful touristy place very close to Tata Miguel's house that consists of a quaint church and a small neighborhood of touristy stores that sell beautiful, quaint Chilean souveniers.