On the language:
Chile is the first country I´ve been to that insists they don´t speak español. Disculpa, they speak castellano. Which essentially is Spanish; just with a different title.
Castellano, which is Castilian in English, is preferred in Chile due to the association with español and the somewhat bitter reference to Spain (stemming from the days of conquistadors). Castellano is derived from the Castile region of Spain and is distinct from Galician, Basque and Catalan; the other languages spoken in Spain.
Spanish speakers in Latin America prefer castellano because it doesn´t have any geological or political links. It's similar to us English speakers calling the language Spanish.
The 1978 Spanish Constitution goes as far as defining castellano as the official and preferred language of the Spanish state.
When I say I speak español here in Chile, people say very definitively, "We don´t speak español. We speak castellano."
Chile photo credit: http://www.chilecontact.com/jpgs/fotos/indice/chile_conozca.jpg
On Obama:
The other day, Obama made the front page of the free daily newspaper here in Santiago, La Hora.
...because Bo, his new Portuguese Water Dog wasn't adopted from an animal shelter.
As my mom pointed out, could you see Bachelet (the female president of Chile) making the front page of a newspaper in the United States? If something pivitol happened that affected the U.S. or the world ... yes. But for her choice of a man's best friend ... no.
Onto personal matters:
We went out with the doctors we met at the castle on Friday night. They took us to a nice bar up in Las Condes (the wealthiest neighorhood in Santiago). We spent the night telling stories about travel adventures and funny experiences. Considering they are both doctors, at some point in the night, we all ended up sharing our enfermedades with each other.
Translated to another language, the enfermedades always come out a bit differently. For example, Gustavo began by saying in English, "I have yellow skin." Kathryn followed by stating in Spanish, "I go blind when I take steriods." The doctors then came up with fancy words for the condition, ending in lots of -itis´s. Anyone that´s Dad is a doctor or knows a doctor personally can attest to them always diagnosing people with conditions. Hahahah, love you Dad!
On Saturday, we went to a Salsa show ... or so we thought it was going to be.
One of my good friends here, Kristina, had her mother visit over the weekend from New Zealand. We thought it would be nice to take her to a salsa show and figured that asking our landlords (who are professional dancers) where the best show is would be a good idea.
We forgot that they have very flamboyant taste.
The show was more something out of Moulin Rouge ... minus the glitz, glamour and class. It was a burlesque cabaret complete with male and female thongs and lots of winding and grinding. We definitely got an eyefull. It began with a male dressed as a female strutting out on stage to serenade us with belting Cuban ballad. If that gives you any idea of what it was like. Perhaps these pictures can clarify ...
On Sunday, we went hiking ... ahem, I mean mountain climbing with the doctors. There were moments when we were literally clasping onto boulders for dear life. We left for the hike too late
in the day and ended up having to climb down in the dark. I returned home to be bandaged up by our landlords. Nothing serious ... more what I would refer to as ´battle wounds´.
The view at the top, however, was worth whatever trouble we ran into getting up and down. The front view was of the entire Santiago valley nestled into the rocky hillsides that
embrace the city. Behind, the glistening snowcapped mountains twinkled in the afternoon sun, where los estaciónes de esquí are located.
We went out with the doctors we met at the castle on Friday night. They took us to a nice bar up in Las Condes (the wealthiest neighorhood in Santiago). We spent the night telling stories about travel adventures and funny experiences. Considering they are both doctors, at some point in the night, we all ended up sharing our enfermedades with each other.
Translated to another language, the enfermedades always come out a bit differently. For example, Gustavo began by saying in English, "I have yellow skin." Kathryn followed by stating in Spanish, "I go blind when I take steriods." The doctors then came up with fancy words for the condition, ending in lots of -itis´s. Anyone that´s Dad is a doctor or knows a doctor personally can attest to them always diagnosing people with conditions. Hahahah, love you Dad!
On Saturday, we went to a Salsa show ... or so we thought it was going to be.
One of my good friends here, Kristina, had her mother visit over the weekend from New Zealand. We thought it would be nice to take her to a salsa show and figured that asking our landlords (who are professional dancers) where the best show is would be a good idea.
We forgot that they have very flamboyant taste.
The show was more something out of Moulin Rouge ... minus the glitz, glamour and class. It was a burlesque cabaret complete with male and female thongs and lots of winding and grinding. We definitely got an eyefull. It began with a male dressed as a female strutting out on stage to serenade us with belting Cuban ballad. If that gives you any idea of what it was like. Perhaps these pictures can clarify ...
On Sunday, we went hiking ... ahem, I mean mountain climbing with the doctors. There were moments when we were literally clasping onto boulders for dear life. We left for the hike too late
in the day and ended up having to climb down in the dark. I returned home to be bandaged up by our landlords. Nothing serious ... more what I would refer to as ´battle wounds´.The view at the top, however, was worth whatever trouble we ran into getting up and down. The front view was of the entire Santiago valley nestled into the rocky hillsides that
embrace the city. Behind, the glistening snowcapped mountains twinkled in the afternoon sun, where los estaciónes de esquí are located.All in all, it was quite the weekend.
I feel more tired today than I did when the weekend started. I suppose
that´s what the week is all about ... resting up for whatever adventures lie ahead on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
With that, I leave you to rest up ... because we have quite a weekend ahead of us.
I feel more tired today than I did when the weekend started. I suppose
that´s what the week is all about ... resting up for whatever adventures lie ahead on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.With that, I leave you to rest up ... because we have quite a weekend ahead of us.
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