Chile: Conclusion
May. 28th, 2003 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmagrant01Just got home... *sigh*
It wouldn't be so bad except that MDH and I said goodbye in the airport in Dallas - he's off on another business trip for the rest of the week.
So, where was I?
Monday night:
We went down to Avenida Suecia to go bar hopping. It was quiet until around 8:00, partly because it was a Monday night and partly because Chilenos just don't go out until around 8:00. This is one of those countries where they eat dinner at 11:00 PM.
We went to three different bars, the first two of which were quite empty. By the third one, there was a crowd at last. A group of drunk American college students was sitting nearby. They were incredibly loud and obnoxious. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't think twice about in the US, but they were really drawing a lot of attention to themselves, swearing loudly, mixing Spanish and English in weird ways. We've always tried really hard not to stick out when we travel. Unfortunately, the "ugly American" stereotype has a basis in fact -- in my experience, at least.
We took a cab to a restaurant we'd heard good things about, in an area of the city called Bellavista. I had a rather animated discussion with the cab driver along the way, who then asked if we were Spanish. Spanish! MDH nearly fell in the floor over that one. Turns out that my attempts at a Chilean accent were coming across as a Castilian accent! Better than being obviously American, and quite a compliment, actually! Years ago, when I could still speak German, people often assumed I was from the Netherlands, saying my German had a Dutch accent.
The restaurant was fabulous -- great food, great wine, and great company! We basically crashed that night, since we'd each had enough alcohol over the course of the evening to knock us over.
Tuesday:
We checked out of the hotel and stored our luggage after breakfast, and then the negotiations began. We both agreed to go to the fine arts museum and then Italian for lunch, but how to get there? I wanted to take the subway (there was a stop right at the museum), but MDH wanted to take a taxi. It was or last day, I said, and I wanted to walk outside down to the station, ride on the lovely Santiago metro (and pretend I live there, basically), all for 50 cents. MDH, on the other hand, wanted a taxi to cart our asses down to the front door of the museum, for around $5. Okay, the money wasn't an issue at all, but we negotiated for a good ten minutes. We pouted. We whined. At last, he agreed to ride on the subway if I would forgo the funicular train up the mountain in favor of hitting a few more wine shops. We'd ridden the funicular last trip, and the view from the top wouldn't be great considering the pollution that day. Agreement reached.
The museum was nice, though about half of it was closed for construction of new exhibits. There were several displays of photography depicting parallel scenes from India and Mexico, and a few exhibits featuring the work of Mexican painters. I enjoy art museums, and I enjoy the discussions MDH and I have about art afterwards. We have very different tastes in art, but it's fun to try to impress each other with our interpretations of the pieces.
Me: Oooh! I like this one.
Him: It looks like he spilled his paint and just went, well, fuck it. That'll do.
Me: But look at the color! The movement! It's angry, yet subdued!
Him: Yeah, I'd be angry about spilling all that paint too. It's expensive.
We walked to Dardingnac Street in Bellavista to an Italian restaurant listed in our guidebook. It turned out to be a much longer walk than either of us expected, since we'd misread the map. It's interesting that the first time I came to Santiago (eight years ago), I would never have walked around the city like this. I had only traveled in Europe then, and wasn't sure how safe I would be just walking around. I was embarrassingly ignorant, of course. Walking around in Santiago is no different from walking around in New York, or London, or Rome, or Hong Kong.
And you get to see the people when you walk around, which is just fabulous! Three words: Chilean school boys. You know, about 16, those white button-down shirts untucked, tie loosened around the neck, backpack over the shoulder, tousled dark hair... Yes, I know I'm twice their age, but, hells... I think![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lea_ndra knows exactly what I'm thinking about here! *grin* Oh, my, my.
We did some more wine shopping after lunch, then took a cab back to the hotel. We noticed the driver was going a different route than we'd been before -- in fact, he was heading in the wrong direction entirely. MDH poked at me to say something. (I'm the "talker" in Spanish speaking countries, since he speaks French.) I did, and it turned out the driver had thought we meant a different hotel. Long story short: I realized that my Spanish, though not great, is pretty good. I open my mouth and the words come out, without my having to think about them beforehand. When people talk back, I understand without having to translate. I'm no good beyond a few simple verb tenses (and Spanish has some complex verb tenses that we just don't have in English). It's a weird feeling, but very cool. I realize that probably sounds trite to those of you who are bilingual, but it's cool to me!
We left for the airport around sunset, and the flight home went smoothly. We're already wanting to go back! In the next few years, we're hoping to be able to spend our summers abroad -- staying in one place for a month and taking small trips from there, rather than travelling constantly. We're hoping it will be cheaper to have a little flat for a month and not be going out to eat constantly. The list of places we're going to do this in is currently:
Tuscany
Nice
Santiago
London (or thereabouts)
Sydney (or thereabouts)
Johannesburg
Those are all places we've fallen inlove with and would love to spend more time in. We're hoping that we can get a two-bedroom apartment and just hang out in the place for month. MDH doesn't have summers off like me, so it may be just me (and the future kids) for some of that time. Maybe we'll have visitors? (*nudgeshelens78 and jedirita*)
Overall, it was a fabulous trip. Short, but very worth it. I highly recommend Chile! If you want to go to South America, it's a great place to start!
It wouldn't be so bad except that MDH and I said goodbye in the airport in Dallas - he's off on another business trip for the rest of the week.
So, where was I?
Monday night:
We went down to Avenida Suecia to go bar hopping. It was quiet until around 8:00, partly because it was a Monday night and partly because Chilenos just don't go out until around 8:00. This is one of those countries where they eat dinner at 11:00 PM.
We went to three different bars, the first two of which were quite empty. By the third one, there was a crowd at last. A group of drunk American college students was sitting nearby. They were incredibly loud and obnoxious. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't think twice about in the US, but they were really drawing a lot of attention to themselves, swearing loudly, mixing Spanish and English in weird ways. We've always tried really hard not to stick out when we travel. Unfortunately, the "ugly American" stereotype has a basis in fact -- in my experience, at least.
We took a cab to a restaurant we'd heard good things about, in an area of the city called Bellavista. I had a rather animated discussion with the cab driver along the way, who then asked if we were Spanish. Spanish! MDH nearly fell in the floor over that one. Turns out that my attempts at a Chilean accent were coming across as a Castilian accent! Better than being obviously American, and quite a compliment, actually! Years ago, when I could still speak German, people often assumed I was from the Netherlands, saying my German had a Dutch accent.
The restaurant was fabulous -- great food, great wine, and great company! We basically crashed that night, since we'd each had enough alcohol over the course of the evening to knock us over.
Tuesday:
We checked out of the hotel and stored our luggage after breakfast, and then the negotiations began. We both agreed to go to the fine arts museum and then Italian for lunch, but how to get there? I wanted to take the subway (there was a stop right at the museum), but MDH wanted to take a taxi. It was or last day, I said, and I wanted to walk outside down to the station, ride on the lovely Santiago metro (and pretend I live there, basically), all for 50 cents. MDH, on the other hand, wanted a taxi to cart our asses down to the front door of the museum, for around $5. Okay, the money wasn't an issue at all, but we negotiated for a good ten minutes. We pouted. We whined. At last, he agreed to ride on the subway if I would forgo the funicular train up the mountain in favor of hitting a few more wine shops. We'd ridden the funicular last trip, and the view from the top wouldn't be great considering the pollution that day. Agreement reached.
The museum was nice, though about half of it was closed for construction of new exhibits. There were several displays of photography depicting parallel scenes from India and Mexico, and a few exhibits featuring the work of Mexican painters. I enjoy art museums, and I enjoy the discussions MDH and I have about art afterwards. We have very different tastes in art, but it's fun to try to impress each other with our interpretations of the pieces.
Me: Oooh! I like this one.
Him: It looks like he spilled his paint and just went, well, fuck it. That'll do.
Me: But look at the color! The movement! It's angry, yet subdued!
Him: Yeah, I'd be angry about spilling all that paint too. It's expensive.
We walked to Dardingnac Street in Bellavista to an Italian restaurant listed in our guidebook. It turned out to be a much longer walk than either of us expected, since we'd misread the map. It's interesting that the first time I came to Santiago (eight years ago), I would never have walked around the city like this. I had only traveled in Europe then, and wasn't sure how safe I would be just walking around. I was embarrassingly ignorant, of course. Walking around in Santiago is no different from walking around in New York, or London, or Rome, or Hong Kong.
And you get to see the people when you walk around, which is just fabulous! Three words: Chilean school boys. You know, about 16, those white button-down shirts untucked, tie loosened around the neck, backpack over the shoulder, tousled dark hair... Yes, I know I'm twice their age, but, hells... I think
lea_ndra knows exactly what I'm thinking about here! *grin* Oh, my, my.We did some more wine shopping after lunch, then took a cab back to the hotel. We noticed the driver was going a different route than we'd been before -- in fact, he was heading in the wrong direction entirely. MDH poked at me to say something. (I'm the "talker" in Spanish speaking countries, since he speaks French.) I did, and it turned out the driver had thought we meant a different hotel. Long story short: I realized that my Spanish, though not great, is pretty good. I open my mouth and the words come out, without my having to think about them beforehand. When people talk back, I understand without having to translate. I'm no good beyond a few simple verb tenses (and Spanish has some complex verb tenses that we just don't have in English). It's a weird feeling, but very cool. I realize that probably sounds trite to those of you who are bilingual, but it's cool to me!
We left for the airport around sunset, and the flight home went smoothly. We're already wanting to go back! In the next few years, we're hoping to be able to spend our summers abroad -- staying in one place for a month and taking small trips from there, rather than travelling constantly. We're hoping it will be cheaper to have a little flat for a month and not be going out to eat constantly. The list of places we're going to do this in is currently:
Tuscany
Nice
Santiago
London (or thereabouts)
Sydney (or thereabouts)
Johannesburg
Those are all places we've fallen inlove with and would love to spend more time in. We're hoping that we can get a two-bedroom apartment and just hang out in the place for month. MDH doesn't have summers off like me, so it may be just me (and the future kids) for some of that time. Maybe we'll have visitors? (*nudges
helens78 and jedirita*)Overall, it was a fabulous trip. Short, but very worth it. I highly recommend Chile! If you want to go to South America, it's a great place to start!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-05-28 11:17 am (UTC)It's my understanding that Americans learn Castillian Spanish in school. Since I've never formally studied it, my Spanish is a mix of Mexican, Castillian, and, well, French, with the occasional Italian thrown in for good measure. I have a limited vocabulary and almost no knowledge whatsoever of verb tenses, yet I can communicate surprisingly well. It's great when you get *in the zone* and don't even realize you're speaking in a different language. That time you came to San Antonio? I didn't realize I spoke Spanish to the waitress.
Thanks for sharing your Chilean adventures! Now I'm all hot to travel again. Maybe I'll make it to France this fall....
Maybe we'll have visitors? (*nudges helens78 and jedirita*)
You know I'm up for it! I'll be your kids' eccentric Jedi auntie!
no subject
Date: 2003-05-28 02:50 pm (UTC)Ooh, yeah, I remember that! That was cool. I think she asked you something in Spanish and you just responded, without thinking.
It had been a while since I'd traveled any, and the bug sure bites hard! The big summer trip is coming! I'll post updates on that as well, as best I can. For ten days of that I'll be sin electricity, but...
You know I'm up for it! I'll be your kids' eccentric Jedi auntie!
Oooh! Auntie Rita! I love it! We'll make little Jedi out of them...
no subject
Date: 2003-05-28 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-28 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-29 06:51 pm (UTC)