los completos! (hot dogs)

Wednesday July 15:
we had a lecture at the University of Chile with Joe Ramos, an economics professor with an impressive career record in Latin American political economic sector. ((He was born in the US- Philly to be exact- so it was in english!)) The lecture was Chilean economics for dummies...a basic overview of the social inequality, the Chilean 'Miracle' (economy boom in the 1990s), the education system, and the advances Chile has taken and how far they still have to go. Chile is at the upper echelon of developing countries but by 2025, many hope it can reach standards of Portugal or New Zealand.

We finally met up with Valentina and she took us to a museum at the President's Palace (La Moneda) downtown. We also witnessed another protest going on. Something to do with wanting more state control. I was informed that if a bomb should go off, to head towards the subway. Awesome. Don't worry mom, it was an unlikelyhood, but you never know if there are radicals. We saw exhibits about Violeta Parra (a famous folk singer and artist) and the islands of the Pacific. All in Spanish. and yes, i was standing around with my dictionary trying to translate. We also played with the big lifesize gladiator toys at the museum. Us and all of the 5 year olds.

We reached our lunch destination STARVING. literally ALL of the bread was gone from the table in 5 minutes. I've never had so much lunch before in my life. We had bread and salsa, salad, steak, pork ribs, chicken, potatoes, french fries, and empanadas. Gluttony much? The meat and potatoes arrived on this huge roasting pot (pictures to come) with hot coals. It was pretty amazing. We waddled out. I had to let the food digest for 2 hours, but i forced myself to go to the gym due to the gluttony.

Christina and i decided to go on a date and see Harry Potter last night. Others from the group decided to stay in and drink haha. We got dropped off at Parque Arauco on the outskirts of town. It was this amazing outdoor/indoor mall complex straight out of palm springs or something with multiple American restaurants. I'm totally up for a trip back to TGIFridays. Anyway, we had the time wrong so we had to buy tickets for the dubbed Harry Potter. no big deal for her, since she speaks spanish really well. Kind of a big deal for me. (But i actually got by relatively well. Apparently they speak slower in Hollywood spanish than Chilean spanish). I also ordered a hot dog at the theater (yeah, i forgot about lunch). But it was not a regular hot dog, it was the condiment king of hot dogs. They serve hot dogs here with guacamole, ketchup, mustard, mayonase, cheese whiz, and tomatoes. A M A Z I N G and obviously good for my cholestrol. I'm totally going to start eating hot dogs that way. anyway, i cannot wait to see Harry Potter in English.

Thursday July 16

Holiday so no classes!! Instead, we had a field trip to Pablo Neruda's 2nd house in Isla Negra which is about 2 hours away. He is a collector of all things from shells to easter island figurines, to ships in a bottle, to dishes and busts from ships. It was a pretty awesome house. Also very swiss family robinson-equse. It was also BEAUTIFUL. It looked like Hawaii, right on the ocean with rocks and clifs and tropical flowers. There are a lot of vendors selling handmade jewelry and etc.

We went into town where our tour bus was supposed to drop us off for lunch. However, we needed a pass to drive through town because it was a tiny tourist town and tour buses are no bueno. So literally, we had to go to the police and call the MAYOR of the town to let us drive and park at the restaurant. Can't wait for tomorrow's headline.

Lunch was all seafood because we were right on the ocean. ((We were also right next to this beach resort that has the largest swimming pool in the world...weird?)) I got some Reinata fish. but I also sampled some other people's food, including some odd concoction of raw shellfish. I think i ate some razor clams and sea urchins? no seasoning or sauce....yucky. We walked around this little beach semi touristy town and there were small marketplaces along the beach. Something like the Ocean City boardwalk...but actually not at all. The best part of my day was the caramel (manjar) filled churro i bought. It was as good as it sounds. It got cold. we left at 6. 2 hours home. time for bed.