A Collection of Observations (#3)

Another round of observations:

1.  The kids had a color war at school.  I learned later that it was important to put suncream on them and send them with 2 liters of water.  Elisa and J. were on "azul" and Renee was on "rojo" and she ended up getting completely rojo.  The only blue shirt Elisa had was an Argentine soccer shirt.  She did not get beat up.

2.  We all checked out a Peruvian restaurant.  The kids immediately noticed that everybody had ordered a 1.5 liter bottle of Inca Cola.  It puts Bilz and Pap to shame (the Chilean soft drinks).  It is a Peruvian specialty but apparently was developed by the British.  When I asked the waiter what the flavor was he just replied "Peruvian."  A little research shows that it is lemon verbena but taste tests put it closer to bubblegum.

There must be something about yellow colored soft drinks in South America

I preferred the Pisco Sour (blog-worthy at some point)

3.  The local sprinkler systems consists of people watering the lawns and medians with garden hoses every morning.  There are some underground sprinkler systems but I assume that this is cheaper?

The sprinkler "system" - they are out in mass every morning

4.  I spotted my first Prius. Gas is $5.50/gal so you'd think that there would be more hybrids or at least more compact cars.  In the area that we live the SUV is king/queen.  Rob thinks that it is because everybody goes up to the mountains.  I think that it is prestige and fashion.  The difficult thing is that many parking spaces (if there are any) were made before the current economic boom and therefore for compact cars.  It makes for interesting parking trials.

5.  Jonathan has taken up tennis at the Estadio.  They play on clay here which lends itself to a lot of dirty shoes and clothing but also apparently slows down the ball (I am not a tennis player).  I'm putting South Bend friends on alert that he is going to be searching out tennis partners when we get back but he'll have a bit of a learning curve on the other surface.

Jonathan's first tennis tournament

6.  A bit of home:

Close to Michigan and Texas (go figure)

7.  Just to prove that Rob is actually doing some work down here:

Notre Dame colleagues Patricia Maurice and Joannes Westerink

They came down for a few days to attend a signing ceremony for a joint-PhD program between La Catolica and Notre Dame and to connect with faculty at the university.  They also did a bit of touring including San Cristobal - Rob and Jonathan served as tour guides for the day.

8.  Palta, palta, palta - We.are getting used to all of the avocado. - at least me and Rob - the kids won't touch it

Ave y palta

9.  Cell phones rules at school are very different here than in the States.  Renee took a final last week and the teacher said that when they finish they should "Go play on your phone but no texting your friends."  The kids all have their phones in the classroom and apparently text during class and call people during the many recesses.  I believe that it is grounds for a detention at Renee's middle school.

10.  Starbucks is everywhere in the wealthier areas of the city but there are differences.  They never have milk or cream available for your coffee so you have to ask the person behind the counter.  The sandwiches all come with palta (avocado) but the treats are pretty familiar including blueberry muffins.  The special Christmas season drinks are all variations on the Frappaccino - no gingerbread latte or peppermint mocha here!

Oh yeah - and today I turned 45!  The kids stumbled through trying to sing Happy Birthday to me in three languages.  Elisa had the Spanish one down the best ;-)  I celebrated my 30th birthday traveling in Chile with my friend Ellen Berkelhamer who turned 30 two days before me (Happy Birthday Ellen).  She reminded me today that she is living where snow has already accumulated and I am living the land of sweating santas (we saw them in the Plaza de Armas 15 years ago and I am sure that they are still hanging out there - photos soon).