First days in the South

We stuffed what we could into our car and headed south on Sunday morning.  Because it was estimated to be between 8-11 hours to get to our cabin we decided to stay over on the way down.  I found this place to stay in the Lonely Planet, Los Manantiales, and figured we could see something pretty, Salto del Laja, off the main highway.  What we didn't realize was that it was a huge tourist destination with many, many tacky souvenir stands and concessions and a big daytrip destination for Chileans.

The first few minutes.  It really wasn't that bad.  The two-day trip was exactly one "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" long.  Unfortunately, I don't think that #3 is going to be a Harry Potter fan.

Both days on the way down we stopped at road side restaurants and ate typical Chilean food.  Each restaurant had three things on the menu that day (besides some basic sandwiches) and all were filling and a bargain.  I lived on big salads ;-)

This turned out to be one of many places to stay.  It was frozen in the mid-70s complete with a piano and saxophone duet belting out "Feelings" over lunch.

Our "cabin" that came without matches to light the water heater, an extension cord to reach any appliance in the kitchen, silverware, or towels but...

it came with a chicken.  You get what you pay for.

Playground also circa mid-70s

I couldn't do the number of birds justice in pictures.  But there were a lot!

Part of the "Haj" to the waterfall

This was definitely a different cross-section of Chile from our Las Condes world.

After getting a shower at the falls the kids bought some little instruments to torture us with for the rest of the trip ;-)

They sell this horse jerky everywhere even when you are waiting at toll booths to pay.  Nobody could be convinced to try some.

We did, however, finally try some sopaipillas (fried dough apparently with some pumpkin flour).  They sell these everywhere in Chile but I didn't break down until I found the right lady from whom to buy it.  They put different things on top like pebre, mayonnaise, and hot sauce.

The kids didn't care about the tackiness or lack of creature comforts - they had a blast exploring the area and seeing all of the birds.


We headed the next morning to our main destination, Lago Panguipulli, and the Rucapillan cabins on the east side of the lake.  While the landscape changed dramatically to pine forests and rolling hills, we traveled through periodic rainstorms and arrived while it was still rainy.  Apparently we are staying at the foot of an "active" volcano but it hasn't emerged from the clouds/fog yet.  We did take a little walk around the "town" last night and were able to see the black sand beach a half a block from our cabin.  Today we head out to explore a bit and then we have Wednesday-Friday when it is supposed to clear up to do some hiking, rafting?, thermal baths?  Photos, hopefully, eventually.

Panguipulli here we come!

In true Chilean fashion we are abandoning Santiago for most of the month of February.  While rumor has it that January is actually hotter than February, like the French in August, the Chileans close up shop and head to the coast or to the South (or as I have learned more recently to the Caribbean and Mexico) for the month.

The kids have finished their January actitivies.  Jonathan had two weeks at the international school, three days at Estadio, and then 1.5 weeks being sick at home with me :-(    At summer "school" (this one is mostly for the grandparents) Jonathan was introduced to guitar playing and judo.  Here is a sample from the last day of the program:

Renee had four weeks of intensive gymnastics training at Stadio Italiano and has the callouses to prove it.  She socialized a bit with the other kids there and I asked her if they were more intrigued with her being American or Jewish.  It sounds like they had never met a Jewish person before - I forget sometimes how insular the Jewish community really is here.

\

Elisa finished up four weeks at the Estadio summer camp with a presentation of Michael Jackson's Thriller followed by a cheerleading version of Toni Basil's Mickey (for those of you who are up on your early 80's music) and then a sleepover in tents at the Estadio.

The black "zombie" make-up was from the Thriller part of the presentation

Her counselors

Here is an overview of our planned travels created through a web-based trip mapping program.

Lago Panguipulli

We have rented a cabin on lake Panguipulli (I'll eventually learn to pronounce it) which is located in the Los Rios (the rivers) Region.  Of course, Los Rios Region is right next to the Los Lagos (the lakes) Region and we are actually staying on a lake - go figure.  The plan right now is to stay there for five nights and explore forests, forts, volcanos, hotsprings, kayaking/rafting and more.  Of course, the current weather forecast is for highs in the 60s and rain so we are bringing a lot of games.  We'll cross over the Andes to Argentina via the Paso Huahum which includes a ferry ride to cross a lake and then stay in San Martin de Los Andes for five nights.  At that point we plan to cross back over to stay with a colleague of Rob's in the Andes near Lonquimay for two night and then head back to Santiago to clean up.

I am looking forward to seeing some green forests and perhaps even a bit of the rain not to mention the mountains.  I am not looking forward to being in our car with the kids for many, many hours of driving but we have figured out how to download the audio books onto the ipods and hook them up to our car speakers so we are hoping that Harry Potter will help us with one more road trip.

We will then head back to Santiago to recuperate before heading to Punta del Este, Uruguay (by plane) to spend two weeks with my in-laws and Rob's sister and family who are planning on coming down from Victoria, Canada.  We have been there approximately once a year since we met but usually either in our summer (not the ideal time to visit a beach resort town) or in December which is just the beginning of the tourist season.  It will be interesting to visit during the full swing of summer.  Rob and I are planning a weekend in Buenos Aires sin hijos in there as well.  Thank you abuelos for taking on the babysitting challenge - at least there are no more diapers!

Then we head back on 2/28 and the kids are back in school 3/2 - it's going fast!

Photos and the real story of our trip when time and internet connections allow.

A Collection of Observations (#5)

Yet another round:

1.  The completo - Although nobody in the family has yet eaten a fully-dressed Chilean hotdog complete with mayonnaise, chopped tomatoes, and mashed avocado, we continue to be fascinated by it.  This is a condiment bar at a movie theater where we saw The Muppets.  I think that I'll have to go back and see it in English to get the full meaning of the movie!

You would think that the green container had palta - nope - ketchup.  The  red has "hot" sauce.

2.  A sign at Nido, the American school.

Seems practical and I probably could have gotten this one without words in any language!

3.  13 year old birthday parties - no spa parties here:

Birthday girl Dana up front

Instead of a birthday cake they often have the cuchuflis (wafer thin tubes with manjar inside) wrapped up like this.  Avoids having to wash more dishes!

4. Hand clapping games - Elisa is becoming a master of 6-7 year old hand clapping games.  See if you can catch her Chilean accent ;-)

5.  Lounging at the Estadio.  They have a variety of colored chairs so that you can sit in a circle and talk to friends (check out the scene behind Renee).

I prefer the polka-dotted chairs and Renee added the rainbow arrangement

6.  Chauffeurs - I have already tackled the widespread use of Nanas (housekeepers/babysitters) by the middle class and above but I haven't hit on chauffeurs yet.  I had heard that many families employed chauffeurs but I didn't quite understand what that meant until last week.  A friend of Elisa's who is in her class and at camp with her is always being picked up by a 30-something guy who, in my naive American way, I assumed was her uncle.  She invited Elisa over after camp for a playdate so I had to spontaneously make arrangements with him at camp pick-up.  I asked if he was her uncle and he replied that he works for her parents.  It still didn't click (it is just beyond my South Bend world) until Elisa confirmed that he was their chauffeur. Both of her parents work, they have four kids to shlep around, labor is relatively cheap - so why not!  Can you imagine how much less time you'd spend in your minivan if you had a chauffeur do it for you?????  Hmmmmmmm - tempting.  I'd probably miss my All Things Considered and listening to the back seat chatter.

7.  Cats - when Renee is down we head for a few known cat hangouts for a pet-athon.  This was at Los Dominicos.

A cat that sort of resembles our cat at home, Ginger.

She reminds me of another 11-12 year old I once knew....

Yes, I was trying to "feather" my ultra-straight hair

8.  Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI):  No - this is not our bank but it is our favorite advertisement.  The motto of the bank is "Somos Diferentes (we are different)" and they have these four "things" that bounce around in advertisements on TV and grin on advertisements around town. If this was the States, the bank would be giving out stuffed versions of the characters for little (and big) kids but so far we haven't found any.  They are quite loveable especially for a bank advertisement!

E-reading

We have been really lucky that the boom in electronic readers happened before we left (and that our library just started their digital loaning program).  We have friends who went on sabbatical seven years ago who had boxes of books shipped to them whereas we just log onto our library back home and can download books instantly.  The older two kids each have a Nook and Rob and I each have a Kindle.  The reason we have both had to do with the fact that our local library until maybe October would only lend out e-books compatible with the Nook - now they allow both but at least Renee has read almost everything of interest to her now from the library and we have started to purchase e-books (if only I could get her into 100-year old books that are free!).  Since we came here somehow Barnes and Noble now allows international downloads as well so everything is seamless and we got a generous Hanukkah gift from my folks to feed our habit. 

Everywhere we read our "books" kids come over to watch what game we are playing and then leave in disappointment and disbelief.  I have seen three other people reading books on e-readers but it has definitely not caught on.  Although the kids were discouraged from bringing books to school to read during downtime (what a difference from the States - I think the Director wanted to make sure that they were socializing), eventually Renee downloaded the app for her itouch to read books at school on her itouch.  Not sure how much she read and how much she played games :-)  [Note from Renee - she only read on it but the other kids asked to play on it]

The best part for me is that I can still read my New Yorker.  Yes, the cartoons are there but they are all bunched in a section at the end and do not increase in size if you increase the type size which occasionally is an issue with my over-40 eyes.  They also just sent something out saying that the monthly New Yorker Kindle subscription is going up from $2.99/month to $5.99/month in mid-June - perfect timing! I also have taken advantage of the free classics and more free time than usual and read quite of few of those books I should have read in high school or college my favorites so far being Dracula, Great Expectations, and Wuthering Heights.

Rob doesn't need reading glasses yet but maybe he just makes the type larger in denial????

P.S.  We went to school to check out some library books before they close for the summer (English and Spanish) and when Renee took her's out she said "It's just nice to have a real book."  Guess they aren't completely sold on it.

Health Care in Chile

This is another subject on which I can't quite get a handle.  In essence, similar to many other countries with national health care, it is a tale of two systems.  The national system available to everybody and the private system available to those with money.  No pretty photos here ;-)

We, fortunately, have only had a few encounters with the medical establishment so far and have only gone the private route.  It is very similar to the level of health care that we get in the States with the one exception that every time you go to the pediatrician for even something as simple as pink eye (ended up being allergies) there is a 30 minute appointment and the doctor uses the full slot to find out how life is going in general and to do a full examination.  We chose a pediatrician with a specialty in juvenile bronchial issues since Elisa's asthma is the only chronic condition that we worry about.  After only visiting him four times I feel like he knows me and my kids better than any doctor has in the States.  Cost-wise we pay the same amount that we would have (or rather our insurance pays) in the States but that is a lot more than an average Chilean can afford.

Most (73%) Chilean's have the public health insurance known as FONASA and the majority of the rest opt for private plans, mostly ISAPRES, and a very small percentage is uninsured. Healthcare is funded by an income tax deduction of 7% and then supplemented by the government to cover indigents and public health care.  Chilean's covered by FONASA can pay a co-payment to see a private provider (if they can afford it).  Most of the hospitals are run by the state but, as would be expected, there are often long waiting lists for procedures.  Care is free at the public hospitals as long as you meet the earning or age criteria.

One interesting thing is that if you have tests done (Elisa had allergy testing) you actually have to go to the clinic to get a formal record of results and bring it with you to your next appointment.  The same goes for things like x-rays.  You end up having a lot more paperwork and having to visit the clinic more often.  Word to the wise for future expats - live close to your clinic of choice!

In order to ensure that all kids are vaccinated, vaccinations actually occur on a schedule at schools.  Elisa's class had an MMR vaccination this spring that thankfully Elisa didn't have to get because I had her paperwork with me (some of my planning panned out).

Also, unlike in the States if your kid has had a fever for a while (over five days), rather than appease the parent by throwing some antibiotics at the kid, they run many, many tests first and then will give you the antibiotics.  Of course, after six days of fever our Nana implored us to use her childhood fever-reduction technique, drink a lot of Bilz (sickly-sweet Chilean soft drink):

Coincidentally(?), after drinking it he actually started to feel better.......

We are using our Notre Dame insurance down here and just filling out the paperwork for reimbursement.  I just submitted a bunch including for some asthma "maintenance" medicine for Elisa.  Here they give you a paper prescription (that you have to go and pick up!) and you can get as many refills as you want with the same prescription.  They don't track the patient, doctor, batch number or anything.  I wonder what they do for narcotics??????

Couldn't cover this subject without a word on paid maternity leave.  They just passed a law that extended it  from 12 weeks state paid (and 6 weeks before the birth) to 6 months.  Sigh.

La Vega - this time with an "expert"

Although I have been to La Vega (the large produce market in downtown Santiago) already, each time I have gone without a car and have roamed around endlessly just admiring the beautiful produce.  I joke with my kids on whether or not an experience is "blog-worthy" (for those of a certain age and nationality it might remind you of a Seinfeld episode).  This was, but I didn't take enough pictures to do it justice, I was too busy ogling the tomatoes.

This time I went with my friend Dorit who has a business renting out a large chocolate "cascade" for events and often prepares the fruit for dipping (for Chilean readers and anybody else who needs a visual chocolate fix check out: http://chocolatefountain.cl/).  When she has an event she heads to La Vega to buy melon, pineapple, and strawberries in bulk - really in bulk - and therefore needs a car.  Dorit reminds me of my Aunt Judy in Israel - artistic, strong-willed, and game for an adventure.  When she is not juggling the chocolate fountain and three kids she also has a jewelry-making business (here goes another plug - www.dorit.cl).  An inspiration for juggling life/kids/work!

This was my first venture into the parking lots - not Dorit's car but an amazing feat nonetheless.  

Quite impressive as well.  What you don't see are the 8 melons and all of the fruits and veggies for  her family for the week!

Some of our bounty for lunch - a shameless brag to my Northern Hemisphere readers looking out at the snow - fresh corn, red peppers, cherries, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, olives, an Israeli chopped salad, tomatoes with basil, cucumbers, pasta with fresh pesto, pebre, salad......I am in heaven (oh yeah, there was gazpacho for dinner too)

Family Time

A while back I got a comment from a friend that it looks like we are having a lot of "family time."   No denying it - we are spending a lot of time together.  I know that as soon as we return Renee will be deep into asserting her independence so I am trying to embrace both the joy and the challenges of family time.  We are planning on driving 10 hours or so (not sure of the roads) to the south in February and then doing a few other side trips.  Our car is quite cozy so it will be quite the trial and will undoubtedly lead to many memories of "family time."  Luckily we did this before all three of them had their growth spurts! 

Waiting for the bus - whether or not they like it, these kids are becoming public transport savvy

More of a realistic photo on the metro

Does ipod touch time count?

Who better to hang out with at the building pool

Some educational TV watching in our bed.  One day we'll have a TV in a common room - perhaps when we don't all fit in our bed.

The kids really are spending a lot more time together than they ever would be doing in South Bend especially with summer here.  Elisa is content to go for a full day of camp at the Estadio with her friends but the others aren't so Renee and Jonathan are learning to depend on each other much more.  Hopefully it will lead to fond memories one day....

Birthday Earthquake (really a tremor)

Rob's group got him tickets to the theater for his birthday so we went out Tuesday night and when we called the kids before we went in to the show they said "Did you feel the earthquake?"  Apparently there was a 6.1 Richter scale earthquake on the coast that they were able to feel here (and we were too busy talking and eating to notice).  Something new to worry about: go out, leave kids at home alone, have earthquake.

During the month of January there is a theater festival here called Santiago a Mil.   One of Rob's current students is Chilean and he asked a friend here "in the know" for some suggestions of shows to see.  For a variety of reasons (we wanted to finally go out in the Bellavista neighborhood without kids, one of the two actors was Argentine so I thought that I might understand it better, it didn't start too late-only 9:00), we ended up seeing Las Heridas del Viento.  We had a quick coffee and dessert before the play while everybody else was beginning to think about before dinner drinks.  We had it at a restaurant in the Patio Bellavista area which is a city block converted to a plaza with restaurants, bars, and cute shops.  We realized very fast that we are not now, nor have we ever been, as hip as the people are who are heading to dinner at 11:00 in the Bellavista nieghborhood - ah well.  I personally realized that I prefer going out for music until I can understand the Chilean accent much better.  Finally, we both realized that with our in-house babysitter we should go out much more often!  A big gracias to Kelly, Yue, Tina, Fabrizio and Juan Pablo!

A few highlights from the rest of Rob's birthday celebrations:

American-style brunch at Cafe Melba

Mmmmmmmm

Birthday Farmers Market visit/olive fest (we had planned a hike but were too sore after the horseback riding the day before - notice that I am not sitting)

A birthday apple strudel, not homemade

Completely oblivious to a tremor but happy with a panqueque con manjar y helado and a cortado (decaf)

Salto de Apoquindo

First of all:

Feliz Cumpleaños Rob!!!!

In retrospect, I should have waiting on the mountain blog.  On Saturday, we went on a horseback riding trip to a waterfall, Salto de Apoquindo, that is fed by Cerro San Ramon.  Back in October we took a long hike that was approaching this waterfall from a different path and there was no way that we could make it the whole distance so it was nice to finally see it.

A colleague of Rob's, Gonzalo, planned the trip and his family went as did a few other folks that he knew (and that definitely had a lot more experience on horses complete with spurs and I don't know what you call things that looked like gaiters but for horseback riding).  The trip took about 2 hours each way and had an elevation change of about 1000 meters.

If we knew how much up and downhill (and slipping) we'd be doing there is NO WAY this arrangement would have happened!

The first few minutes before I lost feeling in my .....

2.5 hours later, after relearning how to walk we walked to the waterfalls.  It was so dry the whole way that this was truly an oasis.

campside

Elisa and Jonathan were the only ones to try out the frigid water.  Jonathan went under the waterfall but it was not photographically documented.

The meat (actually the second round of meat) being prepared by our guides. I brought a pasta salad ;-)

An ongoing theme - J. really needs a dog (so do I).

Post lunch siesta while the kids ran around exploring

and playing hand-clapping games with Beatrice

This 15-day old foal followed Mom the whole way - pretty impressive!

Needless to say I am in extreme pain in unmentionable places today as well as my hand that was gripping on the "horn-ish" thing for dear life.  It was beautiful and interesting but I will skip the next trip like this.....

Update:  Gonzalo actually used a program on his iphone to track the trip.  This is pretty cool.  You can add the satellite view to see the mountains.  Amazing.