So I thought it was about time I wrote another blog to update you all on the going ons here in Chile during the last 2 weeks.
First off we changed our time zone here so that we are now an hour closer to the UK, which is all good but it means I’ve lost 2 hours of my life so far this year which I probably won’t make back. Normally we change the clocks in October like in England but the Chilean government decided to do it early to save electricity by allowing people to enjoy the sunlight hours- can’t say I’ve noticed any difference apart from it being dark and cold when I wake up in the morning!
I also had my first good-tasting coffee in Chile albeit at Starbucks. I don’t know what it is but Chileans do not do nice coffee- and here I need coffee to get me through the long working hours!
Last week, we had two days of national strikes by public sector workers, students, teachers and many other workers. Unfortunately, I had to work throughout although we did get to finish work slightly earlier as the city basically went into shutdown after 7pm. There was lots of violence again, resulting in one teenager being shot by the police and eventually he died. Chile is going through the most civil unrest the country has seen since the overthrowing of the Pinochet regime. You can really see the discontent in Santiago as people struggle to make a living with so much injustice between different segments of society. I can completely understand why people are protesting and definitely support them- even I feel some injustices after being here for only 7 weeks. Let’s just hope things start on the road to improvement soon.
I also got my first proper client/project last week. I am now in charge of Goodyear’s Facebook fan page and blog website. I have to update them daily with articles, photos, videos etc, which was hard to begin with but now I know where to find all the media it’s pretty easy, so Im ready for another project to add to it.
Last weekend was also very busy! I went to 2 house parties on Thursday and Friday nights, one on the top floor and one on the roof of apartment blocks with simply breathtaking views out over the city. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera but it was like something you only see in films and for a while a felt quite rich and important, which was a really nice feeling and I suppose an inspiration to do well in life.
On Saturday I met my course mate’s step-brother, Jonty, visiting from Argentina, and for the rest of the weekend played Guide to him. Both of us along with Meera headed of for a typical lunch of Lomo a lo Pobre (steak with fried onion and egg with chips) in the Mercado Central. It was a really nice experience eating in the middle of the bustling marketplace, with venders trying to sell us all sorts of fish and other seafood delights. The food was really good and was followed by a trago (shot) of Fernet. When I say shot, it’s more like 3 shots. Fernet is also 45% proof and definitely has an acquired taste described as black-liquorice flavoured Listerine (luckily I like both liquorice and Listerine!). We then headed to the very famous La Piojera just next door (I will make a separate blog about the history of La Piojera). This old, very basic bar, resembles somewhere you would expect to keep animals, but is renowned for the traditional Chilean Terremoto. A Terremoto (Earthquake) is a sweet white wine based drink mixed with Fernet and with a scoop of pineapple ice cream dropped in. Needless to say the name describes how you feel after one of these drinks- it is VERY potent. As we went to the bar to order them, local men were telling us to be careful and not have more than one so we knew it was going to be strong, but we couldn’t even finish it! Jonty and I are pretty used to drinking but this was something else so we all decided to head home for a nap!
Meeting up later that night we headed to Bellavista to my favourite karaoke bar where I have been every weekend for the last month. We met up with some of my workmates and their friends and had a fantastic night! Cheap beer lots of singing along, hand clapping and dancing always makes for a good night. Sunday I met up with Jonty and we climbed Cerro San Cristobal, had a walk around the city centre and headed to Museo Bellas Artes, which just happened to be free on Sundays.
This week has been quite slow at work as all the managers have been in meetings ready for the arrival of the CEO this morning to the office, so I haven’t had too much work to do. However, I have been teaching my housemate English every night this week which is actually quite exhausting seeing as I’ve had no time to myself to relax. All I can say is that I am ready for a more relaxing weekend this time, and Saturday I should be going to the Concha y Toro vineyard for a tour and some wine tasting. But I’ll update you all next week on what happens this weekend!
Sorry for the very long blog this time but I hope you all enjoy it (and I'll post some more photos soon).
No comments:
Post a Comment