A Few Points on Chilean Culture

So in our first week it seems we have learned quite a few things we have never known about Chile or its people so we would like to share them :)

1. A Day of Eating-Chileans have four meals a day which is quite a change. The first meal is obviously breakfast which is normally bread with jelly, a liquid yogurt, and maybe some fruit.  Thankfully they are also coffee drinkers so we can both get our morning fix.  The second meal is lunch which we eat around 2.  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and can be almost anything.  Today we had delicious tortilla (the kind from Spain not Mexico) with salad, roast potatoes and bread.  The best part was all the vegetables we ate were from the farmer's market this morning so it was incredibly fresh. Then instead of dinner at 5 Chileans have "Once" (not once but 11 in Spanish (I can't do the proper accent marks in Blogger)).  It is not so much a meal as it is a snack to tide you over until dinner.  It is usually coffee or tea with bread or cookies.  And finally around 9 is dinner.  Normally it is a light dinner, but it seems like a full meal to me because I am always stuffed afterwards and there is always tons of food on the table.  Of course with dinner we have wine because why live in a country that makes some of the best wine if you are not going to drink it?!? As you may have noted bread is at every meal.  Everyday people go to the Panderia (a bakery) to buy their bread for the day because it is a staple here.  If you don't like to eat your carbs, Chile is not the place for you.  We have also been eating avocados everyday because they grow them here and are very cheap and versatile. Also Chileans hate, hate, hate spicy foods.  You can not even buy hot sauces or peppers with any kind of kick because they are so unpopular here.

2.No, it's Not the Ice Cream Truck-So yesterday we were sitting around the table when all of sudden we hear "It's a Small World" being belted from the street.  I turned expecting to see the ice cream truck, but no it is the Propane Man.  The stoves and water heaters all run on propane here, and for convenience they sell propane in the streets so people don't have to lug them home on the bus.  So here instead of children going to the street when they hear the classic songs of youth, the adults go to the street to buy their propane.  The sad part is there are many propane companies, so there are trucks circling the neighborhoods all day and all I want is ice cream when I hear them coming.

3. A Shell Game-The majority of people here do not own cars, and even if you do it is sometimes easier to take the bus.  Even though there are so many people who rely on the bus to get where they need to go, there is no written schedule or map of where the buses go.  You have to look in the window to see if the area you want to go is posted and hope that it has a stop in the area you want to be in.  Needless to say, Brandon and I can't leave home unaccompanied because we will have no idea how to get back. The buses do have numbers according to the route they run, but since there is not a list of what number bus goes where, it is trial and error and then remember which one is right. Besides the buses they have taxis that act like buses called Colectivos. It is a taxi that follows a route instead of taking you to an exact address.  They are more expensive than buses, but quicker because their stops are more spread out and they can only fit four people, so once they are full it becomes nonstop until you reach your desired stop.

4. Watch Your Step-I'm not sure if it counts as a point of culture, but it is just and interesting tidbit.  There are tons of dogs just running loose here.  So far they have all been nice (its seems the only ones that are mean are the ones kept as pets) but they are very distracting.  They follow you around in service just trying to get some attention or some food, but the dogs kept as pets don't like them at all.  When you walk down the street all of the dogs start barking so when you speak to a house holder you are yelling over every dog living on that block plus the strays.  At night all you can hear is the stray dogs barking though the streets playing and fighting with each other, then come morning you see them curled up in various spots to sleep the day away.  You always need to look where you step because they make messes anywhere.