La Sebastiana & La Feria

The highlights of these past few days were a trip to the open air market in Vina and our visit to the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s house “La Sebastiana” in Valparaiso. The Feria was superb. Avocados, oranges, and tomatoes were particularly tasty and affordable! We plan to return on a weekly basis. Pablo’s house was also great. The main rooms and many of the original furnishings are still intact. The house was built to mirror the unique feel and architecture of Valparaiso. Features include winding staircases, port style windows, multicolored rooms, colonial furniture, paintings from around the globe and many of his creations. You can’t take pictures inside the house but we got a few out on the deck and found a few online. It’s an inspirational place and we can’t wait to visit his more elaborate houses in Santiago and Isla Negra.

DJ Jak has arrived!!!!

Last night I had my first chance to DJ here in Chile! As it turns out, Café Journal is probably the most hoppin’ night life spot in Vina, and you can actually see the place from our apartment’s terraza (see photo). Every night around midnight a mass of Chileans and foreign students descend on Journal to drink like fish and smoke like there is no tomorrow (cough cough). They have 3 rooms with music ranging from pop to hip-hop to TECHNO! Most of the DJs play on CDs but the techno DJs we’ve heard there play awesome music. The day we moved in we stopped by to have a drink and we were lucky enough to meet the manager. We stopped by again on Saturday and they agreed to let me do a set there. How cool is that? It was so much more relaxed than booking arrangements in Portland. I played for about 2 hours and it went really well, the place was packed and although it’s not an open dance floor people danced and everyone seemed to enjoy my sound and technique. With any luck this will be just the beginning! Sadly we didn’t get any pics so I took this one from our deck and this other one is from a few nights ago.

First impressions: Santiago, Valparaiso, Vina del Mar

Here are some pictures from our first week in Santiago, our trip to Valparaiso and our first few days in Vina del Mar.

Here's Jo on the roof of our high-rise apartment building just a few blocks from the ocean.

Our tiny apartment!

Those of you hoping to visit us you better start planning your trip now, but if you are more than one person or if you require very much space don’t plan to stay with us. Our apartment (including the bathroom) is about the size of our living room at home. I think this is why everyone goes out so often, staying in could bring on some serious claustrophobia. Check out the pictures of us in the kitchen!

Graffiti and murals in Valpo

The murals and graffiti found in Valpo are one of many interesting aspects of the city.

Six things that might surprise you about Chile

Six things that might surprise you about Chile

1. The food here is not spicy! Quite the opposite actually, everything we have had has lots of great flavor but it’s not hot like Mexican or Thai foods. In fact Mexican food is considered an import and costs quite a bit. I haven’t found Jalapenos in any store yet.
2. Is Chile a tropical paradise? No way! In fact it’s freezing cold and rainy at the moment and to top it off nobody here has central heating. We wear our thermals and sweatshirts all day, and you have to bundle up even more when you go outside. We heard it gets warm in the summer but we’ll have to see about that.
3. You would not believe how many pizza joints there are here. In el centro (downtown) there are a minimum of 3 on every block. Even non-Italian restaurants serve it. It’s tasty but we are already burned out.
4. Not everything is cheap. In fact today we bought a $10 bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce, whoops! Electronics are spendy, and gas is pretty much the same. On the other hand, produce can be very cheap as well as household goods, although the less expensive household goods are low quality. One thing we have found is that eating out is cheap, cheap, cheap. Yesterday we had a lunch that included chicken, rice, salad, bread, a shot of pisco (grape brandy), coffee, soup and dessert that cost about $3.00 each. Woohoo!
5. Self service? Yeah right! Every process involves two times the amount of people that we are used to. For example; you want to buy produce? Step 1, choose your produce. Step two, go over to the guy who weighs it and puts it in a bag and puts a ticket on it. Only then you get to take it to the checkout. Another example is the bakery. Step 1, get the bread. Step 2, go to the lady who gives you a ticket. Step 3, walk 4 feet to the other lady who rings you up. Go figure. At least everyone here is working.
6. Sugar is actually a part of the food pyramid here. This is not a joke; it’s actually shown as the top tier of the food pyramid. Pretty much every meal includes something sweet ranging from gigantic portions of ice cream with lots of toppings to sweet breads, pastries, cakes, fruit in sugary syrup and the list goes on. There are at least 5 pastry or cake shops on our block alone.

On the run...

Our first week in Chile has been very busy and very exciting. We moved into our apartment yesterday and Jack has a gig to spin records tonight. Everything is happening so fast, but at least I have a week until classes start. It was freezing and raining all day today! It's hard to find anything to eat besides pizza, but Jack has found some beer he likes so things are looking pretty good! Everyone has been so nice and we look forward to exploring our new home. We are close to everything, right in the middle of a bustling city, it is pretty cool. We have met many sweet street dogs; they really like to follow us around. I think they sense our empathy! Being near the ocean is exciting, although I don't think we will be swimming any time soon.