shake, rattle and roll

So on Wednesday, September 16 Chile had the strongest earthquake of 2015. Sometime between 7:30 and 8 pm. All in all there were 3 earthquakes and 42 after shocks with strongest being 8.3. Needless to say there was no sleep for me that night. So husband was away for work (naturally) and Curly girl did sleep through it amazingly enough. This was a blessing because I am not really confident that I would have been able to keep us both calm. I was FREAKING OUT. FREAKING THE F OUT.

Can I also please apologize to everyone because I brought this on us. That morning I went out and bought extra bottled water, batteries, bandaids, dried goods and pulled out extra cash to update our "earthquake" supply drawer. I threw it out to the universe and the universe threw it right back. Thanks for that. I digress. We have had so many little tremors since moving here so I was not super concerned at first. But it kept going and kept getting stronger. I thought to myself "self, what would husband do?" Open the front door thats what he would do. So I ran to the front door as my neighbor was doing the same thing. (point me). Then I ran to open Curly girl's door and check on her. Snoring and door being kept open by shoe (success). I ran back to the front door and held it open. It shook for what felt like forever. My sliding doors were opened by about 2 feet and all our drawers were open and shaking. It was crazy and terrifying. But it just shook all night long. Every time I started to drift off a shaking would startle me back awake. Around 4 am I just gave up.  I truly hope to never go through something like that again. But we are lucky to live in such a safe, sound building. We had no damage and nothing broke. The earthquake that destroyed Haiti was only a 7 and there were over 200,000 deaths. I think Chile has had 10. Which is still sad but to think about the drastic difference in that. Santiago is built for this. While I was terrified I never felt unsafe. I knew we were safe. I knew that the building would hold. I don't know how to explain it, but the way the building was shaking I could just tell. I wish husband would have been here with me but I am proud of myself for handling it without totally falling apart. This morning (2 days later) there was a small-ish tremor and I freaked out. I might have ptsd.

let us play catch up, shall we

So I have been MIA for a bit. Yes. My computer crashed. I am talking sad mac dead computer. Complete with x's over the eyes. Let us have a moment of silence for my dead Mac book. Ole girl was with me for 7 years. So sad.

But now I have a fancy new MacBook Air. Its so sleek and smooth. So far I am a fan and I can start posting again. We all win. So we have been busy bees the last couple months. My family came to visit for the month of July. It was so wonderful to see my mom. I missed her so much. I loved getting to show her around the city and take her to the wineries. We share a love of wine, my mom and me. I also introduced her to Indian food. No one loves curry more than I do but I think she's close. Then after that we went skiing down south, have been to multiple Chilean bbq's (Curly girl even got temporarily lost at one, terrifying!) and traveled to Easter Island. Let's start with skiing.

So we traveled down to Chillan and enjoyed a lovely time skiing and stayed in the cutest little cabana.

Skiing in the Andes was incredible. I mean truly breathtaking. And despite Curly girl's (un)enthusiastic expression she did love skiing and was skiing runs solo by the end of the afternoon. Husband gave me a small heart attack because he skied some runs with curly girl between his legs. She loved it and I was terrified. sigh. it rained like crazy the whole drive which resulted in a ton of fresh snow. It was pretty perfect timing. I thought that the skiing trip was my favorite trip so far and then we went to Easter Island and oh man. It was awesome. I mean really cool. I highly recommend that if you can go you should. We stayed in cabanas that were totally cool. The property even had bananas growing near the cabanas. We did this amazing guided tour of the volcano, the Moai, the lake and the beach. Then the next day we did a horseback tour of the interior of the island and toured the caves. The trip of a lifetime. And omg the food. Amazing ceviche and out of this world good, fresh tuna. We actually saw the fishing boats just off coast catching the tuna. It was humid and the air smelled like ocean. It made me miss the sunshine state something fierce but I am still happy to be living here. 

These are some shots of the Moai. And some more....

And because I am me I went for a run while we were there. Not even a vacation can keep me from my running shoes. I took this great shot while out on the run. I ran along the coast because it was pretty and because I figured if I ran along the coast I couldn't get lost. (Yes my internal navigation is so bad that I could possibly get lost on an ISLAND). I left just after sunrise and it was a gorgeous run. 

All in all Easter Island was incredible. I am so glad that we made this trip and I love that we have so many pictures and memories of Curly girl with the Moai :) Now we are back home in Santiago I am in unpacking mode. Bleh. With a sick kiddo, double bleh. I hate the whole trip laundry washing and putting away and cleaning thing. I am currently looking a fairly large pile of clean laundry and listening to my sheets hop around in the dryer (even tho they are totally dry) because I am too lazy to get up and fold the clothes and take the sheets out of the dryer and put them on the bed. meh. But since it looks like I will be home with a sick kiddo tomorrow I should have p-l-e-n-t-y of time to put away some clothes. 

the definition of a death spiral

So as mentioned last weekend I made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for a BBQ. They were a huge hit and gone in roughly 3 minutes. Cake is not really a thing here, its sad. Anyway. So night before the BBQ I was mixing away planning on baking after Curly girl went to sleep and frosting them in the morning. I do the necessary math that is required for baking here. I figure out grams to ounces, ect, ect. Then I do the math for the oven temperature conversion. My stupid, tiny, only really heats up when it feels it oven. Math done, preheat check.
As I am looking at the timer husband waltzes in and says "do you do that every time you cook?"
Me "do what?"
Him "the conversion math"
Me "well I dont have it memorized"
meanwhile as he is about to open his mouth to spew his logic I pull out my baking sheet and the cupcakes are not properly rounded. The bottoms are sticking to the pan. WTF is happening. I never mess up cake. Ever. I start yelling and cursing the metric system and all its grams and degrees because this is not my fault. I never messed up cake till it came into my life. This is clearly the metric system's fault.
Husband "why dont you write down that temperature so you dont have to keep doing that conversion every time you cook it would save you time."
THIS IS NO TIME FOR LOGIC I AM IN A DEATH SPIRAL BECAUSE MY CUPCAKES ARE SHIT AND I CANNOT SHOW UP WITH SOMETHING STORE BOUGHT.
side bar:
When my dear, logical husband and I were first married I was freaking out about something (I was probably just hungry) and he coined the phrase death spiral. He was like well once you start I cant pull you out. You just spiral until you crash. Hence, death spiral. He actually diagramed it too. At the time I was pissed but now it is funny. I wish I had kept the diagram.
I mixed up more batter and tried again. I am many things, a quitter is not one of them. And no way in hell was I going to let cake get the best of me. These turned out better. Not perfect, but good enough to serve to people.

And dont know you know it, husband was smart enough not to say a word.

like the deserts miss the rain, y'all

So I try not to do this. I try not to compulsively think about all the food I miss. The food here is fine. But sometimes the following happens. I chat with my mom. I think to myself "Man I miss my mom. Man I miss my moms mac and cheese. Man I miss cheese in general. I miss cheeseburgers. Oh and good fries. Chik fil a fries. Ooo and spicy chicken sammiches and chocolate milkshakes..." you get the drift. I then sit and feel sorry for myself for about 20 minutes.
So Here is a list so far of all the foods I miss here in Chile. In case you ever come here you will know what to mentally and emotionally prepare for. I am sure it will be continually updated.
1. Cake. Cake is not a thing here. I made mini chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for a bbq last weekend and they were a huge hit. Maybe there is a hidden market for good cake here? So yes, technically I can make it myself. But I miss strolling into Publix and buying a chocolate cake that someone else made and eating it. Plus baking here involves math, thanks metric system, so the juice isnt always worth the squeeze.
2. Good coffee and coffee creamer. The coffee mate kind with all the things that are bad for me in it.
3. Sharp cheddar cheese and feta cheese.
4. Anything from Chik fil a.
5. Good pizza.
6. Panera.
7. Brunch foods. Breakfast in general here is not super popular.
8. Sweet potato fries.
9. Brown sugar. No not technically a food but you cant make a lot of things without it and you cant find it here.
10. Good wheat beer.

So to be fair to Chile here is a list of the food here that I will miss like crazy.
1. Indian food. Shockingly good Indian food here.
2. Peruvian food.
3. Shrimp empanadas.
4. Ice cream. My word they make the best ice cream I have ever had down here.
5. Argentine steak houses.
6. The wine. That should really be #1 on the list.

Bike at your own risk

Recently I re-discovered the joy and convenience of biking. We got one of those seats for the back of my bike. I have a burley and I worship it, but its just not super safe here due to the tacos (traffic. is that not the best word for traffic??). Anyway. So now Curly girl and I cruise to school, the park and the store super fast. It is awesome. It takes me less time to get anywhere and I can ride my bike to the gym too. WINNING. Since I have no car and am afraid to take the bus this opens up a whole new way of life for me. But biking comes with unexpected risks. The cars are not the problem. They are respectful of my space and right of way. Below is the list of people who are unknowingly trying to kill me.

1. Teenage girls/boys. They walk in lines that stretch the length of the sidewalk and then some. They are too busy gabbing about each other and about what so and so said at school, like omg (or the spanish equivalent), to watch out for me. I usually have to off-rode it or risk my life and go into the street temporarily to pass them. They dont even look up from whatsapping long enough to notice that I almost got smashed by a bus.

2. Business men on lunch. They might be worse than the teenagers and their whatsapping. They leisurely walk and stroll (wine with lunch is a thing here so the strolling happens all over the sidewalk) and are not aware of me at all. If Curly girl is with me I start talking loudly so they hear me coming, sometimes they get out of the way faster.

3. People walking with headphones. They cannot hear me as I yell, perdon permisso behind them so they usually jump as they see my shadow passing them. Instead of jumping out of the way they usually jump in my way. This is problematic.

4. Cab drivers. Yes, technically not a sidewalk problem. However, they love to hang out in intersections and block my way to cross the street while the little green man or little green bicycle is telling me that it is my turn to cross. They dont move until the green man is flashing which means that I can take my life in my hands and risk it changing to red man (dead man) or wait the light cycle out again. Thanks, cabbie.

5. My daughter. My own flesh and blood. Just this morning she threw her gloves off her hands in the intersection just as the green man was flashing green and my bike has no kickstand. I had to ride like hell, lean my bike against the light pole sprint back and grab the gloves before they got run over. Thanks, kiddo. She thought it was funny. She also likes to rock side to side. She apparently thinks I am stronger and have a better sense of balance than I actually do.

That one time when we went to the Atacama desert and I got the flu and fainted in a restaurant and the waiter thought I was drunk.

Last Thursday we flew to the beautiful San Pedro de Atacama. It is unlike anything I've ever seen. It is other wordly. It is breath taking. Granted I didnt see that much of it because Thursday night after checking into our gorgeous hotel we strolled into town where I fainted in a restaurant and was accused of being intoxicated. I hadnt had a drop. I was feeling a little weird from the plane ride. It was bumpy. I thought maybe I was air sick and maybe the altitude was getting to me. Well when Curly girl woke up the next morning with the same symptoms we were fairly sure it wasnt the altitude. It was in fact, the flu. Text book flu, naturally.
Well I figured we flew all the way here, lets just load up on Motrin and head out to the tour. (I was so optimistic at this point in the trip). First up, Cejar Lagoon. It is a dead sea. I just took their word for it because it was freezing but some other people there stripped down and floated around the lake. But there are a type of shrimp that live in the lake and in the winter flamingoes come and eat the shrimp. Pretty cool. All around the lakes are salt flats. The salt builds up from volcanic eruptions and water washing down from the Andes. It looks like snow but it is all salt. Its crazy beautiful.

So we survived that. Then we went back to hotel for lunch. Like I said I was optimistic up until this point. Right after lunch my fever spiked, I was wracked with body aches and chills. Amelia starts vomiting. Everywhere. Dan goes to town for medication. I was cleaning up Curly girl's vomit while vomiting and running a fever. That friends, is love. It all pretty much went down hill from this point. I will spare you the gory details. But my husband has earned his saint status. Also, silver lining, the hotel staff did all the vomit laundry. They changed the sheets and washed the towels, God love them. They probably put our pictures up somewhere under the heading "NOT WELCOME BACK" but still I am grateful. Also, by our flight Sat night we were all somewhat better. I could get up without falling over/having to crawl on hands and knees and Curly girl was no longer vomiting. The flight home was uneventful. I have never been so happy to be home. I was still not feeling great all day Sunday and Monday. It was a nasty bug, y'all.
There are Alpaca everywhere in the desert. We saw some just hanging out by the side of the road. I bought some Alpaca scarves as gifts. They are really lovely. There was an Alpaca statue at the hotel that Curly girl liked. She also really enjoyed taking some pictures on the trip. Maybe I have a budding photog on my hands. We stayed at the Los Cumbres and it was perfection. The views, the rooms, everything was just awesome. Cannot recommend enough.

There are tons of Volcanoes in Chile. The ones in the south are fairly active right now. There is one near San Pedro (the name escapes me) but it erupted 8 years ago and every morning there is smoke coming from the top of it. Kind of cool in a scary way. Its the flat looking peak all the way to the right. It is almost as tall as Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

All in all it was an ok trip. Thats a lie, it was terrible. But it is a beautiful place and I really want to go back when we are all healthy and get a do over. I would like to do the things we had to cancel like the hot springs and the geysers. One last picture of Curly girl looking all sad a pitiful. 

Winery tour #3: Santa Rita

We went to visit the winery of Santa Rita 2 weekends ago. It was gorgeous. It is right at the base of the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Impressive to say the least. It is BIG too. Much larger than the other 2 we have been to. They bottle 200,000 bottles of wine a day, 6 days a week. That's a lot of wine. When you drive up you are immediately surrounded by miles, ahem, kilometers of grapes. The tour guide answered a question I have had since we moved here but kept forgetting to ask.
Question: "why are there rose bushes planted at the ends of each row of grapes?"
Answer: Turns out they do this so they can detect any sort of fungus, ect in the soil. If the rose bushes die they know something is wrong with the soil and they can pull up the grape plants and save them. The guide compared the roses to the canaries in the coal mines. Smarty pants.

The roses looked good, so no worries here for the little grapes of Santa Rita. So Santa Rita's winery is in Maipo valley but they have grapes in Casablanca, Rapel and Colcahgua valleys as well. The weekend before we went they had their harvest....so this means they were actually making wine! Ah so cool! So while on tour I got to see the HUGE metal towers where they were in the process of making the wine. The guide showed us how they control the temperature and how long they keep the wine in the containers. Some wines can stay in the metal towers for up to 8 months. Then once they are done in the metal towers they are moved to barrels. They use oak barrels from France and the good ole' USA.

The white wines dont get put into barrels. They are reserved for the reds. After seeing the wine making they took us down to the cellars. The wines are stored horizontally so that the wine has contact with the cork. That is apparently very important for the wine to have proper oxygenation and maturation. I am learning so much in Chile! There were stacks and stacks of rows and rows of bottles. There is a special cellar that was the original cellar used at the winery. See below. 

It was beautiful on the inside. It has the original walls and floors and the structure was untouched until the big earthquake of 2010. One of the main columns was lost and the winery lost 5% of production. They fixed the column and now it isnt used anymore. It is a museum of sorts and now protected by the Chilean History Society. Pretty cool!
Ok so now to the good stuff.
Scenery: Absolutely beautiful. The mountains in the background really make it stand out. I still think that Casa del Bosque is the prettiest but this one is easy on the eyes too. It really is lovely. I think maybe we picked a bad day to go because the ash cloud from the volcano eruption down south was passing over the greater Santiago area and the air was hazy. I couldnt really see everything. We maybe should give it another go when my mom visits. This one gets extra cool points because it grows grapes, processes them, makes the wine and bottles it.
Carmenere: It is fantastic. They make some of the better Carmenere in my opinion. I love it. It is perfection and actually their Carmenere is the one that made me fall in love with this variety of wine. Their carmenere comes from the Colchagua Valley.
Cabernet Reserva: It is tasty. I really like this one. It is not as strong as some other cabernets that I have had since being here. It is smooth and light. It has a nice after taste and smooth on the tongue. Their Cabs come from the Maipo Valley. The Maipo Valley is famous for their Cabs.
Cabernet Grand Reserva: This one was "eh". It was kind of spicey and not really my thing. It wasnt bad but it just wasnt my favorite. It was too strong for me.
Sauvignon Blanc: Their grapes for the Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Casablanca Valley. All the good SB's do. It is good. It is light and fresh. It is slightly acidic and tart but not overly so. It to me would be perfect on a summer afternoon with some fish or ceviche. yum.
Food: We didnt eat so I cannot speak to the food, but the restaurant was lovely and so rustically beautiful. I have it on good authority from a friend that the food matches the environment. They were actually prepping for a wedding while we were there! We sat in the garden and had a glass of vino while Curly girl ran around like a maniac.

All in all great winery. 2 thumbs up!!

Argentina: Part 2

We had only one full day in BA. We had to fly home the next morning. So we got up, ate and headed out to see the famous cemetery where Eva Perone (Evita) is buried (dont cry for me Argentina!).

 The Church by the Recoleta

 Gorgeous stained glass window in the cemetery

We kind of had to make the trip to the cemetery short and sweet. It was not the most kid friendly activity and Curly girl was getting loud and bored. So we left and headed over to the HUGE open air market. Curly girl ran around like the maniac she is and climbed trees.

We walked around and husband found a guy making leather goods by hand. He got himself and his dad some belts. They are the most gorgeous color leather and buttery soft. I snapped a picture of the guy stamping the belt holes in the leather.....

We watched him work for a bit and then took the belts and kept on going. There were vendors selling everything you can think of. Husband wanted a mate cup. Mate is very popular tea here. It kind of looks like pot, but they drink it like crazy here. You drink it out of these special cups they make from hollowed gourds and these special straws that filter out the tea leaves. The tea is not finely ground like you find in tea bags. It is super coarse and almost chunky? I like the way it smells but its not my favorite tea. 

This is not the cup Husband picked out but they all kind of look the same. The straw gets SUPER HOT. Its metal which is not the most ideal material for a straw that you use in boiling water in my opinion. Anyway so got one of these puppies and then found a lady selling birds she made from the same gourds that they make Mate tea cups out of. We got 2 for Curly girl's room. I am going to figure out a way to hang them from the ceiling. 

Isnt he cute?? I just love them. They are so whimsical and charming. 

So anywho that was our day in BA. We ended the evening with a dinner out with our friends and their adorable 10 month old. The girls both enjoyed being up past bedtime and the food was fantastic. All in all we had a great time. I wish we could have stayed longer. The flight was less than 2 hours so I am sure we will go back. 

As far as the eye could see there was this distinct line of clouds where they just couldnt get up and over the mountains. It was so cool. The Andes are big! 

Argentina: Part 1

For Easter weekend we went to Buenos Aires. We went for one reason: Curly girl and I were technically still on tourist visas and we needed to leave the country and re enter on our new official visas. It also happens to be a cool city that we wanted to see ;) Our tourist visas expired 4 days after we got home from our trip. Nothing like waiting till the last minute.
Santiago is nestled right up against the Andes. Crossing them was truly an experience. The clouds cant even come over the mountains. I will share another picture of our return trip where you can see the line of clouds that just cant make it up and over the mountains. It was bizarre!

Husband took this shot as we crossed over the tallest point. Quite the view.
So we got to Argentina right at Curly girl's bedtime-not ideal. But our hotel had 2 bedrooms and a sitting area so we whisked her off to bed and our friends that live in Buenos Aires came over with some tasty, tasty take out (read: STEAK) and we cracked open a bottle of malbec and caught up. This steak may have been the best steak I had ever had. If you are a steak lover, Argentina is the place for you. You cannot go there and not eat steak. The malbec was good. It was fine but it has nothing on Chilean red wine. We stayed at the Trianon apart hotels. If you go to Buenos Aires and you have small children this is right where you want to be. It is in Recoleta, close to tons of places to eat, has free breakfast in the mornings, has 2 bedrooms, a sitting area, a kitchen and 2 bathrooms. Magic basically.

communism in the kitchen

Everything in this apartment came with a learning curve. The washing machine, dryer, microwave and oven are all in Spanish. If I had a dishwasher it would be in Spanish too. My remote controls for the TV are in Spanish. And clearly I knew it would all be in Spanish. But knowing and understanding are two different things. I knew the washing machine would be in Spanish, but I didnt really understand what that would mean. It meant sticky notes everywhere so I didnt ruin clothes. I can happily report those sticky notes are now gone. I have also conquered the microwave and the remote controls. But the oven still gets me. Because not only is it TINY (I have to buy easy bake oven sized pans since my giant sized ones from the States dont fit. But the 13x9 pyrex does fit so all is not lost) but it is also in Celsius. Oh Celsius.
Last week Curly girl wanted to bake cookies. Bake with your kids they said, it will be fun they said. The following steps had to be taken in order to make said cookies.

1. I had to unplug the desktop computer from the transformer and move the transformer to the kitchen where my Kitchen Aid is. God bless a Kitchen Aid mixer, am I right?
2. Convert grams to tablespoons to cups. I am not a math person. I am going to buy a food scale. The butter here is marked in grams not tbsp and sometimes not marked at all!
3. Do more math to figure out what temp to set the oven. You win again Celsius. When I cook dinner I kind of just wing it in the temperature department because I cannot be expected to do math at 5:30 pm, but I figured this is baking. Be precise, Joanna.
4. Vacuum pantry because spices are sold in bags here and inevitably the baking soda spilled everywhere.
5. Locate muffin tin because my cookie sheets dont fit in the oven.

But good news the semi muffin shaped cookies turned out pretty good! If I were more intelligent I would have written down the answers to the 5 problems above and filed it away for the next time, but you know I didn't.
End of story: the metric system sucks. So do spices not sold in containers with lids that either screw on or snap shut.

winery review #2: Concha y Toro

Concha y Toro is one of the most famous wineries in Chile. It even has its own legend that put Chilean wine on the map. I even went down into the “Casillero del Diablo” (Devil’s Cellar).  The tour was great. It was kind of touristy, but lets be honest thats what I am so I enjoyed it. It is a huge winery. While Casa del Bosque was small and quaint this one is BIG. The entry gates are grand and beautiful. There are multiple cellars and vast vineyards. At this one you can even eat grapes off the vine and they have the vines labeled with what grapes they are. I was so surprised that all of the grapes do taste differently. Curly girl had so much fun running around the vines and picking and eating grapes. It was magical. I learned that you can make white and red wine from red grapes. Hey, learn something new every day right? 

I love that view of the mountains from the valley. It is so beautiful. This winery is located in the Maipo Valley. This tour was great because it has multiple cellars. It just makes it more interesting. They have one cellar where they store their absolutely best wine and it is only for the owners and share holders. I would love to get my hands on that!
The breakdown:
Scenery: Beautiful. Grand. I loved seeing the old owners plantation and the view of the mountains is lovely. Overall very grand.
The food: AMAZING. We ate at their restuarant after the tour. We sat outside in the courtyard and they had a band and traditional Chilean dances. The dancers did the Cueca and it was wonderful to watch. Curly girl even got up and did some dancing.
The Wine:
Sauvignon Blanc: Its not great. I mean its good and I would not turn down a glass, but it is too tart. Its not bright and refreshing like I prefer my SB.
Carmenere: In the words of my Chilean friends, esta muy rico. Oh my goodness. It is velvet and smooth and wonderful on the tongue. It is simply devine, in my opinion. I hope I can find it back in the States. I have seen their Cab in the States so I am hopeful. If you can find it where you live go buy a bottle.
Cabernet: It is very good! It is what they are famous for. Its heavier than their Carmenere but not in a bad way. It is rich and full. Overall a very good Cab. I have had this one before I came to Chile, but it tastes better here.
All in all this winery is fantastic. They really do a good job explaining the wine (English tours!) and really do justice to the Chilean wine industry. It was really fun.

These are the stairs down into the Casillero del Diablo. This cellar is really cool. The bricks and mortar and made from a special mixture of egg white, sand and grass and it keeps the cellar the perfect temperate. This is also where the special cellar is that houses the owners/share holders only wine. Yum!
Side note: husband is amazing and wrangles Curly girl when she starts to lose focus so that I can enjoy the tastings. Hes so good!

Winery review #1: Casa del Bosque

Living in wine country is fantastic. I want to start reviewing all the wineries we go to so I dont forget about which ones I liked and this way I can recommend ones to people we may know traveling to Chile.

First on the docket, Casa del Bosque.
Gosh this one is gorgeous, isnt it. I mean it truly is picturesque. This was the first one we went to. And let me tell you, the wine from this winery is still my favorite that I have had in Chile. I mean it is just that good.

 It is nestled in the Casablanca Valley and about an hour from Santiago. With the valley and the mountains all around you kind of forget you are even that close to the city. In my limited experience with Chilean wine I have found that most of the best wines come from the Casablanca valley, especially the Sauvignon Blancs. The Colchuga valley is awesome for Carmenere. Anyway, It was just a perfect morning. We did the tour and the tasting (yumm) and then had a picnic lunch provided by the restaurant while Curly girl played on the playground. The wineries all have playgrounds. Its awesome.

Breakdown:
Scenery: It is perfection
The food: eh, it was fine. Not great but fine. But we didnt really come here to eat, right? ;)
The important stuff, the wine:
Chardonnay: eh, it was chardonnay. I dont love chardonnay so I might not be a fair reviewer of this one.
Sauvignon Blanc: Sauvi B is my favorite kind of wine, hands down. And I ADORE SB from New Zealand. In my opinion it is the holy grail of SB. But back to Chile. This one from Casa del Bosque is fantastic. It is the closest to the product of New Zealand that I have found here. Oh you Kiwis are good, but this one is not far behind. It is my go to wine and I have been known to go completely out of my way to get it since it isnt sold at the grocery store close to our apartment. It is light and crisp, slightly fruity and acidic. It is everything a good SB should be. I will miss it when we move back to the States.
Carmenere: I LOVE CARMENERE. It is exquisite. And if you arent familiar with the story of Carmenere go google it. Its a cool story. This one is delicious. It is velvety and smooth. It is full, but in good way. I do not typically like a full bodied red, but this one is awesome. It isnt my favorite Carmenere that I have had since coming here but it is certainly up there.
Cabernet: I thought I liked Cabernet but then I had Carmenere. I can still appreciate a good Cab though. This one is fine, it tastes like any other good quality Cab to me. But they served it slightly chilled in the tasting and I really enjoyed that. This Cab is smooth and slightly sweet. It is light, which I appreciate in a red.
Syrah: I am not a fan of this one, but I dont like any Syrahs really. The way I feel about Syrah is the way I feel about Chardonnay: unnecessary.
They also do make a Merlot, but it wasnt on the tasting menu the day we went. If I go back and they do have it I will report back.

So that is Casa del Bosque. I cant wait to take my mom here when she visits! She is a white wine lover so this one will probably be her favorite as well.

The Chile Experience

I have been humbled. My rose colored glasses were snatched off my American face. I still love Chile, I do, but things are hard here (duh). Things I didnt expect are really hard. Why didnt I expect it be hard? Silly, silly me. I am starting to get frustrated and irritated and lonely. I know this is probably normal for anyone who moves to a country where they dont speak the native tongue or know anyone. But the lack of meaning-full interaction is getting to me. I dont have anyone that I can just sit down with and talk to. I hate that I took for granted all the wonderful, silly conversations I had with my friends in the States. I miss being understood and feeling connected to something. I miss not being exhausted after a 10 minute conversation because I am so focused on what is being said. The language barrier means that I am always one joke behind and a little out of sync with everyone else in the conversation. I am not funny or witty or charming in spanish. I feel like this duller version of myself. I was doing a good job of looking for joy or fun things in unexpected places for our first several months here. But I have hit a wall and have been in this horrible pity party mode for a couple weeks now. And in the process I have been completely humbled.

When we got here I was all sunshine and rainbows. I was smug and thought that I could just waltz into Chile and boom, poof, be ok. Not so fast. I was so arrogant. Oh my goodness. I thought "I am brave and adventurous and I totally got this". Being completely immersed into a new culture and country is hard. OBVIOUSLY. And shame on me for thinking it would be otherwise for me. I only hurt myself. But now with a new attitude and perspective change I am doing better. Isnt it funny what a little perspective can do!? Turns out being embarrassed and feeling dumb everyday can actually be a good thing. I have learned to let go. I am not in control here and all I can do is the best that I can do. And turns out that the States isnt all that. I am really starting to appreciate the pros of The States and the cons, as well as the pros and cons of Chile. I have learned a lot about myself. Turns out being quiet and listening is good. Who knew?? Not this chatterbox. You know I met someone the other day at the playground (an American!) and she is really nice and has a daughter Curly girl's age. Their family has been here for 3 years and her daughter doesnt speak spanish and they mainly only hang out with other gringos (I can use that word since I am one here). And it hit me in that moment I needed to change my perspective and get out my funk before that was me. Dont get me wrong, they are lovely and their children will be wonderful friends for Curly girl, but no. I dont want to look back on my year and think about all the things I missed out on because I was scared or was worried I would feel or look stupid. I dont want Curly girl to not speak spanish (no fear there she already is better than me) and I dont want to have completely missed out on what makes Chile, Chile! I am brave and I can do this. I know that much.  I need to follow my very brave daughter's example. She was really struggling and having a hard time at school and now she is blossoming here. She is speaking spanish and laughing with friends at school. This year will probably be one of my hardest yet. But sometimes the best things and the experiences worth having are hard. I need to remember that everyday. I am proud of us for not choosing what was easy, but instead embracing possibility. 

knock knock who's there

Last week Curly Girl and I had ourselves a little adventure. We got locked INSIDE the apartment. Yes, inside. How you ask? Let me tell you.
We had just gotten home from Jardin (preschool). She was eating her pbj and I was about to take the trash out. I went to open the door and while the handle did indeed move down in the correct motion nothing happened. First thought: did I lock the deadbolt? Frantic search for keys ensues, keys are finally located, dead bolt is not actually locked. hmmmm. OK. I proceeded to mess with the door more and probably made it worse. I texted husband. He does not respond. I attempt to call downstairs to concierge. Oh but thats right, I speak terrible spanish and he cant understand me. hmmmmm. (insert pacing and mild panic). Also let me add that it was 94 that day and my apartment has no AC. It was getting super toasty. I maybe was extra hot because I was sweaty with panic. But it was hot. I texted a friend who is bilingual. She calls the concierge for me and calls me back and says they are sending someone up to look at it. Dude comes up and says "La peurta no se abre?" to which I respond "si" I desperately wanted to say si po which is, like, totally Chilean but figured this was not the time to practice my slang. He knocks (??) then says something I cannot understand and leaves. (INSERT MORE PANIC). I like living on the 14th floor, however, in that moment all I could think was what if there is a fire? Damnit why dont we live on the 2nd floor? Top floor schmop floor.
2 hours later a locksmith shows up. He proceeds to completely remove the entire lock system from my door with a small power tool. (INSERT MORE PANIC).
I internally shouted "Give us us free!" as he opened the door. (Amistad anyone?) Turns out our fancy double deadbolt broke in half, but dont worry the new one is better and that shouldnt happen again. I am reassured....?
take aways:
1. I am terribly glad that Curly Girl was with me.
2. Must get better at speaking the spanish.
3. I am glad there was no fire.

Curly girl barely noticed our captivity.

What I have learned from the playground

We are still learning the playground norms here. But I have a few of them down.

1. Many times, it is the nana or housekeeper that brings the kiddos to the playground. Not mom. So I stick out. Especially because I am usually in a baseball hat-not a thing here.

2. The little boys can do whatever the heck they want. They are doted on and indulged. Little girls, eh. Little boys can be mean, not share, or play nice.  Little girls that dont share get yelled at. Thankfully Curly girl cant understand them when they yell ;)

3. Kids can pee outside in the grass/in the trees at the playground. It is normal, everyone does it. This shocks me. Today Curly girl had to pee. She went in the trees. OMG MORTIFIED MOTHER HERE, but no one else thinks its weird. I do, for the record. But I will try to adapt to my surroundings. I am still paranoid I am going to get a ticket for indecent exposure or something for my child.

4. Toys are a free for all. There is no such thing as "mine" or not sharing. The kids ask to play and the answer is always yes. This I actually really like and I think its a good thing for Curly girl to experience this. In the States it is cool all of the sudden and trendy for kiddos to not share. Its odd. I get it in theory. You should not have to give up a toy if you are not done using it. But what I have observed is that the kids that are not forced to share just hoard the toys are scream " I AM NOT DONE" over and over again so they dont have to let any other kiddo play with anything. This to me, teaches nothing. Again, good idea in theory but in practice I think it doesnt work. Sadly we live in a world with other people and no one likes an asshole. So I like that the Chilean kids just share and take turns with each others stuff. Its refreshing. But it is hard when its time to leave the playground because I dont know how to say 'hey we are leaving, we need our stuff back" ;)

5. The ice cream man comes to the playground. Only he has a cooler with wheels, not a truck. And he just stands there and yells "Helado, helado, helado!" and the kids come a running. Usually with barefeet. All the playgrounds have sand.

6. Helicopter parenting is not a thing here. It is so refreshing. No one hovers. The kids just figure it out.

What I learned from living in a hotel for 6 weeks

So. Here we are 6 weeks later. We have been in Chile for SIX WEEKS. Seems long. We are finally getting out of the hotel. FINALLY. We sign for the apartment tomorrow and move in Friday. Let me tell you. People think "ooo hotel living. How fun and easy, its like a vacation". Those people must not be parents. Hotel living with a 3 year old is the opposite of a vacation. But I did learn a few things (good and bad). 

1. I am semi-claustrophobic. I didnt know this about myself. Living in a child's sized shoe box with 2 people really got to me. I had no space. I longed for wide, open spaces like the kind you might find in a house. With separate rooms. I wanted to dance like this in a kitchen. 

Sadly, it wasnt happening. And dont get me wrong, I love my two people a ton but their constant close-ness was irritating at best. Turns out I really like to be alone. I've been grumpy, as my 3 year old pointed out. Ouch. I need an attitude adjustment, ahem.   

2. Ah the constant close-ness. Got old quick. I dont think this one needs any more explanation. I would like my own room at the apartment please, you two figure it out. 

3. I really like cooking and cleaning. Now hold on a minute. I know what you are thinking. But heres the thing. When you cannot cook or clean or do anything productive it starts to feel weird. Turns out (even though I complain) I really enjoy preparing meals for my family and I like maintaining a house hold. Maybe I should have been born in the 50's. 

4. Breakfast. OK this one seems easy. But in a hotel you have to get dressed, go up 11 stories, get a table and sit down. And the very minute you get the little person set up with food and flag down the coffee guy for a "cafe con leche", inevitably the little person will say something like "I need more juice" or "I need to go potty". And this is all before you have had ONE sip of coffee. I just want to drink coffee in my pjs where the little person can skip off to the bathroom alone to peepee. Is that really asking so much?

5. Last but not least. I learned that starting my day intentionally is important. I like to get up an hour or so before Curly girl does. I can have coffee, watch some news, get a good start on the day and make a plan. In the hotel I start my day reacting. Meaning, I get up when she does so I dont wake her. So I start off my day reacting to what she is doing. Me no likey. 
take aways:
Personal space is good. 

End of summer time blues

So husband is now working. It was nice to have him home for the first 4 weeks we were here. So now during the day its just me and the kiddo. She has school every day here which is nice. I am itching to get back into a routine that somewhat resembles normal. Once we are out of the hotel (did I mention we are STILL in the hotel over 6 weeks later? sigh...) I think our mornings will be a lot less stressful. The hotel is just not close to her school and being that I have no car that is tricky. (Let's be honest tho, even if I did have a car I would not drive here.)We take the metro which is cool but it gets old. And this morning I realized something. Summer vacations are coming to an end and people are back in the city at work. The metro was PACKED. Like, we had to stand on the stairs, no room on the platform, had to wait for 2 trains to even get on one kind of packed. So I think that until we get into an apartment we will be walking to school. I just cannot do that every morning. I dread to think about what it will be like first week of March when the schools are all back in session. *shudder*
But see it is very much a damned if we do and damned if we dont kind of thing about the apartment. It is hot outside. Real hot. And the hotel has AC, but the apartment will not. There is no good answer here. But I have been eating take out for the last 5 weeks+ so I think that I can probably buy some fans and be ok with it. 

Southern Hemipshere blues

Today I suggested the mall because none of curly girl's clothes really fit. They are in the "I kind of fit but it also looks silly/homeless" stage. I thought its perfect, the mall has AC (it's super hot today) and we can get popsicles from this awesome popsicle place called Paletas. SO GOOD. When we departed the Northern Hemisphere it was freezing. So finding summer clothes (even online) was tricky. I thought it will be fine. I can buy clothes in Chile. No, actually I cannot. We looked in about 6 stores before I finally admitted defeat and told husband to please ask someone in his perfect spanish why there are NO shorts and t shirts for girls. Ok I am being dramatic there are like, 3 shirts and 1 pair of shorts, but they are covered with princesses and other characters and I just cannot even. That, my friends, is a whole other can of worms. I digress. Turns out little girls in Chile dont wear shorts and tshirts. They wear dresses and skirts. In fact the lady kind of made a "duh" face when she was answering us. It seems so silly but then it hit me. I HAVE NOT SEEN A LITTLE GIRL IN SHORTS AND A TSHIRT SINCE I GOT HERE. Well that solves that.

I went back to the hotel and ordered clothes from Boden and Carters like it was going out of style. Because it actually is. Its still full blown summer here so all these cute spring styles will disappear soon and be repaced by summer clothes right around the time it is winter here. I CANNOT WIN. This whole hemisphere thing is tricky. I should probably go ahead and buy winter clothes while I can still find them lest my child continue to look homeless. Oh wait. We kind of are. 

birthday party extravaganza

I thought all preschools were basically the same. I mean it is school for 3 and 4 year olds. I was wrong. 
The teachers (tias) are awesome. They hug and kiss the kids on the cheek without being hauled off and made to wear ankle bracelets. The horror. Also the kids play in the water in back yard style blow up pools. Its kind of awesome (its technically summer school right now, the school year begins in March. I am still adjusting to life south of the equator). I pack her bathing suit and a towel and on Fridays they have water day. They also have a garden that they grow veggies in and a rabbit named for Peppa Pig. She's big here too. They do ballet and yoga and have music time. Its just the cutest little school. I feel very lucky that we got curly girl a slot there.  
So we are 2 weeks into school. On Wednesday the kids were sent home with a birthday party invitation for a little girl in the class. Not really understanding what this meant I asked a friend who speaks English and has a daughter in curly girl's class. Birthdays are a BFD in Chile. Not only do the parents of the birthday girl/boy get to bring in homemade treats for the kids (State side it was store bought treats only still in original packaging.) I didn't even have to sign a waiver saying my kid was allowed to eat the treats either. Maybe America is slightly uptight. But all the kids bring a present for the birthday girl/boy and its a huge celebration complete with a disgusting amount of balloons and singing and streamers. They make a circle around the birthday boy/girl who sits in a special chair and they sing songs about giving and receiving gifts. Intense. I am grateful that I have 4 months before I have to organize something like this because maybe just maybe by then my spanish will have evolved past miming. 
So I hopped over to Jumbo (think Walmart) to get a present. What do you buy for a little girl you have never met? Something princess-y seemed like a safe bet. I feel like 3-4 year old girls and princesses is kind of a universal thing. And of course my miming because the translation for wrapping paper didn't translate (ha!)was comical. I looked insane I am sure. I think its cute that they make such a big deal out of the kiddos birthdays at school, also, this kind of takes the pressure off having to actually have a separate birthday party (woohoo!). I am super grateful to my friend who filled me in on the birthday extravaganza because the last thing I need is to be the mom who doesn't speak spanish and who didn't bring a birthday present to the party. 

Bienvenida a Chile!

So we have arrived in Chile. Well, actually we arrived 3 weeks ago from this very moment. I had been anticipating the move and in such a hurry to get here and then like magic, BOOM we were in Chile. We got off the plane exhausted and excited. However, once reality set in, enter the deer in the headlights accompanied by internal screaming "WHAT HAVE WE DONE?????" 

I will happily report that I don't feel like this anymore. 
Santiago itself is beautiful. Its busy and loud but also really charming. You can go from a huge major road make a left and end up on a quiet tree lined street with gorgeous apartment buildings. Its wonderful. Speaking of apartment buildings we are still living in a hotel (lame. I mean its a nice hotel and they have been wonderful but living in a hotel with a 3.5 year old is LAME at best), but we have our eyes on a lovely building close to curly girl's school that houses a fantastic apartment that hopefully has our name on it. Fingers crossed we are in it by the end of next week. 
I am loving exploring during the mornings while she is at school. I ride the metro and walk around and look at the open air markets and explore the coffee shops. (coffee here is not great. Its very sad for me) My phone is dead by lunch time because I am constantly running my google translator app. I do a LOT of miming along with my terrible spanish. We are starting to pick up some of the local words and meanings for things and its fun. I love watching curly girl interact with the children and practice saying things. All in all I am thrilled with the beginning of our Chilean adventure.