Aneya & Lauren: Buenos Aires.

Since it's our last month here, we want to spend it doing as much as we can and enjoying our time here. So, for Aneya's birthday we're headed to Buenos Aires for a week. We'll post about all our amazing experiences complete with pictures when we get back.

Below are some of the places we want to visit that are on the itinerary.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Lauren: Coming Home.

So, Aneya and I are definitely coming home at the end of June. Tickets are bought, we've given our notice to our landlady and by the end of June we'll be moving back into summer -- again.

I didn't come to Chile with many expectations. I just wanted a different perspective, to know how feels to live somewhere else, maybe improve my Castellano. But the one thing I did expect was to get a job. I'd been applying to jobs since two months before we moved down here, and I thought undoubtedly, I'd get something. But I didn't.

Instead I got tons of really incredible memories, and I think moving without expectations only made it easier for living here to exceed anything I could have wanted to happen. I've made really good friends, lived through a major catastrophe, traveled all over this skinny country, and yes, improved my speaking and reading quite a bit.

Although Aneya and I initially thought we'd "try to stick it out" at least six months, once we flew by the six month mark we only wanted to stay more. Not having jobs though, really hasn't helped us make this happen.

I'll miss our new friends, and walking down the street and bumping into a 400-year-old building amid towering skyscrapers. I'll miss the libraries in the parks, people doing street art, and the general friendliness Chileans have toward each other that I've never seen in the U.S.

And unlike our initial voyage down here, we can't say that we'll be seeing these things in a short few months, because we don't know when we'll be back. We both have agreed though, that we're coming back. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

I am really sad to leave, but in every way living here has been (almost) entirely wonderful and I'm so glad that we made this happen.

-- Lauren

Aneya: Exotic Destinations

Would this be considered "exotic" to you?

When Lauren and I went to Mendoza we met more Anglos than Argentineans, at least in our hostel. The city is a tourist haven, what with the proximity to beautiful vineyards and all the cheap outdoor activities they offer (in the Andes, no less!) We met Canadians, Australians, Americans and Brits.

The Brits were quite chatty and we got to know two different couples, both of whom had travelled extensively throughout Asia. Lauren and I were shocked. You two went where? Oh, the usual: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia. In Vietnam, the man said, I ate something that gave me a red, itchy rash that lasted the entire month we were there! He laughed about it, but Lauren and I were horrified. Never in a million years would I go to Vietnam on vacation. The thought just wouldn't occur to me.

That's when I realized something. "Exotic" means something completely different to different nationalities. For Brits, an exotic vacation would be somewhere in Asia. The other couple we met had gone on a similar route, but after Thailand had gone on to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and then Chile. (That end of the trip sounds great!) They told us that Brits love visiting Asian countries, because everything is so cheap, the landscape is beautiful, and it's always an adventure (to say the least).

To the average American, I'd say an "exotic" destination would be somewhere in Europe. The Greek Isles, the South of France, Tuscany, maybe Amsterdam, for the young ones who've heard the tantalizing rumors about it. Even England itself is exotic, for middle Americans that have never left Ohio. I can't imagine an American saying they'd rather go to Katmandu than London. It's just a different mentality altogether.

And what about South Americans? What's exotic to them? I'm gonna say anything North. The farther, the better. I've met a number of Chileans who have traveled to Canada, which I found odd (What's there to do in Canada?) Hey, at least it's far! Going anywhere in the U.S. is also exotic, as is Nordic countries in Europe.

It's interesting to realize that not everyone travels the same. Those Brits we met? They had taken a year off from work and were traveling the world, trying to hit up as many countries as possible. Although that sounds cool, it also sounds exhausting, expensive and downright stressful. Lauren and I both agreed we'd rather do it in bits and pieces, split it up and really take our time in each country. Hopefully, one day, we will.

-- Aneya

Aneya & Lauren: What We're Reading [part 3].

Aneya: Going back to that picture we took of all our books, you can clearly see not one, not two, but three Jodi Picoult titles in the mix. Anyone who knows Lauren I'm sure figured they weren't hers, as she's more of a "high brow" reader that that. Well, it's true, they're mine. And I'm not ashamed. A lot of people assume Picoult writes popular chick lit fluff, plane reads if you will, and it's simply not true. I used to read a ton of chick lit back in the day (I especially loved Irish authors like Maeve Binchy and Brits like Jane Green) so I know what that genre is all about. And Picoult is not that.

Yes, she writes about love and relationships, about families and dramas and betrayals. But she also tackles highly controversial subjects such as euthanasia, sexual abuse, pedophiles, stem cell research, school shootings and teen suicide, among others. Picoult is an amazing storyteller above all else, each book is suspenseful, a page turner, a mystery and she keeps the reader intrigued until the very end. She weaves in and out of different narratives, she always creates realistic, flawed characters you can relate to. Her writing is often beautiful, lyrical and set in her native New England.

Anyway, my favorite out of the three that I brought is, without a doubt, The Pact. It's one of her older ones, and it's a classic. A teenage love story, between two people brought up basically as brother and sister. Their parents lived across the street from one another and Emily and Chris were inseparable from a young age. They become a couple in high school and then one day, the unthinkable happens. Emily is found dead, shot to death by her boyfriend, Chris, in what appears to be an apparent suicide pact that didn't go through. The book is suspenseful, a page turner, heartbreaking and at the same time, maddening. It's written with compassion and grace and is one of her finest to date.

Lauren: So I've started reading What is the What and am really enjoying it ... if you can really enjoy a book about genocide and ethnic cleansing. It super captures the voice of Valentino, the Sudanese refugee living in the U.S. and gives a lot of history and background into the conflict in Sudan, tracing tensions between the Arabs and Dinka back to independence from British imperialism in 1953 while still having a very narrative tone.

It's one of the few books that I actually stay up until 2 a.m. just to squeeze in a few more pages. Usually if I try to read anything after 10 p.m. I'm out like a light.

Something else I've read recently from the Chilean newspaper La Tercera is that carpooling is getting big in popularity in Chile. The article goes on to explain to people what carpooling is ("when you share your car to go to work," the deck says) and says that it became popular with college students. Now that they've graduated, they've taken sharing their cars to their professional life. I was just flabbergasted that people here didn't know what that was, AND that it's just becoming popular now.

I also saw in El Mercurio that bullying in Chilean schools has recently shot up, with a third of children in primary school saying they've been victims of bullying -- which El Mercurio explains is triple the number then in Switzerland and double the number for bullying in Canada. The piece they did was really great, super thorough.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Lauren: Paying bills.

Another thing that was totally new to me here: how to pay bills. In Chile you pay your bills in person; it's not even possible to write a check and send it off in the mail.

I actually prefer this because you walk in, see the money leave, and have a receipt stapled to your bill when you leave. You don't have to worry about it getting lost in the mail, the page having a "server error," or something going wrong. You walk in, talk to someone, and know it's taken care of.

All around the city there are these ServiPags where you pay for all your services, gas, electricity, water, you can charge your metro commuter card, charge your phone (I think), and I think some places let you pay your communal costs for your building here, although ours requires us to go to a bank and pay.

This really saved Aneya and I because it's impossible to get a bank account here without five pay stubs (which is impossible to get without a visa), so we never got Chilean bank accounts.

-- Lauren

Aneya: Love Letter to Chile?

Is this the t-shirt I'll be wearing home? (It's kinda cute, so maybe....)

Lauren and I were going through some of our old blog entries the other day (we're almost to 150, can you believe it? Go us!) and we realized that sometimes our blog sounds like one big love letter to Chile. And to be fair, we do love lots of things about this amazing country, and its people. We've talked extensively about their incredibly efficient public transportation system (the regional buses, the metropolitan buses, the metros) about the great free public services the city has to offer (free dance class in the park! piano stairs at the metro!) We've talked about how much we love the kind, caring people of this land. We've talked about how much we love our neighborhood (especially the bars around us). But that's not to say that Chile is perfect. Far from it.

There are some things I can't stand about Santiago: the noise, the smog, the pollution, the endless traffic, the fact that every bus and metro is packed to the limit with sweaty Chileans. The very distinct class barriers (the rich, white Chileans live up near the Andes, the poor ones and the Peruvians live downtown). The jotes (those guys that like to holler), while sometimes amusing, can be downright frightening for a girl walking by herself at night. The strip clubs, although also amusing, can be an eyesore (and right next a church? Really?)

The men here can't seem to take a joke, and they really don't like being called gay. That is the worst possible thing to say to a man here. And of course the gay and lesbian community have absolutely no rights here, even women are treated unequally at times. Like Lauren said, sometimes this place reminds us of America in the 1950s, and although some things are nice (the chivalry) others are not (the constant smoking, the oppression of women).

Another thing I really can't stand is the homogeny here. Not only does everyone look the same, but everyone shares the same religion (Christianity, of course). The conservative nature of Christianity really permeates the culture in a way I've never experienced before. I've never been told how much to drink by a man, or how I'm supposed to behave. I've never been segregated because of my spirituality, never been told I'm not good enough because I don't share the same religious beliefs as someone else. It's a strange thing to experience, and although I've met lots of really nice, easygoing Christians, I've also met a fair share of indignant, self righteous ones that I'd rather not be around.

Every country has their good and bad qualities, not just Chile. I would never say that the U.S. is perfect, it's far from it, in fact. But I still love it, I still call it my home. I have to say though, the good does outweigh the bad here in Chile. This has been such an eye opening experience, I knew it would be different from living in France, but I didn't know just how much Chile would change me. But it has. And I'm happy it did.

-- Aneya

Aneya: Time

Time is a funny thing. In high school, time seemed to drag by at a glacial pace. The fact that my high school in France had the longest school day in the history of the world (8:30 -5:30) didn't help. But everything just seemed so slooooow. When am I gonna leave this wretched place? When do I get to move out, be on my own, be independent, be free? When is this torturous school year finally over? And then, one day, it was. Exams were done, the pool was open, I was ready to spread my proverbial wings and fly. And that I did. All the way to California.

Once I got to La-La Land everything seemed to go by in a blink. I don't know if it's the pacing of university or being surrounded by new friends your very first day. But with a blink of an eye it's already the end of sophomore year, and you can't remember how you got there.

Traveling, of course, screws up your sense of time completely. "What day is it?" "What time is it here?" "What the hell does 19:25 mean?" Trips are never long enough, and you can't believe it's been 2 weeks already and you have to pack it in. This extended journey, on the other hand, didn't have that problem, as we had no return date. Time is a funny thing. Usually, if you're unemployed, you have no rhythm, or schedule to your everyday life. You just kind of float about, and it can make the days seem endless.

These past few months in Chile have gone by so fast, Lauren and I really can't believe it. Especially since we haven't had a steady job this whole time. But we've been on the move constantly (if you recall) traveling and meeting people, experiencing everything we can. It's been an amazing journey, one I wouldn't change for the world, I only wish we had more time. This past month of May has been the slowest, because we haven't been doing much of anything, just hanging around Santiago, trying to save our money (which is no fun at all).

But we realized that we don't want to be in trapped in our apartment, doing nothing for the rest of our time in Chile. We want to be out there, experiencing all this incredibly country has to offer. So next month (which will, sadly, be our last) we're going out with a bang! We're going to cram in as much activity in one month as humanly possible. Because when we leave this place we want to know we did as much as we could, with the resources we had.

Like I said, time is a funny thing. Sometimes I wish she'd just stop, for a moment, and let us all be.

-- Aneya

Aneya: Making Friends

Making friends already! And they're all Chilean! (Except Stephen).

A couple weeks after the earthquake, my mom was concerned about me. Not because of the constant, terrifying aftershocks, or the tsunami warnings or the lack of food. No, she was concerned because she realized that all I really had in this country was Lauren. Of course, I had Daniela to lean on too. But she was busy helping her own family calm down, and working for World Vision. To be in a foreign land, all by yourself, after a major natural disaster is a really scary experience. Not having your family or friends to reassure you that everything's going to be ok. Of course I was skyping both my parents constantly, and all my worried friends were taking over my Facebook wall. But still. It's not the same as having them all here in person.

"You need to go make some friends, Aneya" My mom said to me one day, on the phone. "You and Lauren are too isolated, you'll drive each other crazy, soon enough. You should take a Spanish class, or find some Anglo hang outs. Something! Start going out again. You need this, you shouldn't be cooped up in the house all day, it's not good for you."

She was right. Lauren and I were, frankly, kind of scared to leave the house. What if debris and pieces of buildings fell on us, and killed us? What if there was another big aftershock, what if what if what if. But finally, we decided to venture out, and we never looked back.

I've been thinking about my mom's words now, months later. When you're traveling with a friend, it's easy to cling to them and only them, and not really want to branch out. But it's not healthy! It was then that we made a conscious decision to try harder.

On St.Patrick's Day we went to the quintessential Anglo hangout, California Bar, and where we met with more young, blonde, American girls than I'd ever seen. We chatted and laughed and drank beer. Lauren and I couldn't get over it. These girls? In Chile? They all had that, ditzy valley girl way of speaking, and most of them seemed extremely annoying. That's when we realized something: we didn't want to meet the same, boring girls we could meet in the US. We wanted to befriend Chileans! And that we did.

Since then, we've made many friends, some Chilean, some not. We don't see them all the time, and yes, it's still mostly just Lauren and I. But I realized something. Making friends is not that easy. It takes a certain amount of effort and you have to leave your pride at the door. When I met one special friend, he immediately introduced me to a whole network of people, and they all greeted me with open arms, even if my Spanish wasn't up to par. It was scary, but completely worth it in the end.

-- Aneya

Lauren: Noise.

Today is May 21, Navy Day in Chile, and probably for the first time since we've lived here it's quite outside. Living between Bellas Artes and Centro we have the best (and worst) of both worlds. We're close to everything, but it is incredibly noisy. So noisy, that it's hard to sleep at night and the noise is the first thing that wakes me up in the morning. The loud buses, the people rushing off to work. And strangely being near the "fine arts" district, there are a lot of flute players and drummers who play deafening music we can clearly hear even from the 10th floor.

Navy Day in Chile is the day Chile conquered over colluding Peru and Bolivia, and I noticed this morning that there was no noise waking me up. I looked outside and it looked almost apocalyptic; no one in sight. It was scary actually. Did everyone else know something we didn't? Was there an evacuation of the city? No, it's Navy Day the first quiet day of the year. Even the kiltros seem to be taking it easy.

Among the astonishing noises we've heard while living here (not including our awful upstairs neighbor who drills holes at 11 p.m. and moves furniture until 1 a.m.), are the people in the streets before a futbol match, especially Colo-Colo fans.

One time I heard drumming and shouting, and thought it might be a drummer with his fluted friend walking down the street, when I saw that the noise was coming from inside a bus. Colo-Colo fans were banging things, waving flags out the window, and at least two of them were on the roof of the bus waving gigantic flags. This I couldn't believe.

If that had happened anywhere in the States, the bus driver would pull over and the person on the bus would be arrested, but not here. The bus continued speeding down the street, seemingly oblivious to the crazed soccer fan on the roof.

-- Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Getting Cable.

Lauren: We've already talked about how hard it is to get a package, but we've had other difficulties in doing even the most basic things, one of which is getting cable.

Aneya: And we're not talking about TV cable. We figured we'd be out and about all the time, we wouldn't even have time to watch TV (How wrong we were). No, this was only for the internet, and a landline phone (which I eventually had to unplug from the wall, since all the calls were tele-marketers asking for Daniela, and they were driving me crazy!)

Lauren: Because we do not have a RUT we cannot sign up for almost anything, including cable. So we needed to share Daniela's (which was very generous of her). Chileans are in no way punctual, so our first waiting for the cable guy took nine hours, more than a full day at work of just waiting in at house without internet, and a TV that has 4 barely visible channels. It was excruciating.

Aneya: Just not having Wi-Fi is excruciating, for an internet junkie like myself. We waited around all day for the guy to come, and then there was a big mix up, because we had accidentally set up two accounts! So a MovieStar guy arrives, and we were so excited. Finally! But he strangely hasn't brought any tools. Turns out, it was the wrong guy. Oh, the torture.

Lauren: The first time all three of us were necessary because Aneya and I had to make the decisions of where to put the cable, sign the form, Daniela had her RUT, and we both talked to the guy. Then we had to wait for the cable guy at Daniela and Stephen's house. Another five hours, although this was broken up into two more manageable days. I was there to talk to the guy, Stephen was there to make the major decisions, and Aneya was there to keep us both company. Basically if any one of us had full-time employment getting WiFi would be totally impossible.

Aneya: The second time was even worse, because the guy had such an attitude! When he finally did arrive (just in time, he said between 2-6, he arrived promptly at 6. Lauren and I had brought over many snacks, movies and reading materials, because we knew it would take all day. And it did!) The guy gave Stephen's MacBook a look of disgust, then walkie-talkied his friend to tell him his bad misfortune. "He has a Mac" he sighed. Well, we knew this couldn't be good. He drilled into the wall, stomped around and generally made a mess, then told us he'd have to come back in the morning. What?! Thank god he actually did arrive in the morning, with his friend in tow, and they eventually did the impossible- their job. Oh, the things we do for WiFi.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: What We're Reading [part 2].

Lauren: We didn't plan this in any way, but for some reason we went Dave Eggers crazy and are both reading books that he either edited (me) or wrote (Aneya). I've always been a big reader, but this year (possibly because of unemployment) I've read so many books, articles, short stories, you name it.

I loved The Black Book, an amazing story about a man looking for his wife who left him in Istanbul, very dark, and Angle of Repose was another highlight of this year -- a really well-written story paralleling the "angle of repose" of a marriage in the 1880s to one set today. Really beautiful.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading of 2006 was in one of The Boxes we received from my parents, and I was super skeptical. For some reason, I often have a really hard time with short stories; except for a very small number of authors I usually can't read short story compilations, which I wanted to change and this may be the book that changed that. There are so many really powerful, one chapter stories in here including the Iraqi constitution! I was amazed to see how progressive it is, stipulating that women hold 1/5 of the legislative offices, and provides healthcare and primary education to all Iraqis! Incredible! And the beginning is very poetically written, which also surprised me; I don't really associate constitutions with florid language.

Aneya: I, too, have read many a book since the year began. Part of it is because I'm unemployed, part of it being we have no TV, so our only entertainment is the internet (which, I'll admit, takes up much of my day) and reading books.

One of the first books I asked for was Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky. This was such a beautiful book, depicting France during WW2. Usually I don't like "war" novels, but this one really wasn't about the war at all- it was about the people of France. The first part deals with the mass exodus out of Paris after the first bombing takes place. Nemirovsky effortlessly switches narrative, from a narcissistic writer to a innocent, and idiot fourteen year old boy. From an uppity mother to a poor, working class couple. She takes all these characters and makes them real, relatable, and so honest, there's no sugarcoating anything here. It's unsentimental, but not in a bad way. It's real, and it feels so tangible.

The second part deals with a small, Nazi occupied town in rural France. The townspeople suddenly have to live amongst the enemy, and they realize that the caricatures they created about Nazi soldiers may not be completely accurate. The delicate dance between hating the enemy and relating to another human being is told with subtlety and compassion. In any case, it's an extraordinary book, one of the best I've read this year. Buy it!

As far as What is the What is concerned, I haven't actually finished it yet, so I don't want to write too much. Suffice to say, it's Dave Eggers, which means the writing is beautiful and poignant, and the story is an important one (Zeitoun, anyone?) It actually reminds me of Zeitoun in a way, because he's writing someone else's incredible life story. This one is about Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese immigrant, and his struggles, becoming one of the "Lost Boys" at age 7, fleeing his homeland, walking for months and living in refugee camps for over 10 years of his life. I know all this sounds super heavy (and it is) but Eggers brings humor and joy to a story that could be a complete downer. It's also a story of redemption and second chances, and I'm hoping it has a happy ending. Because this guy deserves it.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: The Metro.

Aneya: So I obviously didn't take this shot, but it's great! It's at the Universidad Catholica stop, and you can see the flat screen TV, and the beautiful wall art above. Look how high that ceiling is!
Aneya: This is the colorful Bellas Artes metro stop, close to our house.
Aneya: This is too cute. This whole wall in covered in pictures of trees, drawn by kids.
Aneya: Again in Bellas Artes, super clean, and super empty!
Aneya: Lauren and I made the mistake of coming down here one day, not realizing it was an underground mall, not a metro! It's also a walkway to cross the huge Alameda street, above.
Aneya: This is at La Moneda, the financial district (the official government building is also located here).
Aneya: Again, at La Moneda, with it's beautiful wall art.

Aneya: There was an article recently in the New York Times about the brand new metro system that had just been built in New Dehli. It was clean, modern, was built on time and within budget. It was an all out success. But most importantly, it demonstrated a new economic stability and growth in a country controlled by a corrupt government with huge social inequalities. And I couldn't help but think of the impressive metro system here, in Santiago.

Lauren: The metro here is amazing. I am pretty well-versed in public transportation, and these metros are so fantastic, especially compared to the ones in LA. You walk up to a bus or train station and there is always a bus/train headed your way. They're so frequent, clean, and there's really impressive public art. It's fantastic.

Aneya: A well functioning, modern metro system really does say a lot about a city. And Santiago has one of the best underground systems I've ever seen. It's easy to use and understand, you never use coins, always your Bip! Card, which can be recharged at the ticket counter. There are policemen watching at every corner, making sure you're not jumping over the barriers. They're strict here, and the metros are always spotless.

Lauren: They're so nice, that everyone is always on them -- all the time. They're so packed, and not air conditioned, the one thing LA trains have. But they're so frequent there's almost no way you can use the "I'm late because I missed my bus/train" because they are always coming and speeding away. The design of the metro is really impressive. The lines are like the spokes of a wheel with the different lines meeting in Centro. It's a very efficient way to get around.

Aneya: Some metro stops have beautiful wall art (Like at La Moneda and Universidad Catholica, above) and they all have flat screen TVs for people to watch while they wait the 2 minutes until the next car shows up. Usually some 90s pop star is singing old school hits (Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, U2) there's also the occasinal Taylor Swift song. Right after the earthquake, the TVs had seminars on how to relax, decompress, breathe deeply, because everyone was so stressed out.

Lauren: I could not believe those TVs weren't stolen or vandalized! They are so nice. It is so funny to see what they have playing on them. Shania and U2 are big hits on the metro.

Aneya: The place is always packed, of course, and it can get hot and sweaty, when you're jammed up against the door, but it's all good. You get off soon enough. And people always give their seat up to elderly women, or moms traveling with kids. Everyone is very considerate.

Lauren: People are so nice on the metro, and you can always see people giving up their seats. It's so considerate.

Aneya: One thing I've noticed is how huge the metros are here. They were built fairly recently and are therefore extremely modern, some have 4 separate levels, complete with many escalators, elevators and stairs. The ceilings are high, and square, not low and round, like the ones in Europe. Even the metro in New York is a lot lower, and dingier.

Lauren: Daniela actually told me that they bought all their trains used from France and Japan, which explains why they are so nice and modern, and there are different types of metros. Some are blue, and some are red and white. I am so glad we've had such an efficient metro system!

Aneya: In any case, the metro is a real life saver for someone like us, sans car. We like taking the bus too, especially in the summer when it was scorching hot underground. But the metro never fails, it never takes you too far or won't let you get off, like the bus. It's reliable, and I like that.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Illegal Aliens Abroad.

Aneya: For the first time, Lauren and I are experiencing being a so-called "illegal aliens" in another country. It's a strange thing. As US citizens, we have no idea what it's like for immigrants trying to make it in America. Obviously we've heard stories- how hard it is to do absolutely anything- from renting an apartment to getting a cell phone, everything is a million times harder if you're a foreigner.

Lauren: I've always hated that phrase, "illegal aliens." It sounds like a criminal from another planet has invaded the country. It's such an awful phrase, used only in the most hateful contexts. For the first time Aneya and I are experiencing what it means to be undocumented in another country. It is so hard, and our minor hardship is a fraction of what undocumented people have to go through in the US.

We're not exactly here illegally (our Mendoza trip solved that), but we're foreign without work visas, and we're experiencing how hard it is to get a job, or even a savings card at the grocery store, and be treated differently.

Aneya: And the things we've had to go through here are nothing compared to what illegal immigrants have to go through in the US. Here, we pay for our apartment every month in cash. Can you imagine it? In the US they'd think a drug dealer was living in the apartment. But it's our only choice. We can't get a bank account because we don't have a route number (sort of like a social security number). It's extremely hard to get one of those if you're not a citizen. And you need it for just about everything. But somehow, we've managed just fine.

Lauren: Almost fine. It is truly a miracle we got our apartment, and that's something I am grateful for every day. We haven't been able to get jobs and at every interview we're told we'll get paid less because we are RUT-less. We don't qualify for a bank account, a grocery savings card (which never ceases to amaze me), and we're definitely treated differently.

Aneya: We give the cash to an extremely understanding landlady (also an immigrant- from Spain, as a matter of fact. Which could explain her empathy for us). We got cell phones on our second day here, we didn't need to sign a contract or do much of anything, really. We paid in cash, we got the phone, when the minutes run out, you buy more. It's as simple as that. Try going to an AT&T store in the US, it will take half an hour just to talk to someone. And when you do, you're getting a contract, whether you like it or not.

Lauren: I've always sympathized with friends who've told me how hard it was to be from another country and living in the U.S. but now I can see a fraction of what they have to go through. No diver's licenses, jobs that pay less, and getting harassed. Where Aneya and I are assumed to be rich, and people overcharge or in the very strange case in Vina, refuse to serve us, undocumented people get harassed in a different way.

Aneya: When we got our internet set up, we were supposed to have a route number, but we just used Daniela's. No big deal. Can you imagine? In the US, using someone else's social security number? You'd be put in jail! But not here. It was relatively easy.

Lauren: This entire trip has given me a new perspective on how people living away from home in the States must feel.

Aneya: Strangely, one of the hardest things to get is Lider Savings Card! Of all the things in this country, Lider is the most strict! No route number? No card. No using someone else's, either. It's like they're trying to overcompensate for everything else being so easy.

Lauren: And language. If you are ever lacking for words, people will help you communicate. There's never a This-is-Chile-and-we-speak-Castellano-here-so-get-used-to-it attitude. I really don't see that ethnocentrism at all. I can't imagine living with the hostility that some people in U.S. have toward people who don't speak English. There is no patience or understanding. It doesn't matter if it's your first day in the States, if you're just visiting. If you set your foot down in the U.S. you are expected to speak perfect English.

Aneya: Obviously another thing that's difficult is the job situation. Most jobs want you to have a working visa. In order to get one, you need to have a contract from a job. But if you don't have a job, you don't have a contract. It's a catch 22, really. There are jobs that will hire you even if you're illegal, but they pay less, of course.

Lauren: It's horrible. No job wants to hire someone without a visa, but to obtain a visa you need a job. And why would you be looking for a job if you have one that is sponsoring you? It's inane. We've been to the immigration office, which I am convinced is it's own circle of hell, and were explained this strange system. Nothing however beats the U.S. I can't imagine being stopped in the street and asked to prove my status.

Aneya: In any case, living in a foreign country as an illegal immigrant is definitely a challenge. We've had minor struggles we've had to deal with, but I can't even imagine what immigrants in America must go through every day. And I feel like people here are more understanding, whereas in the US it's all about "those damn foreigns taking our jobs!" The American attitude towards illegal immigrants really needs to change. Everyone's an immigrant! We're a nation of them. I don't know when we stopped being compassionate, and starting being racist, and bigoted and cruel. Just look at Arizona!

-- Aneya & Lauren

Lauren: Nanas.

In our first few weeks here, we went to the jumbo Jumbo, like a Super Target, and there was an entire isle devoted to smocks for nanas. Granted, we were in the wealthy area of town, but women wearing these checkered gowns can be seen everywhere.

Both maids and nannies, these women walk the dogs, clean the house, take the kids to the park, and do everything. In the summer the nanas in our area would take their lunch break together outside our apartment, each in a green gingham jumper, five seated on a bench chatting among themselves. The smocks nanas usually have to wear are really awful. I hate any job that requires people to wear humiliating uniforms, and the unflattering gingham immediately announces to people your profession, since no one would willfully wear one of those smocks without being a nana.

These jobs are often occupied by Peruvian women. A friend of mine said if you are the cleaner, or the one left with the ironing in the family your family might call you "the Peruvian".

On a recent job interview in a very nice part of town, I saw these women all over walking the dog, carrying the groceries home, pushing strollers.

Below is a clip from a Chilean film that made it to Sundance last year about nanas.

-- Lauren

Aneya: Fancy Chains in Chile

A typical McDonald's in downtown Santiago.
The outside ice cream booth, next to the regular McDonald's.
The impressive food selection at a Starbucks in Santiago.

In all my travels, I have realized one universal truth: American chains are always nicer overseas. Not only are they cleaner and more modern, they offer a variety of things that we in the U.S. do not. Take McDonald's for instance. In Amsterdam, they give you an insane amount of mayonnaise on everything (because they just love their mayonnaise over there!) In France, they offer Heineken as a beverage choice (to the adult's delight). In Australia, they have an Indian McChicken Tandoori Sandwich on the menu. Here in Chile, everything comes with a generous amount of avocado. I mean, a lot. Like, it's oozing out of every porous of every sandwich. They call this style "Italiano" for no apparent reason.

The McDonald's here have separate entrances just for ice cream. Because there is such a high demand for it, they create booths just for the "dulce" items. It does make things easier. Every chain here-- Burger King, KFC, McDonald's, they are always packed. This isn't such a shocker. Chileans aren't the most healthy eaters, what with their over the top completos, their enormous sandwiches, their love of drinking three huge, fatty drinks with a meal.

Other chains, such as Starbucks, are also considerably nicer. The one pictured above is in bustling downtown Santiago, and has 3 levels, with plenty of couches and comfortable lounge chairs. All the businessmen come in during their breaks, and the place always has a long line. What's most impressive about the Starbucks is their food selection. They have the regular coffee cakes and muffins, but they also have an amazing "pie de berry" (raspberry pie, with walnuts) as well as a lemon meringue pie, not to mention dozens of original, Chilean sandwiches (all with avocado, of course!)

We obviously didn't come here to eat the same crap food we have in the U.S. But I always like to check out the chains in other countries, for perspective, to see what's on their menu, and to compare and contrast to others I've seen. And the ones here in Chile are pretty damn nice, not gonna lie. But I'm not about to start a McDonald's binge any time soon, don't worry. This is for research purposes only!

Aneya & Lauren: What We're Reading.

Note: In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, is noticeable absent from our collection. We recently gave it to Stephen to read (since he was laboring through Infinite Jest, and needed a break).

Aneya: One of the first things Lauren and I bonded over, way back when, was our mutual love of books. Although our tastes vary, we both share a love of reading, and we've been trading books back and forth for years. It all started with our love affair with David Sedaris (who we eventually saw, live at UCLA, which, without a doubt, was one of the best readings I have ever been to in my life. My face literally hurt from laughing so much).

Lauren: That was an amazing reading, and as you can see a copy of Me Talk Pretty One Day is among the books we towed down here and it will definitely make the journey back to the States. Aneya and I both love reading, and we try to trade not just books, but interesting articles we find, and good newsy websites.

Aneya: When we realized we were moving to Chile, we each brought a few books with us, which we quickly went through. We went looking for English bookstore but they were few and far between. Plus, each book cost a fortune! We begged our parents to send us more, and they obliged. Pictured above is the collection we've accumulated so far.

Lauren: ... Minus a few. Books here, paperback English books, cost about $30USD! And Spanish books aren't much cheaper. They're incredibly expensive! And the selection is pitiful, usually "airplane books," some classics, and a lot of Allende (part of the above collection, which I soon discovered I was not a big fan of).

Aneya: We thought I'd be a fun idea to let you all know what we're reading at the moment. We have quite the eclectic collection (as you can tell) and it'll be interesting to go back through books we've already read and recall how we felt about them.

Lauren: Which is pretty much what we do over lunch/dinner anyway. We fill each other in on the news the other missed, and tell each other how we feel about each other's books. It's almost like a tradition now.

We've been doing so much reading since we've gotten down here. Anything in English that we can get our hands on or that our parents generously send us. If it's in English, we read it. And some Spanish. We'll be doing these weekly posts on what books, magazines, news clips we're reading and if you see something we should see, please send it our way via comments.

Aneya: All this is to say that you can look forward to weekly book reviews, every Wednesday, starting next week!

-- Aneya & Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Mexicanish?

Aneya: Finally! An authentic Mexican restaurant! Here I am, standing in front of the colorful entrance to La Mordida.
Aneya: Lauren, with our take out, and her new friend.
Aneya: This place had the most amazing wall art, I had to get a few shots of it.
Aneya: As you can see, the chairs are painted bright lime green!
Aneya: This Frida one was my favorite.
Aneya: This one is very, Dia de los Muertos. This place was a great find, Lauren!

Lauren: Almost everyone I talked to before leaving California seemed to be under the impression that because Chile and Mexico shared the same language (which isn't exactly true), they had the same culture. I often heard that I would be eating tons of beans, rice, and spicy salsa.

Aneya: Not gonna lie, I was one of the those people. I, like many Americans, was under the impression that anything South of border was just like Mexico. I had never been to South America, never experienced different Latin cultures, I had no idea what to expect.

Lauren: Don't get me wrong. I love Mexican culture, food, and people -- obviously. But I didn't want to move to a country whose culture was something I was already familiar with. Both Chilean Castillano and Mexican Spanish are terrible, but in their own ways. That's about where their tentative similarities end. I've been eating a lot of squash, avocado, and bread. The only tortillas I have are made from potato and spinach (which are amazingly tasty). There is some spicy pebre, but that's actually pretty rare.

Aneya: Upon arriving in Santiago, we both quickly discovered this place is nothing like Mexico. (I'll admit it-- I was relieved! Mexico, as you know, is going through a rough patch right now, and I really didn't want to be involved in any drug lord/kidnapping situations). All of the staples of Mexican culture- brightly painted walls, Mariachi bands, sombreros, tequila, even- were strangely absent here. Not to mention the food! Getting Mexican food here is expensive and hard to find (way more difficult than, say, Chinese food, which they have plenty of).

Lauren: Both are very Catholic countries, but where gay rights are totally nonexistent here, Mexico in the midst of an insane drug war, has legalized gay marriage.

I was kind of missing Mexican culture, especially the Spanish because that's what I speak and understand. It's mas lento, tranquilo. This Castillano stuff can honestly be exhausting.

Aneya: I got my first taste of Mexican culture in Southern California (of course). The abundance of Mexican restaurants, not to mention Mexicans themselves, was shocking to me, since I'd never really been exposed to their culture before. Now, of course, I love a good fajita, quesadilla, taco, or burrito but I don't have the same attachment to the food that Lauren has. What I miss most are tortilla chips- they are so hard to find here! That, and spicy salsa. Spicy anything, come to think of it.

Lauren: I've really started to miss Mexican cuisine in ways that I really never expected. I didn't think I had an especially strong attachment to especially Trader Joe's soy chorizo for my Saturday chilaquiles (I am a master chilaquile maker, if I do say so myself), and there are absolutely no corn tortillas here!

I was super in the mood for Mexican food, so on Cinco de Mayo I made the trek to HiperLider, in hopes of finding some good Mexican food. Still no corn tortillas, and a pitiful canned salsa (no salsa pato to be had). We celebrated Cinco de Mayo in Daniela and Stephen's new apartment with Thea the dog, listening to El Bronx. Still I missed Mexican food. Not gourmet Mexican, but cheap Mexican. Above is the place we found called La Mordida, the bite. It was actually making me a little homesick. This place was amazing and sated my cravings for Mexican food. At least for now.

Aneya: Ahh Cinco de Mayo. Or, as Americans like to call it, annual let's get drunk day! Ask any college freshman what we're celebrating on the 5th of May, they probably have no idea. Something to do with Mexico, and drinking an absurd amount of margaritas. Our Cinco de Mayo was quite tame, compared to previous years. Obviously no one observes the day down here, so Lauren went out and got supplies (even HiperLider had a pitiful amount of Mexican food, apparently) and we went over to Stephen and Daniela's to hang out.

Lauren eventually found out about a Mexican place called "La Mordida" and we went to dinner there one night. The place was colorful and fun, had great food, and they even had an all girl Mariachi band performing for us. It felt like home.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Lauren: Nguillatun.

Recently, I attended Nguillatun with Daniela and Stephen, a Mapuche festival where the indigenous group thanks deities and ancestors for a good harvest, and predicts the upcoming year's events.

We walked up to the ceremony where many families had set up tents and had been camping all weekend, and immediately sensed hostility -- at the very least we felt very unwelcome. I had thought this was a celebration that was open to people, but we had kind of walked into a very sacred ceremony wearing bright colors and walking in the holy circle where the ritual was being performed.

Mapuches are very somber, wearing all black with the only colors being ribbons of various colors tied to a headdress, each one symbolizing a different, very specific thing. Their jewelry is square and heavy with little coins attached to different pieces. Their music is sad because of the cold, harsh climate where they had lived for centuries, and the constant wars first with Spain then with Chile.

The Nguillatun is one of their most sacred holidays and we rolled up in lime green and coral jackets, ready to dance -- a tad inappropriate for the sacred occassion. Few Spanish-looking Santiaguinos were even there, and we were there speaking English wondering what all the fuss was about as we were asked to step out of the holy circle vaguely marked off with canelo branches, sacred branches that are made into medicines by the Mapuches.

There was a lot of jumping in the ceramony, and the local Machi, the shaman, was drumming her kultrun, and eventually went into an hours-long trance where she spoke in tongues about this year's upcoming events.

Once Tio Jorge (the same wonderful tio who lent me his ID to go to the hospital three months ago), showed up it was a different story. He is a popular man wherever he goes, and people were offering us homemade sopaipilla bread from their tents, and we got to sit in on the Machi softly drumming in her trance. Quite a sight. Especially since everyone was crowded around her, speaking in tongues, and "Hurrah!"-ing every time she said something in this language.

Throughout this ceremony the Mapuches would shake branches from the canelo tree, some splashed with water.

A jug of homemade liquor was passed around in an earthenware jug while the Machi was in her trance. First you had to pour some of the liquor on the earth and say a few words, not for relatives or friends who had died (my first thoughts) but to thank the earth for this beverage. Afraid I might go blind or lose feeling on one side of my face or offend someone by not doing it right, I passed.

-- Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Our Roles.

Aneya: Here we are, on a typical Saturday night! (Lauren: Any night, really). You can see I'm bundled up in my blanket, Lauren has her robe on (and new spiffy socks) and the heater is in front of us. I can't help but smile when a camera is placed in front of me, but I'm reading 'In Cold Blood' which is not a happy book, so really I should be frowning. Lauren at least looks like she's actually reading.

Lauren: Roommates and long-time friends develop roles the way any kind of long-term relationship would. Certain things become the norm, like who will take out the trash, but in such a new environment we've picked up a few extra roles, especially since we're side-by-side every moment of the day (most moments at least).

Aneya: Since moving to Chile, Lauren and I have become a team of sorts. We do just about everything together (co-dependent much?) and to make things easier, we created roles for one another. Actually, we didn't so much create them, as they created themselves, naturally, over time. Here, list of our so called 'roles'.

The Speaker--

Lauren: I talk. In the beginning I talked to everyone, the police officers asking for directions, people asking for directions, mean, sandwich-stealing gypsies. I talked a lot. But now Aneya does a lot of talking too. Since moving here my Castillano has gone from totally non-existent to pretty strong.

Aneya: Well this was a given. Lauren was obviously going to take the role of 'Speaker' since she was the only one who knew the language well enough to get around, at least in the beginning. Of course I've picked up a considerable amount of Spanish in my 4 months here, but I still can't speak with such gusto and confidence as she can. So I leave that role to her.

The Photographer--

Lauren: Aneya instantly became the photographer. I wasn't sure if my camera's battery was going to be able to charge on this weird new wattage, and immediately it became apparent Aneya had a knack for taking good shots. Almost all the photos on the blog are Aneya's, with a few of mine here and there.

Aneya: The role of Photographer became mine, I'd say within the first week of being here. Part of it is because my camera is newer and nicer than Lauren's and I also happen to carry it around with me constantly. Thus, the Photographer was born. I really love taking pictures now, almost all the pics on the blog are ones I've taken, I wouldn't say I'm a camera expert or anything (I just figured out how to set the self timer, like yesterday) but I'm getting the hang of it, slowly but surely. And I'm really starting to love it.

The Cleaner--

Lauren: It's no surprise this honor went to me. I like things clean, really clean. Where some people don't mind a bit of dust or a dirty floor, these things will make me crazy, so I mop, sweep, dust, vaccum, and wash everything. Every day has a corresponding task. Tuesday, bathroom. Periodical sweeping.

Aneya: Well, of course Lauren is the cleaner (just look at her mom, and you'd know why) I wouldn't say I'm 'dirty' per say, but I'm not an obsessive cleaner, whatsoever. I keep things tidy, everything's in it's right place. But Lauren likes things spotless. The other day she busted out the vacuum, which I didn't even realize we owned, and it happen to be hiding under my sink! (My mom would not find this surprising, she knows my aversion to the vacuum) In any case, I leave the obsessive wiping and dusting to her.

The Calmer--

Lauren: This is Aneya. I have what might be considered a frantic personality. Things need to get done, and they need to get done now! I don't want to put things off, or wait for someone to tell me something. I want to make things happen, and am not afraid to ask a lot of questions -- sometimes to the point of pestering. I also can overreact. This recent cold has made me think I was going to die (it was awfully, unexpectedly cold), but Aneya just reminded me that we needed to adjust, and expect cold. No one in our house was going to die from 37 degree weather (although I remain skeptical).

Aneya: Ahh the calmer. That would be me. It all started way in the beginning of the trip, when I noticed Lauren pacing up and down the bus terminal, pestering the poor bus drivers with questions. She was frantic we were going to miss the bus, or we'd be on the wrong one, or we'd be stranded at the station. (Lauren: In my defense, our tickets were for a 10:30 a.m. bus and our bus didn't even arrive at the station until 11 a.m.) And that's when I realized I needed to calm her down. I told her everything would be fine, let's just sit down and breathe deeply and just wait. All we could do was wait. I am a calm person by nature, it's rare to see me angry or visibly upset, and I'm also quite patient. This is the perfect anecdote for Lauren, who, occasionally gets antsy and impatient. I'm the ying to her yang, if you will.

-- Aneya & Lauren

Lauren: Metro Piano.

Coming back from a recent cultural event Daniela, Stephen, and I discovered this giant piano installed at a Metro Quinta Normal, near where a lot of the city's museums are. It was installed to encourage people to use the stairs rather than take the elevator. There's also a mini library at this metro stop, which continues to fascinate me.

When we went we had to compete with nearly 10 under-seven year olds to run the scales on the giant piano.

Below is a clip from La Tercera. I love how the guy in the video is dressed quite like a piano, with a black and white stripped jacket and white pants.

-- Lauren

Photo credit: Daniela Gutierrez-Fuentes

Lauren: Onemi meeting video.

Below is the viral internet video of the Onemi meeting (think FEMA, but in Chile) immediately after the 8.8 earthquake on Feb. 27.

This video captures the breakdown in communication between the Navy, Shoa, Onemi, and the former-President Michelle Bachelet, who is shown saying she received intel from the Navy that there was no threat of a tsunami in Constitucion. Carmen Fernandez, the former head of Onemi who left the position days later, is shown saying that scientifically there was no threat of tsunami. Clearly, someone was misinformed.

There were about 350 deaths in Constitucion as a result of Feb. 27 earthquake and following tsunamis and flooding of the Maule river in Constitucion, and when I left there were still about 90 "disappearances," people whose bodies hadn't been found but were still missing. This was over a month after the earthquake. The waves of the tsunami were said to be about 10-11 meters tall.

The video is a pretty clear illustration of the chaos and breakdown in communication after the earthquake.

-- Lauren

Aneya & Lauren: Bars.

Aneya: Here's the Clinic, with their tiny sign.
Aneya: Inside the Clinic, cool colors and wall art.
Aneya: Retro bras and panties are draped over all the lamps.
Aneya: Wacky doll heads hang above the bar.
Aneya: The lovely Bar Cathedral.
Aneya: The tiny Bar El Diablito.
Aneya: Inside El Diablo.
Aneya: The delicious Victorino, with their funky off center mirror.
Aneya: Bajo Llave, which looks like a house, but is in fact, a cool underground bar.
Aneya: And, finally, the always lovely Cafe Escondido.

Lauren: Since it's the weekend (almost) Aneya and I decided to share some of our favorite places to hang out on the weekends (or weekdays) and get a drink. These are a few bars, pubs, and restaurants that are within walking distance of our apartment and are excellent. All these bars are either in Barrio Lastarria or Bellas Artes.

Aneya: We figure if anyone reading this lives in Santiago, we'd give them a heads up on cool places in the area. If not, you guys can read (and click on the links) to check out all the cool bars and restaurants we've discovered in our almost 4 months of living here.

Bar The Clinic--

Lauren: If I owned a bar, I would want it to look a lot like this. It has retro adverts, literary quotes written in cursive on the ceiling, an adorable patio with trees and Christmas lights outside , and the decor is black, white, and red -- like our apartment. The drink selection here is really impressive, with pages devoted only to their variety of reds and they have nice dinners, but excellent lunches. Aneya and I went here for lunch the other day and got their fixed menu which is probably better than their dinners. They also own a super anti-government, popular newspaper, have a lounge upstairs, and own a nearby boutique.

Aneya: The Clinic is just too cool for school, man. Everything about it, the hidden sign, the long hallway leading to the pleasant patio (complete with fountain and outside bar) to the quirky, old fashioned lingerie hanging from the lamps. It's just a damn cool place, completely retro and sophisticated. It's a local hangout for businessmen, whether it be 12 noon or 12am, the place is always packed. It definitely has a better lunch than dinner, lots of cocktails and a great wine selection.

Catedral--

Lauren: This place is amazing. It has really wonderful food, and excellent atmosphere. Low lighting, and green-wood paneled walls give it a very cool ambiance. I had probably the best caprese sandwich I've ever had here. Good mixed drink and wine selection, this place has a huge bar. After about 10 p.m. (when everyone starts to have dinner) they have live music on a decent stage, and you have to walk up a winding staircase to get to the restaurant which is on the second floor, giving it the feeling of being kind of hidden.

Aneya: Another great find, just a block or two away from our apartment. A long, winding staircase leads to upstairs (there are three levels) which features a nice big bar, and a stage, for the live music they have every night. Great food selection, and drinks, as always, are divine.

El Diablito--

Lauren: I love this place. They have all sorts of vintage gadgets stuck on the walls, with old photos, and the walls are clearly the walls of a building that have been torn down so that their frame is exposed and chotchkies sit on the wooden beams. They have appetizers, but this place has a really good beer selection. This was where I found one of my new favorite beers, Paceña. It is small and a bit cramped though, but super cute and the majority of people who go here seem to be college kids.

Aneya:I haven't actually been to this one, but we did go inside the other day so I could take pictures, and it looks super funky and cool. Old pictures of Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles hanging from the walls, exposed beams and cool gadgets are everywhere. It's super tiny though, so get there early before all the good spots are taken!

Victorino--

Lauren: Aneya and I love this place. It's cute, with a patio and upstairs area, little wooden tables, and amazing food. I got the chicken rissoto, but substituted the chicken for mushrooms and had the first wild mushrooms in months. I feel like they were morel, but I could be mistaken. Whatever they were, they were tasty and mushrooms so naturally this place was an instant love for me. It's really small, and cute, with dark blue lighting. The one thing I hate about this place is that the smoking section seems to be every section, and I feel like I can't taste my food beyond the smoky air.

Aneya: We found this place on one of our many strolls through Lastrarria and instantly loved it. We shared a bottle of white wine (super cheap) and I had camembert crab ravioli, which may sound disgusting but is in fact delicious! Yes, people do smoke everywhere, it's hard to avoid here. This is a great place for dinner and drinks, at any hour.

Bajo Llave--

Lauren: Literally meaning "low key" you have to walk down the stairs of what feels like someone's house before finding this place. It's in a stone basement, and really feels hidden. Although the pictures on this website show a well-lit place, it's really dimly lit and has a very intimate setting.

Aneya: This place is really cool, but kinda scary. You're walking into what looks like someone's house, and there's no light in the staircase, leading down to the bar. But once you get there, it feels like you're in a cave. An awesome cave, with loveseats and a bar and cool art hung on the walls. Not to mention you're underground! They make a nice, strong tequila sunrise, too.

Cafe Escondido--

Lauren: Cafe Escondido had to be someone's house at one time. It's tucked away in the corner of a small residential area down a narrow cobblestone street and you can eat in the different rooms of the house. Upstairs is the smoking section, which I'm increasingly discovering seems to be the rule around here, but the small coral-colored rooms are very intimate. Great wine and beer and the apitizers are great. Aneya and I shared a delicious potato tortilla and cheese, pickle, olive platter which was fantastic.

Aneya: Oh, this was definitely someone's house. You can tell because when you go to the bathroom, you not only get toilets, but a shower as well! That's an odd thing to see in a restaurant. But in any case, this place has great music, good food, and cheap bottles of wine. And it's tucked away (right next to Bajo Llave) in a cute little residential street.

And these are only a few of the countless bars tucked away in our city. There are many more to discover, I'm sure. But this is what we've found so far. Not bad, huh?

-- Aneya & Lauren