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