It continues to be a busy yet fun time here in Chile! Last weekend my familia and I went to Santiago. They have a daughter that lives there with her family, so we visited. It was a lot of fun but quite busy, and I had a lot of homework due this week, so I have not gotten much of a chance to do anything else!
I am trying to put together a list of my favorites so far here. Some things are very difficult, but others are not quite as hard. Like my favorite mode of transportation is easy: the metro. There is only one metro line here in Valpo, and it is super easy to use. With our student passes, it is also super cheap! The exchange rate is about 582 Chilean pesos to every US dollar. The Metro only costs me about 126 pesos, depending on where I am going. That means it only costs about $0.22! The only problem is it is not always consistent, coming around maybe every ten minutes or so. But it is close to my house and drops me right off at the university, so I am not complaining!!!
My favorite food that is Chilean so far has to be manjar (pronounced “mon-har”). It is like liquid caramel, and I cannot get enough of it! Put in on bread or crackers; it is great as ice cream, too. My favorite “adult beverage” is probably anything with Pisco in it. Pisco is liquor that is available in Chile, and they love it. Mix it with Coke for a Piscola or there is also a PiscoSour, which is delicious.
And my favorite Chilean word is weon (pronounced “way-own”). It means literally anything. It can be a verb or a noun or an adjective. It is pretty awesome. When used to describe a person, however, it has bad connotations, so with friends it’s fine but careful with anybody else.
I think that’s about it for now. I am sure I will develop new favorites as I continue to explore this amazing country! Ciao!