We Delivery!

On a cold and rainy Saturday, there is nothing like having dinner delivered to your doorstep.  In the states, it's an easy phone call, or better yet online.  Here in Santiago, I'm happy to say, it is the same way.  And, much to Steve's and my happiness, they have Papa John's close to the hotel.  But, would it taste the same? Let's be honest, not all pizza is created equal, and "pizza" in the states is not always "pizza" elsewhere.  Two distinct pizzas stand out in my mind: the ones I had in Italy (hands down amazing, although very different from US standards) and one in India.  I have to pause here and state that the pizza we got in India many years ago was the worst pizza I've ever had.  It was just a cheese pizza from Dominos, and Steve and I to this day still think about it with nausea and bitterness.  The cheese was all wrong - so wrong I'm not even sure it was cheese. 

Back to the point: Papa John's in Santiago.  While it should have been an easy process, I encountered two main issues when ordering a pizza. First, calling a landline from a cell phone here (all Chilean based) is not as straight forward as you would think.  Even after googling it I still had no luck.  The trick is the extra 2 that was added as a city code just months ago.  (I could also go into a rant about other dialing practices that I have still not yet mastered.  For example, if it's a cell phone you have to insert a 9 after the city code but before the main number.  Separately, if it's a number that's only 7 digits you have to add another 2.  What??)  So I ended up having to ask a local how to do it and it finally worked (woo hoo!).  Then my next major hurdle: actually talking to the person taking my order.  In Spanish.  However, I was very pleased that the person was nice and friendly (and even spoke a little English!).  The only thing that I was completely puzzled over was when they asked me what type of crust I wanted.  Who learns how to say crust in Spanish class? (In case you're curious, it's "masa" in Chile, which I always associated with tamales...).  But, the good news is that the pizza I tried to order was what arrived on schedule to my hotel room without any issues. And, it was really good! The flavor was spot on, and it even came with that delicious garlic butter sauce (that was imported from the US - I checked).  Many happy Sadie hugs and kisses were had.

 The pizza box. Look familiar?

Here is a great pic.  The pizza arrived looking exactly like it would have in the states.  I opened the box in our teeny kitchen to take a pic, and Sadie rushed over to try to get to the pizza (she was hungry, so she's blurry), and of course my baby belly is so huge it made it into the picture.