La Playa Juan Lopez

Today was a gorgeous day.  Sunny, warm, cool breeze.  Really very nice.  Luckily, we decided to take a trip to the beach Juan Lopez, which is just north of La Portada close to the airport.  While I will confess that the beach was fairly dirty (meaning there was lots of trash), especially for American standards, it was still very fun and very pretty.

The drive to the beach was interesting.  We passed an abandoned carnival (or something...), a toy race track and a stunning mountain view (see pics below).  Sadie is obsessed with playing in the sand, and had a ball with some of our besties here in Antofagasta.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends!  And yes, I am aware of how huge her bathing suit is.  But, it covers her up well from the sun. And that sun is intense.
 

Sadie just loves our friends from Kansas.  Look how sweet they are!

Miss Julie looking hot!

Isaac turned into an astronaut??

Half tent :)

As I mentioned, on the way to the beach is a toy car race track...

La Portada (see other post) is also on the way, but we had a sunnier day today, so I took some better pics!

Kids being kids

Just more adorable kid pictures.  Enjoying beach time as a family.

Sadie building fine motor skills with pipe cleaners (thank you Laura and Brian!).  That is of course until she saw mama sneak up next to her with my camera to take a picture and she immediately imitated me and got on her belly too.  She thought it was hilarious.

Isaac doing some tummy time and Sadie telling me that her baby needed to do it too as well as her sea horse who wouldn't stay on his tummy.  Isaac was not impressed.

Finally, my baby looking like a high schooler (yes, everyone, he is going bald but just on the top.  Don't make fun!).

Adventures in produce and other products

Assuming you have read my blog before, you know I don't need to talk much more about my love for Jumbo.  I hope it's pretty obvious.  Without it, I would have a completely different experience in Chile since the store carries most of the conveniences of any grocery store and even some American brands.  However, a couple frustrating things about it are that it is VERY inconsistent in what it carries.  So, for a week it will have tons of cheddar cheese, then one day it will disappear entirely and not return for a few weeks or months.  The same is true for many products, mostly things I love that happen to be familiar brands. Even in the Antofagasta expat group I belong to, people post things like "Organic apples in Jumbo today!", "Found syrup at Lider!" etc etc.  Thus, when I find something I love, I become a hoarder.  For example, today I found shredded cheddar cheese. This is a miracle because (A) I have never seen any kind of shredded cheese sold in the Antofagasta Jumbo, and (B) cheddar cheese is not a thing here.  Sometimes you can find blocks of Crystal Farms cheddar cheese imported from Wisconsin (that's right!), but again this is not consistent, but I have seen it, maybe once every other week or every month or so.  To be very clear about how excited I was about the shredded cheddar cheese, I have to admit I bought ever last bag on the shelf.  How many bags is that?  Only 5.  I have already used one and a half bags to make homemade mac n cheese!

While I don't have a picture of that, I got so excited about another product that I have NEVER seen here.  It's literally like a ray of light in the mundane grocery aisle, and I stopped dead in my tracks.

 That's right! Campbell's soup! How much is one can of tomato soup? In CLP it is $1.999.  Roughly $4 USD.  Yeah, crazy! I did buy one can I have to admit.  I will save it for "one of those days..."

Then, I got really excited again when I saw REAL PUMPKINS!! Yes, they do a weird type of Halloween celebration here, but I think only because all of their TV is American (dubbed), which means they sort of adopted the holiday.  I want to make sure you notice two things in the picture, one the price per pumpkin is $10 (these are not big pumpkins - maybe the size of a large cantaloupe) and that the pumpkins have faces on them.  That's right, PRE-DRAWN faces.  BOO to that!

Speaking of cantaloupes, I went to La Vega with my nana again on Monday (it truly is remarkable to get such a variety of fresh fruit and veggies).  And I found cantaloupe.  The things sold there are very seasonal (which makes sense), so you never really know what you're going to get. It was tucked in a small crate at only one stall (which is surprising because usually there are a bunch of stalls that sell the same things and you have to walk around the whole place first to find the freshest and best priced.) The cantaloupe that we found was about the size of two fists.  I took a picture and put a head of normal sized garlic next to it so you can have some perspective.  IT WAS TINY but very yummy (tasted like a normal ripe cantaloupe).  It was $2 for that tiny thing!  The funniest part was that my nana looked at me like I was crazy. 

My last thought of the day is a negative one about Jumbo.  The parking lot is horrific.  It is always very crowded, and worst of all, the spots are TINY.  I have two small children and usually shop with my double stroller.  This means that Isaac stays in his car seat.  Well, when two cars park next to me, I can't get his car seat in or out of my car since my door won't open wide enough! This last time it happened I literally couldn't get into any of my car doors with him and had to put him in the TRUNK while I backed up 3 feet so I could open the door.  Let me tell you, I was NOT happy.

Isaac's 2 Month Appointment

After having a baby, all mother's are faced with the agonizing decision of finding the right pediatrician. "They" (the internet and baby books) tell pregnant women to start interviewing pediatricians at about 6 months pregnant so they can find the "right" one (i.e., one that meshes with their child-rearing philosophy [HA! it's impossible to have that until you have kids! but "they" don't tell you that...], one that is nice and smart, has a good, clean waiting room, etc, etc).  Well, after doing that whole process in Minneapolis with Sadie, and I did really like my pediatrician in Maple Grove, that mindset of finding the right person quickly went out the window when we kept moving (not to mention, who has that kind of time?? And, who needs that added stress??).  As many of you know, you are going to the doctor ever few days, weeks then months, basically living their as the baby grows into a toddler.  When we moved to Herndon we actually went to 2 different pediatricians in 2 different offices (Sadie's 6 month and 9 month or something I can't even remember - we only lived there for 6 months!), then in Houston we went to 2 different pediatricians again in 6 months.  The reality is that I didn't like any of them, and I felt like I might as well keep trying until I get it right - I can always go somewhere else or not follow the doctor's advice if I'm skeptical (and get a 2nd opinion).  Thank goodness I had this experience with Sadie since now with Isaac we are on his 2nd pediatrician, and this one doesn't speak any English...

I got a little off topic here. The whole point of my post is that Isaac is a happy and healthy baby! He weighs 12.4 pounds (50%) and his length is 22.4 inches (25%) at 2.5 months.  This is "muy muy bien" for any baby and especially for my preemie. (and for the record, Sadie weighed 12.5 pounds at 4 months!!!)

 
Now, I'm sure you are thinking, so what is the pediatrician like? What is going to the doctor like in Antofagasta? I have explained a little bit about the doctor's in Chile in previous posts about Santiago.  I would like to say, however, that Antofagasta is much different than Santiago.  It's more "real South America" as Steve and I like to call it.  For example, in the US and even in Santiago, I had to make my appointment with my pediatrician weeks, sometimes months in advance in order to get a time that worked with everyone's schedules.  Well, here, my pediatrician only takes appointments for the following day.  So, for example, if you want to go to the ped on Tuesday, you better call first thing in the morning on Monday otherwise you are out of luck and all the appointments will be taken.  If you call and they are all filled, you have to call back again the next day for the following day.  They then give 3 people the same time (ie., 3 people at 2pm, 3 people at 2:30pm, 3 people at 3pm, and so on).  So, I had my nana call to make my appointment since I didn't know what I was doing.  I called about 20 times in the morning and just kept getting a busy signal.  So I tried again and again.  Finally I got through and yelled at Carmen and she came running downstairs to get the phone from me.  No, I'm not kidding.  About any of this.

So, then you arrive about 15 minutes beforehand and based on the order you arrive is when you will see the doctor.  I arrived second for my time slot, so I got to see the doctor in theory at 2:40pm (my appt was 2:30).  In reality, I was in and out by 3:15pm, which was pretty good, but that also means that my ped was behind.  My dear dear American friend who is basically fluent in Spanish (lived here for 5 years and married a Chilean!) came with me and helped fill the gaps.  It was her pediatrician, which was so nice since she knew the process and the people.  The "office" is literally a tiny desk out front (there is a common waiting area for all the offices on the whole floor) and then one room that is the exam room/doctor's office.

I mentioned in a previous post that everything in Chile is departmentalized when it comes to medical care - meaning that if your doctor needs to take blood from you then you go to a special lab that only does blood/urine testing, and if you need to get a vaccine you go to a place that only does shots (these places can be in different buildings and they don't take appointments- you just show up and take a number).  So, as a newborn, Isaac has to get tons of shots every few months, so we went to the special vaccine office and got our shots.  It was actually a good experience - we were the only people there (again it is one tiny desk in front of one exam room where the shots are administered.  So strange, but this is how it's done.  My friend recommended this place, and I was glad she did.  Isaac got all the shots he would normally get in the US as Chile's and the US' schedules are very similar (although, they don't nationally recommend rotovirus, which is recommended in the US, so I went ahead and had the doctor "prescribe" it anyway - yes you have to get a prescription or "receta" for the vaccines that you take with you).

Two other interesting facts:
-They recommend getting an X-ray of babies' hips at 3 months to check for displasia (as in it is common practice)    
- The free vaccines here (ie, covered by the Chilean govt) have mercury in them.  Mercury is used as a preservative in vaccines, but has been banned in the US by the FDA for many years.  Notably, however, it has not been shown to cause any harm.  Regardless, they do have the option of purchasing the mercury-free vaccines at an added charge, which is what we did.  And by added charge, I mean about 10 times the price of the free vaccine (the free ones are not actually free but a very low price).

More pics!

Here are some more pics that I forgot to post - Laura and Brian were great babysitters while I had my first lesson with my Spanish tutor :) To the park they went!  Then, I showed them the one Antofagasta mall, and of course the one TGIFriday's attached.  LOL.

La Vega

Santiago has a La Vega and Antofagasta does too.  I believe it just means "market" since that is what it seems to be everywhere we go.  My nana took us all there one day to show us the ropes - and meet her "clientes", which somehow must mean the people she buys from all the time.  It was pretty large and I couldn't get over how fresh and inexpensive everything was.  Compared to Jumbo, which is where I had been shopping, things were AT LEAST half the price.  I loved it.  From the fresh ingredients, my nana made a specialty dish from her native country Peru, called Aji de Gallina and I made my mom's strawberry pie (although the gelatin here is WEIRD very gummy, so the pie was a bit different.  And finding cherry 7-up equivalent proved to be trying...).  However, all the food was really good!

La playa

One of my favorite days was our beach day.  Sadie sported her new crocs and swimsuit and got to play in the sand, while looking at kids, puppies and water (all her favorite things).  We went on a Saturday when the weather was gorgeous, and there was a sort of festival going on sponsored by the Rotary club - a performance of some sort I'm still not sure what it was.  Kids were literally dressed up like aliens.  Also, a very important note - there are huge pony stuffed animals that kids can rent to ride around the boardwalk.  I can't even get over how hilarious this is.  See the pic below for yourself.

 

Las ruinas y la Portada

Another day we ventured to the ruins of an old mine in the middle of the city.  Again very poorly cared for and very little information about what it was.  Lots of trash.  However, the fact that it's in the middle of the city (right across from Casino Enjoy! actually, yes the name is in English), is pretty spectacular when considering the contrast and makes the ruins seem somehow mystic. 

La portada is a natural monument so to speak.  You can kind of see it in the pics (not well I apologize).  It is basically a huge arch carved out of a large rock on the coast of Antofagasta.  It is close to the airport about 45 minutes from my house, and pretty interesting to see.  It was pretty cold and windy, though, so we didn't stay long.