Wednesday, October 8, 2014
El Mercado de Pescado
One day we decided we wanted to go to the fish market in Coloso, which is right south of where I live (and is literally nothing. a "barter" town as steve calls it). However, there is a phenomenal fish market there. Of course we wanted our nana, which is awesome by the way, to come with us to help us get the best fish and best deal since she was going to prepare it for us. We all piled in the car and went down to barter town, but unfortunately the fishermen weren't back yet, so nothing was open. Very sad. Luckily, there is another fish market on the north side of Antofagasta, so Steve, Laura and Brian went while the nana and I went back for Sadie's naptime. Below are pics from Laura. They bought Congrio which is a type of eel. The guy is cutting it up for us, and the last pic is the finished product along with rice and Chilean salad. It. was. incredible. Muy rica! as they say here.
La Mano del Desierto
In the middle of the desert is a hand. A HUGE hand. It's a sculpture that I know very little about after having visited because there is no information at all except a sign saying that it exists. It's about 50 km south of Antofagasta on Rt 5. And it is in. the. middle. of. NADA.
Sad to see so much graffiti on it. I will also say that it seems to be used as a public toilet, which is very very unfortunate and also a little concerning considering it is actually pretty nice to have such a unique sculpture close by. I guess it is not well cared for...
Sad to see so much graffiti on it. I will also say that it seems to be used as a public toilet, which is very very unfortunate and also a little concerning considering it is actually pretty nice to have such a unique sculpture close by. I guess it is not well cared for...
Los Padrinos
Laura and Brian's trip was awesome. I am so happy they were able to come and stay with us for so long! We are truly lucky to have such wonderful friends. They stayed 10 days in Antofagasta, and I feel really got a good taste of South America. We did many things in and around the city as you will see from the next postings, but here are some good pics of just hanging out at the house.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Grapes
Here is something interesting for all you foodies (or for those of you who are into grapes).
When we were living in Houston and I had just found out we were moving to Chile, I immediately thought about what foods would be available. So, naturally, I looked at where a lot of the produce came from. I remember one thing coming from Chile was grapes, and I thought, oh good, I like grapes, so I'll be able to get them there. Well, after 4 months of living here, I finally saw grapes for the first time in Jumbo. And get this, they were imported from California...
Good times.
And yes, they were VERY expensive but I bought them anyway. I've had enough of apples and bananas!! (Did I mention there isn't a great selection of fruit at Jumbo? My nana offered to take me to la Vega - the local crazy market where I wouldn't go by myself solely for my lack of speaking and being able to negotiate. It seems much more intimidating than the one in Santiago - which I am going to take her up on next week. That will be another post, don't worry).
When we were living in Houston and I had just found out we were moving to Chile, I immediately thought about what foods would be available. So, naturally, I looked at where a lot of the produce came from. I remember one thing coming from Chile was grapes, and I thought, oh good, I like grapes, so I'll be able to get them there. Well, after 4 months of living here, I finally saw grapes for the first time in Jumbo. And get this, they were imported from California...
Good times.
And yes, they were VERY expensive but I bought them anyway. I've had enough of apples and bananas!! (Did I mention there isn't a great selection of fruit at Jumbo? My nana offered to take me to la Vega - the local crazy market where I wouldn't go by myself solely for my lack of speaking and being able to negotiate. It seems much more intimidating than the one in Santiago - which I am going to take her up on next week. That will be another post, don't worry).
Block party
This morning I made pancakes from scratch for the first time since we have lived in Chile. It really felt like we were back in our house in Houston for some reason. However, we were missing the following very important things:
BACON
Sausage
Syrup
Fresh milk
BACON
After we ate, Sadie and Steve had a major block party, building one of the tallest towers ever constructed in Antofagasta. Sadie has been obsessed with building tall apartment buildings for her animals lately, and today the reached a new height...
BACON
Sausage
Syrup
Fresh milk
BACON
After we ate, Sadie and Steve had a major block party, building one of the tallest towers ever constructed in Antofagasta. Sadie has been obsessed with building tall apartment buildings for her animals lately, and today the reached a new height...
Friday, September 26, 2014
I have a nana!
Ladies and gentlemen, I officially have a nana. THANK YOU for that! It has been a long time coming, and my house is so grateful since it has been begging to be cleaned for weeks... is that gross??
It has been kind of chaotic trying to find someone.
Here is the long story: I know there are many people out there looking for work, but it was extremely important to me to have someone that came with references, specifically that I could trust. First, I asked all the Antofagasta expats I had been in touch with, and I got one response (someone's nana for over 10 years knew someone). My landlord also brought over the nana that has cleaned the house I am living in for other expats and that he's known for years, and I really liked her, but she has a 5 month old baby who she wanted to bring with her. That was not ideal for me. While waiting to see if she could find a "sala cuna" (daycare), I interviewed the nana's friend, and liked her, but lost her since I waited a few days before responding. The sala cuna didn't work out, so I then lost all my prospects. The landlord's nana had a name of someone, but she was unresponsive after a few days, and I lost patience. SO, I went through an agency called Nanas Antofagasta (they even have a website!), which was recommended to me by another expat. I had a very good experience with them. They were very attentive to my needs and brought over two nanas I chose from a list to interview (at the same time which was awkward...). One from Peru and one from Bolivia. The agency is very professional and does background checks and makes sure all the papers for the nanas are in order. They also check references and provide me with all that information.
Here is the short story: I ended up using a professional agency that does background and refernece checks and coordinates interviews (ie, brings them to my house).
I would like to take a moment to say that all the interviewing is done in Spanish. It is difficult to say the least...
So, today is the first day my new nana is here and I am tumbling over my words to explain to her what I want to have done, etc. It is helpful that I had a nana in Santiago who was very good, and she kind of "trained" me, so I know what to expect and what to tell the nana here (her name is Carmen and she is from Peru, married a Chilean with a 4 year old daughter who is in school). She is very sweet and good with children - Sadie is already comfortable with her - and Carmen is not afraid to ask me questions about what I want her to do (which is good!). I just hope she is a hard worker and can CLEAN!
It has been kind of chaotic trying to find someone.
Here is the long story: I know there are many people out there looking for work, but it was extremely important to me to have someone that came with references, specifically that I could trust. First, I asked all the Antofagasta expats I had been in touch with, and I got one response (someone's nana for over 10 years knew someone). My landlord also brought over the nana that has cleaned the house I am living in for other expats and that he's known for years, and I really liked her, but she has a 5 month old baby who she wanted to bring with her. That was not ideal for me. While waiting to see if she could find a "sala cuna" (daycare), I interviewed the nana's friend, and liked her, but lost her since I waited a few days before responding. The sala cuna didn't work out, so I then lost all my prospects. The landlord's nana had a name of someone, but she was unresponsive after a few days, and I lost patience. SO, I went through an agency called Nanas Antofagasta (they even have a website!), which was recommended to me by another expat. I had a very good experience with them. They were very attentive to my needs and brought over two nanas I chose from a list to interview (at the same time which was awkward...). One from Peru and one from Bolivia. The agency is very professional and does background checks and makes sure all the papers for the nanas are in order. They also check references and provide me with all that information.
Here is the short story: I ended up using a professional agency that does background and refernece checks and coordinates interviews (ie, brings them to my house).
I would like to take a moment to say that all the interviewing is done in Spanish. It is difficult to say the least...
So, today is the first day my new nana is here and I am tumbling over my words to explain to her what I want to have done, etc. It is helpful that I had a nana in Santiago who was very good, and she kind of "trained" me, so I know what to expect and what to tell the nana here (her name is Carmen and she is from Peru, married a Chilean with a 4 year old daughter who is in school). She is very sweet and good with children - Sadie is already comfortable with her - and Carmen is not afraid to ask me questions about what I want her to do (which is good!). I just hope she is a hard worker and can CLEAN!
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