Terremotos and Cincuenta Cent

Okay so it's been awhile since my last post but I've been unbelievably busy since Spanish class ended. Melanie and I were supposed to meet our Chilean friends right after class on the last day, but since Americans seem to be the only people with any sense of time, we figured we had a few hours to kill. So of course the only logical solution was to take the metro over to La Piojera, which is a restaurant in Santiago known for creating the one and only TERREMOTO. The terremoto (which means earthquake en espanish) got its name from its tendency to make whoever drinks it feel like the earth is moving underneath them. It's basically fermented white wine with a giant scoop of pineapple ice-cream floating on top. Delicious and deadly. Up until that day, the terremoto was just a legend; we had heard stories but we had to find out for ourselves. And luckily Garrett and Daniel agreed to come along because we found out afterwards that La Piojera is known for having a slightly questionable crowd, even during the day (tourists and most Chileans stay away from the area at night). A few bits of wisdom gained during that little outing: terremotos are just as strong as people say, it's better to hear that a place is dangerous after you return home safely from it, and always pack emergency toilet paper...Chileans aren't big on replacing the roll. Ever, anywhere.

La Piojera (photos are from the internet since my camera got STOLEN):

 

Terremotos. Refills are called aftershocks:

After La Piojera, Mel and I met our friends in El Centro and headed out to Reñaca in Viña del Mar for the weekend. Viña is a coast town a little over an hour away from Santiago where all the Santiaguinos spend their summer vacations. Our friend Freddy (short for Alfredo hahaha) has a super nice apartment over there, and Mel and I got our own room with a flat screen TV and balcony access...score. Saturday was our only full day there. Started out with a little tennis in the morning until we lost all the balls, then went to this giant party in the middle of nowhere called PulParty (until I saw the tickets and walked through the entrance, I actually thought I was going to a pool party and was very confused why I had to pay to go. But there were DJs all day and beach volleyball, and there actually was a giant pool, and some cows watching from a nearby hill. It ended up being really fun, and we got a lot of Spanglish practice in with our Chilean amigos. Such as:

Mauricio Pechanga (aka Pechanga): Conoces a Cincuenta Cent?
Me: No, who's that?
Pechanga: Siii, conoces! Cincuenta Cent!
Me: No......................OMG 50 CENT!!! HAHAHAHAHA

Melanie: Do you guys like reggae?
Freddy: Si, como Bob Marley!
Melanie: Yeah, have you heard of Pepper? They kinda have a reggae feel.
Freddy: Yeahhh, Pepper Marley!
Melanie: No...

So we got back from Viña on Sunday night, our flight to Patagonia was set for Monday afternoon, and I still didn't have the right clothes to go backpacking. I went to a place called Mallsport (side note - whenever a word has an "s" with a consonant after it, Chileans WILL NOT understand you if you say it like it's written...you have to add an invisible "e" to the front as if that somehow makes a huge difference, e.g. "Voy a Mallsport." "Qué?" "Voy a Mallesport?" "Ahhh si!" Also pertains to "Sprite" and "Skype") to get my stuff, which is a mall of only sporting goods stores. A little overwhelming but really cool. They have a giant rock wall inside and they sell literally anything you could ever need for any sport, from tennis balls to boats, which have their own tiny man-made dock outside next to one of those stationary wave things you can surf on. Bought some clothes, rushed home, packed like a mad-woman and went off to the airport with Mel, Aaron and Garrett anddd this might be a bad time to stop but it's late and it's my first day of school tomorrow, AHHH!!!

Reñaca:

TO BE CONTINUED...