Additions!

Heya

Some corrections and additions to dad's email:

The place we ate in Vina is called "el Guaton" which literally means, fat man, or fat stomach. Guata is something like tummy or gut in Chilean spanish. It is delicious, and apparently is a minor chain on seemingly one major street in vina. The sandwiches are gigantic, as appropriately described, and as with many American large food joints(with respective large food), it is a feat to say you've finished el Guaton by yourself. Not many try, and even fewer succeed. Its on my to do list.

The food that we ate in Valparaiso is called a Chorillana, and is appropriately described by dad. It food only in Valpo, and in some places in Vina, and is apparently a meal invented by the port folk. Or something of that sort. Fries, meat, egg, beer and a lot of it is essentially what it entails. The beer is a drink on the side, not in the meal itself. So far as I know.

Ascensors are a pretty famous object in Valparaiso. Essentially, they're like large elevators that take you up the side of a hill. The city has over a dozen, though I couldn't tell you how many. Pretty neat, and a little bit scary. They're very old. Quite. As far as I know, they have yet to have any sort of incident(My dad and I hypothesized that there are two counter balanced cars, making a free fall drop impossible.)

Crowded buses are very common here, I've learned to be comfortable in tiny crowded buses.

I must add a correction about the dogs. They do fight and bark, but ninety percent of the time its at other dogs. At nearly all times of the night, one can hear the distant barking of dogs. While this would appear to be annoying, its actually not that bad, since its more of a background noise instead of the ole dog-outside-your-window.

Smoking: Chile has the largest teenage smoking rate in the world. While smoking is generally not done indoors unless the people live there or are told so, all restaurants and bars allow smoking. Ash trays are as common and popular as ever. Evidently, many students studying abroad here pick up said habit. Don't worry mom, its not for me.

The Completo consists of the following ingredients: A bun, hot dog, diced tomatoes, sauerkraut, and melted mayo. An Italiano consists of the following ingredients: Bun, hotdog, diced tomato, a ton of avocado and melted mayo. From experience and many trials, the completo is better. Actually, its not only better, but sometimes I crave them. Next thing you know, I'll want a mullet. (Mullets are huge here)

I've observed a bit of a paradox whilst being here in Chile. In general, the Chilean people are very helpful. Whenever I am traveling, I know that I can rely on asking strangers for directions- and I have never been lead astray. An example: a few days ago, I was meeting a few friends in Valparaiso at some school that I had never heard of nor knew its location. First, I went up to a street vendor and asked how to get there. She told me to go to a certain bus stop. Went to the bus stop. Asked a guy there which bus took me there. Pointed to which bus it was. Got on the bus. Sat down on the bus, and a guy(not working on the bus) came up to me and asked me where I was going, and then said he'd tell me when to get off. And got there within ten minutes. Perfect. This sort of thing happens all the time, people are very helpful. But this being said, EVERY house, office, store building has locks, fences and spikes warding all away. Every shop has security officers with armored vests. So I ask if the people are so nice here, why is there so much security? I have asked, have gotten a bunch of varied answers, and need to ask some more before stating an opinion. Its quite peculiar.

Tomorrow, I am heading to Patagonia with five of my friends. We're gonna be camping and hiking for four days around parque Torres Del Paine. Pictures will be yours to behold in just a few days!

-Brian

Spanish saying of the week: "Puedo hablar contigo pero solo si no hablas como un chileno."