Well if this is number one I guess that means I am committed to at least number two?

Arriving in Santiago de Chile a week ago was as smooth as if we had floated in on a carpet. Though we did have to make a few revolutions around the Plaza de Armas (on foot) and bother a few patient shopkeepers in order to find our hostel high up on the 6th floor of a grand old dame of a building that flanks one side of the plaza. From our balcony in the 42 degree heat we spied the the mugs of cold beer on the plaza below and were back out the door in less than 5 minutes. The view of the plaza from the balcony is much more pleasing after the sky has darkened and the air has cooled anyway. It sparkles at night.

We have learned that in Chile coffee has legs. “Cafe con piernas” so named because sex was needed to sell coffee to the tea loving Chilenos. Coffee servers wear skin-tight micro minis in neon colors, pink, green, yellow etc. and stand on ultra high heels behind counters which are on slender legs themselves. All the better for the patrons to observe the gams while having a ‘cortado doble’ …. while standing themselves of course. Its all about legs!

We visited the Museum of Memory and Human Rights … truly astounding and so moving in its account of the 1973 military coup which left the beloved Allende dead and the Chilean people at the mercy of the dictator Pinochet. Unforgettable.

One of the moving traditions that has remained as a result of that dark time … besides the one in which a woman dances a lovers dance alone to grieve the death of her lover in that war, there is another tradition that still lives and this one regards the street dogs.

Because of the mistreatment of these animals by the military regime, out of protest, the people began to feed and care for the dogs. People even knitted sweaters for them in the winter and built little dog houses in alleys and parks. We are told that now these dogs can sense when an innocent stranger in their vicinity is in danger and will rush to protect them from an offender. How much better I feel walking in this city knowing this! We did have a lovely thick-haired large yellow dog accompany us after we had been leveled by a ‘terremoto’.

A ‘terremoto’ is an earthquake but it is also the name of a powerful drink. It is made by filling a tumbler with strong, cheap wine (undoubtedly homemade and probably fortified) and topping it with a scoop of ice cream. Sip this quite tasty Chilean concoction through a straw, then even stay at your table for an hour eating a mountain of rolled pork and potatoes hoping to sober up (which you won’t), get up and walk out of the dingy pub, past the accordion player belting out the tunes, and out into the 40 degree afternoon heat, and you will know what a ‘terremoto’ is and you will be grateful to be followed by a big yellow dog.

Well it is well past midnight here and Linda and I wish you a ‘buenos noches’ wherever you are. No photos this time as I haven’t managed to figure out how to download from my camera to my tablet. Maybe next time.

Love to you all.

Monika