Cultural revelations

     Hey all, I figured I needed a place to put up random tidbits about life down unda! These will just be small entries about different cultural things I've noticed.
     Dogs. Dogs, dogs, dogs. They are EVERYWHERE down here! And I mean everywhere. Every street, every alley, and on most every corner. They're generally well-behaved, always friendly when they think you'll give them food, and are super-intelligent. They know how to cross the streets by themselves; they wait for the lights and cross at the crosswalks with the humans. If you sweet talk them, they'll even follow you home, which (while empty) is a comfort when walking home alone, or going somewhere at night. Here are some lovely specimens:

     I am sad to report that Chile is less than impressive gastronomically. The most common dishes here are as follows:
          - lomo a lo pobre: beef loosely chopped and piled on top of french fries with two fried eggs balanced on top of them
          - a completo: a hot dog. Seriously they're obsessed with them down here, and usually pile them sky high with guacamole, avocado, sauerkraut, and or ketchup and mustard.
          - churrasco: I don't actually know what this is; I'll have to get back to you on that one haha sorry!
          - choripan: chorizo on pan, aka salami on bread
          - pebre: onions, tomatoes, and cilantro-type herbs chopped up in a fresh little salad
          - café con leche, according to Jess, does not get you coffee with a little milk or creamer; instead you get a latté, which I'm told, is very different. 
I am not bowled over by any of these options, but the fish scene is pretty great. Salmon is fairly cheap down here, and VERY delicious. In fact, every trip that Jess and I take, we tend to get salmon at least once. Oh well, more opportunities to cook at home and try out recipes on our own.
     The metro, or as normal people call it-the subway, is insane here. I may have mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning twice. It's SO crowded during rush hour, it's hard to even get off at your stop. It's some sort of panic mentality, that no one moves away from the doors because they fear they won't be able to get off again. But, if you moved as far into the car as possible, there might end up being enough room to get to the doors more easily. Everyone's too apathetic or scared to do this however, and we end up with this: (pic). Oy vey!
     It's very green here in Santiago, even though winter is coming! Haha, just kidding. It is slowly turning into fall though, and all of the landscape remains green. There are trees on every street, and parks and plazas once every 5 or so blocks. It's kind of wonderful to have so much greenery around you in such a large city. On the other hand, however many trees there are, there are ten times more pigeons to go in their branches. Waaaay more than New York, that's for sure.
markets- thurs one near work, ferias