...something new everyday: Cook-Fords in Chile

So after 4 short days in Buenos Aires the parents and I hopped a plane back to Santiago so I could show them around my southern hemisphere home. We hit all the best restaurants, saw all the major sights, and even managed a little day trip out to the coastal city of Valparaiso.

As I am losing a bit of steam on the blogging front I solicited the Parents for some things that struck them while visiting that I may have stopped noticing by now. Here are some of their keen little spots:

· Buenos Aires seems like a big European city as long as you keep your eyes level or cast upward. If you look down, the street and sidewalk pavements are in really bad shape. When strolling in BA, you really need to pay attention to where you’re putting your feet. Between the holes, the protruding rebar, the broken curbs and the missing cobblestones it’s a challenge to stay upright.

· Yes, picking up dog doo-doo is disgusting, but it’s less disgusting than leaving it all over the city.

· The BA citizens look quite European, but there aren’t too many blondes. I dunno how those women walk around all day in those high heels?

· What’s with the stray dogs everywhere? Those little guys need homes…

· Santiago seems tidy compared to BA, and the pavements are top notch.

· What’s with the stray dogs everywhere? Seeing a bunch of sleepy old hounds strewn around the plazas at La Moneda was a hoot – some of them were sleeping at the feet of the palace guards, who were perfectly accepting.

· The taxi system in Santiago is the best – zillions of them, relatively inexpensive, and the drivers usually seem to know how to get where you want to go.

· Yes, please, beef seven days a week works fine in South America, but I was sure craving noodles when I got home.

· It was a luxury to travel in Argentina and Chile with someone who could speak the language so well (ah shucks!)

· Hector (our tour guide in Valparaíso) was the greatest – we learned a lot from him

My dad is exceedingly right about Buenos Aires. It was beautiful but everyday that we were there the streets in San Telmo looked as if it was trash pick up day except a group of teenagers with tennis rackets had gotten there first. The pavement disaster is no exaggeration either and a majority of the women insist on stomping the streets in high heels.

Santiago is much tidier than Buenos Aires but, in my opinion, it lacks some of the charm. It's a great city to live in because it's just foreign enough with the language barrier, the backwards seasons, and the different pace of life, but it doesn't really feel exotic.

That didn't stop anyone in my crew from having a great time though. Honestly, I had been missing my parents so much that we could have gotten rained in at the airport for 5 days and I would have had fun. That's not what happened though:

Parents on Cerro Santa Lucia
There are two hills that jut out of the center of downtown, Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal. Both are little green outposts with look outs and fountains that provide a nice refuge from the concrete when you need it.

At the foot of Cerro San Cristobal is the Bella Vista neighborhood where all us adolescents go to party. During the day it's crawling with tourist traps. $4 for a photo with an alpaca suddenly becomes a bargain when you steal the alpaca...

On our way to visit Valparaíso our awesome guide, Hector, took us up the hillside to look out over the valleys that house some Chile's vineyards. Chile is a growing presence in the WWWoW (World Wide World of Wine), and the only place that produces a delicious variety called Carmenère.