The next few days were pretty relaxed, and consisted mostly of CSI marathons. We stayed in all day Thursday, just trying to recuperate. By Friday we were feeling good enough to venture out a bit, if only to the fruit and veggie market a few blocks from my house. I guess I've gotten so used to it that I forgot how impressive it was to see the first time! It really is quite a sight--four whole blocks covered in stands full of fresh fruit and vegetables. Some people also sell household goods, cleaning supplies, and even toilet paper. Sometimes there is a fish stand, too, where you can pick out your fresh fish and they will gut it for you right in front of your eyes. My personal favorites are the used-clothing stands where you can get three t-shirts for 500 pesos (about a dollar). A large portion of my wardrobe has come from there (which may explain why my students say I look like a hippie cowgirl). So, it was fun to go with someone who had never been before and was still impressed by everything. It can get pretty crowded, so my main objective is usually to find the best prices and get out of there as quickly as possible. Luckily, we got there early enough to avoid the huge crowds and be able to enjoy the market at a bit slower pace. There were more sellers than usual, too--probably because we're moving into spring here in Santiago and there is more produce available to sell. We brought my market cart, because we knew we needed to stock up--at this point, the only food left in my apartment was a quarter bag of rice and some snacks Mom had gotten on her plane ride from the U.S.
Before we reached the food section, we passed through the used clothing/antiques/other random goods section. I'd recently taken up knitting to pass the time between classes (sometimes I have 6 hour breaks!), so I've gotten to know "the knitting lady," as I call her. She sells all sorts of assorted items, among them knitting supplies. She is really friendly and is usually sitting and knitting something herself during the fair. I've tried knitting before, but as many of you know, I'm not so good with numbers and a bit part of knitting involves careful counting. Therefore, I have not had much success with my past attempts at knitting. The lady at the fair, however, showed me a cool "beginners" contraption that keeps track of the stitches for you. It's great for people with short attention spans, because no matter where or why you stop, you always know exactly where to start up again. I'd bought the contraption from her a few weeks ago, and had been going back every week since to buy more yarn for my creation. I'm (trying to) make an afghan. It's going to be made up of many squares of different colors. So far, I've finished two squares. I'm guessed I'll need about 9 to finish it off. Wow, I'd better get working on that! Anyway, we took a quick stop at the knitting booth where the lady gave me some advice for my afghan, and Mom bought some yarn to make strap covers for one of her bags.
Then, we got down to business--the food! Not only does spring mean more selection, it also means better prices! I was excited to see that avocado, for example, had fallen from 2400 pesos per kilo down to 1500. I've still seen cheaper, but at least it was a start. And even at the high prices, it's always much cheaper than it ever was in the states! We bought a few for snacking, and continued on. Like I said, I'm usually all business at the market, so I had to remember to slow down for Mom to take some pictures. I'm really glad she did; I'm sure I'll want to show people what the market is like when I get back home. And then I'll probably get depressed at how expensive food is in the U.S. Or England. Why can't I live somewhere tropical, again?!
Speaking of tropical, we found some strange fruits that Mom had never seen before. She was feeling brave again (after having enough time to recover from our parrillada), so we bought some to try out. They're called pepinos dulces in Spanish, and I haven't been able to find a good translation for that in English. It literally means "sweet cucumber," which is a fairly good description, I suppose. In terms of taste, at least. It looks kind of like a pear with a harder, more colorful shell. They're usually purple and yellow, so obviously I liked them before I even tasted them. The best English translation so far is "melon pear," because it looks like a pear but tastes like a melon. I actually think they're pretty perfect, because I love melon, but I don't have much self-control and tend to eat the whole thing in one sitting. Now, I can have the taste I crave without overindulging. They're natures original 100-calorie packs. I tried to convince her to try a Chirimoya, too, but she decided one exotic fruit was enough for one day. Maybe next time!
We finished up with our purchases of the essentials (i.e. ingredients for curry), and were about to head back home when Mom caught site of the fish stand. She went over to take some pictures and, as always seems to happen to her, managed to end up having a conversation with a couple standing in line with their baby. Of course, they didn't speak English, but an in-depth conversation ensued despite that minor setback. Turns out, they had just moved to Santiago from a small village in the south of Chile, and were astounded by the prices of fish in the city. The conversation had initially started when they asked Mom if she was taking pictures of the outrages prices. Apparently, in Santiago the fish they wanted to buy cost almost $30USD, whereas they could have gotten the same thing from their hometown for less than $7! We commiserated for a while about our mutual dislike for big cities, and we learned that they only reason the family was in Santiago in the first place was because the husband was an internal medicine resident and had to complete a few years at a major hospital. The wife told me they were heading back south the instant he finished.
As the conversation got more complicated, Mom couldn't understand the adults anymore, so she began to play with the baby. Soon enough, the baby was laughing and having a grand old time. The sound of laughter coming from her child threw the woman off guard. She told us that her baby was usually really fickle, and absolutely hated strangers. So obviously he would become best friends with Mom!
After saying our good-byes from the family, we started our way back to the apartment. On the way, Mom bought some flowers to freshen up the apartment. We also had to stop at the antique booths to see what they had to offer. We bought a silver vase for the flowers, and Mom found a unique wall hook to take home. With my cart (and our arms) full to overflowing, we finally made it back to the apartment. We were pretty satisfied with our loot, and started to put it away right away. Mom's back was still a bit sore, so sat down and read while I finished organizing our stuff. I put away everything except what I needed to make curry. I was nice this time, and made it as mild as I could. Despite our long stop at the fish stand, we'd forgotten to get any sort of meat for the curry, so I threw in some crushed almonds as a protein instead. I made a yellow curry with eggplant, onion, carrots, and almonds. We watched some more CSI as we waited for it to simmer to perfection.
When dinner was ready, I was surprised that not only did Mom like hers, she even asked for more! So far, I've always had to coerce people into trying curry (yes, even Scott who is now addicted to it). After dinner, Mom went upstairs for a smoke while I worked on some school preparations. I was deep in concentration mode when I thought I heard some voices speaking English in the hallway. At first, I thought it might be some new neighbors (there are a lot of foreigners in my building), but then I realized that one of the voices sounded a lot like Mom's. When the door opening, it was Mom, and another woman that I didn't recognize.
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Apparently, the woman had just moved into the building a couple days ago, but she and Mom had already run into each other about three times! They got to talking, and Mom learned that the woman was from the states, but had been in Argentina the past few months looking for a job teaching English. Having had no luck there, she decided to come to Santiago and have a go here. We invited her and talked for nearly an hour. We exchanged stories about the funny anomalies in the language in Chile and Argentina, and laughed at how little our training in Spanish actually helped us in "real life." I gave her some names of English institutes that I'd heard were hiring, and lent her my book of Chilean slang. By the time we finished exchanging details, it had gotten fairly late. After our new friend headed back to her apartment, we got ready for bed in preparation for another exciting day to come.
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