The hunt for food

We were hoping to get out and see more of Santiago this weekend, but instead we’ve been earning our hunter-gatherer badge.  It seems like the last few days since we arrived we’ve been spending every second of every day figuring out how to get food.  If we were planning to eat out every meal, it’d be easy as pie.  There are a million beautiful cafes and restaurants at every turn here, but since we are doing this trip on a serious budget, it was critical that we scope out the grocery situation and start cooking at home as soon as possible.  I really underestimated how much effort this would take, stocking a kitchen from scratch without a car (sometimes furnished places we’ve stayed in before have come with a semi-stocked pantry of carry-over dried goods, spices, etc.—however, the only thing food-wise in this kitchen when we arrived was a half-full salt-shaker).  Jonathan made a trip on the first day and loaded up the back pack and carried as many bags as he could beyond that.  Then yesterday I did the same thing, and then today I went AGAIN to a different grocery store and brought home another batch.  We now have enough food to last us through tomorrow’s lunch.  Maybe.   It makes me realize how much I rely on the stash of stuff that has accumulated in my pantry over a long period of time.  Tomorrow I’m going to scope out La Vega Central (the Central Market).  All the descriptions I’ve read make it out to be something like Pike’s Place Market on steroids. 

In a shop just down the street from us where they sell nuts, legumes, and other dried goods, I asked the proprietor where people generally go to buy fruits and vegetables.  He told me that pretty much everyone goes to La Vega Central.  I was doubtful that the entire 6.2 million population of Santiago shops for their fruit & veg at the central market, and in fact I did have that cleared up later when I talked to some other folks.  However, it will still be fun to go there and check it out.  Apparently it will be very busy!  J

While I was tied up trying to figure out how we would eat the next few meals, Jonathan spent the afternoon getting our phones unlocked in order for us to buy local SIM cards and finally have phone service here.  For a short while this afternoon our internet at the apartment died, interrupting his efforts.  We had our fingers crossed that it would re-ignite since we have no other form of communication yet—we couldn’t even let our landlady know that our internet wasn’t working!  Sure enough, it kicked back into gear about half an hour later.

This evening we met up with a musician and professor at the university who knows several of my friends in Pittsburgh.  He and his family met us in the park near our house and we had a lovely time visiting with them.  They answered a ton of questions for us, and also showed us the main public library which, unbeknownst to us, is just a short distance from our house.  They were incredibly friendly (and patient with our rusty Spanish skills) and made us feel absolutely welcome here.  In addition, it looks as though their 15-year-old daughter may turn out to be the girls’ nanny/Spanish tutor while we are here. 

And tomorrow “real life” begins: Jonathan is off to work at the University, home school with the girls officially commences, and somewhere in there I need to practice and do a bunch of computer work….. oh, and find some more food for our next meal!

Our first homecooked meal in Chile

(lentils, of course!)