While we were downtown in Santiago, we visited the popular Alice’s tea room, and cafe themed in line with the tale. It was a great experience, with delicious coffee, sandwiches, and treats. I felt I had been there before, as it bore a striking resemblance to Alice’s Teacup in NYC, a cafe with the same […]

Before we left for Chile, I searched many expat forums looking for suggestions on what to bring from abroad. The number one suggestion was any over the counter medication that we might take. So I purchased, Tylenol, Vicks vapor rub, Benadryl, NyQuil, and the kids equivalents and hoped we wouldn’t need them. They have some […]

We finally made the trip to the Santiago city center to explore Santa Lucia Hill and Plaza de Armas. It reminded us of the true size and density of Santiago, and we enjoyed exploring a part of the city that felt different and more vibrant than our corner of the city in Vitacura.

This kids now have choir practice in a new location, one that is about a ten minute walk from our home, in a direction we don’t normally walk. Between our home and practice, a McDonald’s. I could smell it while I waited for practice to adjourn. I decided to surprise the kids with a pitstop […]

At least twice a week I vacuum, dust, and wet mop the floors of our rental house in Santiago. We have a strict “no shoes in the house” policy mostly due to the dog poop everywhere in the city but also because of the black dust. This black dust, dirt, pollution, (?) is everywhere. I […]

On Wednesday afternoons, Wilson has skateboard class for two hours at the park. Jane and I walk him down to the park, make sure class gets underway, and then go for a run/rollerblade/jog together. Sometimes we listen to a podcast, sharing the ear pods. We both love “How I built this.” Mostly we just talk. […]

Wilson adores salsa. There aren’t any good options that we’ve come across in the grocery stores here, so I decided to teach him to cook his favorite snack, salsa, and make his favorite drink, lemonade. We used a very basic recipe. Tomatoes, purple onion, garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper, lime juice and a jalapeno. However, […]

I understood that living in Santiago was not going to be cheap. Chile is not a low rent country, and Santiago is a city larger than Los Angeles. However, I’m taken aback by the high cost of living in Santiago, especially when incomes for average residents are so low. It gives some perspective into the […]

Wilson continues to excel in skateboarding, trying and failing and trying and succeeding. Each time we visit the skate park, which is once or twice a week, he improves. He continues building on the skills he’s developing, even when it means pushing through the pain of a hard fall. Here’s a video of Wilson learning […]

In recent weeks, Spanish is coming more naturally to me and, I think, all of us. When we first arrived, I felt we constantly had to tell people we don’t speak Spanish or understand something they said in Spanish. Now, about four months into our immersion here, we can carry out many daily interactions in […]