Something that I've been waiting for for a long, long time finally happened today. As I was walking down the street in downtown Santiago, one of those flyer-people approached me and pressed a small piece of paper into my hand.I'm not a big fan of the flyering, as it's...

Spring in Santiago is heralded by the arrival of fruit. Real fruit. Fruit that stains your hands and makes you jump up and down and think about juice and borgoña (wine plus fruit combo). Trade in apples and watery pears, bananas imported from Ecuador, tangerines and...

The other day I was talking to my sister, and she pulled out an Eileenism. I’ve been known to contaige (sorry, I also neologize frequently) people around me with expressions. This one is “something shiny.” You use it to refer to why you have lost your train of...

The carnet, that tiny yellow plastic card with your picture on the front and a copihue (national flower of chile) in relief strung across the card like a choker, is essential to your life. Well really, most of the time you only need your national ID number (RUT), but...

To be fair, the competition here is kitty vs. vaca. What I'm talking about is what you call it when you put a bunch of money into the communal pot, to be used equitably for whatever is in store.In the states, we call it putting money in the kitty. I think I even...

Yesterday in my mock yoga (is that moga?) class, the profe didn't finish the balance portion, because we ran out of music. Everyone started joking around with him (except me, executing a perfect (to my mind) left-footed aeroplano so I wouldn't feel all chueca (wonky,...

Chile has all the indicators to make it a healthy country. Wide open spaces, good economic growth, excellent access to technology, a strong agricultural market, and good infrastructure. (indicators chosen by me). The people here should be healthy. They should be hale...

Whenever I hear someone shout “Señora Barbara,” I know it’s my turn. It’s my turn to go sit in the box for my hora, which is usually approximately 13 minutes. You may ask yourself, “Why Barbara?” I ask myself the same thing. It’s not a name that I have a great love...

Veintiun milliones, seis ocho dos etc... This is my chant. It's not the winning lottery number, it's not my phone number. It's my RUT. It's how I'm known in Chile. It's how I'd be entered in DICOM (for bad credit), which thankfully hasn't happened. It's how I get my...

I've always wanted to write a sweet little sympathetic entry about the fun furry four-legged creatures that populate the street here in Santiago. Dogs are pretty much everywhere. For example, there's Fred (that's what I call him) a kind of black...