Pichilemu Today!

My friend Pam recently found me on Facebook. We've known each other since 2nd grade! How fun is that? I love it! She asked for more info about where I live in Chile, so today I took my camera along when Jim and I went in to do some shopping. I am posting the pictures on my blog so everyone can see them. I hope you get a good idea of what it's like here. I plan to go to town again tomorrow, so I may be posting more pictures then.

Above is just a typical street scene on Anabel Pinto.

None of the supermercados have scales at the check out counter so you must get your produce and bread weighed before you go to pay. While at one market they weigh produce and bread at the meat counter, another weighs produce and bread at the security desk, but at this supermercado called Polanco, there is a person (woman on the left) who stays in the produce department to weigh the produce. Today you can see, there was a line waiting for her to weigh their bags.

There are just a few varieties of bread here. Our favorite is the one below called maraquetas and these were fresh and hot from the oven. The guy came out with a big wicker basket and tossed them in. I quickly scooped up four with my hand inside a plastic bag (faster and easier that using the tongs they provide), and the bread was so hot, it burned my fingers. YUM! Jim and I ate some on the way home.

The most common type of bread is the one shown below. It has a name we can't remember but is often called either Pan Amasado or Pan de Horno. It tastes a lot like soft soda crackers so we call it Soda Bread. We only buy this kind if there are no maraquetas.

Remember when you were told 'candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth?' They must have heard that here because the candy is kept in a locked glass case while the condoms are hanging at the check out counter.

Milk comes in boxes, much like the cartons we had in school. They are never refrigerated and last for months on your pantry shelf. It doesn't taste just like fresh, but close enough for me. It comes in flavors too: in addition to chocolate, there's strawberry, banana, and vanilla.

You've probably heard of the 'butter and egg man.' Well this is the 'cheese and egg man' and he also weighs the bread for you.

Usually at this store, one of the Polancos talks into a very loud microphone telling shoppers of things on sale and what's good at the meat market. Luckily for me, he wasn't there today.
Look for more pictures soon, maybe even tomorrow!
Chao-chao (Chilean spelling for bye-bye),
Geree

Quote by Paul Gaugin

I found this quote by Paul Gaugin that expresses my approach to art! It's amazing, it is so me!

". . . do not imitate nature. Art is an abstraction, draw it out from nature, while dreaming in front of it and think more about the act of creation than about the result . . ."

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Planta las Roses

We don' t live on Planta las Roses for nothing! I cut three dozen long stemmed pink roses to make this loose and freestyle bouquet. Pretty, no?

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Second Group Trip

HI Everyone!
Yesterday Jim and I went on our second bus tour with the Vivir la Vida group of Pichilemu to the port city of San Antonio. It was really fun and we went to places Jim and I hadn't been before. This first picture is of us at the first stop on the trip, a natural history museum: "Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales y Arqueologia." It was very interesting and there was a wild life rescue enclosure too. There was a little cat that reminded us of Buffy.
Next was fisherman's wharf where we saw this sea wolf (sea lion) getting out of the water and climbing the rocks. There are a few more sea lions lying on the rocks but he was by far the largest!

He made it to the top of the rocks where he would wait to be fed. He just had his mouth open getting a nice snack of a fish head but ate it before I could get the camera to snap. He was HUGE!

Also waiting for free fish snacks were some pelicans. Pelicans are one of my favorite birds to watch fly. They are so graceful in the air. There were large groups of pelicans all along the wharf and I really enjoyed seeing them.

These pelicans are waiting for snacks that can be purchased at the blue and red ice chests you see in front of the group.

Jim took this picture of the wharf - such a great view.

Then I ran out of pictures on my camera card so I have no more photos to show. But, after San Antonio we visited a really nice beach, La Boca where we saw a large flock of Black Necked Swans. Very cool! We picked up interesting rocks and shells and then we off again to a tea party with another senior group in the little town of La Boca. They sang songs and some of our group danced. (I was pretty tired by this time and I wondered how other, older members of our group had the energy to dance!) That was so nice of the hosting group and we had a nice time. Then we headed home but not without a stop at a plant stand and another at a strawberry stand. Jim jumped off the bus and bought a huge box of strawberries. I was too tired by then to get off the bus but I am really happy Jim wasn't because the strawberries are fabulous!

Then, we finally made it home at 10 pm. Having stared at 7 am, it was a long day for us! The Chileans were still singing and having fun all the way home. Such stamina!

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Our Bus Tour

Hi Everyone-
Last Thursday, Jim and I joined the Vivir de Vida group on a 14 hour bus tour to see some interesting sites. We went to two museums, a place where water wheels are still used to irrigate the fields, a couple of local artists and a cheese shop. We took frequent breaks to stretch our legs and to have something to eat and drink. We went to many places we had never been before and we both enjoyed the trip a great deal.

Here I am standing in front of our bus when we visited one of the local artists.
Jim is checking out some cool things in one of the museums. We left that morning at 7 am so no, he didn't have time to shave.

This is our friend Leo. It's hard to believe he's 70 years old! He looks so young. He and his wife lived in the States for several years and they speak good English, which we appreciate with our not so good Spanish.

This is our friend Guillermo who is el Presidente del grupo (the president of the group). He's showing me the flowers he bought for his wife that are made from the leaves of corn.

This painting of sunflowers in the home of the artist who makes things from corn leaves reminded me of New Mexico. Our friend Marta is in the foreground.

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Springtime in Playa Hermosa!

Here's the beautiful blue and green of springtime at the beach! This picture was taken from our deck. Can you see why we love it?

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The Goose Who Visited Jim and Geree

Chile is always full of surprises! Today a goose came to visit us. Now, we have four doggie friends who drop by for snacks, so we are used to feeding drop ins. We tried to think what we could find for our visitor the Goose to eat, but since we haven't known any geese before we didn't know what a goose would want. All Jim could think of was dog kibble. He tossed some down but Goose was not interested. I wonder why? He seemed to be looking for bugs but he was looking in all the wrong places. In the front yard, we have lots of weeds and grass that are probably full of juicy bugs for geese, but he didn't make it down there.

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