Where is all the Coffee?!?!

The $10.00 coffee compared to India! She's not very big either!!!!!

We were warned before we arrived in Chile that coffee here is pretty bad. This seemed strange to us because when you think coffee, you think South America. Right!?!?! Well, before airplanes, Chile was isolated from other countries due to the Andes. So coffee that is grown on the other side of the mountains never made it! Instead, the British colonies had a larger influence and brought Chinese tea across the Pacific. So good coffee has not really caught on. The hot drink of choice is usually tea or Nescafe/Sanka instant coffee, which does not satisfy our coffee cravings.

Now, as many of you know, for a long time, I did not appreciate coffee. I didn't like the smell, the taste, anything. However, being married to a coffee lover/snob for 5 years, has really made me love a good cup of coffee. Actually, the only kitchen item we brought with us was a French press, so you can imagine our disappoinment when we found out that good coffee is hard to find.

So we have found a couple of Starbucks locations that, of course, have fantastic coffee. Also, when I went out to a grocery store in the suburbs, I found some Illy coffee that we could make at home. Any good coffee is super expensive - the 4.4 oz Illy can was almost $10.00 (US). This will have to be a special treat and not an every morning thing!

All Better Now!

We have good news to report!!!!! We are feeling so much better! It started to feel like we would never get over being sick. Also, on Wednesday evening our hot water heater was finally repaired. I never realized how much I appreciate hot water. The weather has become pretty nice. For the past few days, the daytime temperature has been in the 60s and in the evening, the high 30s. The days have been pretty clear. During the winter months, the smog in Santiago tends to be pretty bad because the city is surrounded by mountains and it tends to rain less. However, we have had some beautiful blue skies. While Brad has been working, I've spent some time exploring the city, learning the bus & subway system & people watching!



This is a big church , La Concepcion, near our apartment in Providencia that is a great landmark, especially when traveling on the bus




The Catedral de Santiago in Santiago Centro right off of the Plaza de Armas, which is a large square.

What Will Happen Next?

So we've been having some good days and some bad days. It has started to feel like thus far into our trip "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong!"

1. We've both been sick with various problems (I won't go into details!)
2. This past week was the coldest Santiago had seen in the past 20 years!
3. Our hot water heater broke on Friday night & is still not fixed. The new one is supposed to come in tomorrow!!! (It is winter here - in case you Northerners all forgot! We've taken a few really cold showers and I've been heating up pots & pots of water on our stove for baths - that only takes an hour or so!
4. This afternoon, the electricity went out all over our neighborhood, Providencia. It was only off until around 8pm, so it could have been much more worse. We did end up finding a good little Italian restaurant, which was the plus of the evening!!!!

Please don't get me wrong - things aren't awful. We both felt better for the weekend and were able to go out and about. On Saturday we went to Santiago Centro, which has many government and older buildings. Then we went out to a mall in the neighborhood of Las Condes and ate hamburgers at a TGI Fridays (this marks our first visit ever to this franchise)! On Sunday we found a church that has English services and felt very welcome there. The church is about an hour away from our house, but it feels like a good fit! So we are very thankful for finding a church so soon (Thanks Joe!)

Santiago in Winter!!!!

The View From Brad's Office Window



We arrived in Santiago, Chile almost a week ago! Things are going well - at least now. Brad & I were sick soon after we arrived; fevers & colds. We haven't had too much time to explore, but here are some pictures of the beautiful Andes! They really are amazing. Sometimes I look at them and can hardly believe they are real or that we're here.

It is definitely winter here. The weather has been rainy, most days and about 50 degrees Farenheit during the day and 30 degrees Farenheit at night. We're so glad we brought our winter coats. While it is raining down in the city, it is snowing up in the mountains, which makes for some good skiing - so we've heard!

We will be posting some blogs from the past month, so be sure to look below! I hope to be better about posting more regular blogs now that we are more settled!



View From Our Bathroom Window!

Hong Kong Trip, Vol I

Our trip to Hong Kong to visit Matt & Erika was fantastic! We were traveling for 9 days from May 23-June 1. We saw a lot of the city and were able to experience Matt & Erika's lives in Hong Kong. Visit Brad's flickr photos if you would like to see more!




Mt Fuji from our airplane window on the flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong. We were so surprised!




Brad & Amy at The Peak, an observation deck, that overlooks Hong Kong.




A delicious night out at Thai Basil!




Our beautiful and tasty desserts from Thai Basil.

Hong Kong Trip, Vol II

New, fun glasses - Hong Kong prices!




Matt, Erika, Brad & Amy in Mong Kok (one of the most densely populated areas in the world!)




A day at the beach for Brad, Amy, & Erika too!




Our favorite Vitamin Water flavor - dragon fruit!




Our trip to the big buddha

Hong Kong Trip, Vol III

Durian is an exotic fruit that we had been told smells like rotten flesh or dead animal. It smelled like a combination of onions and garlic & tasted similarly. It did end up being pretty disgusting! Here's the sequence of Brad & I trying Durian!