barbecues and bowling balls

So this is kind of from awhile back, but we thought we'd offer you a glimpse into some of Santiago's more simple pleasures.

Just like the States, Chile likes its bowling as a form of diversion. So Mads + Mary + Alison + Allyson (neither of them with last name Buterbaugh) and I went bowling on a Friday night at the mall and had a blast. 

(I maybe had more fun than others because I rocked at bowling ... which never happens.)

The setting: Alto Las Condes Mall. Possibly the swankiest mall in which I've ever set afoot.

Y'all ... those are real stuffed reindeer and bunnies. Ew.

Alison brought her championship bowling medal for good luck (jk ... it was some championship swimming medal from a class she took at La Católica ... maybe even cooler than a bowling medal).

I caught Mary singing to herself ...

Then I caught Mary snuggling with the late arrival.

Mads has a cute "I just got a spare" dance.

Abby wins. Boo-yeah.

The day before our crazy night on the town bowling, Allison Buterbaugh hosted an asado (Chilean barbecue) at her lovely Las Condes home in celebration of the last day of classes. Good times were definitely had.

That fruit is tossed in vanilla, folks.

Allison's host family makes their fortune off selling gourmet cheese. There's always an ample supply at her home. This kind is cherry-flavored!

Speak of the grill-master: Allison makes some excellent longaniza (sausage).

We thought we'd support our buddy back in the lake-district town of Villarrica (y'all remember that post?) by buying his Crater cerveza.

We made soooooo much rice.

So, if you can't tell, we've been trying to soak up Santiago-time during out last couple weeks in the country. We probably won't post again for a little bit, seeing as we're sticking around town for a couple more days and then leaving for our Patagonian backpacking/camping adventure on Tuesday. We hope to bring back some of the most magical pictures and stories yet. All for you, readers.

Oh, I guess I should mention one other thing I did recently. Allison Buterbaugh scored us tickets to a Universidad de Chile vs. La Católica soccer game a couple weekends ago. Well, the day before the game, Madeline is about to hop in the car with her host family for a luncheon outing when her host mom asks her where her overnight bag is. So Mads had to go on a surprise weekend vacation (which turned out to be quite fun, I hear), hence giving up her ticket. While the game was quite the fun cultural experience, Mads might have a couple reasons to be happy she didn't go:

1. We were told by multiple sources we'd get knifed leaving the stadium by the opposing team (didn't happen, but it was on the brain the whole time ... and maybe it would've happened had they not segregated the teams completely and dismissed us by section at the end of the game).
2. Little 10-year-old rascals wearing striped t-shirts like to steal your tickets right out of your hand (yes, this happened to me).
3. We added at least 27 new gringa cat calls to our vocabularies.
4. We watched an un-muzzled police dog bite-tackle a La Chile fan who happened to punch a La Católica fan in the face right behind us.
5. I'm not sure about Madeline's host family's soccer allegiance, but my host family told me I wouldn't be welcome in the house if I brought home a jersey (the Gonzalez family is loyal to the team Colo-Colo to death). Rosi sternly threatened me, "Abby, don't you dare bring that trash home, or else no dinner for you ..." Sheesh. 


HASTA PRONTO! 


PS: 11 days til we're HOME!