The strangest Christmas

Christmas has taken me somewhat by surprise this year. The first time I realised it was coming was earlier this month when, while battling through Santiago's busy shopping district in sweltering heat, I noticed pictures of snowflakes in shop windows. "Snowflakes?", I thought, "but it's not ski season any more." And then it hit me - this was Christmas in the southern hemisphere. Temperatures may peak at 33 degrees on Christmas Day but the image of a winter wonderland pervades.

Thanks to Ruth for the little reminder of
Christmases past - a poinsettia

And yet it doesn't feel like Christmas. Dutifully, Santa sits in shopping malls, robed in a thick red coat, boots and fake white beard, surrounded by Christmas trees, brightly wrapped presents, reindeer, snow and helper elves, but it seems out of place somehow (and my goodness he must be hot). My language school hung some paper garlands and installed a massive Christmas tree in reception; lovely to look at, but strangely incongruous against the 'hot country' building design of white plaster walls, light wood, cacti and palms. Christmas lights adorn the city streets, but they don't accompany any Christmas shopping trips, because it doesn't get dark until 9.30pm.

I guess that this must be normal for Chile, but for me, and for all of my northern hemisphere friends, it's just plain weird. There are two reasons as I see it. Firstly, Christmas isn't as prominent. Yes, there are adverts everywhere, decorations, lights, special food in the supermarkets and Christmas songs in the shops, but this doesn't start until at least the 1st of December. A very welcome and refreshing change to the flood of Christmas merchandising that appears before the school holidays are even over in the UK. Secondly, it's hot! It's summertime and the kids are enjoying their long holiday from school. So why do Christmas cards here feature snow-filled scenes, when that is never, ever going to be reality? Why not have Santa on the beach?

And this, I think, is the strangest thing for me to get my head around. Yesterday, I sweated over a pan of hot mulled wine while wearing shorts. For me, and I think for anyone who is accustomed to celebrating Christmas in the northern half of the world, the brain cannot compute that we should be putting up tinsel and roasting a turkey, when all we want to do is grab an ice-cream and a long cool drink in the shade. Merry Christmas from the other side of the world!

Bringing culture to the masses

One of the things I'm really starting to love about Santiago is the amount of free cultural events that are on offer. There always seems to be something going on, from ballet, to opera, to classical concerts, as well as outdoor art exhibitions and craft fairs. I guess the lack of rain here makes it easy to rock-up to the nearest public space and put on a show...

What is interesting, is that these events are packed. And not just with the usual crowd you would expect at an opera or a ballet. All of Santiago is there: families with small children, cool looking guys whose usual domain is reggaeton, girls on their way to a night out and pairs of blokes who on a Saturday night you'd expect to be in the pub. It seems there is a real hunger to experience culture here and it's fantastic that it's made accessible.

'The Nutcracker' with images projected onto La Moneda

This weekend it was the turn of festive favourite 'The Nutcracker' (or El Cascanueces). Performed by the amazing Santiago Ballet, accompanied by the equally brilliant Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra (the same team behind last month's production of 'Swan Lake'), it was another marvellous spectacle.

The setting was Plaza de la Constitucion, the central square in front of La Moneda, the presidential palace. With wondrous effect, this magnificent piece of architecture was used as a backdrop to the ballet - with dazzling images projected onto the white walls of the palace. Each sequence of light was greeted with a tantalized 'oooh' from the crowd.

The final scenes of 'The Nutcracker'

Meanwhile the dancing, of course, was superb. I was a long way from the stage, so the twirling figures were minute, but somehow they manage to draw you in, enthralling you with their delicate and intricate movements. The ballerinas displayed their prowess with numerous different styles, from a flamenco-inspired piece, to an almost rumba-esque section, to Russian dancers, a fight scene, puppets and robots. All culminating with the most familiar piece of "Nutcracker music", the lone ballerina pirouetting and leaving the crowd spellbound as if they had just discovered a music box for the first time. A real Christmas treat.

Mendoza

Forgive the delay in writing for a while; it has been a pretty crazy couple of weeks here, in between being extremely ill with my first taste of Chilean flu, finding myself in charge of a 24 hour news service and needing to make a trip to Argentina.

So Mendoza, as this post is titled, is the first city across the border from Santiago in Argentina. It is reached by the most spectacular mountain pass - which heads straight up and over the Andes. Vehicles have to snake around a twisting road that traverses what feels like a sheer drop. While the border, along with immigration control and customs, can be found at a height of around 3200 metres.

Mendoza mountain pass

We made the journey by coach, a sizeable journey that took 9 hours on the way there due to late night roadworks (just 6.5 on the way back). Thankfully, it wasn't as tortuous as I had imagined. The semi-cama or semi-bed service had comfortable seats which reclined into a sleeping position. We were served a sandwich and a cold drink upon departure, which was followed up after the border crossing by a cup of tea or coffee (yes, tea!) and a biscuit (this is a Chilean style biscuit - with lashings of dulce de leche or manjar and chocolate, yum). On the return journey, we were also treated to a film. I guess in a country as big as Chile, it's expected that long-distance coach journeys should be bearable a experience. Thankfully, they are.

So having travelled overnight, we reached Mendoza in the early hours of Saturday morning. It's a beautiful city; small, quiet, calm, very green with lots of trees and not a lot of traffic. A complete contrast to the hurly-burly of car horns and pollution that is Santiago. The city is structured around five main squares - Plazas de Independencia, Chile, Italia, España and San Martin - all beautifully landscaped and lovely places to sit and watch the world go by. We took in them all over the course of the weekend.

To start us off on Saturday morning, we had a very interesting guided tour at a panoramic viewpoint run by the tourist information centre. It provided a 360 degree view of greater Mendoza, extending to the Andes in the west, with sweeps of green city boulevards giving way to swathes of vineyards. Then in the afternoon, we visited a magnificent park, home to Cerro Gloria which we climbed to enjoy more great views.

11th December was the national day of tango in Argentina, so after eating a very filling meal of veal in breadcrumbs with chips, we rounded off the day by heading to the heart of the city to see some fine tango.

Sundays are quiet in Mendoza, so we decided to step back in time by hitching a ride on a trolley bus (yes, really). Then it was time for us to head back to Chile, travelling back over the mountains only this time in daylight. Truly, one of the most spellbinding journeys I have ever had the chance to enjoy.
See my Mendoza photos on Flickr

www.flickr.com jaynescarman's Mendoza photoset

27 hours of love

As I write, Chile is slap-bang in the middle of its Teletón - a major national fundraising event that seeks to unite the entire country in order to raise money for children and young people with disabilities.

It's a bit like Children in Need or Comic Relief, only I would say on a much grander scale. The TV marathon starts at 10pm on Friday night and goes right through until the small hours of Sunday morning. There are acts throughout the period - music, dance, comedy, even strippers (apparently) at one point - as well as a celebrity football match and of course, lots of heart-breaking stories of struggle, rehabilitation and hope.

But it's more than that, it feels like the entire country gets involved in the Teletón. As an adult, I think, it's often quite easy for the British telethons to pass you by. You can simply not tune in to BBC1 on that evening, and if your workplace isn't one that does a lot for charity, and you don't have children to remind you that their school is organising something, you could be forgiven for not realising there was any kind of fundraising effort taking place at all.

Here, things are different. For the last month or so, there has been a huge advertising campaign - billboard-size posters in the Metro, Teletón packaging on all the well-known brands and TV commercials across all networks to remind you that the 3rd and 4th of December is Teletón. Then in the last week or so, hand-painted adverts have started appearing on the rear windows of people's cars, on buses even. The people here are moved to get involved. There is no way you escape the call for Chile, un solo corazón (Chile, one heart).

Last night I watched the opening ceremony; I set a new record (even for me) of starting to blub my eyes out around 10 seconds in. I really shouldn't watch these kind of programmes. Of course, this has been a momentous year for Chile, with the massive earthquake in February, a change in government and the rescue of the San Jose miners, all taking place in its Bicentenary - 200 years since the process of independence from Spain began.

But what was really amazing to me, was I couldn't have not watched the Teletón - it was on every single TV channel in the country. Friday night in Santiago was eerily quiet. I usually get very little sleep at the weekend because Chileans love a good party to end the week - with loud music, singing and dancing regularly going on until 3 or 4am. Yet last night - not a peep; with the exception of an occasional chorus of cheers and shouts. And I knew exactly what was prompting those cheers and shouts, because I was watching too. Truly, a nation united in solidarity - Chile, one heart.

I felt the earth move

Ok, I've decided to tackle a subject here that I've shied away from previously, because at times when I have mentioned it in the past it has provoked quite a strong reaction. The subject: earthquakes.

Here in Chile, earthquakes are a fact of life. Most likely, you will have seen in the news that Chile had a major earthquake back in February this year. In that particular case, the magnitude was exceptional. But a gentle shaking of the earth here is a regular occurrence.

I experienced my first tremor around four days after I arrived. I was sitting on the sofa when I heard an odd creaking noise in the kitchen. My first thought was that something may have fallen down or come in through the window. But then 30 seconds later I felt the floor and the sofa shake. It couldn't have lasted for more than 10 seconds and was nowhere near as strong as those we've had in Birmingham in recent years.

Since then there have been countless tremors, or rather delightfully 'tremblers' as they are sometimes called. I've been aware of two or three and there have been many more while we've been asleep/on the Metro/out and and about. What prompted this post was another one this morning and I can only describe it as feeling like someone had grabbed hold of the bottom of the sofa and shaken it from side to side.

So there you have it. Unfortunately, I couldn't write a blog about my time here in Chile without mentioning earthquakes, they are so common that no-one is phased when the earth moves. In fact, some colleagues of a friend of mine simply grinned and said: "Welcome to Chile. Get used to it." (Thanks Emma)

Santiago's historic centre

A fascinating and enjoyable Sunday afternoon can be had strolling leisurely around Santiago's historic centre.

First, there is none of the awful, frenetic, ear-blistering traffic that thunders (well, thunders slowly due to the congestion) through the city, engines droning in the background and the air punctured by repetitious blasts of beeping horns. Second, for a capital city, the streets are more or less deserted, so like a miracle you suddenly notice the wonderful architecture - all grecian columns and colonial arches rising serenely out of the now absent chaos.

There are some spectacular buildings in this area; from the imposing Ministry of Justice, with two flights of columns and intricately carved stonework, to the extremely well-preserved Museum of Santiago, located in a red-bricked colonial mansion with enormous thick wooden doors, dated from 1769.

Dancing cueca in Plaza de Armas

And then there is Plaza de Armas, as I have said before, the city's beating heart. This square is where the city (and indeed the colony) was founded in 1541 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. It is the place from which all distances are measured in Chile and boasts some fine architecture, including the Metropolitan Cathedral, the former seat of congress and first town hall (both now museums).

But what these grand monuments enclose is the life and soul of Santiago. The square is brimming with artists, craft stalls, musicians, marching bands, people dancing cueca (the national dance), itinerant preachers, old men playing dominoes and chess, tourists, street sellers, human statues painted copper (a miner, of course), nuns, vagrants, stray dogs sleeping in the shade, migrants sleeping on the benches... To take a moment in Plaza de Armas on a sunny Sunday afternoon is to breathe (downtown) Santiago in all its forms.

www.flickr.com jaynescarman's Plaza de Armas and around photoset

More culture

On Wednesday, thanks to my new-found membership of the Chilean press, I was invited to the dress rehearsal of the ballet Swan Lake at Santiago's Municipal Theatre.

This performance was a modern take on the story, with the male roles taking the lead. Their dancing was powerful, particularly the evil Rothbart character who was portrayed as a kind of half-man, half-swan mutant, his costume and movements almost reptilian in nature. Then balancing this was the very traditional sequences of swans on the lake - where a chorus of female ballerinas transformed themselves into a graceful flock, gliding hauntingly and delicately in the moonlight.

It was a superb production, which had the audience in raptures from beginning to end.

Swan Lake
Photo thanks to Carolina Sipos at I Love Chile

The Municipal Theatre itself is an amazingly grandiose building. Built in 1860, it epitomises the height of Chilean society. Its opulent interior includes an enormous crystal chandelier hanging from the centre of a domed ceiling, adorned with Sistine Chapel style paintings.

A spine-tingling evening

Santiago's citizens were treated to evening of culture last night from the University of Chile. In celebration of the institution's 168th anniversary, the university symphony orchestra and choir staged a free performance of Carmina Burana - a classical piece of music that begins and ends with a piece possibly more familiar to many in the UK as the "X Factor music".

It was a stirring performance, sublimely set against the backdrop of Santiago's Metropolitan Cathedral in Plaza de Armas. This central square is the city's heartbeat, where the original colony was founded and where today, Santiago in all its forms can be observed. As such, over 7000 people turned out to enjoy this aural spectacle, and were suitably delighted. It's just a pity there was no encore.

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P5O6bZz8d4

Big news

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but I have managed to find myself a volunteer position as online editor of I Love Chile News, Chile's only English language media group.

It all came about when I was looking through an ex-pat forum and stumbled upon a post about volunteer opportunities. I'd been thinking of volunteering as an English teacher, but found a short note from the editor of I Love Chile News stating they were always on the lookout for writers.

Well, writing is what I do, so I made an enquiry, which led to a meeting with the editor yesterday afternoon. Amazingly, he said he was looking for a website content manager and was this something I'd be interested in? (I'm sure any SUSTAiN folks reading this will be laughing by now).

So here I am, thousands of miles away from home and all of a sudden in charge of a major media channel. I had never thought this would be possible as it just hadn't occurred to me there would be opportunities in my line of work in English.

So keep an eye on: www.ilovechile.cl.

6 x 7 anyone?

I have a test coming up this week, which will ascertain whether I am ready to move up to the next level of Spanish classes. I don't feel particularly confident, so I have spent the last couple of days drilling. Hours and hours I have spent repeating over and over again lists of irregular verbs, conjugations for different tenses, formulas for making comparisons and expressing obligations and, of course, all the uses of the dreaded prepositions.

Feeling like I was back at school, I came to the realisation that this is actually how you need to learn a language. It's all well and good taking a relaxed attitude and resting on the idea that because you are supposedly immersed in a language by living in a foreign country, you will automatically start to absorb it simply by osmosis.

Up to a point, this is true; by being constantly exposed to a language you can't help but start to pick it up. However, to be able to function in a language, to have what you want to say ready on the tip of your tongue rather than finding yourself drifting off in mid-conversation while you cast your mind back to a lesson you were in once, for that you need to have the grammar cemented in your brain. And the only way to do that is to revisit your school days, when you sat at home reciting times tables in preparation for a test the next day.

Our first barbecue

Continuing on the food theme, tonight Carlos and I finally had our first ever barbecue.

Barbecues are a big tradition here. Chileans love meat, particularly beef, and there is no better way to spend a social gathering than around glowing coals. In fact, many blocks of flats here have built in barbecues or quinchos on the roof. Our building is no exception. And, after a bit of improvisation involving a cooling rack, oven pans and a ladle, we were off...

DIY barbecue

We started with the staple choripan - a chorizo or longaniza style sausage in marraqueta bread, which is a kind of double-breasted bread roll which handily splits into hotdog-sized buns.

Then as the sun went down, it was onto a nice steak. Everyone we had spoken to about the barbecue had their opinion on the steak - which meat it should be, which cut, how to prepare it. Whether or not we followed the Chilean rules, I don't know, but it was certainly tasty!

www.flickr.com jaynescarman's Sunset from the roof photoset

In desperate need of a decent cheese

Horrible plastic cheese lurking in an
otherwise tasty steak sandwich

In conversation with a fellow European classmate last week about some of our observations of Chile so far, we struck open the realisation that Chileans just don't do cheese. At least not cheese as we know it.

What passes for cheese here is usually that awful plastic stuff you get on burgers in Macdonalds. Take, for instance, the delicious oregano-flavoured steak sandwich I enjoyed recently, which was very nearly ruined by the addition of a fat, slithery slice of plastic cheese congealed on top of it...

Alternatively, if you want something a little less processed, generally the best you can find is a very mild, slightly rubbery cheese. Oh how I miss the humble cheddar.

So to all of you who have been asking if there is anything you can't get hold of here, the answer is most definitely: a decent cheese. But please don't try to send any through the post.

Birthday Abroad: Part 2

Having had a wonderful day doing fun things around Santiago on my birthday, I was intrigued to be told on the following morning that I was required to meet Carlos after work that evening for my 'surprise'.

The only clues I had were my instructions to:

• wear something warm;
• wear something smart;
• bring my camera; and,
• bring my epipen.

All very mysterious. Was it a meal... but why the warm clothes? Some kind of walking tour... but why the epipen? Or outdoor theatre... but why the camera?

Well, after a bit of a walk around Santiago's business district, I was ushered into what looked like a hotel and into a lift bound for the 17th floor. At which point I began to panic a little... Anyway, the lift doors opened onto a rooftop bar that presented us with the most stunning panorama. We were seated at a table on the east-facing terrace, with an unbeatable view of the Andes.

It was the perfect evening. The previous night it had rained heavily (rare in Santiago), leaving the Andes sprinkled with fresh snow and giving us a crystal clear sky in which to appreciate them.

As we watched the sun go down, we saw the mountains change from brown, to pink to red, until finally night fell and we saw all of the city lights twinkling below us.

www.flickr.com jaynescarman's Birthday surprise on the 17th floor photoset

Birthday abroad

I wasn't sure how I would feel about my birthday abroad. I was a long way from home (over 7000 miles) and friends, family and the usual things I would do seemed far away. However, it all picked up when I managed to finally clean the oven (not our mess I should add) and bake some cakes!

So the day started at midnight with the cards and presents that had managed to withstand the postal system. I'm still looking forward to those that remain en route...

Then in the morning, it was a quick Spanish class - where I shared out the cakes with my fellow aliens - followed by a trip to Santiago's Museo de la Moda museum for an exhibition about 80s fashion. The museum's collection housed some amazing pieces, including couture from Jean Paul Gautier, Armani and Chanel to name just three, plus outfits that had belonged to Madonna, Princess Diana and U2.

Art installation at the Museo de la Moda
(nothing to do with Chilean traffic)

After popping to the shops (it had to be done, although weirdly, I didn't buy anything), I rounded off the day with a pint in an Irish pub with one of my classmates. Horror of horrors though, it was an Irish pub that didn't sell Guinness! How is that even allowed under the trade descriptions act? Still, the local brew went down equally as well.

Sunsets and smog

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook will already be familiar with my 'first sunset' photo - the magnificent sight that greeted me on my first day in Chile. For anyone who hasn't seen it, this is what I saw when I looked out of our bedroom window on my first evening in this new country.

It really is a tremendous sight; and a week or so later, I took this picture which shows-off the mountain in all its snow-capped splendour.

However, Santiago is not all sparkling skies and dramatic panoramas. Unfortunately, a lot of the time (in winter especially) the city is covered with a thick blanket of smog. Nestling as it does between two mountain ranges, while providing an unbeatable backdrop, does, however, create a trap for all the pollution characteristic of a capital city. Sadly, the mountains are often obscured, as the photo I took at sunset today shows.

The 33

Phoenix 2

Walking through central Santiago this morning, this was the scene that greeted us: Phoenix 2, the rescue capsule which brought the 33 miners trapped underground in the San Jose mine safely to the surface.

The capsule is currently exhibited outside La Moneda, the presidential palace in Santiago. Hundreds, if not thousands of people have already queued to have their photograph taken with it.

But the most striking thing for me is its size. The guard to the right gives you some perspective of how narrow the capsule is. I think I would struggle to fit into it.

Learning the lingo

There was good news this week. On Monday, I completed my 20th hour of Spanish lessons at Woodward Chile and so it was time for an assessment to check on my progress. And the good news was that I passed and have now started Spanish level 2!

So far, learning Spanish has been a lot of fun but quite difficult. I arrived having studied Spanish at evening class for a year and was quite confident I could communicate on a basic level. How wrong I was. I had not been prepared for how different Spanish in Chile would sound. And even now, I almost always have no idea at all what people are saying to me.

Firstly, people in Chile seem to speak quite fast. Of course, native speakers always speak faster than learners. But the Chileans I've dealt with, by their own admission, talk quite rapidly.

They also seem to swallow their words. Again, probably quite a standard thing for native speakers - the final letters or syllables in words get lost or dropped and words run together.

Then there's the difference in pronunciation. The Spanish that I have been used to is spoken with a th sound for the letters z and c, whereas here, s, c and z are all pronounced with a s sound. Getting used to the pronunciation is easy but it makes spelling a bit tricky.

Add to this, changes in lexis. Lots of vocabulary is different from Spain. For example, the word for avocado (which Chileans eat a lot of) is palta, not aguacate. And don't even get me started on 'Chileanisms' - colloquial expressions and phrases which proliferate standard conversation.

So as you can see, getting to grips with the local lingo is a challenge. One that both amuses and frustrates me in equal measure!

I never tire of this view

It's 7pm in Santiago's business district and the suited and booted are scurrying home; streaming down the steps to the underground, impatiently tapping their feet in bus queues, or honking and hooting their way through insane traffic.

Meanwhile, a lone tourist stands on the corner taking pictures, amazed that such an everyday scene is being played out against such an astounding backdrop.

Manquehue against the Andes

Wow wow wow!

Willie Colón

On Saturday night, Willie Colon returned to play in concert in Chile for the first time in 15 years. And wow did he not disappoint!

One of the pioneers of salsa music in the 60s and 70s, this man can still absolutely enthral a heaving theatre. Salseros young, old and from all over the planet were there; singing at the top of the voices; dancing their hearts out and generally going crazy for this man.

What an amazing experience. I am so lucky to have had the chance to see this consummate performer.

Thanks to yokanti for the video

Pass the Ferrero Rocher

I just met the Spanish Ambassador

12th October in Chile is Columbus Day, marking the date that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. It is a national holiday in many South American countries, as well as in Spain. So to celebrate, we went along to an open day at Estadio Español - a sort of country club for Spanish ex-pats (and their descendants) in Santiago.

It was a really fun day, with lots of traditional dancing and costumes from each of Spain's different regions. Each region also had a stand, serving local food and manned by natives of that area.

Dancing a Jota from Aragon

It didn't take us long to find the stand from Aragon and we both looked on rather wistfully when we saw its giant picture of the basilica in Zaragoza alongside the River Ebro. We sampled a really tasty tortilla and then Carlos started chatting to a man in front of the stand who was wearing an "I'm from Aragon" badge. He turned out to be the president of the Aragonese ex-pat club and when Carlos told him he was from Zaragoza city, he was met with "Hombre!", open arms, an enormous smile and the biggest bear hug I've ever seen.

We were then paraded around the Aragonese area and introduced to numerous people, one of whom was the Spanish Ambassador to Chile, with his wife and his aide! Of course, I didn't realise this until Carlos translated to me later, which was probably just as well!

The Aragon stand

More fantastic hills

Last Saturday, Carlos and I took a stroll up another fantastic hill that is slap-bang in the centre of Santiago - Cerro Santa Lucia. Once again, it has the most amazing views of the city and of course, the snow-capped Andes.

San Cristobal, the city and the Andes in the background

Originally a look-out when the city was first founded, the hill was later landscaped into the sort of place I can imagine Georgian ladies twirling their parasols and enormous meringue dresses as they promenaded along the terraces.

The Neptune terrace

After winding your way around the the different levels, you reach a turret standing aloft the hill's pinnacle, providing panoramic views only beaten (so far) by the neighbouring Cerro San Cristobal. Although the steep, slippery steps are mildly terrifying when attempting to negotiate your way back down to ground level.

The turret and very scary steps to the top

Cerro Santa Lucia really is a lovely place to while away the afternoon, something the locals seem to do in droves. Although you had better be in a romantic mood, as the majority of visitors are couples, particularly teenage ones hoping to find a hideaway where their parents won't be watching!

www.flickr.com jaynescarman's Cerro Santa Lucia photoset

Start the day with some pomp and circumstance

This morning I went to see the changing of the guard at La Moneda, the presidential palace in Santiago. Taking place every other morning at 10am, I had read that this display always drew a big crowd and was something not to be missed. Well, I can safely say it did not disappoint. Rigid lines of immaculately dressed soldiers filed across the square with pinpoint precision, their tightly-executed manoeuvres flanked by a host of Chilean flags rippling in the breeze. Meanwhile the military band gave a stirring performance, as gaggles of excited schoolchildren and passers-by alike watched with awe.

How does an earthquake cause a sore head?

Answer: if it comes in a glass 
 

A terremoto

Last night I had my first 'night out' in Santiago and was taken by Carlos and his colleagues to a delightful bar called (rather aptly) 'the fleapit' (La Piojera). Imagine, you go down a dark, packed, cobbled alleyway into an even more overcrowded basement bar - bare floor, rustic-looking tables and chairs, glasses and paper napkins littered everywhere, conversations pitched at ear-blistering decibels, lots of jostling and folk musicians playing in the corner. Needless to say, the sharp suits of the accountants and lawyers I was with were an interesting, if incongruous, addition to the mix.

Anyway, the drink of choice in said establishment is the 'terremoto' or 'earthquake'. This drink is legendary in Santiago and consists of a pint of sweet fermented wine with 4-5 scoops of pineapple ice-cream on top, all served in a plastic tumbler. It may also contain some sort of liquor but I didn't quite get to the bottom of that.

Needless to say, the drink gets its name from its ability to make the ground move beneath you and I can certainly say it did. Carlos and I had one each to last us the whole evening and found ourselves staggering home. And I suddenly discovered an amazing fluency in Spanish which I do not have in my lessons!

'Exotic' wasn't a word I would use to describe myself...

Yet it would seem that here in Chile, that is what I am.

It's very strange to get used to feeling like the foreigner. In the UK, many of our communities, particularly the big cities, are incredibly diverse (apologies for citing an over-used phrase). In Birmingham especially, as Carlos has observed, "everyone is a foreigner". I am used to passing a multitude of nationalities, ethnicities and languages every day in the street.

But in Santiago, it's a different story; the population is largely homogeneous in how it looks and Spanish entirely dominates conversation. So I stick out like a sore thumb.

For instance, on the Metro, I can easily see over the heads of an entire packed carriage. Women here on average rarely pass the 5ft mark. Men, perhaps 5'5 or 5'6. Some of the younger generation a little more.

Then the other day, when coming out of the ladies in a shopping centre, a small girl walking towards me literally stopped in her tracks and stared up at me in slightly alarmed wonder. I hope I didn't startle her too much.

Similarly, I was busy observing a family last weekend - who looked as traditionally South American as you might expect - only to realise that the mother had done a double take and turned right round to stare back at me!

So I have come to the conclusion that I am a giant here, all awkward limbs and gawkiness. Add to that my 'pasty' skin and you have the makings of someone apparently 'exotic'. Suddenly I'm a head turner - what a novel experience!

A day of small victories

Ok, I have a confession to make. I'm afraid I have spent the majority of the past week hiding in our flat, too scared to go out and feeling both isolated and frustrated by my inability to communicate with the world outside. I have found that I can increasingly understand a lot of written Spanish, I can even utter a few sentences of my own, but when someone responds? Not a clue!

However, this morning I have been extremely brave and forced myself outside the front door. And I am delighted to report the following small successes:

• I managed to ask to send a letter to England at the post office, understand the price quoted and pay
• I dropped in to a language school and enrolled for Spanish lessons - introducing myself in Spanish
• I topped up my travel pass at the metro station

These may sound like very small things, but for me they are a big deal, and I am so pleased with myself for tackling them. Hopefully now with my Spanish classes starting tomorrow, I will feel increasingly confident having a go at talking to people!

First impressions

I have now spent my first full 48 hours in Chile and it has been a time of mixed emotions and impressions.

As I flew in over the Andes I was struck with a sudden feeling of fear, thinking to myself "what on earth am I doing here?" Unexpectedly, I felt entirely unprepared for what lay ahead, as if I hadn't given it any thought at all, which in a way I hadn't.

But then I found Carlos at the airport and arrived at our lovely, cosy little flat. I felt comforted, pottering about to the sounds of Chile's 200 years of independence celebrations in the streets below and admiring the stunning view of the country's coastal mountain range from the luxury of our bedroom window.

Yesterday brought fresh challenges - venturing outside. Finding myself genuinely petrified by not understanding any of the words around me, the noisy underground, stray dogs, flies and other biting insects, I found myself wanting to go home and hide. I believe I was quite unbearable...

Then quite out of nowhere, the most spectacular scene I have ever been lucky enough to set eyes on. The whole of Santiago spread out before me, buttressed by the magnificent snow-capped Andes to the East and the coastal mountains in the West, all witnessed from the pinnacle of Cerro San Cristóbal. Absolutely breathtaking.

Just a third of the view from the top of Cerro San Cristóbal