Bachelet’s party

Let it go
When the results were out and the cars started to honk, I went for a quick visit of downtown, to the San Francisco Plaza Hotel, where the future president was addressing her voters. The street vendors had foreseen the outcome and were selling Michelle’s portrait en masse. But also a fair share of Chilean flags, […] Read More

Todos con Michelle

Let it go
If you had asked me a couple of weeks back who the President of Chile was, my answer would have been: Michelle Bachelet. Little had I realized that her term had ended in 2010, with no immediate re-election possible according to the Chilean constitution. But somehow the face and name stuck in my head and […] Read More

In heat

Let it go
Sorry to all of you wrapped in scarfs and gloves… I’m suffering from the heat! It’s too hot for my taste, to run around in a city. The Andes are hidden behind a curtain of smog, and I just don’t feel much like walking around. I went to a park on Friday and, like many […] Read More

Phone issues

Let it go
I have phone issues! And this post is going to be a bit of a rant about efficiency issues in South America. In each country it has been a struggle to get a pre-paid phone chip, or to get it charged. In Brazil, I finally got a pre-paid chip from Claro, which worked pretty well. […] Read More

Hot days

Let it go
It’s pretty hot in Santiago now, and this kind of slows down all my processes. I tend to sleep in, mostly because I’m up late… then blog or read a bit, do some stuff that needs to be done, file documents, check credit card bills, get in touch with my bank etc… all that stuff […] Read More

Social life

Let it go
I was sad that I had to leave Buenos Aires. It had just started all to fall into place, my routine, the friends I had made… I wasn’t really up for leaving and starting all over again. Funnily, it was actually easy (no offense to the gang in BsAs, I miss you guys!!). But if […] Read More

Museum of human rights

Let it go
Yungay is also the home to the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, that is dedicated to the memory of the military coup in 1973 and the following dictatorship. It is a modern building that recounts the events of 11 September 1973, when the military staged a coup against the elected socialist president […] Read More

Santiago Electronica

Let it go
Friday was a hot and lazy day, I went to the supermarket, went to the pool, slept a bit in the afternoon… The I met up with Ignacio, a mexican IT network specialist, for an after-work beer. We headed to one of those little canteens that seem typical for Chile, with most guests sitting at […] Read More

Basics, markets and culture

Let it go
Here we go again. After waking up in a new city, there’s tons of things to be organized. First, the shopping. I asked at the downstairs reception for a supermarket, and headed there first thing. Without breakfast. Was a mistake. Luckily, this apartment has a lot of the basics like oil, salt, balsamic, pepper, spices, […] Read More

Santiago by day

Let it go
And here’s the view from the roof in daylight, just to be complete. You can see the Andes mountain range that borders the city to the north and east, even if the view isn’t that clear. I wonder if this is smog. 7 million people probably do produce quite some emissions. Read More