We're on TV!

http://www.tvn.cl/programas/granavenida/2012/videos.aspx?id=150188

The Walking Tour of Santiago that we took was filmed by a TVN show called "Gran Avenida". Click on the above link to watch a 9 minute clip of us on that show!

Santiago's markets and La Bicicleta Verde's Santiago Walking Tour.

We know a guy named Peter (pictured above) who cofounded La Bicicleta Verde (www.labicicletaverde.com) and we went on one of their walking tours that takes people through some of the big markets in central Santiago. Above are some photos Mark took of our walk. Most of these places are about a 35 minute walk from our apartment or a 20 minute metro ride. We'll most likely shop here three or four times a month. Whenever you come, you usually end up leaving with a ton of veggies, etc.. so it's not something you would do every day.

Fish market.

Ricardo (left) offered/forced us to drink what he called Chilean Viagra but it's basically fish juice. It's the broth left over after all the different types of seafood are cooked. It's mixed with lemon juice, salt, and tobasco sauce. It's not as gross as it looks.

Peruvian sauces. The Peruvian woman who owns this stand at the market will put together a sauce for you if you just tell her what you plan on cooking it with. We'll definitely be back here. Chileans generally enjoy and eat a lot of Peruvian food. According to most of the Chileans we've talked to, Peruvian food and culture has added a lot of spice and flavor to Chilean culture.

Watermelons anyone?

It's normally more crowded than this we hear.

This is a fruit called a pepino which is the same word used for cucumber in a lot of places. You can eat the skin and everything. It's similar to a honeydew melon in taste and texture but definitely not in size.

The fruits in the front are called tunas and we haven't yet tried them.

If you're looking at the prices, 500 is about 1 U.S. dollar and the prices are for kilograms, not pounds.

This woman is making sopaipillas which are made from mashed up pumpkin and flour, then deep fried. They're usually eaten with a spicy paste made out of crushed chiles. Very tasty.

Mannequins.

Graffiti.

Mannequins and to the right, Ignacio. He hosts a television series called "Gran Avenida" and they're doing a piece on La Bicicleta Verde so he and his crew followed us around on our tour.

Musician playing for tips.

At the end of a long day of walking, there is nothing like eating a huge amount of pork and potatoes.

At a bar called La Piojera which is very well known in Santiago, they make a drink called the Terremoto (which means earthquake). They also have drinks called Aftershocks and Tsunamis but we stuck to the Terremoto. It's made out of pineapple ice-cream (which you can see is already in the glasses), white wine, and a little bit of Fernet. Not sure if we'll be drinking another one any time soon but definitely worth a try.

Our Santiago apartment.

Our street. We live in a section of town very close to the Center called Providencia.

The entrance to our apartment. Where Becky is standing, there is usually a tall white door that is shut so from the street, you can't even tell there is an apartment back there. It's like our very own secret garden.

Grapes. They're edible and they're growing in the entrance to our apartment.

Mark is standing with his back to our kitchen so this is the view looking out towards the door that leads to the street. We eat all of our meals out here and we hang our laundry here as well.

Living room. We did not pick the furniture or wall hangings. They were all there when we arrived. There they'll stay until we can find something better.

Our bedroom. Gotta love the moon and stars decorating tastes. Our one addition to this room is the Bolivian cloth over the table. Not sure if it matches but oh well.

Getting from Bolivia to Chile via the Salar de Uyuni and a couple deserts (left Cochabamba on the 13th and arrive in San Pedro de Atacama on the 17th)

Just outside of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Still can't figure out how to put these blog pics in chronological order. Hey Madeleine, wish you and Pete could have been with us :)

The Bolivian immigration office as we switched transports on the Bolivan/Chilean border. Not a bad place to work an office job I guess.

Mark standing in front of the Laguna Verde right before we cross the border.

Becky and Andres and Mark in the distance. We're waiting for our driver to fix our broken down jeep (which never got fixed by the way. They towed us back to the closest town using a seatbelt. Good times.) The driver got another jeep and continued on.

Mark doing what he does best.

Getting ready to leave Uyuni, Bolivia. A lot of tourists actually get to Chile this way. There are a lot of places that offer a similar trip. We got placed in a jeep with 4 other people and a driver. Our companions were from Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile! Andres, Diego, Romy, and Lucila.

The Valley of Rocks (I think that's what it's called anyways.)

This picture looks fake, doesn't it? But Mark didn't photoshop it I promise. This is the Salt Flat outside of Uyuni, Bolivia. In the rainy season, instead of seeing the ground all white and salty, it's covered by water so it provides a mirror image of the horizon. It felt like we were walking on clouds.

Not us but we were also in a jeep. Our driver was a bit too cranky to let us ride on the top.

Becky standing on some salt pile. These piles are not man-made.

Farewell to Cochabamba (February 11th, 2012)

Sustainable Bolivia gave us a grant to put up photos on the walls of both kids' homes.

Part of the grant also went to purchasing supplies for the kids to be able to make "Life Books" which will help them to record their histories and memories.

More of the "Life Book" project. This will be an on-going process with each of them recording information about their birth stories, their family history, etc....

Since the girls especially loved Justin Beiber, we thought a good way to say how much we loved them was with a Justin Beiber song. Mark changed his hair style for our coreographed routine. The song spoke of heartbreak and lost love so maybe some of how much we love them and will miss them got through via the song's lyrics?

We made it to Santiago! (Not quite the same as the Santiago we walked towards in Spain but Santiago nonetheless).

Well we made it after a bus ride from Cochabamba, Bolivia to Oruro, Bolivia. From there a train to Uyuni. From there a 4x4 3-day trip through the Bolivian Salt Flats and deserts to the border between Bolivia and Chile. We stopped in San Pedro de Atacama (right over the border into Chile) and then took a 17 hour bus ride to La Serena which is on the Chilean coast. After one day there, we took a 6 hour bus ride to Santiago, Chile. We'll post some pictures of the Bolivian Salt Flats and of our farewell party to the beautiful kids in Cochabamba who we already miss dearly. Thanks to everyone who prays for us. We think of you often and pray for you as well.

Third anniversary, end of summer vacation, and miscellaneous.

Celebrating our 3rd anniversary by riding the cable car up to the statue of el Cristo de la Concordia which is the biggest statue of Jesus in the world and the largest statue in the Southern Hemisphere (according to Wikipedia anyway and I think they count the pedestal which kind of seems like cheating.....)

Cable Car with a view of Cochabamba below.

Around the corner from our house. I just love these flowers and for that reason, this photo gets to be on our blog today :)

The two chaps on the left had just finished their 3rd day of school while the two on the right had just completed their first day of pre-kindergarten. Their teacher is the lovely lady behind them. They were so excited to go to school!

Getting back from school. Do they look like pre-med students to anyone else?

Aren't you a little young for geometry?

Tio Marco racing the autos with the boys at Pedacito del Cielo. They love their "autos" as they call them.

Today is the 9th and in a few days we hope to be on a bus to Oruro (famous for it's Carnaval) and then hopefully a train (if there are no blockades....it seems there have been some peaceful strikes that hold up the tracks occasionally) to Uyuni where we can get a glimpse of the famous Bolivian Salt Flats. From there we will cross the border to Chile and take a bus to Santiago where we will begin looking for jobs, apartments, etc... Mark gets the opportunity to take a NOLS course in Patagonia for the first two weeks of March and then we look forward to hunkering down in Santiago perhaps until the end of 2012. This is all, of course, subject to change and we would appreciate any prayers, advice, emails, phone calls, etc... We look forward to seeing you and/or hearing from you. Dios se bendiga!