Saturday, June 13, 2009

Why I don't Blog More

I saw the other day a friend wrote "I bought a new ceiling fan, exciting huh?" Hehehe-it's exciting here!

Shopping here is not so easy or boring. When we shopped for a ceiling fan here, there was only the model on the ceiling. Every time after that when we shopped there, I would run down the aisle to see if they had one in a box yet. You should have seen my face when they finally did,(after 7-8 tries) beaming like I won a marathon or something. The most boring tasks are quite an adventure.

I think about writing about some of these-and did more in the beginning. But I know few people will be fascinated by my mundane shopping adventures.

I can't help it-I was so excited the day I found that the Chilean chancaca substitutes perfectly for molasses! How do I explain that you people in the USA have EVERYTHING...more items appear here all the time and every one is really exciting. Michael found safeway pancake mix and showed me and we were thrilled. And blue cheese dressing-OMG!

It's been great for me to learn to cook and bake from "scratch". Definitely healthier. And it adds to the adventure. But I miss those 4 for $1 frozen burritos(you can't buy them here) that you pop in the microwave, add some cheddar cheese(nope, haven't seen it) and some nice salsa(I saw some once) from the jar you have in the fridge. And no dishes(no dishwasher either).

And Walmart has come to Chile. There was a time when I wouldn't shop at walmart. But I'm a little excited that Walmart will bring products to Lider(they bought a controlling interest) that I see more shopping adventures in store for me....maybe they'll ship some peanut butter!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Mountain Parakeet


These little green parrots are noisy in a group and are always in a group although not generally this large. They found a nice perch for everyone on the fence and are all singing in celebration of the sunny spot they found I think.

I still am unsure what they are called but I read the most common parrots are only found far south. So far, I believe it is the Austral parrot. We are central, not south at all. I'm told they go to Argentina and back. More research...

Update...they are the Mountain parakeet, which is a parrot. Link to more information and their song here. The audio was a dead giveaway.

Edit: I did find that it's the Mountain parakeet(a type of parrot) not the austral...