Ode to Chile: International House

Hi! I'm all settled in my new house in Santiago! I have been here almost two weeks, and its working out splendidly. I am renting a room in a large, old, red house. It's from the 1920s, and the architecture is telling. First of all, there are double staircases - a main one for the owners, and back staircases that lead to the kitchen, certainly for the maids. We also have a dumbwaiter! (Thanks to Annie for discovering it!) It doesn't seem to work, but it's there as a somewhat spooky relic of years past.

Our courtyard with a barbecue

Mural across the street from my hosue

My street, Riquelme

Our patio, where we eat most meals, equipped with a big palm tree!

My window view from my 3rd floor room: church steeple, sunsets, and the Andes in the background

My room!

There are 14 of us in my house: 7 French, 2 Americans, 2 Spanish girls, a Basque guy, a Bolivian, and a Chilean. About half of us are students studying abroad and the other half are working - at the UN, as a nurse, with water treatment policy.

We have a big kitchen (although 14 people storing food can get complicated!), a big living room with a large new TV, a patio/courtyard with a barbecue, a peach tree, lime tree, and a little terrace where we can dry our clothes. It feels a bit like a big Berkeley co-op in an old Julia Morgan house!

I've been cooking a ton! Polenta, hummus, spring rolls with peanut sauce, hearty zucchini bread, and more!

Fresh fruit smoothies with all the cheap summer market produce!

Chicken coconut curry with zucchini, mushrooms, raisins, and fresh tomatoes

Mixing up granola bars with lots of coconut!

Last night we had a barbecue with lots of friends, drinks, and an unbelievable amount of meat. It seems that the norm at Chilean barbecues is that if you are a guest, you bring some meat to contribute to the grill. So, we had about 20 cuts of steak, ribs, or lines of sausages. My friends Oscar and Felipe made an awesome rub/marinade out of honey, vinegar, thyme, chimichurri, garlic, etc. We had a little Cumbia dance party as well!