Oh Boy

Where on earth do I start? I haven't bloogged in almost a month! Its terrible, but I do have a lot of excuses this time around. First, lets start with my new job:

Meet Bode, Hannah, and Jett. Aren't they cute? They count as three different excuses.

 

They're the 6-month old triplets I nanny during the week. 

Yes, triplets. Yes, triple the poo. And no, they're not always in their bumbo's... only when I want to take photos!

They keep me pretty busy. Someone or all three is always awake wanting to play or be fed. They're not fussy children at all though, so that makes my job pretty easy!

And meet their massive dog, Maggie:

This is how she likes to spend most of her time during the day. I am not even joking. She isn't playing around or rolling over, she is sleeping. The only problem I have with her is her vile poof-winds.

My next excuse is school. I know its only been a month but when you take a 2 year break, a month of class and homework is a lot! But I am enjoying it nonetheless.

A few weeks ago I got to go to Las Vegas for a class. We got to go to MAGIC. It's a trade show for apparel and it was so amazing. I don't have any pictures inside because that wasn't allowed, but I did manage to snap one off my phone inside one of the halls in Mandalay Bay.

Between Mandalay Bay and the Las Vegas Convention Center you could shop for anything (If you're a a store owner or a buyer for a company...) from shoes to handbags, sourcing to ready-to-wear. I can't say it enough. It was A-MA-ZING! There were thousands of vendors from all over the world selling their stuff from the never heard of brand names to Betsey Johnson, Steve Madden, Free People, etc. All the clothing, textiles, shoes were for Fall of 2011... obviously. We also got to go to the seminars they were having at the convention center. My favourite was the Snoops prediction seminar. Snoops is a company the predicts fashion trends. Companies pay them thousands of dollars a year to get the coveted information. So we got to sit through an hour of fashion predictions for Spring and Fall of 2012. IT WAS AWESOME! I will share my notes on a different post.

Anyways, along with all the fashion stuff we also got to walk around the Strip and shop a bit. Firstly, Vegas is rather trashy- at least the Strip. I was unimpressed, especially during the day. During the evening Vegas redeemed herself with all the pretty lights that hid the ugly.

The lion's in the Mirage.

The famous MGM.

I actually quite like this photo! Especially since its a phone pic.... Thats where we stayed. NY NY!

View of the Strip during the day. Not that great...

I know, I am really weird because I took this picture. But I had to! Here is my theory. That is a business man who came to Vegas on a Tuesday for business. He is done working for the day and has decided to take an escort to dinner, and then a show. Oh, and she is wearing fake Christian Louboutin heels. That is all!

(p.s. If you are that couple and my theory is wrong, I do apologize...) 

Best H&M ever!

Example of trashy:

Vegas redeeming herself at night! Thats me and two of my classmates, Nicollette and Nicolette. I am not being funny with their names. Those are them!

Posing in front of the strip.

The Strip at night= much better!

We made it just in time for the water show at the Bellagio. I wish I would have taken video of it. I can't remember the song that played, but the water danced to it.

It was the coolest dancing water I have ever seen.

I have to say my favourite part of the free time we had in Vegas was discovering how amazing the Ross was on the Strip. I hate Ross, especially the ones in Arizona. I think they are dirty and always full of... people and I just cant stand to touch the dirty clothing and try on the gross shoes. I love TJ Maxx and Marshalls, but not Ross. Call me a snob, I don't care. I just don't like Ross... usually. But I loved the Ross on the Strip! It was new and clean and full of amazing clothes and shoes! I wear an American shoe size 8. Its a popular size and there is usually no cute shoes left at places like Ross because of that reason. Well this Ross had rows and rows and rows of just sized 8 shoes. And they were all cute! Amazing right? I know, I know! So now I can't wait to go back to Vegas and shop at Ross. Although, next time I go Reese is definitely coming with. I missed him dearly and of course Vegas wasn't as much fun without him. 

Anyways, thats all the excuses I can think of for now. 

Cheers!

Exploring Santiago: Day 10

Day 10 started off at the biggest mall in Chile. This is what we think at least. We had to take a taxi there because the closest metro stop was about 2 miles away. The mall was massive! Similar to Chandler Mall in Arizona or Menlyn Mall in SA. And it was just as nice. Reese and I explored each of the three floors and went into a ton of brand name shops we couldn't afford like Hugo Boss, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Colours of Benetton, etc. It's definitely the mall where all the wealthy people shop. The food court was also really big. Reese got food from a Chilean place and I tried out the Subway here. First, it doesn't smell anything like the Subways do in the States. And it tastes completely different. So much fresher and better.

The big Christmas tree in the middle of the mall. Father Christmas was below taking pictures with the kids.

After the mall, we walked to the closest metro to go to a dodgy part of town to look for leather boots. We were told this was were you could find really nice boots and other leather goods for super cheap. With walking and riding the metro it took us about 2 hours to get the street of shops. You can imagine my disappointment when we came up empty. There was nothing, absolutely nothing even close to what I wanted. I felt like we had wasted the whole day and felt bad that I had dragged Reese along. I was so cross! And it was hot and really windy and I was just so frustrated to the point of wanting to shave all my hair off so it would stop blowing in my face. Wasn't pleasant. So we made our way back with nothing. When we finally got back to Los Condes it was already passed 6. We decided to try out a hamburger place near our hotel called Mr. Jack. Reese and I both got the Mr. Jack cheeseburger with a Chilean bbq-type sauce, bacon, cheese, and caramelized onions. Oh, it was divine. And I have to say that I love the Canada Dry Ginger Ale here. Its really strong, and very similar to South African Ginger Beer. I love the burn down my throat! Weird- I think not!!! So although I'm not a huge fizzy-drinker, I make an exception for the ginger ale.

The delicious Mr. Jack burger. Looks really good and unhealthy huh?

We decided on no dessert. It was a hard decision, but we wanted to get back to the hotel and lay down stat! Plus we were leaving for Valparaiso early the next morning! Until then...

Exploring Santiago: Day 9

We woke up to window cleaners on Thursday morning! If anyone saw me taking pictures they probably would have thought I was weird... but it was the first time I've seen them in action from 18 floors up! They move so incredibly fast and all thats keeping them up is rope. Scary, but cool to watch.

 

What Chilean Pesos look like:

 We went back to Plaza Del Armas so we could go to a museum. Here is that same tree from Day 1. Doesn't it look amazing? It's all real greenery.

There are local artists all over the center of Plaza Del Armas that are so amazing! If only I could afford their masterpieces!

Another shot of the Cathedral:

Santiago is full of characters. Especially when it comes to people trying to earn a living. Reese and I were chatting to one of his friends and we learnt that minimum wage here in Chile lands up being about $300 USD a month. Not that much money at all. Anyways, this guy was entertaining people by just talking and joking around. Reese says he was talking about the Devil or something like that. As you can tell, people thought he was quite hilarious. Anything for money!

I've noticed quite a few of people dressed like this in all white pretending to be a statue. We think they powder their faces with flour. 

I dropped 100 pesos in his jar and this is him telling me to come back... I wasn't sure what to do, and then Reese of course encouraged me to go over to him. He then preceded to spin me around and kiss me on the cheek. (This is why I am almost 100% it was just flour on his face and hands because it rubbed off on me)

Then he started pointing to his cheek... I started backing away and Reese goes "Courtney, don't be rude". Chilean's greet each other with kisses on the cheeks, even strangers, so I went ahead and kissed him on the cheek. Reese's fault...

We even ran into one of the Chilean miners! He was actually quite rude... he told Reese he didn't give him enough money. Rude!

Ok, so at first glance this looks like a strip club. Not quite. It's a topless coffee shop. They are HUGE here.

And finally, we made it to the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art.

A huge map of Chile. It ran onto the ceiling. 

The museum was really cool because almost all of the pieces were from 1-500 BC. I was really impressed with how well preserved everything was and how advanced the people were. 

Doesn't this stone art remind you of that animated movie The Road To Eldorado?

Reese reading about the art in Spanish. Luckily, there was always an English version on the other side of the art. 

This is not the best picture, but its one of those risque coffee places. Obviously, this one is not topless one but the ladies who work in them wear almost nothing. Again, you can't really tell in this picture but they're wearing tiny little mini dresses with heels. I've seen a few of these PG-13 ones around Santiago and their outfits are either the little mini dress with tons of cleavage or half tops and mini skirts. Notice that only men are in there...

After the museum Reese and I went to a place called La Naturista. It's a healthy eating vegetarian place. Reese got fresh kiwi juice and I got fresh orange juice. DELICIOUS! I can't get enough of them!

And of course, the complimentary bread and salsa. Notice that our bread bowl is empty. Healthy eating doesn't mean cutting calories people! The bread was whole wheat ok?

I got a yummy avacado, green bean, and tomato salad with a cheese empanada.

Reese got the Arroz A La Cubana. Delicous? He thought so. I don't care for fried bananas.

On our way back to the metro we passed by some workings striking against some electronic store. Reese said one of the signs said "Is $8,000 pesos ($16 USD) a good holiday bonus?"

They were creating such a threat that a ton of Chilean police showed up. I think I counted at least 25.

And the noise was ridiculous. From drums, shouting, clapping, stomping, vuvuzela's, whistles, blow horns, etc.


Angry people!

For dinner Reese and I went to a pub-type place for sandwiches with 2 of the guys Reese has hired for work. It was really cool chatting with them and telling them all about Arizona. They are going to be moving to AZ in Jan to train for a year before they come back to Chile and Reese's company hopefully opens the office. Reese forbid me from taking pictures because, and I'll use his words, "its dumb". So ja, my sandwich was really good. I got a lamb and sweet potato sandwich. The lamb had been cooked in beer and wasn't fatty at all. And the combination of lamb and sweet potato was really yummy. Reese got a chicken salad sandwich type thing. I can't remember because I don't have a photo of it!

And remember how the Santiago metro drivers went on strike? Well we found out that the city just fired them and hired a bunch of new people, trained them for a short 2 weeks and let them take the wheel! How safe! And I guess they must still be short staffed or something because Reese and I got back to the metro around 10pm from dinner and it was already closed. Even though it's only supposed to close at 11pm. But I guess its supposed to be open Sunday's too and it's not.... So we had to take a taxi home, which wasn't bad, just more expensive.

Taxi ride home from dinner.

All in all, it was another great day in Chile!