Day 23: Nowhere to Be, Nothing to Do — Finally Living the Vision
When we pictured our year of travel, we pictured today. Well, not the morning part, but that was ok too.
We woke at the airport Holiday Inn at 10:15 am local time — or 8:15 am EST, which is super late for our kids. We ordered toast and fruit and they had a “picnic” while we watched the Brexit debate live on CNN International (how will it end??).
Uber’d to our Airbnb in Santiago’s Lastarria neighborhood with driver Roberto.
Our place is in a 12-story apartment building. It’s perfect. Small with no AC but clean and cute. And a pool on the roof!
We had leisurely unpacking time while the kids used the exciting new kitchen tools (baster! Whisk! Soup ladle!) to make up games and build things on the kitchen floor.
We moseyed out the door for lunch at nearby Liguria, an “institution” recommended by two different people.
The walk took us down the charming Calle de Lastarria, which is pedestrian and perfect. Low buildings, stone streets, trees, people having coffee outside, not too busy, not too quiet — and no tourists.
The restaurant had no English menu and minimal English from the staff, which was also perfect.
Feeling like the Americans who come to Chile go to Atacama and Patagonia, and maybe don’t park for long stretches in Santiago? Especially not this time of year.
After lunch we moseyed some more, this time to a playground with (gasp!) two wooden see-saws. These and Colombia’s many playground spinny merry go rounds sit on a list of “playground equipment Americans no longer accept because they’re too dangerous.”
Needless to say our kids loved the see-saws. And yes they made me nervous but I bit my tongue (my brother has a scar near his eye that makes him look super tough but was actually from a seesaw smack when he was little).
There was even a flock of pigeons and a resident homeless guy on a nearby bench to make us feel right at home!
After play and coffee (the coffee shop barista had an apron and handlebar mustache — ah, Brooklynification is indeed everywhere), we went to the grocery store.
Spent 45 minutes wandering the aisles of UniMarc, a totally normal supermercado to anyone local but a super exciting stop for us, who for some reason really love going to grocery stores in other countries.
We’re beyond thrilled to cook at home for a week. Restaurant life sounds nice, but it’s got serious downsides: 1) You eat too much 2) It’s hard to find simple/healthy/preferred items for kids 3) The kids have to be on their best behavior three times a day.
Eating at home means we eat well, we eat *what* we want and if the kids want to get up and play/draw/read when they’re done…they can. Without us feeling like we have to contain them until the grownups finish and settle up.
The most exciting part of the Airbnb is…the washing machine!!! Omg. We’d gotten by with some hotel laundry here and there in Peru but it was lovely to come “home” and just do a few loads.
We took a dip in the rooftop pool (sounds like some glamorous infinity pool — it isn’t — but it was still perfect).
I made the kids din while Teddy got them showered, then we read for a long time separately.
They went to bed at 9 pm local — 7 pm EST — in very hot bedrooms with no problem.
Notes:
- We miss Lobsy! She video called us today to show the sleet out her kitchen window.
- We watched the Netflix “Fyre” doc and it was awesome. Need to see the Hulu one now.
- There is a polar vortex in the US. Thinking of my Target buddies in MSP, where it’s neg 20 degrees. Sorry, guys.
- Chile is having a heatwave right now and there’s no AC in this apartment. Still, I would not trade.
- Most important: We don’t know anyone in Chile, have no plans this week and have nowhere to be. It’s the first time in the trip — 3 weeks in — that we have a stretch of empty days and downtime to live in and wander around a faraway city, totally unburdened. It is exactly what we imagined for our year and feels *amazing*.
- Note to self: Create more of this.
