1. People here don't "look" hispanic, and I never can tell who is a tourist and who's not until they start talking (although we've seen few tourists anyway). The Chilean to catch me most off guard so far was a fair-skinned, freckled girl with strawberry blonde hair. I don't think they know I'm not Chilean either (until I open my mouth), but Tim's a lost cause with his blonde hair.
2. I'm having a lot of difficulty understanding the accent here. A waiter says something and I don't catch even one word. I'm constantly asking people to repeat themselves, and the whole situation is very humbling. Tim is doing a little better on this, but it's still a challenge.
3. Everywhere we go (the zoo and several museums) we seem to be stuck in a sea of badly-behaved uniformed children on field trips. It's definitely challenging my patience. I keep wanting to grab one of them by the collar and explain museum etiquette. It makes me nervous about my future in parenting (no time soon).
4. The school children and others we encounter in our travels seem to think that we are museum artifacts or strange creatures at the zoo and are constantly barking at us in English. Hello! I love you! This happens in Peru, too, but somehow more here. My strategy is to ignore it all.
5. It's cold! We haven't been in weather like this (upper 40s) since the winter of 06-07 I don't think. We're managing just fine bundling up well, but it's definitely a surprise. The beautiful thing about Chile (as opposed to Peru) is that we have heat to confront the cold!
6. The wine here is exceptional and affordable, as you might imagine. We're thrilled.

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