A Temporary Farewell Note to Santiago

Dear Santiago,

I must go back to the cold and the snow now, and skip out on your miserably hot summer days. I promise I'll write you a postcard from New York. Ah, my dear Santiago: where I can get my cheese laminado and not worry about it being covered in a plastic coating; where a gran taco isn't a dish you order at Taco Bell; where a mina has nothing to do with being part of the mining industry and where I can be a huachita while still having both parents; and where being called a wea/weon can be good, bad, or mean absolutely nothing at all.

I will miss:

-nescafe
-$2.00 ice cream sundaes
-chorrillana and barros luco
-the men at the bus station who wave at me to get on their buses, when it's obvious that it isn't the bus I need to take
-CRAZY soccer celebrations
-being taller than half your population
-having TWO hilltop virgins
-the little "poof!" the fire makes when I light the calefont
-asados
-rooftop tanning sessions in December
-Americo

AND, last but not least:

Palta.



Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Everyone! I'll be blogging you next year!

Saludos,

Kate

laminado = sliced
gran taco = a big traffic jam
mina = a really hot girl
huachita = a hot girl (also, a little orphan)
wea/weon = bro, idiot, or really, absolutely nothing at all