For Rodrigo's Birthday, his parents and brother came. We had a great time eating way too much food! During the weekend, I wanted to surprise Rodrigo with his favorite cake, Torta de Hojaldre.
He has told me the name a million times, but I can never remember it. So the week before his birthday, I asked his mom to write me the name over our Skype conversation. When we were through chatting, I went to 5 bakeries before I found one that would make it for me. You have to order it in advance, because it's quite difficult to make. Finally this bakery said they could do it, and I said I wanted it by Saturday.
When Saturday rolled around, I came up with an excuse to buy milk for Rodrigo's dad in order to pick up the cake. When I went there, the lady said, "Oh, I'm so sorry, we didn't make it because we didn't have any of your contact information... and we weren't sure you'd show up to pick it up." HA! I had no idea what to do... I was frantic because this cake doesn't exist in the States, and maybe we won't be in Argentina for his birthday the next year... who knows?
The lady pointed me in the direction of another place. I went there, and they said... "No, but maybe across the street." I crossed the street with a prayer! When I made it in there, the ladies could tell I'd been through you know where and back about this issue... they said, "We'll make it for you for tonight!"
I was so relieved! Rodrigo was going to get his cake, and he did. It was so good. This cake is basically 6 layers o
f flaky, flaky pie crust and dulce de leche in between (dulce de leche is kind of like caramel, but has a different texture), covered with chocolate, whip cream, and cherries... yummm! What a nightmere, but I'm so glad it worked out!
Here's a picture of the half eaten cake, it didn't last long at all.
Santiago from Cerro San Cristóbal
There is a large touristic hill in Santiago called Cerro San Cristóbal, and one afternoon, Rodrigo and I decided to hike it. You can either walk up it (6 KM), or ride a type of rail cart. Halfway up the hill is a zoo (we didn't go because it was too expensive), and when you reach the top of the hill there is a beautiful church as well as an outside worship area.
There are gorgeous views of the city, and nice places for hiking if you wish. There also used to be a gondola, but it no longer functions. We decided to ride the rail cart up, and walk back down to town. There were tons of cute little gardens, and even a fancy car with what appeared to be a famous French Lady touring around. On our walk back down, we ran into a friendly street dog that accompanied us the entire way! It was fun to have a dog, even if only for 4 hours...
Plaza Italia
A view of what we climbed in the Rail Cart... yes, Rodrigo was scared.
Open air church at the top, with the virgin Mary statue in the background. The statue can be seen from every part of Santiago.
The virgin statue
The little church at the top
Some of the flowers on the various gardens on our way down
Cool pool we saw on our way down
The dog that followed us... don't worry, we didn't pet it!
Rodrigo received an early birthday present from my parents. For men, this tool may perhaps be the most useful thing ever created, and for women... well, it comes in handy sometimes.
Since the second his new gift was unwrapped, until now, it has been on Rodrigo's belt (except for when he tearfully had to check it to get through airport security).
Now, Rodrigo has an outrageous urge to fix things. The other day, he whipped out the file tool and asked me if he could use it to file his nails. I shrugged and said, I guess so, and the next thing I knew I looked over at him filing away. A couple hours later, I was standing there with an unopened milk pouch (milk is sold differently here)... when Rodrigo quickly drew his fancy new tool and said "Don't worry, I have a Leatherman!"
I must admit, it has come in handy sometimes. This morning, for example, we saved 30 Argentinian Pesos because Rodrigo was able to fix the light fixture with his handy dandy tool. He gave me his proud owner smile and said, "Look it's paying for itself!"
Sometimes, however, the Leatherman hasn't been just too amazing. Moments ago, I caught Rodrigo standing in the shower trying to fix the water leak on the faucet... I think he would have done it, but he needed a Cresent Wrench to get the large bolts loose. Darn. He gave me a little smile, batted his eyes and said, "Maybe it could be a birthday present from you Love??"
Boys... well, I gotta say... Thanks mom and dad!
OK, who doesn't love Pop Rocks??? Well, the other day I received a package from my mom here. It was stuffed with everything yummy that I love during Easter time. One of which was Pop Rocks. I thought, oh, this will be great for the little girls next door! Rodrigo and I headed next door, but the girls were in the Plaza right in front of our house. They came up to us to say hello, and I said... "I have some candy!" Who doesn't love that phrase? They put out their hands... and I noticed they were kinda dirty. So they quickly rubbed their hands on their clothes and put them out again. I put a little bit of the Pop Rocks on their hands. They licked it... and their faces lit up!Shortly after, there was a line of kids from the Plaza wanting some Pop Rocks... Their faces were so eager and cute! It made my day. I thought, now I have to be on a hunt for Pop Rocks... and the next time I go home, I'm going to bring back tons of them!!The only sad part was, I didn't get any pictures. And now I've eaten all of the Pop Rocks. Note to self: With Pop Rocks... bring camera.
On March 11th... at approximately noon, I was in an elevator, conveniently forgetting my cell phone at home, and going up to the 9th floor... for the purpose of finding a job. While I was in there, I started to feel the elevator shake a little, then a little harder. I was thinking, "Geez, they need to tighten some bolts in here or something!" I finally arrived at my destination, stepped out of the elevator, and walked toward the front desk preparing in my head what I was going to say. When I made it to the front desk, it appeared as if they were all having a meeting or something, because they were all gathered around.
I said confidently, "I have a consultation." (which I said in Spanish, and had a dorky kinda nervous smile on my face). Everyone kinda looked at me. Then I started to notice that everyone was looking in the same direction with horrified looks on their faces. The receptionist was digging her nails into another woman's arm, and everyone else around had horrified looks on their faces. After this, I started to feel the floor of the building shaking... I realized it was an Earthquake that I totally missed because I was so concentrated on what I was going to say!
After everyone calmed down a bit... I blurted out my "I have a consultation." Handed them my resume, went to the elevator, pushed the button and entered it appropriately. It shook the whole way down, and by the time I made it to the bottom I thought "Wow, that was a stupid move!"
I made it to the main lobby and everyone had a horrified look on their face.
That day, everyone went home from work early, and I didn't even notice it!
2 major lessons learned...- DON'T GET IN AN ELEVATOR WHEN THERE'S AN EARTHQUAKE
- DON'T FORGET YOUR CELL PHONE, it makes people worry...
For Rodrigo's Birthday, his parents and brother came. We had a great time eating way too much food! During the weekend, I wanted to surprise Rodrigo with his favorite cake, Torta de Hojaldre.
f flaky, flaky pie crust and dulce de leche in between (dulce de leche is kind of like caramel, but has a different texture), covered with chocolate, whip cream, and cherries... yummm! What a nightmere, but I'm so glad it worked out!
