Sushi de Santiago

With Santiago undergoing somewhat of a sushi boom, the Diminutive One decided to have a crack at the fish balls herself. Armed with a bag of crab sticks and a rusty stanley knife she knocked these up in no time at all. Of course, all things being Chilean she mixed in a bit of palta (avocado) to keep the punters (me) happy. It was a total success, unlike the falafel I tried to make, which had the texture of sand and tasted of, err, sand.

Meme Heads South

Off she went to Puerto Montt, to sail the high seas and eat the fish. She looks better in a woolly hat than I do, then again, so does a potato.

Pirates

I read recently that Chile is in the top 3 for bootlegging, copying, forging, pirate-ing, and another ing I can't remember. You can buy copied PC and Playstation games, software, even copied books of bestsellers. The people that sell all this run like hell if the cops show up, but it isn't hard to find what you want really.
I took this shot at a market. Maria freaked when she saw it afterwards. Apparently, these guys don't like having their picture taken. They would've been happy to have kicked my head in. Good job they didn't see me, as I wouldn't have been able to have bought the 10 Beatles albums for a quid later on.

Fish Market

The "Central Market" in downtown Santiago is a big shed like building that used to be a railway station. Nowadays it's full of fish restaurants and the odd fish stall. It must be in Lonely Planet because if you were to spit out a rubbery squid ring it would probably fall on a Gringo.
We picked the hottest day of the year so far, to go and sit in a big shed that's full of people cooking - people cooking fish and just people cooking. That's why, in the picture of me and the Diminutive One, she is glowing and I'm sweating like a pig.

Mall

Took these just before walking into a supermarket to do the weekly shop.

The sun was so strong that you could barely look at the building because of the reflection. I changed them slightly.

Three Monkeys

Navidad

Here are the Christmas lights along Pedro de Valdivia, the pool from our lazy 25th and the Mrs with a refreshing pisco on the balcony.


Thankfully, Christmas isn't the orgy of shopping like in the UK. We spent all our money on curtains this year anyway!

Baked Beans

The Diminutive one developed a taste for baked beans while in England in May 06. Unfortunately, her table manners are slightly erratic. Here's the before and after.

Chickens, Jugs, Circles.

Here are three pictures from various shopping trips in the UK in May. The chickens in the window were in Chinatown in London. They all do a dance on the hour. Only joking.

The space age building is a department store in Birmingham, Selfridges. Those silver circles are very difficult to get off with a plastic spoon. Only joking.

Nice jugs was in a department store on Oxford Street, London. The second I took the picture some snotty woman came over and said "You can't take pictures in here", to which I replied "Photography is banned but a six foot double entendre is ok?"
Actually, I just said "ok".

Shirty

They had a man sent off and lost on penalties. I warned her about the shirt.........

Paris May 06

We lost the Champions League final, but managed to eat well.

Tacna, Peru

Tacna is a smallish town on the Chile Peru border. We were lucky enough to stumble across this lot in the town square. I remember it well because there was a fella in an Arsenal shirt across the road.

Back of the Head

Nice shot of the back of my head. Decent one of the Mrs though.

Boca - Buenos Aires

Boca, brightly painted houses, tourists, smelly port. Loved it.


They always tell you not to stray too far off the main streets as it's a bit dodgy, although it didn't seem any worse than some parts of Santiago.

Couple of Mugs

Pinochet is back in hospital. One day he's at deaths door, and the next he's sitting up in bed. It's highly unlikely he'll face the law for any of his alleged crimes, whether they be crimes against humanity or simple theft (of tens of millions). People sometimes tell you what a mess it was under Allende, and who am I, an Englishman of the next generation, to question them? At least Allende didn't have his hand in the till though.

Saw these two mugs for sale on a stall.