chor-y-pan! chor-y-pan!

so i had my first asado wednesday. "asar" is "to roast" so it basically a chilean barbeque. after making our first recycled paper in my paper arts class (awesome, i know), i waited almost 40 minutes for my bus home. its moments like these that have ruined my romantic notion of public transportation - its kind of like communism - looks good on paper, just impossible to get right in reality. i got home and showered of the effects of the wait and walk in the santiago summer sun before running back out into it so go to the asado, which was nominally starting at 2 (which means 4 in chilean time). i got off at the banquedano metro stop and walked across the river  (which is a brown trickle right now in the dry season) down a little street that would take me through bellavista - the bohemian neighborhood - to the foot of cerro san cristobal. one thing i love about chileans is that they love surrounding themselves with nature, people and animals. apartments have trees escaping out the window, all the neighborhoods have vines, bushes and trees nearly blocking the view of every house and street animals have full reign. there are stray dogs and cats everywhere, but you don't see anyone treat them unkindly. and there are parks everywhere. cerro (a large hill) san cristobal is the largest of these, and from the top, on a morning after a heavy rain (to clear the smog) has the most amazing view of the city. i'm planning on hiking up there one winter morning before i leave.

so after hiking up half the mountain, i finally reached the picnic site, where i could smell the chorrizos roasting, will the bread toasting over the cooler coals. chorrizo is chilean sausage and comes in links and is very tasty (and i normally am not a sausage fan), very flavorful without being overly salty or fatty. combined with the toasty bread, it makes "chor-y-pan" which my dutch friend was chanting excitedly to herself before we were served. the group i was with was several of the same people from bowling and some new intercambios and chileans. i meet several australians and a few more germans and some more peeps from california and new york. the asado was fun and relaxed, and i actually felt very comfortable speaking spanish for the first time in a while. i walked back to the metro with a few of my new friends and i headed to a sushi dinner with danielle and some of her friends from her university. and yes. the sushi here is delicious.