Settling in

I have been in Chile for over a week now, and in Las Cruces for 5 days. Thursday night was a turning point, where I really started to feel like I was settling in. That night there was a party that all the people at the lab attended, so now I have a bunch of new friends. On Friday, I visited a store a friend recommended to me that sells decent vegetables and fruits. Then, yesterday my friend Jessica and I went to San Antonio, a port city 20-min away by microbus that reminds me of Ensenada, to go shopping at a mall. I really started to feel at home when I saw this:

 

 What?! Chile has Dunkin' Donuts, but California doesn't? At any rate, it was kind of nice to see a familiar face.

We also visited the supermercado, which had everything. I was so excited! When I first arrived to Las Cruces, I didn't really know where to shop. The stores that I had visited were pretty limited in variety or the vegetables were just plain bad. But I asked around and finally found one store within walking distance with a pretty decent variety. Plus, the market in San Antonio expanded my options even more. It will be totally worth the trip. Here are some examples of how my meals have improved since finding new markets:

Breakfast was the easiest meal to prepare since the beginning because I could get eggs, palta (avocado), and tomatoes easily. Kiwis are also really common here and are really tasty!

But since I found the new market, I was able to make guacamole which really enhanced breakfast.

 Dinner was not that great before because I couldn't find any good vegetables. One night I had a chuleta (pork chop) and wine. (Oh! Did I forget to mention how cheap and good wine is here?! Silly me.) Despite the wine, it was pretty sad.

 I found carne molido (ground beef) at the supermarket. The local markets don't sell any. So I prepared hamburgers (with egg, tomato, and onions) and ate them protein-style.

Before Friday, I didn't feel like I was getting enough to eat. But the last two days I've felt really good. So now I'm sure I can survive here!