quiet night out

Last night Steve and I hung out with our fellow volunteer Lauren and her boyfriend Jorge. We went to Bar Kabala, one of the not-cheap, low-key little pub-cafes on Almirante Montt over on Cerro Bellavista. They had a couch, and a decent little cover band, and nice drinks and food. It was my first night out in Valparaíso, because, well, I don't like going out all that much.

(Jorge is from Argentina. He says that when he first moved here, he couldn't understand anything Chileans said either, so English-speakers are in good company.)

At lunch today (weekend lunches the family eats together) Oscar asked when we got back. I said, "Almost 2."

Aurora said, "Wow, so early."

It also turns out Oscar was about 100 meters from us (and got home about a half hour earlier), down at Restaurant Hamburg, which is a nice place with tablecloths and a bunch of naval memorabilia about Arturo Prat and the War of the Pacific, and something to do with Germans.

I was checking it out today, and a late-30s Chilean guy saw me, sort of smiled/smirked, and kept walking. He noticed we were going the same direction, looked at me and said, "Nazi bar."

Ooookay. I said, "Really? This many years after the war?"

With a reservoir of disgust, he said, "Fascists. During the dictatorship."

He smiled before he walked away.

"But the beer is very good."