The great thing about living overseas is that weekends are for fun. It seems when we lived in the U.S., we wasted far too much quality weekend time working on home projects, mowing lawns, or taking trips to Costco. Living here in a rented house, we really don't have a lot of domestic responsibilities, we have maids and gardeners for that sort of thing. This give us more time to explore the surrounding areas, or just hang out at one of the many shopping malls.
Pomaire
Pomaire is a little tourist trap town about 100 kms from Santiago. The town speciality is clay pottery, but you can find all sorts of arts & crafts-type stuff: hand made sweaters, paintings, dolls, etc. Of course, Tiffany loves the place. I don't get too excited about the products being peddled, but I do like some of the traditional chilean food you can buy there, like gigantic empanadas.
We witnessed this on the drive out to Pomaire. It defies all the laws of physics, as well as basic common sense. This little van is about a third of the size of your average Honda Odyssey. I like to call it a 'skinny van.' This particular van appeared to have the contents of an entire village stacked on top of it. Absolute classic.
Bienvenido a Pomiare...
I smell some gringo dollars
All major credit cards accepted
The sign says 'don't touch the bells'
Mmmmm...a delicious plate full of pig shoulder...looks sooo good. 
Jake and I in our favorite pose: me holding him. 
These ladies make the delicious wood-fire baked empanadas. The lady in the back was snobbing the photo op...probably mumbling something about Yankee imperialism.
A chilean Huaso (cowboy) serenades Mya
Juxtaposition of Jumpy Town
Just to demonstrate that Chile is not all rustic pueblos and poor villagers, I'm throwing in some video taken at InflaMania, one of those inflatable playland-type places at our local mall. Our kids go crazy for the place. Chileans are very proud of their shopping malls. They are pretty much like any high-end mall in the US, except everything is twice as expensive.
Foot in Mouth: Had to include this little gem. Jake fell asleep while doing time. He was sentenced to a 3 minute "time out" for bad behavior, during which he apparently slumped over and fell asleep on the sofa.
