Cultural observations of Chile

I've noticed many things here, like fashion, shopping, and the youths.

Shopping:  there are lots of shops.  Within almost every building-block is a shopping center, like a mini-mall,  or a courtyard garden, or a food court.  It is very interesting to explore they shopping centres.  There are many duplicate goods and services, tho, if not the store brand.  There may be several hair salons or key carvers on the same block, or even right next to each other.  This is especially true with the lingerie stores.  There's one particular store brand, Oy Ce´, that will have multiple shops within the same block, or within yards of each other.  The window dressings of the ropa interor stores are pretty awesome, showy, and detailed.  To be fair, the men's underwear shop window displays are equally showy and detailed, but awesome is for someone else to judge.  I've got some pictures of the window displays, but I lack my camera at this moment for uploading.  The mannequins are much more correct here.
I saw the strangest store this afternoon.  The shingle read "Farmacia Sex Shop Galleria."  What a strange combination.  I can surmise the most typical medicines sold there, but I wonder if they fill more mundane prescriptions too.

Fashion and street culture:  Goth-Punk-Metal-Rocker-Emo is quite popular.  Many young people have tattoos of varying size and quality, as well as piercings.  Many young men wear metal t-shirts, and I've seen plenty of Misfits faces and Chuck Taylor sneakers.  Early in my trip I saw a cute Rockabilly couple on the street.
Bottled Redheads are common here.  It is a difficult shade to describe.  Maybe cranberry juice or wine.  I saw the same phenomenon in Italy two years ago.  The young ladies have awesome varieties of sandals and flip-flops to wear.  Imagine a high-top sneaker + flipflop + gladiator sandal.  That's my favorite kind of footwear to see.  There are also pants I've never seen before.  The legs taper down to elastic cuffs, leaving a slight bagginess to the pants.  This is a pretty cool female fashion.  It looks gypsy or harem inspired to me, almost like my Russian peasant costume.  I could hide several racoons in those pant legs.
I did stumble across a few tailors today.  I would indeed like my own uniquely tailored suit.  There is an excellent cobbler at the artesan market in Bellavista.  I may buy two pairs of boots this trip.  I had planned on cowboy boots, but he has some great Rocker boots too.  I do need a new pair after outgrowing my Demonias.  I'd like to believe that the boots are crafted with care by hand, but there's no way of telling as the're not made onsite.  I'd like some custom-fitted boots.

At the Baquerado metro station was a youth ragtime or jazz trio.  A bass, banjo, and some brass that looked like a clarinet.  I listened for a while.  It was fun and happy music. 

Food: I ate a hamburger from a streetcart today.  I was curious how they handle my native foods.  Hot dogs are very popular here.  The toppings are much more varied though.  I think I had sour kraut and a kind of chopped tomato mix on my hamburguesa completo.  Mayonaise and avocado are other very popular hotdog toppings.  I am trying to eat healthier though.  The other night I wandered into a bar for a drink and karaoke, and wound up eating something really weird for supper.  It was drinking food.  It was a chillicanno plate.  It was a pile of french fries and meat bits topped with two fried eggs.  Last night I ate a chicken salad for supper.  I needed a counterbalance.

There is a theatre or museum on a bridge in Bellavista.  There is a show or exhibit tonight at 21:00 hours for $2000.  I believe I'll check it out.  It's a bit of a walk, or I could take the metro.  One of the hostel staff noticed I'd never gone out to party, which is correct.  You know me, I rarely went out when I lived in Athens, and there I could effectively communicate with the populace.  I may check out the Bellavista scene tonight before I move on tomorrow.  Or not.  To my self be true, ya know.