Gay Pride, Pantalones, and a Dog

One of the hardest parts of making the decision to jump countries was knowing that you are leaving all of the friends and family that you love behind.  Although Skype, Facebook, and all of those other new-fangled technologies that make communication super easy are wonderful, it still isn't the same thing as real life social interaction.
Obviously Michael knew coming in that we would be lucky to have a wonderful extended family that, for some reason, loves you no matter what (and seems to love me even though they know so little about my personality because of my lack of Spanish skills).  (Seriously, I think they  may even think me to be shy, which is a gross misrepresentation... that I plan to fix a little each day).  It certainly makes the transition smoother and less lonely than it would be otherwise.  

Last weekend, we ventured to our second "Hash" with the Santiago Hash House Harriers... a self proclaimed "Drinking group with a Running Problem" full of expats from various corners of the world...and from what I can tell so far, definitely our "people" here in Santiago.
It can be difficult coming into a group that is already established, where everyone already has their friends, memories, etc. but props to these "hashers" not just for being fun and intelligent, but overall good people.  Everyone was super welcoming.. I don't think I can say that enough.

Anyway... So basically, a couple members of the group lay a trail for everyone to follow in a different part of the city every two weeks.  Last weekend, we had a fantastic run through El Centro, scaling Cerro Santa Lucia and coming directly into contact with Santiago's Gay Pride Parade (in the middle of our trail).  I have to admit, the techno music and rainbow flags did nothing but pump us up as we made our through the streets.  It was great to see so many people marching (and dancing) for equal rights. (Although, when you think about how many people actually live in Santiago the turnout seems more like a starting point... but I can get behind that).

After the run, we returned for the Hash Asado where we ate, drank and conversed with all of these fine people.  We decided to join a few people at a club downtown once it was over.  Luckily for me, one of the girls offered to lend me a dress and shoes (so I didn't have to hit the town in sweatpants), and even luckier still... we are the same size.  Unfortunately, however, she had nothing for Michael to change into, so when we arrived at the club, the bouncer swiftly told him "No puede entrar sin pantalones".
We have arrived at the "pantalones" portion of this story.  It really just adds another gold star to the people we have met (a total of twice at this point).  One of the fellas we were with has a grand idea... He has a friend that lives about 5 minutes away.  Said friend might be awake at 12:30am.  Said friend might lend you some pants.  So... that fella walks to a random guy's house at 12:30 and comes back with a pair of pants that Michael couldn't have purchased better in a store.  We cut infront of the now epic line to get in the club.. point at the pants and voila!  We are in for a night of dancing to American-Chilean-techno fusion... No se, but it was fun.

When we left at around 4:30am, there was an even more ridiculous line to get in the front door.  These Chileans don't waste a second of their weekend doing something silly like "sleeping."
We grabbed some kind of fried-awesome on the street corner for less than $1 and caught the bus to head home.  At one stop, a dog hopped on the bus amongst the crazies and proceeded to lay on my feet, until another guy decided to pick him up and put him under his seat.

We will call this "the new normal", and I think I can get used to this.