Bad Translation Fun: Menus

May I have Males to the Vapor ?

You don’t need to travel far outside your language zone to find well-meaning but often funny and even unfortunate translations. Signs, tourism information, and especially restaurant menus are often a great source of entertainment (as the Asian-oriented fun-with-language-gaffes site Engrish proves over and over again) , and Chile is no exception. Get your red-hot menu blunders here!

Chilean Olive Oil: a day on the job

A visit to the Olave organic olive groves and almazara (olive oil mill) prompted this photo essay on one of my favorite products: fresh Chilean olive oil.

Street Food Italiana

Roasted chestnuts in Romes Piazza Navona

I love food. Clear enough? And as far as I’m concerned, one of the major reasons to travel is to see what they’re eating “over there.” And in Italy, it doesn’t take a lot of rummaging to come up with tasty options. Indoors, outdoors, wherever you look, there’s always something worth munching on. And while I have to say that we did eat well–though maybe not often enough to suit me (the Mister’s Boot Camp School of Travel does not include many daylight hours for mundane things like eating, although in all fairness, night-time is a whole different story, not to mention an entirely different post!).

Celebrating Latin America at Ground Level: Travel e-book

Click on the image to download a free copy of Celebrating Latin America at Ground Level (Nov 2010)

Steven Roll, of Travel Ojos, just released his first e-book: Celebrating Latin America at Ground Level, a collection of tales from 29 expats and travel writers on just about every imaginable aspect of life in Latin America, from food and drink, to life and love, to family and work and leisure, to getting things done and just hanging around, to  speaking (or trying to) to playing and dancing, and most of all, just enjoying this wonderful region, from Mexico to Patagonia.

Postcards from Chile: Peanut Vendor (Manicero)

El "Manicero." Old-time peanut vendor.

September in Chile: Una Rica Empanada Caldúa

Who doesn’t love a good empanada?
Well, me, for one… as much as I hate to admit it.

But before all you empanada lovers come to their defense–I know they’re delicious! And it’s not that I don’t like them really as much as it is that the particular combination of ingredients, especially onions, just do me in.

Talkin’ Empanadas

To speak true Chilean, you must refer to these savory delights as “empana’as” (because Chileans “eat” the d while waiting in line for fresh empana(d)as to come out of the oven). You get extra points if you dream about biting into a “rica empanáa caldúa” (a delicious and very juicy empanada).

Chile: the Sense and Senses of Travel

Ever thought about the senses you use when you travel? No matter what kind of traveler you are—intellectual, cultural, adrenaline seeker, low-budget backpacker, VIP all the way—it’s your senses that make that experience possible.

Alameda 777 Something old, Something new

Santiago de Chile–city full of nooks and crannies and little secrets right under your nose–no wonder I love it.

Despite having lived here “forever” it took a foreigner less than 2 days in Chile (that’s you @cfarivar) to find a place I’d walked by a zillion times and never noticed! So the other night, after an incredible Chinese meal at Mr. Wu (which I’ll leave for another post), the four of us were still enjoying ourselves too much to go home, and as we zipped along Alameda (Santiago’s main drag), I asked if anyone had ever heard of what had been described as an “unpretentious” bar called 777… and the next thing you know, there we were, standing in front of the entrance with no sign, a barely legible and heavily tarnished brass street number about 8 feet up, a tattered liquor license posted above that, and a steep and winding, dark, and heavily graffitied stairway leading to who knows where…