Santiago, or 20 ways to screw up endoscopy and how to find an Asian supermarket

This past week was my first week at work. The building I work in is located in Playa Ancha, an area about 15 minutes away from where I live by micro (local bus). The area is full of university buildings, and I'm right next to a dilapidated house where they film scary movies and also across the street from the Chilean army, which makes me feel super safe.

Yesterday there was a capacitación (training) for endoscopy in Ñuñoa, a neighborhood in Santiago. I got up bright and early at 5 am and took a bus to Santiago. The training went ok, the morning presentations were kind of boring, but at least now I know what the inside of an endoscope looks like, and how to fix it when it breaks. The afternoon was composed of booths where we learned how to manage different parts of an endoscope. I also now know what a cancerous stomach looks like. Great. We went through all the technical parts of an endoscopy procedure, and also common ways that the procedure fails.

After the training, I was super hungry (ended at around 2 pm, and I hadn't eaten since 5 am). I checked my wallet and realized I brought only the Chilean peso equivalent of USD$20, which is just dandy. Didn't bring my ATM card either. I decided that instead of buying lunch, I would go to Patronato, another area of Santiago that is reputed to house an Asian supermarket. I had no idea what the supermarket was called, nor what its address was. Trusting my instincts, I ventured forward. By instincts I mean I asked every Asian person along the way about the supermarket. I figured that they would not steer me wrong, and I was not disappointed. I was super excited when I made it to ASSI (the supermarket), but realized that everything was super overpriced (ramen was more than $1.50 per packet...). I bought lots of noodles and furikake (Japanese rice-topping) anyways, and spent all my money. I was still pretty happy anyways.

Since I had no more money, there was no point spending more time in Santiago. I took a bus back to Valparaíso. The bus ride was a great 1.2 hours. The lower Andean hills were gorgeous, with majestic giant cacti climbing up the hills' facade. When I reached my destination, I walked home (may I again emphasize the fact that I had no money?).

When I got home I immediately made some ramen...and it tasted sooo glorious.