*WARNING! NO PICTURES AHEAD!

Here’s a fun food game for all of you: it’s called “Name That Condiment!” Scenario #1: You’re eating a fresh, raw salad, with shredded lettuce, carrots, celery, maybe a little tomato.  It’s drenched in lemon juice, salt, and oil, but it could still use a good douse of ________.  Scenario #2: You’re enjoying your dinner of chicken stewed with peas and carrots, over a bed of fried potatoes, and while it’s delicious, you just wish you had a little ________ to top it off.  Scenario #3: You’ve been kicking back a few beers with your friends and get the late-night munchies.  You’re eating a Chilean-style hot dog, complete with tomatoes and avocado, but before you can dig in, you need to find some _________, a.s.a.p.  Now it’s time to NAME… THAT… CONDIMENT!!!!  If you’re a Chilean worth your salt (and, believe me, you know how vital that seasoning is), you know that the answer is, of course… MAYONNAISE!  Yes, over the past few months I have seen mayo on all of the dishes mentioned above, and I have, admittedly, been guilty of turning perfectly healthy food into a fat-laden, mayonnaisey, delicious mess.  Yum!  (Trust me, you gotta try it before you knock it.)  

OK, now that that culinary detour is over, it’s time to get down to business.  First order of business is to address the somewhat, er, sporadic nature of my blogging.  Clearly, folks, this is not a weekly blog.  This is more of a keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-waiting-for-the-next-post kind of blog.  J  It took me a while to come to terms with this myself, but I am now at a point where I can openly admit that I suck at blogging.  So check in on me every now and then when you’re looking to put off that TPS report for a few more minutes.  Maybe you’ll find a new post!  And then again, maybe you won’t.  You should be working anyway. 

 

Second order of business is…business—i.e., my job!  Finally, I am in a position to speak somewhat intelligently about what it is I do here (besides travel and take salsa classes, that is).  I’m working at an NGO whose mission is to promote women’s reproductive and sexual health and rights in Chile—basically, we think it’d be just swell if all women had access to contraceptives and to safe, legal abortions, and we do stuff to try to make that happen.  (***Note: Any opinions expressed in this blog are my own personal opinions, given as a feminist working independently in Chile.  They are in no way reflective of the positions of any organizations in Chile or elsewhere***).

 

  

Our work recently has centered around the latest reproductive rights fiasco in Chile—i.e., the prohibition of the morning-after pill on the grounds of its unconstitutionality.  So, we’ve marched, we’ve protested, we’ve organized, and we think it’s working!  For instance, word leaked out that the Constitutional Court’s original draft of the ban included intrauterine devices (IUDs) and many contraceptive pills, but public response was so outrageous that the Court retracted a bit and decided to ban only the morning-after pill.  Truth is, we won’t know exactly what’s in and what’s out until April 22^nd, when the official decree is supposed to come out.  Feminists and social activists all over Chile are organizing massive protests for that day.  Let’s hope our voices are heard!  If not, we might have to appeal to an international court to get this ruling overturned.  Sigh…

 

There’s so much more left to say about my work here!  But this post is long-winded as it is, and I’m sure I’ve alienated four-fifths of my audience by now.  Stay tuned for a more visually dynamic post soon!