09/02/2024 Santiago de Chile

Today there were no activities outside the house, because Franziska invited to a party in the late afternoon. She had her birthday in January and has been here in Chile for two years now, so enough reasons for a small celebration! In addition to the pool and a fitness room, the residents also have access to the roof of the building, on the 32nd floor. Here there are three built-in barbecue stations with lounge chairs, sofas, and tables with chairs. Everyone can rent a space there, after prior registration and payment. The usage time is limited to 11:00 pm in the evenings, so that disturbances are not an issue. Guests who don't live in the building have to be named and their passport information is recorded. Parking spaces in the underground garage can be used, although with time restrictions! Everything is regulated and secured, typical for Chile and self-evident. The food, drinks, and charcoal were all delivered during the day. The caretaker at the reception accepts the goods and informs the recipient. The recipient then goes down with the elevator and picks up the delivery downstairs. Whether it's pizza or larger purchases or when the salt suddenly runs out, everything is delivered and you can order everything on the internet. You often see the delivery drivers who bring the goods in the evening waiting for new orders together at gas stations on their motorbikes. Precarious jobs, which do not promise a rosy future. But in Chile, the gap between the rich and the poor is also widening.

Originally, the guests should have arrived from 5:00 pm, but in Chile such time estimates are interpreted very generously, much to the annoyance of the host/hostess! In any case, guests started arriving from around 6:00 pm, about 15 guests in total, with the last ones arriving around 7:30 pm, some of whom already knew each other and us, 'les padres de Franziska'! It was a successful party, where we mostly spoke in English but still tried to understand the Spanish conversations. Occasionally with success! The food was very delicious and the grill master created very tasty pieces of meat. He didn't put pre-cut pieces on the grill, but rather whole large pieces that he only treated with salt!? There were no plates for eating, because the finished grilled food was cut into bite-sized pieces and then passed around. Only the very intensely seasoned sausages were offered in buns, so that you could spread them with homemade salsa. Otherwise, there were large platters on the tables, which were covered with salami slices, ham slices, pieces of cheese, small cloves, and mixed nuts. Here you could grab some while talking and drinking. The drinks were kept cold in a metal professional cooler. I preferred beer, but many guests preferred strong alcoholic drinks. When the caretaker appeared on the terrace around eleven o'clock, we only had to take our leftovers and trash and move downstairs to Franziska's apartment. We disappeared into our bedroom around 12:30 am, while the remaining guests probably continued to have fun until 2:30 am. But they also didn't have an exhausting excursion ahead of them the next day!?