My Chilean "Banano"

To all my friends and family back home:  Hello!  

Life is going quite well for me in Chile.  Last weekend was the birthday party for my host papá.  Thus we made a delicious cake, grilled out, and ate some spectacular food, por supuesto.  And as of this coming Friday, I will be embarking on 10+ days of travel.  The first five I will be traveling with my program to San Pedro de Atacama, which is the driest desert in the world and also featured on the Planet Earth DVDs which my brother informed me of the other day.  Then the second half I will be traveling with a few other chicas to Montevideo, Uruguay and then taking a ferry over to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  ¡Qué bacán!  Thus, ya'll are in for a whale of a blog post when I return.  However, I couldn't wait that long to inform you of my newest (and probably best) Chilean purchase - mi "banano".

So what exactly is this "banano" thing I speak of??  Well, it is none other than a fanny pack.  Yes, that's right, I said it - fanny pack.  I, Sarah Routh, bought a fanny pack.  But not only did I buy it, but I wore it.  Correction:  I wear it.  At this point, I know ya'll are probably either dying with laughter or incredibly disgusted at my fashion faux pas, but let me explain.  Fanny packs are incredibly popular, kinda like the UGG boots of 2008 but more practical.  And yes, they are practical, for men and women.  Don't want to take a purse?  Your pocket isn't big enough for your cell phone, camera, money, and chap-stick?  No pasa nada.  No worries.  Take your fanny pack.  (Wow, I sound like I should be on a commercial for fanny packs right now.)  Thus, practical - yes; fashionable - ehhh?  However, when in Rome, do as the Romans.  So when in Chile, do as the Chileans.

Now let me just be clear.  I do not, repeat: do NOT, wear this thing all the time every day.  I haven't lost my mind, people.  However, I bought it primarily for my runs throughout the city.  When I go for a run, I have to take my keys and sometimes it's helpful to take a few dollars and my metro card just in case or even a cell phone to be safe.  Thus, enter the fanny pack.  Anyways so the day I bought my little fanny pack I just had to try it out and go for a run.  So I strapped that baby on, laced up my kicks, and away I went.  For the first ten minutes of my run, I could help but giggle to myself as I pictured me, a gringa wearing shorts (which is already reason to be stared at) as well as her bright turquoise fanny pack running down the streets of Santiago... Hilarious.  Absolutely hilarious.  Then, as I was running, I started to see other pedestrians wearing their fanny packs.  Now those of you who have trucks and have driven them on the highway know of the "truck-code" between owners of trucks.  For those of you who aren't familiar with what I am talking about, let me explain.  When driving your truck (or even Suburban) down a two-lane country road for example and you begin to approach an on-coming truck, both drivers usually give each other the hand-on-the-steering-wheel-wave or just a little head nod so say What's up.  Well, that is precisely how I felt while running.  As I would make eye contact with another wearer-of-the-banano I would give a little What's up head nod.  You know, just a little something between us members of the Chilean fanny pack club.  No big deal.

Ya'll think I'm exaggerating... I'm not.  I like this whole fanny pack thing so much that I will definitely be bringing it home with me for when I go on runs in the States.  You're right, I will not wear my fanny pack out to the movies in the US of A but I will definitely sport it while running down the streets of B-town or Lake Shore Drive.  Anyways, for those of you who still do not believe that I actually bought and wore a fanny pack, here is the proof.  Enjoy!!

Yes, I am wearing a fanny pack.  With pride.

Check it out!! My very own fanny pack.

Please note that in these pictures I am wearing my fanny pack in the cool way, which is in the front (for security) and slightly to the side (for a little edge).  Also note that there are multiple ways to wear a fanny pack in Chile.  For the men, who feel a little shy about sporting their fanny pack around the middle, you can hang it off your shoulder or do the whole across your shoulders thing which is quite popular here.  

Anyways that's all I really have for ya'll.  Hope you got a little chuckle out of this one.  And yes, I know this is incredibly weird.  I, too, was a little weirded out when I got to Chile and saw my first normal Chilean wearing a fanny pack.  I thought perhaps it was a mistake but it wasn't.  I repeat, it's actually cool here.  However, the idea has grown on me.  Perhaps the idea will grow on you and you'll bust out your fanny pack from the 90s and start a new trend.  Come on.  Do it.  Join the fanny pack club once again.

¡Ciao!

Just for fun, Meet my Chilean sisters:

Me and my beautiful Chilean sisters!!!