Do they know it's winter?

More than a week since our holiday and we are again fully acclimatised to life in Santiago. School and nursery have picked up from where they left off happily for all concerned. Disconcertingly the weather has been unusually mild again which only serves to confuse matters once one has convinced oneself it is indeed winter in June. However a quick round of colds and winter ailments has successfully reinforced the idea that despite soaring temperatures in the afternoon the winter solstice is in fact approaching although without the heart-warming prospect of Christmas or anything remotely similar in sight... I have tried asking people if there is any kind of mid-winter festival or celebration to lift the spirits but apparently not. Perhaps it's because winter here is generally less bleak, shorter and sunnier than the one we previously knew and loved but it's difficult to say. Anyone reading this blog may have noticed more than a passing reference to the incongruity of climate and calendar but I'm afraid I can't help it as it's probably one of the most disorientating aspects of being here. I hadn't before realised just how ingrained the seasons and months and their northern-hemisphere-specific connotations had become as an intrinsic and fundamental aspect of my psyche... At the moment in spite of the deceptively pleasant afternoons, in the mornings and at night it still feels like December and one longs to be able to savour some of the treats we missed out on last Christmas. Which brings me neatly on to a subject I have been meaning to deal with for about eight of the last nine months but somehow never got round to it: Chilean food. I think I'll wait till the next post before tackling that particular can of worms (not literally of course)...