20 minutes in Chile & 2 underwear sightings

Im back in Santiago. We landed yesterday to a big cloud of smog... Santiago in winter. I found myself standing in the same jeans, with the same backpack, ringing the bell of the house on Simon Bolivar. Deja vu..... 2 months earlier, standing in this same place-- with no idea what to expect. This time the family came to greet me at the door. It was nice to see familiar faces, and they were all smiling when they hugged me and followed me into the room that they had rearranged (bye bye most uncomfortable hard as rock pillow!!!). Within twenty minutes I had downed the Chilean bread and palta (avacado) that I had oh so dearly missed and was gearing up for a siesta... ah....

Before I could do so my 88 year old Chilean host grandmother knocked her steaming hot cup of tea onto her lap, and all I could see was steam rising from her purple skirt. For a moment we were both frozen- in shock or fear or disbelief. Another second went by and she was up on her feet, jumping around in little circles waving her skirt back and forth. It was only me and her in the kitchen, what do I do!?
She first brought her skirt up by her shoulders and then, with only a second thought, pulled her skirt down around her knees. Unfortunately she also had on a slip, and bloomers and tights. She tried getting these down too (do I help? do I call for help? Do I invade her personal personal space like that!)...
So now she has her skirt and slip hugging her knees, her white bloomers she is puffing out with her hands... and Im trying like Ive never tried before in my life, not to laugh.
Because at the same time, she is still jumping around in little kangaroo circles, saying oo-oo oo-oo in distinct Chilean grandma but with her skirt and slip around her knees. You can imagine what kind of a picture this would be.
Finally she lets out a laugh, I let out a laugh. We laugh and then she waddles out the door to find a bathrobe. What do you do in this situation!!!??
Two seconds later, as Im supporting myself on the refrigerator recovering; my host mom comes in with two pairs of underwear in her hand. One is a very large stark white pair of Hanes. The other is a dark blue pair of Chilean mens briefs (very brief briefs). Are they mine? She wants to know... they found them when they rearranged the bed.... No, I swear Ive never seen them before. Nor would I ever be caught dead in underwear like that. They arent mine, especially not the blue ones, ah! Two chilean eyes look back at me "this is your underwear." No, its not, its not, please dont make me take it... The eyes think, they focus on me, they wait, okay, I believe you. The mystery of the abandoned underwear continues...
Oh, I forgot what it was like to be here in Santiago. Oh, the shenanigans.

I woke up today and as I was washing my cup, looked out to the patio. The leaves have all changed since Ive been gone. The ginko tree has a skirt of yellow leaves below it. And the mountains, the mountains that were once so dry and brown and wrinkly are filled with white. They are illuminating, with what looks like snowy ski slopes filling the wrinkles of the Andes.
Its funny to come back to a foreign place and find it familiar.
Its hailing right now, my mind is in a million places. And I have at least 10 more pages of my thesis to write before tomorrow. But I just cant shake this image of my host grandma, her shiny white hair bobbing up and down as she jumps around the kitchen in her bloomers.... So I thought Id share.