First weekend in Santiago

Not from first weekend- this is a view of the Andes from the airplane window as I arrived.

On Friday, the entire group went to the Museo Nacional de Historía Natural. Afterwards, we had lunch with some Chilean students.

Main chamber of Museo Nacional de Historía Natural

View from my bedroom window of Av. Once de Septiembre at rush hour on Friday.

On Saturday, I went to the Plaza de Armas with some friends. The Plaza is an open square with lots of palm trees. There were several street vendors there selling jewelry, paintings, etc. We saw a street performer who blew a balloon on his head. It was very warm and sunny in the Plaza (why is it that the apartment is cold but the street outside is hot?), so we decided fairly quickly to go inside to of the cathedral. The outside of the cathedral was not particularly inspiring, but inside there were beautiful statues of saints and very ornate architecture. After visiting the cathedral, we wandered around the nearby streets, and saw lots of random shops, such as one selling leather shoes for $10 a pair. Of course, there was no telling how long they would last, but it´s been years since I´ve seen a price like that on shoes that didn´t come from Old Navy. There were also several shops selling Halloween costumes.

The Plaza de Armas

Interior of cathedral

On Sunday, I decided to go to the Parque Metropolitano, but stopped at the Parque Uruguay instead. As I mentioned in my "more observations" entry, Parque Uruguay is both ridiculously long and ridiculously narrow. It is probably 50 feet wide at the widest point, and is quite a few blocks in length. I enjoyed walking in a green area after walking through the city, but with cars driving by 20 feet away it was not terribly relaxing. In the parque I saw a row of monkey puzzle trees, the first monkey puzzle trees I have seen while in Chile (the trees ares native to Chile, but until Sunday I had only seen them in Scotland).

Parque Uruguay

Rio Mapocho, the dirtiest river I have ever seen.

Monkey Puzzle Trees

more observations

7) Around the Plaza de Armas, there are a lot of little shops selling cheap purses and jewelry. Along one side of the plaza, there is actually an entire row of shops selling cheap purses.

8) The packages of cigarettes have an incredibly depressing photo of a man with a tracheotomy on them. And yet, more people smoke here than in the states.

9) The Rio Mapocho is probably the dirtiest river I have ever seen (and hopefully ever will see) in my life.

10) There are Castaños every few blocks, rather like Starbucks in the USA. (Castaño is a bakery chain.) In fact, there is one across the street from my apartment, and another about two blocks down the street.

11) The Parque Uruguay, which is along the river near where I live in Santiago, is shaped remarkably like Chile. For a park it is extremely long, and extremely narrow.

Once de Septiembre

I thought I should address this after reading Amanda's comment, as it could definitely be confusing. There are two significant September 11's: September 11, 2001, and September 11, 1973. We are all, of course, familiar with September 11, 2001. September 11, 1973, was the day that Augusto Pinochet overthrew Salvador Allende's government in Chile. So while Pinochet was in power, September 11 was a day of celebration (except for Allende supporters, but they couldn't exactly do anything about it). The part of Amanda's comment about it being morbid still stands, however.

Observations

Here are some observations about Chile:

1) There are occasional random signs in English, like "Fruits and Salad" at the salad bar of Unimarc, a supermarket.
2) A lot of the music is in English. At a pizza parlor, they played "Great Balls of Fire," "I Saw the Sign," "Born to be Wild," and "You're Still the One." All in the original English versions.
3) They sell oxygen-enriched water. Apparently it is supposed to increase oxygen levels and improve athletic performance. It just tastes like normal water to me, and I don't think I've had any great increase in oxygen.
4) All the milk is long life, and is not refrigerated before opening.
5) Crossing the street jaywalking is just as safe and easy as crossing the street legally. The drivers pay no attention to the walk signs, so I have become accustomed to always looking both ways.
6) When I bought a cell phone (for about the equivalent of $20) , I could not pay the same person who handed me the phone. I had to walk over to a cashier with a slip of paper, pay, return to the man with a receipt, and then take the phone.

My host family

My host family lives in an apartment on the Avenida Providencia, which is one of the busiest streets in town. On the other side of the house is Avenida Once de Septiembre (September 11), another busy street, so I am going to have to get used to traffic noise at night. We live on the 4th floor. The apartment has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. My host mother, Ruth, likes to cook a lot. The daughter, Lorena, works from 9 am until 7 pm at an adoption agency. Jorge, the cousin who speaks good English, is a design student at Universidad de Chile. One interesting thing about Ruth is that when she calls herself my "mama chilena," she really means it. She always wants to make sure that I have enough to eat, that I'm warm enough, etc. Ruth's ex-husband has come by to visit twice. He is very nice, and told me that he had a grandfather who moved from England to Chile, and then got married.

In answer to Amanda's non-Sept 11 questions (see comments):
No, I did not understand everything. My host mom speaks slowly and sometimes says things a different way for me to understand, and sign language is key. A couple of my classes are actually in English, and my host cousin has spoken to me in English.
And yes, I was nervous, especially for the five minutes when I had no idea how to get into my apartment!
The only place where I've seen a lot of mayonnaise was a restaurant where they served us bread and mayonnaise instead of bread and butter.

First two days in Chile!

Well, now I'm finally here. In the airport at Dallas, someone asked if I could speak English, which was slightly encouraging. However, he was from Texas, so maybe Chileans can identify gringos more easily. When I arrived in Santiago, the shuttle driver left me off at the apartment without explaining how to call up to the room, so after pressing incorrect buttons for several minutes, I called el concierje (the concierge), and he let me in. As soon as I entered the apartment, my host mother (or mama chilena, as she said) gave me a huge hug and a cup of tea. In the course of the day, I met my 18 year old host cousin who speaks excellent English, my 30 year old host sister, my 22 year old host brother and his girlfriend (who came in for about 15 minutes and left with a lamp), and a man who was either a friend or a relative (I couldn't quite tell).

Lunch is the big meal here, and dinner, which is served at 8:30 or 9pm, seems to consist of bread and cheese. The metro lines are amazingly straightforward, with maps that show exactly where you are and where you are going. There is no voice over the intercom asking you to mind the gap (as in London), but there practically is no gap. Unfortunately, the metros are also extremely crowded, especially during the hours when people are going towards or leaving work.

Note: The host brother and his girlfriend left with the lamp.

Hola

As many people have asked me to tell them about my adventures in Chile, I thought the simplest solution was to write a blog. This is a pre-Santiago post. I arrive on September 23, but thought that it would be easier to start the blog before-hand. I will try to post every week or so.

Lauren