The Beginning of a Chilean Adventure!

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Hola everyone!

I know my previous India blog trailed off towards the end, but I am eager to start blogging again about my next adventure here in Chile!

I left Canada at 2:40 on February 28th, and reached Santiago the next morning, bright and early! My actual flying experience was pretty interesting in itself, I opted for the pat-down twice instead of going into those over-invasive and kind of scary scanner machines that they've now started using in airports, and even had to go through a random chemical swab. What exactly they're looking for with a chemical swab, I have no idea, but it was a weird/interesting experience showing the growth of global security (latching onto people's fears to make money if I may add). Anyways we're not here to talk about that, but it's something I'll be sure to be aware of and look into more as the situation progresses. I had a three hour stopover in Miami where I had to go through security again, but on another note, I felt like I was already in the Latin world! It's known for it's large Latin population, so I guess that's why almost everyone there spoke to me in Spanish first rather than English, all the signs were in both languages, and there was a lot of things like "Latino awards in the Air Industry" on the walls everywhere. Bizzare, but kind of cool to see globalization in the works. After the 10ish hour flight from Miami, where I moved around a bunch so families could sit together, and where I got to practice my Spanish with the flight attendant a bit, I arrived at 6:30am local time. While landing, the overhead bin actually opened and my computer fell out, great. Obviously (and thankfully) it's still working as I'm typing on it right now. 😊

One of the first things I noticed was the smell and the heat, just like I did in India. I have to say though, it didn't smell as ...strong... as India haha. It was a different smell, a weird mix of French springtime fresh with an undertone of prickly smog, weird combo, I know. I found some transportation (kind of like a shared taxi van) to the apartment that I'm staying in, and got to see mountains and Santiago streets in one van ride! When I got there I managed to explain to the doorman that there should be a key for me, and made it in, phew. Then I slept forever, only waking up to meet the mom of the girl renting the apartment, who was really nice and helpful. The only other thing I managed to do that day was a bit of grocery shopping, which doesn't sound too interesting but totally was. It was a mini insight into the Chilean lifestyle and what Chileans might eat and pay for food. Of course one of the first things I had to buy was avocadoes! Yum, as well as bananas and wine hehe, a great combo.

From the little time I've been here, I do feel like I'm in a completely different place, but it's a less obvious change, and definitely less overstimulating than India was. I'm loving the heat, coming from snowy Canada, and trying to notice the small things (like the upside down taps?). Once I start class sort myself out a bit better (gotta get a SIM, metro card and all that), I'll write again 😊

Hasta pronto!

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Photos

Upside Down Tap
Am I the only one who thinks this is backwards?