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Published: March 29th 2012
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March 2, 2012
Santiago, Chile
19S 260848, 6762003
Santiago reminds me of New York - you have to fight to walk down the street past the skyscrapers and expensive restaurants. Everyone is dressed up and in a hurry to be somewhere.
The other day we found a Central Park type place, although not nearly as large. It is called San Cristobal hill and houses the zoo (which we visited - it had an amazing aviary), a beautiful garden which I intend to inspect more closely later because of its species diversity, and a 450 year old church under a gigantic statue of the Virgen. Next to the church was outdoor stadium seating facing a stage with an altar and a pulpit, accomodating thousands of people for an outdoor mass.
We also visited the Santa Lucia hill, which provides a good point to look out over the entire city, and the central market where I was tempted by crabs and mussels the size of my head.
March 5, 2012
Santiago, Chile
There are some similarities that I am happy to find in Santiago and others
I´m upset that I couldn’t escape. One of the ones that makes me happy is that the ´kids´our age are basically the same. We have no trouble understanding each other, even if we don’t have the right words. They play the same drinking games, listen to the same music, watch the same movies, and spend their time on the same Internet that we do. Of course, even if Chile as a whole is considered the third world, Santiago is most certainly first world. It is comprised of business people, kids going to university, and iphones and macbooks. One thing that upset me on this trip is Walmart. They are called Hiper Lider here and Hiper Mas in Costa Rica, but they are everywhere. Other monopolies that have found their way down here are KFC, McDonalds, Burger king, Subway, Pizza Hut, and Dominoes, trying to kill people across the world one meal at a time...and the cigarette companies, of course. Even though the put extreme warnings (´When you smoke, everyone dies.´) and gross pictures (cancerous mouths, etc.) on the boxes, everyone here smokes. It is like the 60s in the U.S. Fifteen-year-old Izzy had a bunch of friends over the other
night, and about half of them were chain smoking. There are no laws against smoking in public places, and everyone smokes inside their houses which makes the air revolting and hard to breathe. Frequently Jared and I will be the only two people at a party not smoking. One of the waitresses at La Pipa smokes right in the restaurant´s kitchen. Gross. Maybe when everyone in my generation grows up to have cancer and voice boxes, they will figure it out and encourage their own children not to smoke.
March 11, 2012
Santiago, Chile
Yesterday we went to Claudia´s boyfriend, Pato´s, house to BBQ and ride his horses. The open country made me miss my cowboy boots. I loved riding the horses, galloping down the street with Jared. Such beautiful, huge beasts with personalities of their own and yet willing to take command from creatures one quarter of their size. Hunter Thompson wrote that humans appear to horses four times larger than they actually are, and while I doubt this is true, horses act as though it is.
<strong id="internal-source-marker_0.24239127524197102" style="color: font-family: 'Times New Roman';
line-height: normal; font-size: medium;">March 12, 2012
Santiago, Chile
An interesting thing about Santiago is the way shops are set up. All of the stores of a certain type are located on the same street. For example, all of the banks are right next to each other on one street. On the next street might be all of the hardware stores or all of the hair salons. I guess it is convenient if you want to check all of the hardware stores for the best price of one specific tool, but if you are looking to buy a lot of different things in one day you are out of luck. Also, it´s hard to believe they all get enough business - there might be twenty or thirty of the same type of store all together.
March 23, 2012
Santiago, Chile
We toured a vineyard in Isla del Maipo the other day where they make both delicious wines and dried plums.
We just got back from a three day trip to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar. Very ´Bohemian´- it´s funny the Chilenos use that word, too. Valparaiso lines
the ocean (it´s the biggest trade port in Chile) and is surrounded by hills with Easter-egg-colored houses. You can ride an elevator to get to the top of a hill, and many of these hills are filled with little art stores, beautiful graffiti work on the walls, and other art, such as a bathtub filled with flowers in the middle of the street. You are likely to see at least a dozen young artists sketching the houses or views of the city.
Viña del Mar is better known for its beaches. Since they are not dirtied by incoming ships they make a nicer place to relax and watch the sunset.
March 27, 2012
Santiago, Chile
I have now felt two temblors in Santiago. The difference between a terremoto (earthquake) and a temblor is that a terremoto shakes the earth up and down and a temblor side to side (or so I´m told by the locals). The first time I woke up in the middle of the night for no reason and felt it just a moment after, accompanied by a thunder-like sound; the second time we were in Ladislao´s (I have no idea how to spell his
name) backyard. I thought they were kind of fun, but I doubt anyone thinks that when their houses are being ripped apart.
Today we attempted to visit two museums, both of which were closed due to earthquake damage. We did manage to visit the science museum in Parque Quinta Normal. The park itself is enormous and covered with some of the tallest trees I´ve ever seen. I was sad to see that when they get too tall the city cuts them down, but I suppose it´s good earthquake damage control.
When we were looking for one of the museums we never found we happened upon a horse racing club and went in. I found it ironic that the establishment makes such a grand attempt to make the place look exquisite and classy, but all the people inside just look worn and trashy. The tall, muscular and dark Arabian horses seemed to all be fighting against their masters who wanted to show off their beauty and exploit their speed for money. It´s a wonder their tiny riders can control them at all.
We managed to visit Museo Ralli as well, which was filled with art from all over
Latinamerica and Europe. We were enthralled by the original Salvador Dali sculptures.
Less than a week of this trip and though I will miss some things (mostly pino empanadas and lucuma ice cream), I´m excited to get home.
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