Small things

It's the small things, like writing the date on class notes 22.4.2015 or saying I live half a kilometer up Irarrázaval.  The ways in which you've changed but don't really know when exactly it happened; they just kind of sneak up on you.  Elbowing my way into a metro car (forget Midwestern nice, if you're making it into that car you gotta squish), strategically placing myself in the metro car depending on how many stops I have to go to avoid having to wade through 20 people to get out of the door before it closes at my stop.  Keeping spare 100 peso coins in my back pocket (damn no front pocket in womens' jeans) to give to street performers or musicians on the metro.  Knowing to hold up the number of fingers you want for thousand pesos you want charged to your Bip - holding up 3 fingers for 3000 pesos - because the card rechargers can't hear very well through the glass.  After three months abroad, two of them in Chile, a lot of things have snuck up on me.  And it's nice to know you've learned something, especially if they're the small things.

Santiago de Chile

As beautiful of a city it is and as much as I love speaking Spanish, the transition to living in Santiago de Chile has been rough for me.  I went from volunteering on a farm in rural Bolivia - to living and navigating a city of 7 million people in Chile, a country with an average income triple that of Bolivia.  Taking the Metro, navigating the bus system, and just being immersed in the energy of 7 million human beings has been like constantly leaning on the accelerator pedal: feeling constantly drained.  After a month it's definitely getting better, thanks to wonderful friends, host family, and my parents taking my calls with their never-ending patience and love. Here's to becoming a big city fish sooner than later...

film. taken from Santa Lucia hill in the middle of the city.  beautiful. 

I live with my chilean host family in one of many apartment buildings with a large central park area where families and groups of school kids gather to talk 

Skyline of Santiago's business district, affectionately known as "Sanhatten"

Flowers Outside the Bellas Artes metro stop // nature and concrete

Manquehue metro stop // steel and light

Gustock music festival raising money for the public park // good music and even better veggie pesto ravioli  

Camila Moreno performs at Gustock music festival // love the sparkly blue dress

"Bienvenidos!  El museo ahora es gratis" (Welcome! The museum is now free) did not apply to the dog who followed us in. He was not welcomed by the museum staff :(

NuNu's derp face // no animals were harmed in the taking of this photo

Fruit from the Vega market, known for its cheap, fresh produce. I bought a kilo of strawberries for less than 2 dollars and a small box of huge juicy blackberries for the same amount // nomnom 

Shadow of a palm tree on the concrete in Parque Uruguay  

Buildings in the older sector of Santiago

More photos to come...semester ends in July.

film. Sunset from a friend's balcony.  

From high vantage points it's apparent that the city goes on and on, in layers of buildings and cranes that get blurrier as the distance increases, due to the smog.