Happy Belated Leap Year

Hola!

It’s February 29th, happy leap year! As you may notice, this is posted later than Feb. 29 and that is because I have not been not connected to the internet for several days and I have been typing updates so that I don’t forget anything. So gear up, this might be a big blog, depending on when the internet people get here.

That brings me to my first new observation of Chile. People are always late, always. By several hours, if they even show up at all. It takes some getting used to. Although, there are some Chileans that are really put off by this trend so it’s always hard to tell when you show up for an appointment if you are going to be waiting 3 hours or be scolded for being 3 minutes late. Also, no matter where you are or where you are going, they all tell you it’s “about a 10 minute walk”. 

Walking is my main mode of transportation for now, collectivos (shared taxis) are still kind of scary and the micros (bus) are even harder to figure out. On the other hand, walking has given me a better lay of the land and I can get to school in 20 minutes (it takes 30 to get back because then it’s all uphill) and it takes about 45 to get to the main beach. I’ve also lost about 5 pounds and my tan is coming along quite nicely!

Things that have happened since the last post:

1) I moved into Alejandro’s house up on the hilltop, incredibly beautiful. I have two housemates up here. They are a lovely 26 year old couple from Finland (Matte & Ana). They speak some English and not much Spanish so we are all learning together. They are mechanical engineers and are going to another University here. They are also big card players, woohoo! They teach me lots of new games and last night I learned how to say ‘clubs’ and ‘spades’ in Finnish, why not.

2) I turned 20! My birthday was fabulous. I spent the day at the market (see #3) and then walked down to Veronica’s where we drank wine and chatted for a while. Then I tried to go downtown to my friend’s apartment but somehow got really really lost. I was on the busiest street in downtown and feeling damn scared when I saw a huge crowd gathered around a pair of tango dancers. Needless to say, they were awesome. So I had time to collect myself and finally hailed a collectivo and shared it with a mom and her little girl who thought my Spanish was absolutely hilarious. I made it to the apartment and there was a crowd of about 20 foreign students and locals there. They bought me a lovely pink scarf and made me a yummy chocolate cake, with matches on it because there were no candles. At midnight they sang to me in Spanish and English and we stayed up drinking pisco and talking until 4:30. It was a lovely way to turn 20.

3) I went to the Farmer’s Market for the first time. It is so big and busy and full of smells and sounds and even had a live band. The first walk through I was too nervous and overwhelmed to buy anything because, of course, I had to do it in Spanish. The second time around I chanced a stall and asked for a cucumber. The old man was so nice and taught me a bunch of words for the other food. Well, that was it. I was on a roll after that and I bought so much food I could barely carry it all back to meet Alejandro at his car. I had bags hanging off of me everywhere and a watermelon (or a sandia) tucked under my arm. It was so envigorating! Now I have fabulous fruits and veggies for a while. Good news for me is, the market is open all day every Wednesday and Saturday, and it is extremely affordable. I spent only around 10 US$.