First Days in Chile

What a whirlwind. Parts of myself still can’t believe that I’m here! It’s for sure that I still have lots to apprehend and absorb about la idioma Chilena. Es unico, It’s unique, No es despacio, es muy rapido y hecho de los refranas chilenas, it’s very fast and made of Chilean-isms. Pero, de los personas yo he conozco, todos dicen que yo hablo bueno y en tiempo yo aprendere mucho!!!! But, of the people I have met already, all say that I will speak well and in time will apprehend more!

The plane rides were so scary at first, and very disorienting. I can’t lie about it: in my mind I had made a to-do list of all the things I would accomplish in my 15-hour journey through airports and planes. However, most was spent looking out the window and trying the control the adrenaline and feelings of claustrophobia! It has been so long since I last flew.

Upon arriving in Chile I had to wait through a long line in customs. But to no avail, I was successfully able to navigate the officials in (mostly) Spanish. Exiting the smorgasborg of people to find Paula y Tomas, there were tons of people crowding the door with signs for agencies and taxis for other extranjeros (forgeiners)…

AND THEN PAULA! I heard “HERMANITA!!” and turned to find myself facing her admist people! We hugest tremendously for a few moments, my heart so open and alive for actually being here and in her arms. It brought tears to my eyes. Tomas quickly followed in suit, having been waiting at the other exit, and how big he is! 14 years old, and a total sweetheart my little nephew.

We then rode to her home all the way through town along the main street that connects everything. What a place this is. Surrounded by mountains and filled with people I have no doubt that my adventures here will be tremendously important & FUN!

It’s still hard for me to take it all in… so much of Chile today is like America. Malls everywhere. But a lot of the tiendas/stores are small, based in casas/houses and with handpainted signs. Its obvious that theres a lot of inequality and classism here, even by seeing most of the town through car and in my walk this morning around Las Condes. Also, it’s weird to say “hello” or “good morning” to people on the street! That is so strange to me, however, I guess its only not strange in certain parts of Baltimore. I remember going to MICA for the first time and having to get used to being vocal and direct to strangers. It’s part of safety – acknowledgement – however here it’s a different story.

AND NOW some pictures... (click them for a bigger version)

A beautiful park near my sister's house... note: GIANT PALMS, native to Chile... these ones are actually quite young, and they get huge. At this stage, they look somehow like giant pineapples...

Another shot of the park on the left, showing the native and incredibly endangered Arucania tree... it is the national tree of Chile and produced giant seeds that are kind of like pine nuts... mmmm.... A shot of me and my sister on the upper right, followed below by a lemon on her lemon tree... never imagined they could grow here, and the last image is from our trip to EL CAMPO (the countryside) where we went for the first day at my sister's friends house, who is also a dog breeder. We ate lots and played with many many dogs!

Shots from the plane... from D.C. to landing ! A 15 hour journey

My internet access has been pretty sparse, so I'll probably be luck to make 1x week posts. But please, email me and I will try my best so we can synch up on Skype. BESOS