First Week; Business Trip Style

Within three hours of having exited Santiago international customs (where I was rather persistently checked for M&M's, which I rather persistently asserted I did not have (they're what, 20% cocoa?)) my mother and I had dropped off our bags and were running errands. Accustomed as she is to frequent business travel, our day was particularly efficient. I was silently thankful for the minor time difference (2 hours ahead of EST DC during daylight savings).

I therefore have a cell phone now, of the pre-pay type. No frills. It could fall apart at any moment. It happens to work. So I can theoretically be reached at any moment, if you care to have an international calling card gobbled up by the cost of calling a cell phone.

I also found an apartment. It's really a room in a student house, which accommodates up to 72. There is a self-serve kitchen, a study computer room, a grassy patio area, laundry, and very comfortable living room with high ceilings, floor length windows, and well-loved black leather couches. I chose a nook on the top (third) floor, up the curving marble stairs and down a window lined hall. The window opens out onto the space between the neighboring apartments, green with summer trees. The entering light is beautiful; making the plain room glow. Through the hall windows across from my door highrise apartments frame the Cerro San Cristobal, where I can just make out the ivory Virgin Mary set on top.

And the location! The student home is set two or three elegant sycamore-lined blocks from Providencia, one of the wealthier and safer spots in the city. Behind high iron bars, though, of course. Everything is behind iron bars here.

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My first week here draws to a close tomorrow. We have managed to walk miles around the city, visit several language schools, visit my school campus (which is less of a campus and more of a stunning park, fountains and all), go out to see several distant relatives, go to the market (feria), and host several meals at my aunt's house. I have the beginnings of several excellent high-level connections to further my research. I even learned how to make fried fish, and later served pesto gnocchi for lunch.

I have been thoroughly warned of the dangers of the city, and have taken some tricks to heart. As my aunt suggested, I carry a laminated copy of my ID (which unfortunately is currently my passport, as my ID card has not arrived yet) instead of the original. My bag remains clutched ("aferrada") tight to my side, zipped closed, whenever we step out of the house. And I don't wear expensive jewelry, nor anything resembling gold. That was a surprise for me - absolutely no one one the Metro (as it is called here) wears gold. Silver, brass, low quality earrings are the rule.

I'm still musing over how to take pictures of the feria; perhaps my favorite experience in a city. Pick pockets are the problem here.

So I was also surprised to see people listening to mp3 players on the packed Metro; I would imagine those to be a prime target for thieves. I have seen one iPhone so far, and only one iPod.

Arrival to Santiago

The 18th of January, Dulles airport was quiet, almost deserted. Customs was a ten minute ordeal.

Miami International featured the famous (at least in my house) Cuban coffee, really (really!) good guava pastries, and flocks of stylishly dressed individuals. Some airline in the D terminal must have been unpacking runway models. My mother and I played vagabond for five hours while waiting for our Santiago connection, claiming a corner of a flashy tabloid and romance novel store for a while as I hoarded cooking magazines and secretively flipped through an un-purchased Economist ($7!!)

It will suffice to say that The Holiday is a terrible movie; I was thoroughly mushed out. Romance without substance leaves me uncomfortably squeamish and disgruntled.

The huge stuffed elephant my mother had bought at Ikea for a young cousin in Chile accompanied us on our journey; the flights were remarkably more comfortable as a result! It was also a great conversation starter with normally stern-faced officials. I guess three by two foot fuzzy gray stuffed elephants are a great testament to one's good character. I even got through with contraband nail-clippers.

I still couldn't sleep but for fitful naps and dark dreams.

The flight over Chile coincided with the sunrise, and the Andes mountain range (cordillera)
was unveiled of its' usual clouds to reveal dry and jagged mountains, rising high above the cloud line into imposing snowy teeth. My mother had never seen the Aconcagua in all its' glory as it was that morning.



We arrived in Chile after 24 hours of travel. 30 C, the hot and dry scent of the city hit me in a deep breath, familiar and pleasant.