reflections & observations

I guess it´s about time for me to put a very National-Geographic-esque blog entry about "what Chile is like." I put that in quotation marks because I think it´s always a precarious endeavor to use "to be" verbs when describing a people, a culture, a place. And really, I´m only qualified to talk about Concepción as I have only spent time here and haven´t yet ventured into the countryside. But, here it goes... some reflections and observations on Conce so far.

1. This is Chile´s second largest city. It reminds me of Lexington in terms of the size and the impact that the Universities have on the overall vibe of the town. There are some surrounding communities (kind of like St. Matthews, New Albany, etc. are to Louisville) that add considerably to the size of the metro area. It´s easy to walk around here. You can get from one side of town to the other on foot in about 45 minutes.

2. If you don´t feel like walking or the weather is not so pleasant, you can take a colectivo. Those are shared taxi cabs with designated routes. I take the #6 to get to the University, for example. They carry a maximum of 4 passengers, and it costs 450 pesos, which is a bit less than a dollar.

3. People talk to each other a lot more here than we do in Kentucky. In KY, you can go to the grocery, buy a week´s worth of provisions, go through the automatic check-out, fill up your car, pay your bills, everything without ever speaking to another human being. Here, you go into a store and they ask you "¿una consulta?" and then you just kinda chat with them while you look around. There are supermarkets here, but the mercado is more fun. You definitely talk to people there. You talk about the produce, about the quantity you want, where you´re from, when the next shipment of goat cheese is coming...everything! This can be kind of difficult for me, sometimes, when I´m feeling shy or antisocial. But talking to people is just part of everyday living here.

4. The produce, meat, etc. is all local. Chile is an extremely fertile land, and you can find a bounty of fruits and vegetables for sale on every street corner. These corner produce stands are supplied from the surrounding vegas. A lot of the produce is transferred from the vegas to the town (as well as goods needed from town to the vegas) by horse and carriage. This is an extremely modernized country with great technological infrastructure, and all the comforts of home, but they still use horses to move goods. I think it´s great! Smaller carbon footprint, and it´s always fun to hear horses galloping down the street. Beats ths sound of horns honking, for sure.

5. The Germans were here. Back at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the Chilean government invited a bunch of Germans to come live, work, land-grab, etc. They definitely left their mark! One of the favorite foods here is a hot dog called the "completo." It´s complete with a tomato topping, guacamole (avacados are ABUNDANT here, which I love) and mayonaise. These things are sold everywhere, and most people seem to eat them with considerable regularity. I haven´t eaten one of these yet, but I know it´s only a matter of time... Another remnant of the Germans is that people say "aya" a lot, as in to say yes. It comes from the German "ya."

I think 5 is enough for one post. Maybe next time I´ll go into detail about how warm and welcoming the people are, and how everyone is very proud to be Chilean and hopes that people visiting Chile fall in love with it too. So far so good, as far as I´m concerned.