The story of Osa

Among the street dogs we see and meet, there are a few of our favorites. Daniela and Stephen seem to have taken a liking to Clinton (named after Clinton Kelly for the fancy vests he wears), and the two tough dogs in the park they've named the Petes. There's also Laz formerly No Name, a small white dog who they didn't give a name. After a scare that he may be a dead dog we saw, Daniela and Stephen renamed him Laz (for Lazarus).

I've got my own favorites. Calcetines, a large red terrier who lives near the library/cafe in Provedencia. Mellow Yellow, a tail-less golden something that I'm sure is Theodora's father.

And then there's Osa. Osa is a small timid black dog that lived in front of our building. Very sweet, she was always afraid of people and other dogs. She would cower and shrink away while other dogs, even ones with owners, would eat her food. Little by little she started coming out of her shell, although she would still cower if she saw another dog. Not too long ago we found this note taped to the spot outside our building where Osa would sleep. It says "Encontré casita :)". Someone had given her a home and
left a note for the neighbors that looked after her.


There's actually a small community of people who look after the dogs who live in the park. 
They live in the apartments alongside the park (usually a little more wealthy, older crowd) 
and feed the dogs, build them small houses, give them tags and collars so the dog catchers 
don't take them away, and even take them to the vet for necessary operations (if they get 
hit by a car or something).

Regardless, Osa is no longer part of this crowd and now has a home which was happy news.


Lauren

Preunic

These pictures definitely do not capture the craziness that lies within this place.

So I'm told this is the cheapest place to buy beauty products in Santiago, and the first time I visited this place it was absolutely madness. 

There are two counters behind which are the majority of  products that are sold in the store -- or at least the small, easy to steal products. In order to get something here, you have to go to a counter, get the attention of a very busy salesperson, who then gives you a receipt. Not the receipt showing you paid for the product, but a preliminary receipt before you actually go pay. 

Then you wait in line and pay, choosing to either pay in full for your products or in cuotas, incrementally. I never understood what this meant, so when someone asked how many cuotas I wanted to pay in I was confused. This term was new. I just wanted to pay, take my things and leave. After paying you take your final receipt back to the counter where another very busy bagging person hands you your purchase. 

If you want things from both counters, sunscreen and shampoo say, you have to get two preliminary receipts, pay (thankfully at the same time) then give your receipts to two bagging people. 

This whole process can be exhausting. Forget examining or thinking about price vs. quantity vs. quality. This is not the time for such indulgences. You better know what product you have in mind before you set foot in this store.

During this process there are all kinds of people trying to grab the attention of an over worked saleswoman, and it's very noisy and over stimulating. The only thing I can liken this to is the first time I visited the stock market when I was little. The shouting and pointing for things you want to buy; it feels like you need to make a bid on something before someone else snags the product. It's actually kind of exhausting to visit this place.

Because when I first moved back to Chile I was just visiting, I only had a 10-day supply of all my beauty products. Shampoo, face wash, conditioner, soap -- all the essentials -- so I found myself in this place all.  the. time. replenishing my minimal supply of beauty products. 

Now that I'm well stocked after the holidays (with shampoos and lotions that will probably outlive me), I probably won't be visiting a Preunic anytime soon.

Lauren 

Eathquake, the movie.

I just found this online via Daniela. It's a movie about the Feb. 27 earthquake in Chile and looks amazing. I'll definitely want to check this out.

Lauren

Walk to work

So since moving back to Chile and walking to work everyday, I've realized I this is the most beautiful walk to work that I've ever had (which isn't saying a whole lot because I graduated college two years ago). But! I've worked all kinds of jobs, before and during college. My walk to work is really stunning, and it's pretty short -- about one kilometer give or take away from the front door of our apartment.

Because it's so pretty I thought I'd share my walk with some commentary. Happy weekend!

 The view out the front door of our apartment. Just pas those bushes is the Mapocho river.

 The Mapocho river.

 A fountain in Parque Forestal, just a block from our apartment.

 La Casa Naranja: an arts center and nice restaurant, bar.

 The Bellas Artes muesum.

 Cute cobblestone street

 Outside the Emporio la Rosa ice cream store and cafe (they're ice cream is amazing!).

 Check out the amazing architecture.

 The always busy Baquedano, where people congregate. It was here that people came to celebrate after Chile advanced in the World Cup last year.

 MoviStar tower

 Second park I get to walk through, Parque Bustamante

Lauren

Cuico vs. Flaite

One of the first things I learned on my return to Chile is that there are two Chiles. The upper class Chile (cuico) and what is considered the lower class (flaite). Other friends had mentioned that there were two Chiles in Santiago before, but only recently was I exposed to how deep these references run.


I was at lunch with two very good male friends when I said that I was going out with someone later that night. One replied "Just make sure he's ... people like us" half in jest because it's a typical thing you hear, but also half serious.


The two Chile's are divided by who lives on what side of the roundabout that is at the center of the city, known as the "belly button of Chile." If you live on the east side, closest the Andes, you're cuico. Where you went to college, what color your eyes are, what color your hair is, what color your skin is, what you drive, even where you went to high school indicates which of these groups you belong to. (I happily live on the flaite side of town, which I can testify, isn't that bad.)


If you have ojos claros, from the north, live on the east side of Baquedano you're 100% cuico. People from the south, dark eyed, dark hair, went the poorer schools, dark skin (this seems to be an international discriminating factor) you can be (but are not necessarily) considered flaite. Flaite is almost synonymous with the word ghetto.


You can also tell someone's class by their last name. Hearing certain names, instantly you can know what class the person comes from.


There are of course gray areas, but the lines separating class are still very closely follow these distinctions.


On my ride home I watched a Chilean film "Machuca" about two kids who tried to defy these lines during the transition to the Pinochet regime. One kid from the ritzy Vitacura (nicknamed "strawberry face" because of his red hair and freckles) befriends one of the fliate kids in his class. This mixing of classes is seen as socialist and (spoiler alert) the kids from the bad part of town are taken out of school after Pinochet comes to power.


I've embedded the trailer for "Machuca" below.


Lauren

Initial thoughts part II.

This time last year I was writing a very similar blog post. I was setting off to live in Santiago, Chile with a friend. This year, however, I'm embarking on my own adventure and moving back alone after already spending a year there.


I moved back to Santiago in September of last year. Initially I left only to only to visit friends on a 10-day trip and ended up scoring an amazing job as editor in chief of an English-language magazine. In the three months between when I moved back to Chile and now, when I'm leaving Los Angeles after visiting my family, I realized I missed blogging. I missed having a platform to share my daily experiences, thoughts, and photos with friends and family. I missed sharing Santiago.


This blog, however, will be different from Chillin' in Chile. Like Chillin' I aim to use this space to share my thoughts, experiences, observations, reflections, photos, everything with my family, friends, and anyone who's interested. But, unlike last time, it's just me writing these posts. No dialog or discussion posts, like I had when I was writing with Aneya (unless I can get some of my expat friends to share their thoughts on here, too).


This time I'm not moving to a city I've never been to. I know Santiago quite a bit better than I did, and I've discovered there are things I love and hate about living there.


Among the things I love about Santiago:
--Speaking Spanish every day
--The warm people
--The Andes
--Walking through two beautiful parks to get to work every(ish) morning.
--The busy downtown


The things I don't love, I'll have to write about another time.


Thanks for reading and I'm eager to hear feedback on what you all think.




Lauren