A Day In The Life

It's nice to see you have returned for another update!

We have talked in the past about becoming part of a small community and having new friends over for supper. It wasn't planned this way, but as it turned out, this would be our Thanksgiving dinner. Between us are Alethea and Bill Eason of California. They have been in Chile for almost a year. Alethea teaches at a girl's school while Bill tutors students in their home. With elections front and centre in both of our homelands, and having met at church, we covered both politics and religion and managed to end the night as friends! Good sign!
Alethea has also published a children's novel called "Hungry". (Harper Collins)



Saturday was also "Time Change" day here, so we of course moved our clocks back before going to bed. Dooohh!! As we are going into summer here, we should have moved the clocks ahead! I've never really stopped to think about the effects of time change from north to south. Anyway, we are now three hours ahead of Saskatchewan.

We spent Monday wandering around our neighborhood and taking pictures of what daily life looks like. We have talked about the pleasure of shopping for fruits and vegetables at the local market. The apartment building in the upper right is not ours, but is close to it. The market is three blocks away from home.






On this corner there are several small shops, including this newspaper stand. It is immediately outside of the veggie store, and by magazine stand standards, is quite large. These kiosks are very common, especially in the older downtown area where pedestrian traffic is higher. As you might expect, they also sell chocolate bars, gum, cigarettes, etc. . Some also have pay phones attached.



In the downtown area, it seems that most proprietors will sit inside the booths virtually all day.
Chlostrophobics need not apply! There is barely room to change your mind!



And after you pick up your fresh fruit, vegetables and the paper, you can stop at the Ferreteria for some supplies. I needed a screw driver for my chair project, and this is where I went. (ferreteria = hardware)




There is also another veggie market between the hardware store and the corner market. You can see some of the produce on the right. To the left is a flower stand that is run by the same people that run the small veggie market. They are very friendly people.



Charlene keeps fresh flowers on the table and buys a bouquet of Alstromeria for about $3.00.
There is no reason for men not to bring flowers home!





A little further afield now as we made the 20 minute walk downtown and stumbled upon the home office of the local football team, Everton. Early in the blog we mentioned the Sausalito Stadium and wanting to take in an Everton home game. That hasn't happened yet, and I have been unable to find the date of the next home game on line so when opportunity knocks . . .

The office was locked but we managed to get in and ask a question or two. . . sort of. We left not knowing too much more than when we arrived but did get a short look around and a glimpse of what felt like a hallowed shrine of championship memorabilia. It seems that there is a break in the schedule with play resuming in November. Attending a football game in SA is on the list of "musts" before we come home. By the way, the stadium is named "Sausalito" as Vina del Mar is a sister city of Sausalito, California.





Still in the downtown area, and more specifically at the Plaza O'Higgins, there are many hansom cabs available and they seem quite popular with the tourists. There are also several in our home area as we are close to the ocean and the casino, and therefore a high volume of tourists. Generally, the horses don't look very healthy.
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Some of you have wondered whether Halloween happens in this part of the world. As you can see, the answer is "yes". This is a display in a grocery store. Time will tell what form it will take and what differences we'll see between what we are used to and what we will see here.



If you are living around here and would like your car washed (inside and out), you can park on the street, make a deal with a local parking attendant / car washer and walk away. The people that wash the cars have 5 gallon pails of water available and always seem to be busy. This seems like a pretty good system but also makes us think about the question of employment. It seems that most people are working at something, whether it is washing cars or selling trinkets on street corners. We have seen very little panhandling here.



While walking (and we have done plenty!) we have learned to keep our eyes on the path that lies ahead. This grate is in place but behind it is a cavern that would normally be covered with wooden planks. This one has been open for days now with no warning and is only an example of the danger that is everywhere. Friends (Bill and Alethea) witnessed an incident in Valparaiso where a child fell into a hole. The mother then disappeared into the hole as she jumped in after her child. A ladder was needed to get them out and fortunately, neither were hurt.



With the advent of Daylight Savings time, there is more time in the evening to enjoy the beach. As we walked, we came across some artwork.
(You can decide which one is most like me!!)
The artist said it took him 12 hours for the gorilla and 5 hours for Homer. We believe those numbers to be correct but we sometimes walk away from Spanish conversations (even very basic ones) and wonder if either side really understood what the other was saying.



Of course, Homer has an empty cervesa in his hand!



Ending the day by sitting on a rock and watching the waves roll in is something that we have come to appreciate and will miss when we move on to our next location.
Till then, . . . . aaahhhhh!



Random notes:
Wave update - The waves have once again grown and it is a full moon. Admittedly, my research may not hold up in the scientific community but what we have witnessed coincides with what I have read on the net about the tide cycles. (higher tides during full and new moons)
Whatever the reason, the larger waves are infinitely more interesting to watch and listen to.

Shopping - As discussed, small shops of almost every variety are commonplace here. There are also monstrous grocery, hardware and home furnishing stores. This contrast reminded us of a large home made poster that we saw when we first came to Valparaiso. I don't recall the exact wording (mostly because it was in Spanish) but the message was to preserve the traditional methods of shopping. Judging by the crowds in the supermarkets, the large retailers are winning the fight. Given that, we hope that the "little guys" can keep enough market share to survive. It is definitely part of the charm of this place.

This afternoon we are off to look at an apartment in Valpariaso. Valparaiso has such a different feel about it that life would be significantly different there. Different, however, is not necessarily bad. We are also hopeful that we will have a student starting on Monday. We will let you know how these and other adventures turn out in the next installment!

As the Chileans say "Ciao"
Norm and Charlene