Out and about

I finally got to act like a tourist and see the city a bit. I wanted to check out one of the big hills in town, but they were closing it down just as I got there. Oh well. There was much more to see. In no certain order, here are some pics from activities around Santiago

Morsa - Walrus

There are a lot of chinese and sushi restaurants in my neighborhood. It´s pretty popular. It´s also a bit funny to hear chinese people speaking spanish. That reminds me of a place in Laramie. What´s different from Laramie is that most of these restaurants are medium-fancy, at least compared to the surrounding establishments. Pretty much the same Chinese food options available in the US are enjoyed here. Strangely enough, it remind me of being back in Wyoming. Everything was partially familiar except for the language the waiter spoke.

"Sushi" is the same word in English and Spanish. However, it´s pronounced "sut-tshee" here.

The "dollar" store

I found this store when I was out shopping with my tailor for some fabric. As of Jan 17, 2013, it can be translated to the "$0.82" store. What a bargain. Since I can´t find any pants here that are long enough, my tailor going to make me some pants for work. I picked out a grey fabric with light blue checks and a dark red number. Hopefully they turn out well and aren´t too "extreme" for the office.

Normally people dress pretty nice here. There are exceptions, however. Today I saw a lot of brown belt/black shoe (or visa versa) combos. Come on, people. You know better.

Statue at the hill

Since the upper part of the hill was closed, Marco (tour guide) and I walked around the lower portion. There are a couple of statues and lots of plant in this area. Above is Marco sitting on the lap of Jose Victorino Lastarria. Ain´t that cute? I forgot to read why he has a statue. Oops. Mi trick knee was giving me fits on the uneven surface.

Speaking of people and their names, I introduced myself to the cleaning lady at work and asked for her name. She replied bashfully, "Anabelle Anita Santa Jose de la Ovalle Rodriguez Paz del Sur" (or something along those lines). Luckily she´s cool with just "Anita".

Corner of something and something

I was just walking around and saw this building. I don´t know what it is or where I found it. That dog was cute though.

Chevy Spark

This car is ubiquitous here. I think it´s planned for the US but hasn´t arrived yet. In fact, a lot of small cars are introduced in this market before the US. I´ve seen some pretty fancy small cars. Mercedes has one here that´s not available up north as well. Whereas we have full size cars like crown victorias for taxis in the US, they use compact cars like a Hyundai Elantra or Toyota Camry. Another thing about the cars here is that they are almost all manual transmission. I´m not sure why. Almost all newer cars have some sort of backup, rearview camera option. This is more of a luxury item in the US, but very common here. It´s necessary for the tight parking jobs.

I´ve ridden in a couple taxis here. They are generally cheap and the drivers don´t demand a huge tip. One night, some friends and I were waiting in a busy area for a ride home. All the taxis were being used by other people. A guy pulled up in his own ride and asked us, "taxi?" I guess this isn´t unheard of here either. It was an unmarked car with a very young man driver. Normally, I wouldn´t hop into a stranger´s car into the middle of the night. There were three of us and only one of him. I figured we would be alright. Sure enough, he took us home safely and only charged us about $6 USD.

Statue on the hill

This is what it feels like to be in the metro. Actually, it´s probably a little tighter.
Speaking of the metro, I tried to use my student ID to get the advertised student discount. I showed the lady a the ticket counter my valid card and she litterally LOL´d me. She showed the card to her friends who laughed at it and me too. I tried to ask her what was so funny and why it wouldn´t work. I couldn´t hear a word she said though. Those people are behind glass and it´s very loud in there. Oh well. At least I tried and she got a good laugh.

statue on the hill

Marco is giving water to the dog in the casting.

Swollen horse

Just because it was there, I took a picture with this horse in the park. Hopefully in a month or two, I´ll be well enough to go running in this park. It´s a popular place to do so at night.

Well, that´s about it for today. Here´s one last picture to end the day. Stay tuned.

 

 

fountain/statue at entrance to hill