Chile Part III

Dogs. Yes, they have them. Everywhere. At one point Chile decided to pass a law that prohibits anyone from killing a stray dog. Because of this, everywhere you go there are giant stray dogs wandering around the city, scavenging for food and trying to survive. I have to admit that it´s one of the greatest sources of stress for me, because my naive student companions are always squealing and trying to pet all 100 of them. I try to deter them by saying something like ¨they have fleas¨ or ¨see how it´s ear is hanging by a thread? Probably not something you want to touch¨ or my favorite ¨I wonder how many diseases a dog can carry at one time...¨ Needless to say that I am constantly aware of the multitudes of canines in the streets, and I have a new found appreciation for dog snatchers and animal shelters.

Another thing I appreciate very much is central heating, which Chile has none of. It´s quite the challenge, although possible, to stay warm here in Chile. In fact, it actually feels colder inside the buildings than outside because of the lack of sunshine indoors. So just to give you an example of how I keep myself warm, I will tell you what you should do in the morning: Alarm goes off 15 mins before you need to get up. Force yourself out of bed and start the Kerosene stove in your room. Go back into bed for 15 mins to let the room warm up. Get out of bed and put on your fleece coat and stand by the stove for a couple of minutes. Gather up enough courage to leave your warmer environment for the frigid bathroom where you force yourself to sit on the cold toilet and wash your hands with cold water (don´t even think about taking a shower in the morning. It´s much warmer to take one at night with the electric stove going in the bathroom. This also gives your hair the whole night to dry). Go back to your now less than cold bedroom and pull out your clothes for the day and place them on the stove so they can warm up. Meanwhile, locate your mittens and put them on. When your clothes are warm put them on and then go to kitchen for breakfast with your down vest on, because you know it´s going to be freezing in there. After breakfast return to your room, turn off your stove and already begin to miss its heat and put on every other piece of clothing you can and go out into the cold outdoors.....There you have it. That´s my survival guide for you in case you ever come here in the middle of winter.

We have had a good time here in Santiago and are preparing ourselves for a 6-8 hour bus trip south to Concepcion tomorrow afternoon on what is called a ¨bus cama¨- a bus bed. In other words it´s like a Greyhound of some sort. That means a completely different host family and new metro and bus routes to figure out. Flexibility is the key!