i had my first experience with santiago public transportation today. chris and i rode two buses down from his house to meet lari at the metro. the buses were large, but filled up very quickly - and they have handles on the back of the headrests for a reason :) once on the metro, i got my "bip" card, which is a reloadable card i can use on any bus or metro in the trans-santiago system. another card i think i want to get is a library card - to the library in the metro! you can check out books at these mini-library kiosks, and return them there when you are finished.
we got in at the tail end of the train, which was relatively empty until the second stop, and as we went around a turn i had a sensation similar to looking into two mirrors reflected into each other as the white poles, dark windows and blue seats seemed to multiply and sway into infinity. that sensation ended as a tidal wave of people flowed in on the next stop and you could no longer see past the balding head of the sweating business man in front of you or through the mohawk of the would be punk to your left. we got to the main campus of u catolica in about 10 minutes - casa central is a beautiful old building with an open air plaza in the middle. it's where i'll be having my bio classes. about two blocks over is the san lucia artesania -a local crafts fair- kind of like the french quarter in n.o. but a little more ethnic :) i found a neat little old man who sells bags of old stamps, old nature prints and antique books and maps. i'll definitely find my way back over there (and to the fresh mango ice cream!). llamas were a favorite motif in the knitted goods area, so neal - your present will be easy to find, hard to decide on. there is also a kind of chilean 8 string ukulele-sized instrument they call a charango...if anyone is interested i could probably fit it in my suitcase :)
then, being the good american that i am, we hit one of the nearest starbucks (there are about 20 in santiago, i had no idea!). i got a mango and tea frapp - one of the many different offerings in this three level (not quite stories, there there were three sets of stairs) establishment. there is free wifi in all the locations though - so probably i will be there an embarrassing amount.
we then hit two very different malls - los caracones (in providencia) which means "the snails" because the building is two giant spirals with tiny stores studding the outside walls (i put a picture on flickr"). then we went to falabella -the "cuico" mall. *cuico - think "it girl" - very wealthy, trendy* it kind of felt like a big florida mall - open air plazas, palm trees, big labels. it was there that we feasted on delicious, delectable crepes - made before our very eyes and filled first with oregano goat cheese, tomatoes and spinach (for an affordable $7) and then, oh, then, with nutella. and fresh strawberries. i took a picture to commemorate the deliciousness. the crepe cafe has 3 locations; paris, san francisco, and (randomly but fortunately) santiago.
waiting of the bus home, i got to snag some photos of some of the street art/graffiti that is everywhere. the banksy style stencils are very popular, as it enables them to get a written message across quickly and clearly. around the casa central there is a lot of vegan protest art, which i will get photos of soon. the other two most popular guerrilla art themes are free education and of course, che guevara.
i'm moving in with the new family tomorrow - they are just 15 minutes walking from the metro and are very sweet. mirella, the mother, is going to walk me through my route on monday - getting to the metro, where to get of, where to go from there etc. the lord has really blessed me with some wonderful contacts down here, so thank you everyone who was praying about housing!
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