i want to ride my bicycle, i want to ride my bike

I got a bicycle! Well actually this is old news, what? I've been busy... When we got our place, I realized that I wasn't really terribly excited about walking a solid 25 minutes each way to school, sometimes twice a day= 2 hours of walking. We got the bike at Persa Bio Bio which is like a perma-flea market in South Central Santiago. I was convinced I was going to be able to buy a second-hand bike because it's well-known that you could go to Bio Bio and buy things that have essentially been stolen from tourists, gringos and other Chileans. *At some point before I leave here I want to walk up to a street vendor selling clothing items, nail clippers and electronics and say in perfect Chilean Spanish "hey, that's mine! where'd you find it?" (as I retrieve the item from the laid-out blanket).

Anyway, I didn't see too many stolen bikes, only brand-new ones. Thinking I would be disappointed with prices, I was happy to find a vendor who made his own bikes, charging about 50 mil ($87). So Scott and I walked and rode it home, stopping on San Diego Street (the street that specializes in bikes) to look for helmets and a bike for Scott. On the way, we spotted an oil-soaked wooden-shelf object that we thought we would use for clothes. We tried to find a nicer shelf for sale at Bio Bio but felt we were being gringoed so we refused to buy. So I rode my bike and Scott carried this heavy thing like, way too far. After he traveled 6 blocks with it we became reaquainted with reality. Would we really use this? Scott asked what I would use it for. I offered, maybe socks? I asked him the same.... silence. We burst into laughter. It was pretty hilarious. So we left the POS on the side of the road and then he happily rode the bike home while I checked out the bike lanes on foot.

Financially the bike will pay for itself in a little more than 2 months (it would have cost me 5,500 CP a week, at least). Also, some of the areas I have to transport myself through at night (11PM) aren't necessarily the best. Being on a bike will definitely get me home more quickly. I've been really happy with the bike lane situation also; I don't have to travel very far before I find one for myself. The other day a pedestrian hit me and I fell off my bike (totally her fault... I was in the road, not in the crosswalk and she wasn't looking). I was completely annoyed, yelling in her direction in English. Anyway that experience reinforced my gratitude for bike lanes. It's kind of unnerving when even pedestrians can be dangerous.

Our Apartment

Wanted to thank everybody who has supported us here in Chile and along our journeys to get here. Some things have been tough with the language, but we've already seen quite a bit and are excited for what's next. Here are some pictures of our apartment for those of you who've asked. Thanks again for following along!

Graffiti Part Deux

As promised. Caitlin said to me in Valparaiso over the weekend that I couldn't keep taking pictures of every instance of graffiti...she's definitely right on that one as there is so much here. I'll keep collecting though and hopefully post some every so often!

Amazing Graffiti

One of the coolest things about living in Santiago is the graffiti that covers many of it's walls. While there is plenty of graffiti that looks like crap or is full of vulgarities, there is a larger proportion of the street art that is....art! Whether poetry or painting, this stuff is everywhere and it's beautiful.

More to follow!

Notes on Graffiti and Women

So just to get some unrelated tidbits out there....

Here is a picture that captures another example of the very loud support in this city for women's education and other issues. I don't know if it's just because it's Women's History Month or not, but they don't do it small here. A possible coincidence, but related nonetheless, was the extreme number of female only portapottys at the concert last night compared to ones for the men.

The other reason for this picture is to show you how common graffiti is in Santiago. This is purposely an example of some pretty standard variety. It's all over the place...nice buildings or not. I'll have a post on some of my favorites coming up shortly.

Meat at Your Market

We've been having a lot of fun exploring the many markets around Santiago. The city is very large, and the markets are just as unique as the differing neighborhoods that we've found them in. From flea markets to produce, meat, and fish, the Chileans do things big. The agricultural backbone of this country is so closely knit with the metropolitan aspects of society, that these aircraft hanger sized markets(or bigger) are interspersed throughout the city. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about this is the relationship the people who sell you the food have with their product. Each vendor has put either... sweat into growing or catching the food, sweat and money into bringing it to me, or both! Either way, these people have a connection with the food that is really impressive.

At a local meat market, Cait and I were excited to get some beef to put in a stew. After asking the butcher what he recommended, he finished his snack, and with the same hand reached into the display case to point out some meats he liked for us. All throughout the shop, there were butchers working with raw mean, without gloves. In the deli, the cuts of cheese and meat were handled in the same way. In most
stores here, you interact with a salesperson who gives you a slip of paper that indicates what you've ordered. You then take that slip of paper to a nearby booth where you pay the cashier. Now with both your order slip and a receipt, you make your way back to the salesperson who get's you what you came for. There is also no option for leaving a store without a receipt so by the end of the day...well you're pockets are stuffed.

The fingerprints of our butcher...appropriately printed in blood!

Crazy Cool Few Days

It's been a bit of whirlwind but there's been a lot of action here in the last few days. The following is a Peter Gammons inspired notebook of the highlights.

Friday Night: Fun night out barhopping with some friends that culminated in an always amazing feast of wine, grapes and strawberries

Saturday-Sunday: Spent the weekend at the coastal town of Valaparaiso. This is a very old city with a ton of historical architecture and culture. It's also a vibrant shipping port with tons of seafood restaurants to capitalize on all the fresh catch. I may or may not have gotten pickpocketed on Sunday...luckily my money was not in my wallet at the time, so when the wallet was returned...well we'll never know

Sunday night: We bought three pirated DVDs for $1.70 US each and only got to watch one! We were sitting down to get started when all of a sudden, we heard incredibly loud screaming coming from outside. Sticking my head out, I was amazed to find that it was coming from all over the city. With it being Dia del Joven Combatientes and protests around town, we thought that might be the cause. After turning on the TV though, we found out that it was the entire city freaking out because Chile had just taken the lead over Peru in a World Cup Qualifying game! We watched this game for the next 90 minutes and everytime a big play began, you'd start to hear the cheering again. I can't wait to go to a game in person here becuase it was one of the most amazing sports experiences of my life. Really really cool.

Pictures to follow :)