So, I always thought that when the crosswalk light was green, the pedestrian would take his turn first. Then, the cars and buses could turn right after the pedestrians crossed. Not so in South America!! Though Buenos Aires was worse, I have definitely experienced my fair share of excitement on the streets in Santiago.
I arrived in Santiago just a week ago. In one week, here’s what I’ve seen on the streets:
The day after I arrived I decided to take my clothes to the laundry. The first laundrymat I entered was going to charge me $12 to wash and dry one load! Crazy! I took my clothes and walked out. (Now, things are very expensive in Chile…much to my dismay…but, we’ll save that for another discussion). I thought I would “laundrymat shop”, so I headed down the street to see if I could find a better price.
While walking, I heard this crashing sound. I looked to the left and saw a man off his motorcycle with a helmet in his hand. Then, I saw a car in the road without a driver. I looked to the right and two men were running, one chasing the other. The second man caught up with the first and yanked on his collar. Then, the police showed up and took over. While the policeman detained the one guy, the other was pointing at him and yelling! I’m not sure what it was all about, but I suppose there was some sort of collision and someone was upset about it!
Wow, what an adventure…I then walked about 12 blocks and found a much cheaper laundrymat that only charged $9 for one load. Still a crazy price, but I didn’t have any other options.
My Spanish school has many fun activities throughout the week. This past week I attending a cooking class, a movie night, went to a futbol game and a music fiesta with Mexican music. Now, about that futbol game…
We boarded a bus to go to the stadium. I had been forewarned that futbol (soccer) fans get a little rowdy in this part of the world. However, the school took us to this particular game because the stadium is nicer, there’s more security and this game is generally more tame than the others. But, they didn’t tell me about the adventures of the public transportation! We boarded a bus (my first bus ride in Santiago). After about 5 or 10 minutes, the guys in the back of the bus started talking very loud. Then, they started standing up, smoking in the bus and singing chants. The people in the middle of the bus responded by singing too! It was very fun until…more people started smoking and drinking too! People started getting louder. Smoke was filling the bus with no a/c to the point of being a bit choking. Then, they busted out the marijuana. Wow, that smell was so strong on the bus! A student from my school were in a debate on whether or not marijuana is legal in Chile, when the bus stopped and the police boarded. They arrested one guy and took him with them in their patrol car. The conductor of the bus came to the back of the bus and scolded the passengers loudly. Then we commenced our ride again with a police escort all the way to the stadium. But, the crazy part of the whole story is that they arrested a guy that I thought was innocent. The guy I saw smoking weed was standing beside him. Now, perhaps they were both in on it, but I didn’t see him smoking it. After the arrest, everyone on the bus was much calmer!
Back to the story I began with…today I went to the mall. Wow, the malls are amazing here! The food court alone has about 20 different options, and there are probably 10 to 15 more restaurants and eateries in the mall. There are 3 floors in this one! So, if you like shopping I recommend coming to Santiago! Now, I’m going to take a rabbit trail for a minute. I don’t know what got into me, but I couldn’t stop eating today! I had a wonderful lunch at my house which consisted of a great soup, fish dinner with tomatoes and rice. Then, I had fruit for dessert. But, when I got to the mall about 2 hrs. later I suddenly wanted to eat again! So, after shopping for a few I stopped at a place called “Crepes and Waffles” and treated myself to the best raspberry crepe! Yum! Some of America’s well known restaurants in the mall were: Tony Roma’s, TGI Fridays, Burger King, McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC! I felt right at home. However, for me it is easy to pass these places by because I want to eat the parillas, sushi and food from Chile! Usually when I see an American restaurant I turn my nose up go somewhere else! But, today was different. I couldn’t get Taco Bell out of my head. I passed it twice and even after eating my big dessert I still wanted to go there. So, I gave in and had Taco Bell! And, it was ummmmm ummmmm good!
Now, I had to take a bus and a subway to get home. Then, I had a 20 min. walk. Just about two blocks before reaching my house, I crossed a crosswalk on green, then proceeded to walk in the direction of my house. Then, I heard a crashing sound. I looked back to see that a bus driver had slammed on his brakes and had bumped into a guy on a bicycle who had crossed just after me (and I am sure the light was still green). I felt so bad for the guy on the bike, but he just rode off. I walked his direction and caught up with him making sure he was okay. He said he was fine and for me to not worry about it, just as though it happened every day! Yikes! If we had been in the US, there probably would have been a few choice words spoken, the police called and possibly an insurance settlement or a law suit. I suppose here, they just expect it!
