Cream Cheese Sushi and Other Surprisingly Wonderful Things

Spanish class today: We were supposed to go to the Cerro Santa Lucia, randomly interview some Chileans, and take a picture to prove we actually went. I ended up with 67 photos on my camera. Whoops. But then, that’s typical – everytime I leave the apartment (or even when I don’t), I get more than I ask for, in the best possible way. Here are my top 4 this week:

1. The “cultural act” in the park nearby seemed like a good way to wrap up a lazy Sunday. I went with a couple friends and brought some work for class. What occurred in that park can only be described as a hard-rock concert for children. The only lyrics I caught were “Jesus” and “recycling,” but the kids were loving it. Misteriously, I was very productive and finished my entire assignment.
2. I ran to el Mercado Central. It was a bit far for me, so I took a walking break in the market. You can see where this is going…I ran all the way back swinging a new pair of shoes. (But they were only $6 USD and I love them, I really do.)
3. I wanted a decent hike. A few metro stops and a short bus ride later, I got a workout and a view for which I would have traveled hours. Hiking is in my opinion the most underrated opportunity in Santiago. The pre-cordillera (the foothills of the Andes) starts right at the edge of the city, and so do the trails.
4. I wanted a conversation around the dinner table. I got tears in my eyes from laughing.

I could go on – I wanted sushi and got strangely delicious cream cheese/avocado/shrimp rolls. I wanted a political education and got the 40^th anniversary of the military coup, presidential elections, and Chilean independence day. But food and politics merit their own respective blog posts, and so I’ll leave it at that.

I thought I would really miss university life, miss the way I could just walk on campus any day and stumble upon a moon bounce, free ice cream, or lectures on everything from nanobiotechnology to the politics of pygamas in 18^th century France. Yet I’ve found life here just as rewarding, only instead of just campus I have the whole of Santiago de Chile.