Lo bueno y lo malo

Things I am loving about Chile so far:

1. Fresh, delicious produce todos los días.

Our local feria, where you can buy any type of produce you can possibly imagine for way cheaper than the grocery store.  Peaches are the size of softballs, a head of corn is twice the size of one of ours, fresh plums fall from a tree in my backyard, and I can buy ~2.3 lbs of avocado for around USD$2.  That brings me to my next point (related, but important enough to merit its own spot on the list):

2.  Palta like WOAH.

If you didn't know, I am WAY down with avocado.  So I am SUPER down with the fact Chileans put palta on pretty much everything.  Sushi, sandwiches, burgers, completos, breakfast, lunch, once... seriously, everything.  And it is DELICIOUS.

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Witness the completo.  Somewhere, under all that palta, tomato, mayonnaise, and ají (chilean hot sauce), there is a hot dog.  It's hard to believe, I know, but trust me.  It's there.

3.  La once/the eating schedule in general.

Chilenos don't do a big dinner (they have their biggest meal at lunchtime), so around "dinner time" they have la once, or té.  It's really similar to breakfast (pretty small, with tea/coffee, bread, palta, jam, butter, maybe some soup or fruit), but with cookies.  And manjar (dulce de leche).  And sometimes chocolate milk, ice cream, crepes, or chocolate.  Awesome.

4.  Dancing!

EVERYONE dances here (young, old, drunk, sober...), so it's really easy to go out and have a good time.  There are dance floors everywhere (not just in discotecas but in most bars, too),  and people here know how to work it.  I mean, there are exceptions, of course, but less than in the US, I think; people are just more accustomed to dancing.  You can definitely spot the gringos on the dance floor, ¿cachái?

5.  Chilean family culture

Now, I'm not a huge "let's all get together and have family time" type of person, but I have to admit that I kind of like the way they do things around here.  The kids don't move out until they have finished their schooling and have a career (or are married), and families stay close (all the members of my host family, save 1 or 2, live within 5 minutes' drive of our house).  Elders seem to be appreciated more, and kids are allowed to be kids.  Everyone stays close and checks up on each other, so you know that you have a really strong support structure behind you at any moment.  It's kind of like being in a time warp to my parent's generation.  Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't miss my privacy, or that I want all of this to suddenly change in my own life (too much of a shock), but Chilean family culture just seems... I don't know.  It seems healthier.  Not to mention the cultural consequences of having a tight family structure (hello fair treatment of old people!). It's awesome.

Y no tanto (not so much):

1. The smog

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It's nasty.  I could hardly breathe for the first two weeks, my allergies were so bad.  After a long day, my eyes and nose are filled with black gunk, and the Andes seem way further away on some days than they do on others.  All thanks to that delightful smog.

 2. Lack of HOT sauce

Sure, we have ají, but it's just... not that spicy.  Not like I'm used to anyways.  I definitely miss my "Thai Hot" curry from home-- I need my Thai ladies here to bring the heat!

3. Time/money spent in transit

On any given day, I spend about half of my time out of the house in transit.  To get pretty much anywhere of official importance (class, CIEE office, bus station, etc.), I need to leave at least an hour ahead of time.  Doesn't sound too bad, but consider: say I need to pick up a form from the CIEE office downtown, for example.  1 hour to get there + 1 hour to get back = two hours of travel time for less than five minutes of actual human interaction/business time.  Normal school day: 2(1 hr to get to or from campus) + 2(1.5 hr class) + 1 hr switching campuses + 1.5 hrs waiting for class to start  = a 7.5 hour-long day for two classes (3 hrs in class, 4.5 hrs traveling).  Harsh.  And money-wise, it all adds up; I've been spending ~US$20 a week in bus/metro fare alone.

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Metro at rush hour.  No lie.

4. Price of books

For some reason, books are crazy expensive here.  I mean, not out-of-reach expensive (for us), but definitely way above what we're used to spending in the states.  Partially to blame: the Chilean BOOK TAX.  Yes, a tax on books.  A whopping 19% (source).  How freaking feudal is that?  But I digress.  Social and political implications of the tax aside, it makes buying books way more of an investment than we Americans are used to.  Apparently Buenos Aires is like cheap book mecca, but we'll see... I certainly hope so.

5. Over-complication of pretty much everything
...seriously, everything. 
Where can I even get started on this.  In Chile, for every one necessary step in a process, there are at least 3 or 4 extra, stupid steps to complicate the process (even down to the simplest things, like buying an ice cream).  This aspect of Chilean life has made the class registration process an absolute NIGHTMARE.  Everything is SUPER disorganized; nobody knows what's going on, and every person you talk to will probably advise you to do something or go somewhere completely different.  Calling an "official" or secretary for information won't necessarily help your cause; you may spend your entire afternoon on a wild goose chase for a class that doesn't exist (I've been on a couple of these). The earthquake certainly didn't help; thanks to infrastructural damage to the school, a lot of classes have been moved to the campuses of other colleges.  A good part of the faculty at these locations doesn't know that these classes exist and will look at you like you're a  crazy person when you show up.  AWESOME.

♥  !