Valparasio, Chile

Valparasio is very hilly like San Francisco. We took an ancient elevator down to the lower levels after driving up and around to find a parking spot. There was a big line to go up so we walked many many many many steps up and up. There is an old prison turned into a cultural center and park where Sarah is going to have a play about migrants in the country. I took lots of photos. The light was hazy so the colors didn't come out as bright as the internet shots I have seen.

We didn't get to the most interesting section. But what a city! Wouldn't want to live there; visiting once every 6 months would be plenty. We saw and heard English speaking tourists huffing up and down and wondering if they could ever maneuver a wheel chair in the streets. NO. We had lunch in a nice designer-chic place way up over the harbor with papyrus fronds waving in the breeze. Beautiful!

http://www.wikihow.com/Care-for-a-Papyrus-Plant 

Helpful Hints for Life in Chile

      Although the differences between the North and South Americas may seem minor in the big picture (people are the same the world over..??) there are some initial skills you may need to survive comfortably and smoothly if you get on the ground in the long lean lumpy land of Chile, SA.      
    ALWAYS have small coins to offer. It is expected. The parking guys on the streets will come up and tell you the price of stopping to see the vista or shopping in the stores. There is a set price, a few to 2000 pesos ($4.00 ca) for a set time. They are at the beach, on the city streets, near the parks at sunset in bright orange vests replacing parking meters. Some are nice and others are grim and determined.     
    In the grocery stores, if you can weather the chaos and congestion and avoid the insane, once you get to the check out counter you will be ignored by more grim faced workers. When you pay, be prepared to offer a 100 peso coin to the apathetic person bagging your purchases. Don't bother asking for directions to goods, you will be proudly ignored. The help leaves something in the way of cheerfulness to be desired. In the line-up you will encounter irritated rude customers line jumping and cart banging. Whole families with crammed piles of soggy veggies and boxed food will push in wherever they wish. Collisions are rampant in the aisles, resembling the driving habits of the population. Go, buy, and scamper back home safely!      
     Now about the bathrooms: Always take those precious peso coins and your own toilet paper. You would not believe the many restrooms guarded by wardens of the door. You pay to get in. You pay for small amounts of pre-measured paper; you will find no rolls in the stalls. Some places have no attendant and no paper. That is when you must have a stockpile in your pocket. Always. It is so dire that the TP manufacturers have taken to inserting small tidy rolls into the tubes of the home supply packages of  tissue. You remove the purse edition and stash it where you can get to it on any occasion. Brilliant.     
      I heard that the public toilets in China are a hole in the ground with no doors. Ug. What has our species come to? North America has an evolved and wasteful but nicely private and supposedly sanitary way to practice our necessary bodily elimination functions. Never leave home without toilet paper when away from cultured 1% amenities. Cherio.

PS: They lock up public facilities often and unexpectedly.

Healing consciously

    Before I left Canada for Chile I fell and crunched my ankle so bad I thought it was broken. Luckily, it was only damaged and I made it south with a lot of pain and swelling and help from airport staff and wheelchairs. The injury set off my gimpy knee and I have been hobbling around and resting instead of taking hikes and climbing hills. 
    Yesterday I went to a biomagnetic therapist. It is one of the few holistic techniques nearby so I tried it. It is a well known healing method in SA, from Mexico. I am always interested in new and natural ways to improve our never-ending ills, so I'm projecting tissue repair and PH balance chugging away inside my still functional body!
    Meanwhile, I go to bed early. Must get some English veg-out books to pass the time. It is refreshing, though, to just sit or walk around in do-nothing mode and watch the time pass quietly. I have no duties, errands, wants, urges that must be acted upon. I am beginning to talk to myself in pigdin Spanish and have the curiosity to look up words. I seem to do better with fundamental short sentences and not worry about proper grammar or verbs, tenses, etc. Just try and the others figure out what I mean. Most Chileans I meet understand English fairly well but won't speak it. 

    I have photographed all the 'weeds' in the yard to show them to my NS urban farm group to compare the similarities to NS plants. It is just a little exercise in green to keep them alert in the snow. Have a happy morning!   

 

http://www.biomagnetismusa.com/    
http://www.faim.org/newfrontiers/biomagnetictherapy.html