I got to another milestone of my trip. I reached Santiago de Chile, where I am doing another internship. Quite different from the one in Ecuador. Instead of planting trees and suchlike I am a caretaker for kids now.
Before getting to Santiago however, I passed the Bolivian city of La Paz, took a horrific nightbus to Uyuni from where I started a 3 day trip to the Chilean desert town San Pedro d Atacama. The trip was awesome, crossing the saltplains and going over a mountainrange of up to 5000 m, high in volcanic activity. We slept in a hotel that was entirely made out of salt; a weird experience! At one point we ran into a small group of cyclists that where coming from Alaska (19 months of cycling so far, 22222 km completed on the day we met).
The horrific part of the bustrip was that I couldn’t sit upright on my seat without chocking with the ceiling. Besindes that I didn’t really feel confident when in the middle of the night the bus stopped and some women got of to clear the driveway of rocks.
Getting to Santiago meant finally unpacking my backpack and giving my clothes a chance of a new and more favorable smell. I even put them in a real wardrobe! Stopping here for longer (till January) means getting some everyday life back into my days: sleeping in the same bed for more than two or three nights, sharing a flat with the same people for some weeks, etc. I wouldn’t have missed these things, so it is even more funny to realize how they come to my mind. Somehow they seem to have importance to me. For at least I appreciate them. Anyway.
In this shared house everybody is doing something: language school, internship, whatsoever. But we all have one thing in common: money is always little. It is awesome to see how the swiss flatmate Urs is making ends meet. He started in a restaurant but left after a couple of days. Then he was about to do street breakdance or even to strip in a gays club. He ended up selling fruit juice at a junction close to our house. Apparently it works out.
This kind of creativity is remarkable and in the case of my flat mate it is really funny for us flat mates. For other people here in Santiago this kind of self-marketing is crucial and part of a hard life. Therefore everywhere I go in Santiago I see jugglers and other artists standing in front of a waiting row of cars at a red streetlight. Besides that it seems like this city is a lot about arts. I myself have already been to the theater, alternative cinema and strolling down a boulevard along the art academy. Around the building of the art academy there is every Sunday a flea market. Artists perform and one can smell marihuana in the air.
What concerns the architecture down here I find the place a potpourri of contradictions: I walk thru the center and feel strongly reminded of the streets of New York (city I only know from films and fotos). Crossing a street and walking another block or two I feel like I am in a avenue in Havanna, Cuba (I confess: I haven’t bee there either). So I try to take a different way back home every time I am downtown.
The main subject for me being here is that I am doing another internship here. My new title is “tío” –spanish for “uncle”. As such I am a caretaker in a youth center. It is connected to a college and kids can come in their leisure time and we (me and 3 chilean professionals) find them stuff to do. Playing ping-pong, football, workshops (Christmas decoration lately), etc. all of these kids are coming from a difficult background (parents that are drug addicts or just very poor). Many have suffered quite hard in their young lives and that contributes to an undisciplined behavior. In some cases even rebellious and dangerously on the borderline. They are hard to control and disobey like a puppy-dog.
The center is located far away from the city and I have to spend 3 hours of my beautiful life on public transports. Although the metro in brand new and really well working – only problem: the metro is quite expensive and only runs till 11 pm.
The advantage is the disadvantage in a metropolis: it’s huge and therefore it has many things to offer. But because of the size distances are long. The work itself is a completely new experience for me, as I have never so far worked with kids. And honestly: I never thought I would. But times change and so do we. What seems impossible today might be reality tomorrow. And even more: it can be pleasing! And to me personally it does. Work with kids is great – but stressy. They have so much energy and most of this energy will go down on the “tìo” – in this case: ME.
Fortunately I am not a pedagogue and so I can kick back, observe and learn from the kids instead of educate them with the eagerness of a missionary. However, I am tempted to influence the kids´ with my commentaries. As these don’t want to become astronauts, doctors or garbage collector but have there future profession clear: “I want to be bad!”
We’ll see how things go on in the next couple of weeks.
I send the best pre-christmas greets to yous…take care!
Yours MIKE
Before getting to Santiago however, I passed the Bolivian city of La Paz, took a horrific nightbus to Uyuni from where I started a 3 day trip to the Chilean desert town San Pedro d Atacama. The trip was awesome, crossing the saltplains and going over a mountainrange of up to 5000 m, high in volcanic activity. We slept in a hotel that was entirely made out of salt; a weird experience! At one point we ran into a small group of cyclists that where coming from Alaska (19 months of cycling so far, 22222 km completed on the day we met).
The horrific part of the bustrip was that I couldn’t sit upright on my seat without chocking with the ceiling. Besindes that I didn’t really feel confident when in the middle of the night the bus stopped and some women got of to clear the driveway of rocks.
Getting to Santiago meant finally unpacking my backpack and giving my clothes a chance of a new and more favorable smell. I even put them in a real wardrobe! Stopping here for longer (till January) means getting some everyday life back into my days: sleeping in the same bed for more than two or three nights, sharing a flat with the same people for some weeks, etc. I wouldn’t have missed these things, so it is even more funny to realize how they come to my mind. Somehow they seem to have importance to me. For at least I appreciate them. Anyway.
In this shared house everybody is doing something: language school, internship, whatsoever. But we all have one thing in common: money is always little. It is awesome to see how the swiss flatmate Urs is making ends meet. He started in a restaurant but left after a couple of days. Then he was about to do street breakdance or even to strip in a gays club. He ended up selling fruit juice at a junction close to our house. Apparently it works out.
This kind of creativity is remarkable and in the case of my flat mate it is really funny for us flat mates. For other people here in Santiago this kind of self-marketing is crucial and part of a hard life. Therefore everywhere I go in Santiago I see jugglers and other artists standing in front of a waiting row of cars at a red streetlight. Besides that it seems like this city is a lot about arts. I myself have already been to the theater, alternative cinema and strolling down a boulevard along the art academy. Around the building of the art academy there is every Sunday a flea market. Artists perform and one can smell marihuana in the air.
What concerns the architecture down here I find the place a potpourri of contradictions: I walk thru the center and feel strongly reminded of the streets of New York (city I only know from films and fotos). Crossing a street and walking another block or two I feel like I am in a avenue in Havanna, Cuba (I confess: I haven’t bee there either). So I try to take a different way back home every time I am downtown.
The main subject for me being here is that I am doing another internship here. My new title is “tío” –spanish for “uncle”. As such I am a caretaker in a youth center. It is connected to a college and kids can come in their leisure time and we (me and 3 chilean professionals) find them stuff to do. Playing ping-pong, football, workshops (Christmas decoration lately), etc. all of these kids are coming from a difficult background (parents that are drug addicts or just very poor). Many have suffered quite hard in their young lives and that contributes to an undisciplined behavior. In some cases even rebellious and dangerously on the borderline. They are hard to control and disobey like a puppy-dog.
The center is located far away from the city and I have to spend 3 hours of my beautiful life on public transports. Although the metro in brand new and really well working – only problem: the metro is quite expensive and only runs till 11 pm.
The advantage is the disadvantage in a metropolis: it’s huge and therefore it has many things to offer. But because of the size distances are long. The work itself is a completely new experience for me, as I have never so far worked with kids. And honestly: I never thought I would. But times change and so do we. What seems impossible today might be reality tomorrow. And even more: it can be pleasing! And to me personally it does. Work with kids is great – but stressy. They have so much energy and most of this energy will go down on the “tìo” – in this case: ME.
Fortunately I am not a pedagogue and so I can kick back, observe and learn from the kids instead of educate them with the eagerness of a missionary. However, I am tempted to influence the kids´ with my commentaries. As these don’t want to become astronauts, doctors or garbage collector but have there future profession clear: “I want to be bad!”
We’ll see how things go on in the next couple of weeks.
I send the best pre-christmas greets to yous…take care!
Yours MIKE
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