Sunday in Santiago-Parks

My blog needs life and it's up to me to revive it. The best way to do so, I feel, is to start a series called "Sunday in Santiago." Ok, I admit this is a spin off of another blog of an expat in Santiago, who does "Saturday in Santiago." She is a much more experienced blogger and usually reviews a  nice restaurant. I am not an experienced blogger, but rather just someone letting her family and friends know she is alive down here via blog. Nor am I a working expat with the financial means to review restaurants every week, but rather a study abroad participant on a student visa  who lives off the boxes of macaroni  her mom brought down after a visit. So, I'll take my own approach and report on...well I suppose it will be what I encounter everyday here. The first topic...parks. Coming from a University with a giant park in the middle of campus, I have come to believe parks are some of the best reflections of culture. In UC Irvine's case, Aldrich park is the epitome of student culture, full of students doing what students do best, "studying" and napping. So I guess I could say that parks in Santiago are of a reflection of, well, Santiago culture. Take a walk with me and I'll explain...

Starting my stroll in Parque Bustamante. Biking is a surprisingly popular way to get around,given the way people drive here. The parks serve as  sanctuaries for bikers from the traffic.In the background is a skate  park, where on any given afternoon hoards of teenagers come to hang out, smoke, and conspicuously drink. Sometimes it's not so conspicuous and you get to witness the cops pulling up in their motorcycles, pouring out and stomping on the kids' boxed wine and/or beer cans, and telling them to beat it. 

In route from Parque Bustamante to Parque Balmaceda.Not uncommon to see zumba classes pop up in the middle of plazas. I was almost inspired to join, if it weren't in jeans and ballet flats.

Seeing this surprised me, because I don't really see the encouragement to recycle, nor get the trash actually into the trash can here. Ok, it's not always the case, but I'm biased coming from earth friendly, hipster, and organic SoCal, where they charge money for plastic bags. Still, it's nice to see little steps like this are being taken here. 

Yup, that's more like it. Water bottles left over from a 5k/10k race earlier that day.

I took a shot of this spot, because it shows how Santiago is a city of sharp contrasts. You are strolling through a serene, shady park and then you cross the street and  are suddenly blinded by the reflection of this monstrous building. 

I just love this place. Getting work done at home is almost impossible, so it's wonderful to have a study spot within walking distance. People of all ages come to study, read, or chat over a cup of coffee. 

Complete serenity. During the week I would be dodging bikers and rushed businessmen and women. Off to the right and not pictured, to avoid the risk of being a creeper, a couple are in their own little world. In the States, a couple having a full make out session in any public place, parks included, would be met with eye rolls and perhaps utterances of "get a room..."  Here the they are as a common as the trees...in fact like trees there can be clusters of couples in one particular area. And the  other park-goers don't seem to mind. It's the underlying "You go about your business, I'll go about mine" mentality.  

The metro station in the middle of the park. It's just strange to think how under a pretty bed of flowers lies what is basically Santiago's circulatory system, transporting 2.3 million passengers daily (thanks Wikipedia). Speaking of metros, there is growing popularity for a Facebook page called "Spotted Metrosantiago." People can anonymously write in their romantic moments on the metro hoping to reencounter this person with whom they shared a smile or lingering eye contact with over a pair of stations, before being torn away by their unshared final destination. Whether or not it actually works I haven't a clue, but it makes for some good reading...some of these people get pretty poetic.

The metro station is where the park ends and the street in route to my house begins. I chose the topic of parks for my first post, because they are honestly one of my favorite parts about this city. Parks provide an endless spectrum of opportunities to invent scenarios for the random occurrences I see and histories of the people I come across briefly. 
Thanks for taking a stroll with me. See you next Sunday!