Tranquil and Alarming

I use the word tranquil instead of peaceful because its a word I hear used a lot here. They use it to tell you to relax and to describe calm places. It is definitely more tranquil here than in BA, but it can be alarming too.

First, tranquility...Im pretty sure all the streets here in Viña del Mar are tree lined, which I absolutely love. The only problem for me is that its not so warm here and the trees cause a lot of shade which makes it colder. If you know me at all, you know this is a bad situation. hahaha.

Im just about a 10-15 minute walk from the beach. Aaahhhhh. Today I took a microbus (which belongs in the alarming category, we will get to that) to another beach that was even more tranquil than the one in Viña. While we were on the beach they were playing Jack Johnson for a while. Double aaaahhhh. On the trip there I got to see the Chilean coastline which is, to use another spanish word, impresionante. I guess you can figure it out, but it means amazing or astonishing. In places, its really rocky and the waves crash violently and the water is deep blue and depending on the sunlight light blue. Impresionante.

I also dont know as many people or have as many opportunities to do things as I did in BA so my life here is slower and more tranquil. Its ok. Im learning to go with whatever comes my way.

Now for alarming. Well, obviously the microbusses are alarming. I told you before the traffic is better here, which is mostly true, but I spoke a little too soon. It is better, but not perfect and the microbusses might just be the scariest form of transportation I have encountered. They are, as the name implies, smallish busses, but the drivers drive them like they are cars. Its nuts, they go soooo fast and I can barely hang on when Im inside one.

Another alarming thing is the number of street dogs here. Some of them lay around like they are dead. However, some are not alarming at all. They look like they could be pets and I have to keep myself from petting them. hahaha.

The last alarming this is the EARTHQUAKE I experienced. First in my life. Thats right. Earthquake. Well, actually, here in earthquake country they have two words. Temblor and Terremoto. A temblor is just a quick tremor of the earth, where a terremoto is a real earthquake and needs to be like 7 on the richter scale, or something like that. So, I experienced a temblor, but it was still freaky. And cool.

School is going ok. I showed up on Thursday at 10 only to be told that my class for the day had been changed to 12. Welcome to South America. And I didn´t find out what school trip I was going on until I was walking to the car for the trip. You really can´t have uncertainty avoidance issues while you are living here. Im doing my best to learn Spanish, but its super hard and I still feel very nervous when speaking and dont understand anything. But I press on.

Besos