Snippets of life this week in Santiago

 Snippets of life this week in Santiago

Hospital del Salvador (above) and a modern clinic/ hospital (below) are two of the huge range and number of hospitals and clinics in Santiago. Which would you trust?  It would definitely be wise to check them out before checking into one!  Our medical missionaries have either finished and gone home, or will be sent to Buenos Aires, as the church is consolidating resources.  I got a free-to-seniors flu shot this week, as the influenza strains here are different. I think that was a good experience, though the place was old and shabby. I am now in their computer with my passport number.

We are very sad to see the Hurleys go home to Idaho tomorrow.  Vickie has developed a serious eye problem that needs to be treated immediately in the US, so with one day's notice they are leaving. The church does not take chances with many medical conditions.  I  have so enjoyed having them living across the hall. They came in November just a few weeks before I arrived.

There are definitely some homeless people in the city, though this is the only real homeless camp nearby. 

Pocuro is a wonderful ward. In our Relief Society (women's organization) today we broke into small  discussion groups. Seated are: Marnie Enke (I will take on her small English class when in mid-June before she leaves), Juana Castro (assistant to...) Silvia Wilhelm ("Directora" and wife of temple president), Hna. Hernandez, Lily (from Santiago, just visiting, and living in Hayward, CA, whom I had met in the Oakland temple), Lily's long-time friend, Miriam de Schweinitz, and Selima, a new member, who is originally from Copiapo in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, where all 33 miners were rescued by international teams after 69 days trapped in the collapsed San Jose Mine in 2010. I watched the amazing story "The 33" this week, and recommend it!

Old Santa Lucia Park, with new high rises behind, and next to the National Library and media center and venue for free concerts.

The California state bird, the quail, also brings home closer, as lots of fat ones feed on seeds and bugs all over the temple grounds. They later made way for a bride and groom.

Santiago, a city of parks, monuments, grand buildings, with nearly 500 years of colorful history. Due to earthquakes and fires, most of what remains today is from the 18th century.  Today it is a busy, modern metropolis of 7.3 million people.
Santiago's latitude is similar to the southern part of the USA, and the climate of California, which makes me feel at home. Chile is 4300 km long and 200 km wide, so most maps come in at least 2 sections. I finally am learning where to locate some of the towns of our temple visitors.

 I never tire of wandering around in Santiago's city center, and I especially like Cerro (hill) Santa Lucia, which was the defense point for conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, who founded Santiago on this spot in 1541. Following the conquest local Mapuches named the hill Huelen, meaning "Sadness or Pain". In 1871, the hill was transformed into gardens with a chapel at the summit. I love the Mapuche gift shop under the hill. Proceeds go to indigenous causes, and traditional Mapuche music is played there.

Below the hill is a large stone carved with a passage from a letter from Pedro de Valdivia written in 1545 to his King, Carlos V of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, chronicling the beautiful land of trees, plants, wildlife, and natural resources available to those who would wish to settle here. 

In the park is a statue, a gift from Germany, of poet, educator, and feminist Gabriela Mistral (born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, 1889-1957) who won great acclaim for her compassionate, reflective and mystical poetry.  She became South America's first Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1945. Born in Vicuna, she grew up in a small adobe house (and is buried) in nearby Montegrande, a small village north of Santiago in the foothills of the Andes.  She spent much of her adult life outside Chile as a consul in Spain, France, Italy, the US (as did Neruda), and as a professor in Mexico, and in the US at Vassar College and Barnard University in NY.  She wrote of life and death, love, the underdog, and of the Latin American experience.  Half Amerindian, half Basque, she was a defender of the Mestizo, and was beloved by Latin Americans.  Below is a mural near the park depicting her interest in education, children, the indigenous and the working class who labored to build a modern society in Chile.

 

 In the park down the street there are occasionally veterinary students giving vaccinations, shots, etc. to dogs and cats. This is some other animal group.
On Saturdays there are kids skate boarding, doing martial arts and doing tricks of all kinds off the walls. They are organized with leaders. There are also flea markets/ park garage sales.  I have never been in a city with so many used (and usually

 nice) clothing and shoe stores. I guess anyone can sell anything here in Ines de Suarez Park.

A small group of animal rights protesters in front of the Providencia Cultural Center, whose busy plaza we cross between the bus stop and the metro at Pedro de Valdivia.

On May 1, International Day of Labor, all but movie theaters, some small restaurants and fast food places are closed in Chile. We were advised to stay away from downtown with its protests by labor unions and other dissatisfied workers, but there was no real violence as in places like Paris.

However, Chileans seem to be caring citizens eager to defend a democratic system, who pay attention to politics and causes. The President is head of state and government, and each comuna (part of town) has a mayor.  Above is a press conference nearby with the  current female "alcalde" of Providencia. From as early as almost 100 years ago, there have been several female mayors.

I am grateful for new experiences each day, and hope I am contributing in some small way. I've learned that most people are wonderful the world over. It is great to have first hand experiences or to read first hand accounts, as we, in general, know only what our own countries tell us about others. Many of the things that are different may not matter a lot in the whole scheme of things. As someone  has said:
"Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape."