It has been too long since my last post, so here's brief summary of some things I can remember. As I walked into the office in the Agronomy department a few weeks ago, I discovered a circle of maybe 25 people, 
students, faculty, and staff, reciting prayers from photocopied programs, and a small altar against the windows with an image of Nuestra Señora de Carmen, flanked by candles. It was a reminder that the university takes seriously the Catholic bit in its name. This wasn't a one-time deal, either, since it was the Mes de María and a roving prayer sessions hit every department on campus once a week. The month ended, of course, on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. December 8 is a national holiday here, and because it fell on a Thursday, most people took off Friday as well to make it a long weekend. Not anticipating this, we failed to make timely plans and spent most of the weekend in Santiago, enjoying the blaring horns, piercing sirens, and the 30+C heat (I have come to love SI units). This did mean I was able to do my Saturday morning bike ride to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, following the signs toward the virgin. The comuna de Providencia is kind enough to block the park's roads to auto traffic on Sat and Sun mornings, so it is the safest riding in town. On the descent, I do have to watch the dozens of feral dogs who appear abruptly from the woods and wander across the road.
students, faculty, and staff, reciting prayers from photocopied programs, and a small altar against the windows with an image of Nuestra Señora de Carmen, flanked by candles. It was a reminder that the university takes seriously the Catholic bit in its name. This wasn't a one-time deal, either, since it was the Mes de María and a roving prayer sessions hit every department on campus once a week. The month ended, of course, on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. December 8 is a national holiday here, and because it fell on a Thursday, most people took off Friday as well to make it a long weekend. Not anticipating this, we failed to make timely plans and spent most of the weekend in Santiago, enjoying the blaring horns, piercing sirens, and the 30+C heat (I have come to love SI units). This did mean I was able to do my Saturday morning bike ride to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, following the signs toward the virgin. The comuna de Providencia is kind enough to block the park's roads to auto traffic on Sat and Sun mornings, so it is the safest riding in town. On the descent, I do have to watch the dozens of feral dogs who appear abruptly from the woods and wander across the road.
A couple of weeks ago we traveled to Vilches, a small community in the Andean foothills where new friends, Ted and Maruja, have lived for many years. The contrast of rural living with the amenities we become so accustomed to in Santiago was stark. The first morning I was greeted by a friendly tarantula in the kitchen. I bravely ran away and let Deidre sweep it out the door. I know they're generally harmless, but why do they have to have so many legs, and move so unpredictably?
One day we hiked into the Reserva Natural un the road a few km (see, isn't that smoother than 'mi'?), where the views were stunning. I'm always surprised by the amount of camping happening in Chile, and there were plenty of campers here. I just don't remember seeing tent camping in Peru or Bolivia. With the excellent bus service, you can get almost anywhere without a car, it seems, and there were a lot of people packing out of the park in time to catch the last bus back down the hill.
On the way out, we stopped at an interesting house built in the form of the famous churches of Chiloe. the reason for stopping was to see the sewage treatment system. It is called a Toha system, and this one was, as I understand it, designed by a professor at the U. de Chile. Rather than deal with graywater, which can be relatively easily re-used for flushing toilets or for irrigation, this system treats the real sewage on site. This one was a little wooden hut filled with sawdust and the same red worms we use in our worm bin at home. The toilet waste is pumped into a primitive sprinkler system above the sawdust, and the liquid that drains out the bottom is purified with UV light and discharged. Amazingly, there was no smell at all. I want one for my house! 
Otherwise, we spend a lot of time walking, to go swimming, to take the kids to Spanish lessons, going to museums (the kids are saturated with museum visits). We sit in the ubiquitous little parks, snacking on bread and cheese or empanadas, though I'm the only one with any interest in eating them. There are some creative names for stores, restaurants, and food products, sometimes intentional, that entertain us.
Christmas season is upon us, but it is easy to forget that with the hot summer weather. The weekend newspaper is filled with all of the expected temptations for the compulsive shopper. Yesterday's paper included, nestled between ads for electric razors, high tech desk lamps, and a list of online shopping resources, and article "con menos regalos y más dedicación, la Navidad puede ser sustentable"which seems like a good thing to throw into the dialog, even if the context seems kind of absurd. There are plastic trees popping up all over, and we even have a Charlie Brown type thing sitting on our coffee table. Kind of pathetic, but it serves the purpose just fine. 
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