Still...

I'll miss this place. I like my apartment. I like seeing the Andes from my apartment. Seeing the Andes, period:

I like looking at one of the pretty buildings here in Santiago, part of this old red building on Amentegui, one of the streets my apartment is between. I'll miss the street dogs and how much the Santiagoans care for them. I haven't mentioned them before, but there are A LOT of homeless dogs here. Big ones, like, the kind you'd see as pets in the US. People pet them and feed them, stores leave them water to drink. People also make coats for them! In Valparaiso, quite a few were wearing sweaters with the words (in Spanish, of course): "I have no owner, I am a free dog!"

It's hard to see, but these 3 dogs were all sleeping together around this tree in Lastarria. 
And you know, it suddenly dawned on me when Irene tagged me in a shudder-inducing, but in-NO-way-surprising post about Chicago having the most rats in the US: I have not seen ONE RAT here! Even on garbage night when trash is piled up on the sidewalks. You'll see some bags torn open with stuff coming out, but you never see rats. And I finally realized: I'll bet it's the dogs! There is an upside to keeping homeless animals, particularly dogs, off the streets as we do in the US: they help control rodent populations! As dirty as Santiago is, not one sighting. And THAT is something I'll miss too, lol.

So I'm excited about leaving, but I'm sad about it too. I'll really miss the solicitous & caring nature of Chileans, even when they act like nagging grandmothers more than anything else. I'll miss how nonplussed they are when they trains are packed & people are trying to get on & off, even though I'm often one of the people trying to get off & they WON'T EFFING MOVE, lol!

We all know I'll miss the cheap wine and pisco at the botilleria next door, while I will NOT miss the impossibility of finding lemons & limes year-round. Which are needed for the national drink. When Brazil is RIGHTTHERE. And I'm PRETTY SURE they probably have them. For import even! Oh Chile, if only you'd really and completely join the 20th century! Beyond the 80s, that is.

I'll miss having the ability to communicate a bit, too-- my planned next destinations I'll have verrrry little of any such thing.

I'll miss some of the music, and the excitement when I hear someone say, "po." I'll actually miss the fashion nightmares. Though Kristina, if you're reading this, I'm actually helping save your retinas from surgery some day.

And my students. That's kind of a given. Or, all of them except Rodrigo. That guy just bothers me.

The cool fruits and veggies I've been trying. Chirmoya, for example, is pretty good. Not sure it's so good that everything should be flavored with it. But good. And I'm definitely loving passionfruit

more than I did before (but it's no guava. But then nothing is). Though, as anyone who has been here or has been reading knows, missing the food is more about missing the Peruvian food:

The best pisco sour is the Peruvian kind, above. Even, apparently, my Chilean students will admit this.

I'm sure I'll have more to add. Alyssa, anything? (Actually I know you do; you've already said so on fb!) Kayla & Cadu? Comment away. Unless you'll miss the pigeons. Or people turning left from the right side of the sidewalk. When that happens, you're just a step away from baggy-in-the-ass red skinny jeans and mullets. God help us all.