Bienvenidos a la third dimension

Okay, so I admit that I slept in my long underwear last night, but it was still an amazing night´s sleep. Apparently this family doesn´t feel it´s necessary to get up before noonish on sundays, so I was quite content wrapped up in my pile of blankets. After awhile I roused myself and had a banana. Later on I finally met my dad, Richard, who is super friendly and fun to talk to. We all had comida (with a special plate for me...the one on a "dieta," complete with cooked veggies, potatoes, rice, and bread). Then we lounged around and talked about earthquakes and religion and politics and chile. Richard showed me pictures from the cruise he took to Tierra del fuego and promised to make me a list of all the places I should go. Later, Cris and Paule took me on a drive up the coast so I could see the ocean during the day. We drove through Reñaca and Con Con, then to a lake and over the backside of the hills. THis place is gorgeous. It was late in the afternoon and the light was bouncing from the water to the brightly-painted roofs. Waves crashed against enormous rocks and mariscos were being served in every restaurant that lined the shore. I saw a poorer side of the cities as we climbed the hills behind the shoreline. Small shacks stood shoulder to shoulder on the rocky ground and children played with soccer balls and dogs. A refinery grew out of the verdant pasture-like ground, reaching its dark spires up toward the incoming clouds. A naval training camp bore signs saying not to take pictures, and James Blunt came on the car radio as we passed a donkey grazing near the median of the busy avenue.
As we wound back down the curvy hills, the setting sun blazed between the high-rise apartment, striking my sunglasses and bathing the green country in fire. When we got home I decided to venture out to the local supermarket (we´re within a block!) in search of shampoo and lotion, but mostly because I wanted to see what Chile had to offer in the way of fiber bars. I was slightly disappointed to find the store almost completely lacking in the bar department. But it was worth it anyway; I bought almonds.

I´ve found myself in an interesting frame of mind these past few days. Everyone always talks about the inevitability of drawing comparisons between a host country and your home, but I didn´t expect to be comparing everything to Mexico. I have to catch myself everytime I try to contextualize a situation in terms of "cuando estaba en Mexico." I think my family´s already sick of hearing about it. I´m finding myself longing for my Mexican family, for my Mexican friends, for the familiar streets and bars that were filled with Oxxos and musical exitos that sound strangely out of context here. It´s like that time early in December when I was sitting in the zócalo in Puebla hearing the covers of Beatles songs. Only now, my cultural twilight zone has an added third dimension. Last night, as I was being driven around by Cris and Paule, they told me how the Mexican World Cup theme song (Mexico, Mexico, vamos a ganar...), which inundated both the radio and the tv all 3 1/2 months I was there, makes Chileans laugh. I have to admit, it kind of made me cringe. But así es. And now I´m sitting here in a fairly chilly apartment, not sure I´ll make it to Cafe Journal tonight where some COPA kids are celebrating their birthdays because I´m sleepy and still sick, trying to acostumbrarme to the end of the world. It´s very green, I can say that. Oh, and I have a working cell phone that´s not quite as ghetto-fied as my Carleton-issued one from winter term. Plus, I´ve got a great-seeming family and a supermarket (however poorly-stocked--I couldn´t even find gum!) around the corner. There´s yogurt in the fridge, and I had a hot shower around 1pm. I really can´t complain.