Oh Chile...

So, it has been four months now and I've gotta say that this is no longer the same Chile that I landed in.

When I first arrived...

1. It was cold, cold, cold and gloomy, with just enough rain hanging in the air to keep me sniffling under the bedcovers for the first week. 
2. The sidewalks were a mess. I'm pretty sure there was an earthquake right before we arrived. Either that or a jackhammer bandit was on the loose. Either way, at the end of every day I had to check all of my toes to make sure that they weren't broken from their countless encounters with concrete. 
3. The water was not drinkable.
4. There was delicious fried pumpkin-bread. 
5. People didn't speak Spanish... they spoke Chilean. If only the U of C had offered Chilean as a language option!

Now...

1. It's hot, hot, hot and it never stops! 
2. The sidewalks miraculously healed themselves. I'm still not quite sure how it happened, but my toes appreciate it!
3. The water has also recovered and "agua de la llave" (tap water) is good enough for me.
4. The pumpkin-bread is gone, but has been replaced by watermelon and peaches and popsicles and humitas (a traditional corn dish cooked in the husk).
5. Well, I guess not everything has changed. People still speak Chilean, and I "de-code" daily, made slightly more difficult by Chileans love of word-creation. Really. Sometimes I ask what a word means and am told it's not really a word, it's just something they made up one day and now use with friends.

Somedays, I feel like I fit in completely, or almost completely, and that I could live here; somedays, I feel like I'll never be anything but a gringa. The longer I stay, the more I feel both. Whatever day I happen to find myself in, I do think that this trip has changed me, and I am so happy that we came.

Okay, that's all for now. Miss everyone lots. Write soon please!

Love,

Eli