Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

November 20, 2007

I’m a bad blogger! Lately every spare second I’ve had has been dedicated to looking for an apartment for us to rent. Yes, we’re leaaaaaaaaaaving!!!! Now, it’s just a matter of finding the right place, but so far everything we’ve look at has been, too far from transportation, too small, too old, too expensive…too something. Today I went to look at an apartment and I LOVED it. Then we called to rent it and the guy said that somebody who had looked at it yesterday had just called and was probably going to sign a lease on Thursday. I’m really disappointed because I thought that was the one. So the search is still on…

*updated, I’m a seriously bad blogger. I started this entry two days ago and just finished it now.

I’ve been riding all over Santiago on the metro, which is my favorite form of transportation. It provides me with endless sources of entertainment. I love embaressing guys who stare for too long by saying something to them loud enough for everyone to overhear. The time when a guy grabbed my hand because he thought I was his girlfriend was great (in his defense, it was really crowded and his girlfriend and I were hanging on to to the same handle). I also REALLY enjoy watching people get stuck in the doors! One time the doors closed on a guy’s mullet and he had to ride with LONG part of his Shlong flying on the touside. SO funny!!!

But in the past two weeks two kind of scary things have happened while I was in the metro. On Monday, a girl fainted. It was just like Rebecca in America’s Next Top Model. Seriously, watch this video even if you don’t like the show.

The girl was standing in the same metro car as me, and it wasn’t very crowded, but it was really hot. I wasn’t staring at her so I didn’t see if her eyes actually rolled back in her head like Rebecca’s, but I did see her fall and watched her head smack against the back metro doors. The train was stopped at the station for about 5extra minutes and even though people could see that somebody had been injured some started whining about why it was taking so long to leave. Finally after the metro emergency people determined it was safe to move the girl after she regained conciousness, they carried her out of the car. I was a little surprise that people were much more concerned with getting home 5 minutes sooner than with a girl cracking her head.

And then about two weeks ago, my friend and I were getting off at a station called Baquedano. On the platform where you wait for the metro to arrive I could hear shouts. But the crowd was just streaming around off to one side and ignoring whatever was going on so I didn’t think it was a big deal. When I walked up to where the ruckus was coming from I saw the flash of something shiny. Ummm, ok, stop. IT WAS A KNIFE FIGHT!!!!

It was so weird. Things like that NEVER happen in the metro. In a micro (bus) I’d believe you, but the metro is like the pride and joy of Chile, and they love it because it’s much safer than riding a bus.

I wasn’t about to walk past these two jokers with weapons so I turned around to go out the in and skedaddled away as fast as I could. The Chileans who were walking by as if it were nothing really surprised me. I mean, the metro platform is not that big so there was probably all of two feet of space separating them from weapon wielding delincuentes. Nobody seemed to think it was a big deal at all. Except me, of course. My heart was pounding after that brush with death!

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13 Comments

you’re back! great! As surprised as you were at the non-reaction to the knife fight, I was even more so at the utter non-reaction of the judges and other models, other than ‘call the paramedics’, to Rebecca’s fainting. Maybe it was shock that kept them all in their places? I really expected them to dash over immediately. Wow. I wonder what her pre-existing condition was/is. God, poor her.

Comment by Raybelles/Bella — November 21, 2007 @ 9:35 am

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It is the same with the metro in Mexico City. It is very clean. But a few years ago a man attacked my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and ripped the gold cross off of my suegra’s neck. He scratched her all the way down her neck. My sister in law fought him and saved the cross. She knows not to do this but she just got angry. I would too. But she is 5’1″ so I can’t believe that she didn’t get hurt.
Did you see the part in the video where Rebecca comes to? It is creepy…as if she is coming back to life.

Comment by Rachel — November 21, 2007 @ 2:05 pm

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that is strange and scary experience. i would’ve fainted too. freakish.

i’ve not seen that show, but it looked like that girl might’ve fainted do to poor NUTRITION

Comment by feistyMNgirl — November 21, 2007 @ 2:22 pm

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Are you interested in rent tips? I use to see announcements of rental in my neighborhood (Pippi longstocking lives here, you knowâ€¦)

Comment by bad — November 21, 2007 @ 9:43 pm

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On a tourist train in Australia last month, they had to cart off a girl who’d been slipped drugs. It was so weird seeing her just lying there…and scary too, of course.

Jayna

Comment by Anonymous — November 21, 2007 @ 10:05 pm

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i love reading your stuff, it’s sooo funny!!!!

I met my Chilean here in Oxford, he was studying English for a while, just taking a break from his job…he had to get back to Chile but I will be there in just 6 weeks!! Looking forward to tasting Chilean life myself…

keep up with the great writing!!!
x

Comment by michelle — November 22, 2007 @ 2:53 pm

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I hope you have better luck finding an apartment! I am finding it hard to to be a good blogger!

Comment by Tiffany — November 23, 2007 @ 8:08 am

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In Paris where I live the metro is also an institution. Although I’ve never seen men fighting with knives on the platform, I have had a few pretty eery experiences :

- One day going to work I was about to sit down in front of a guy and he made this weird sound and shoved my purse… so I thought “to hell with him” and moved away. At the next station two girls got on and sat at that same place, in front of the guy. A few minutes after the metro left the station and without saying anything the guy spit in their faces, and I mean really coughed it up, took aim and spit directly at them!

- Another time I was about to sit down and saw that there was vomit splashed all over the seat and floor of the only available seat. What really impressed me was that there was actually people sitting NEXT to that place!

- I was going to a job interview one day and when I got on the metro I took a seat next to a man that stank so bad it was imposible to breathe. I figured it would be very impolite to get up so I held my breath and would turn my head each time to take in fresh air. When I got to my interview I KNOW my clothes stank and I could see the HR guy looking at me funny.

But the very worst thing I’ve ever seen on the metro:

- One night I was taking the last metro home and got in a wagon where all the 4 seated places were taken except one where there was only one woman who seemed to be sleeping. I was walking towards her to sit down when I saw why nobody had taken those seats and why all the people on the wagon were looking the other way (some even craining their necks to avoid looking at her). She was completely drunk, lying on her back with her legs spread open on the seat. The worst part was that she was wearing white sweat pants and you could see she was having her period.

(I’m sorry if this comment is too gross — you can go ahead and erase it if you like).

On another note, I really like your blog (I found you through Mexico Way)… I can relate to so much of what you post about: My mother is american and when she married my dad (a mexican) she decided to stay and live in Mexico. A lot of what you describe reminds me of the stories she used to tell me of how it was for her as a “gringa” in Mexico. And I myself am a mexican living in France married to a frenchman so I can also relate to a lot of your posts as an expat living far away from home and in her hubby’s country.

So keep up the good work and read ya soon!
Fned.

Comment by Fned — November 24, 2007 @ 10:09 am

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The moment when she lost concience is so clear like I’M OUT!!!
Cheers Stella (so green)

Comment by Mr. FranciscoÂ® — November 25, 2007 @ 8:35 pm

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We finally managed to find a one bed flat in “Sanhattan” but only thing is, it’s unfurnished will have to buy all the furniture! But it’s sooo cheap..coulnd’t believe it when I saw the prices….compared to the UK, it’s pretty darn good.
Hope you find something soon. We must do coffee!

Toodles

Comment by michelle — November 26, 2007 @ 5:01 am

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I’ve seen all sorts of crazy fights on the metro, so don’t be too surprised. Try to stay away from any public transportation before and after days where any of Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile, and Universidad Catolica are playing against each other. I almost got hit in the head by a tin can flying through the metro window.

Comment by Santiago Tourist — November 26, 2007 @ 10:36 am

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When I was working in NYC I can’t tell you all the crazy crap I saw on the subway, but what amazes me the most is that I would sometimes go out with girlfriends and get really drunk and then just somehow wake up at home! I don’t know how many times I either caught a cab to the bus station or rode the subway without remembering! I know it’s scary, but I was pretty young when I moved up here and didn’t really think about it. The subways in NYC are safer than one might expect.

The worst thing I saw in a similar vein was when I walked into Port Authority (one of the main bus/subway stations in NYC) and there was a woman on the ground having a seizure and people were stepping around her to get where they were going. Some teens were laughing and pointing. I started crying and called the cops on my cell to tell them to come help. It totally freaked me out.

Comment by mexpat — November 26, 2007 @ 1:58 pm

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oh my god, that’s horrendous…I would probably do exactly the same…looks like people are becoming more and more desensitised to other peoples suffering. I blame the media…that’s why I tend to steer clear of reading too much in the paper.

Comment by michelle — November 27, 2007 @ 2:46 am

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