Tuesday, September 29, 2009

September

September is an important month for every chilean because the 18th it's the independance day of Chile. It's a month of celebration and joy and also to remember our traditions and culture that makes chile an unique and great country.
At the beggining of September people start flying comets of differents colors because it's also the month when spring comes and you can see trees and flowers blooming, and there's the perfect wind for the comets. This month has the nicer weather to enjoy of the special day that the 18th represents.
The 18th of september is a day in which all the people unite for a common cause and all of them celebrate in a big party known as the "Fonda". The "Fonda" is so common that we can find them in any city we are. This party starts during the day and people can enjoy of some empanadas, anticuchos, roast and also dance "La Cueca" and it continues during some hours of the night for the people to keep dancing and celebrating.
Other people take the chance of leaving Santiago for the holiday because they see it as an opportunity to get away of the big city, the pollution, and just relax beside of celebrating the 18th. This is what I like the most of the holiday because I usually stay in Santiago and it's so quiet (comparing with a normal day) and the restaurants aren't full and the streets are much more nice when taking a walk.
September the 18th is a chance of relaxing and having a great time, but we never have to forget the reason why we are celebrating this day; it's not as any other holiday.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Transantiago

About transantiago there's not much that I can tell because I don't use it frequentely. During my whole life at school my dad took me in the mornings and my mom pick me up afternoon. Only a couple of times I traveled back home by micro and, when I did, I only use the 405 so I didn't experienced what was like to change or wait to more than one micro.
From the few things that I can opinion is that the drivers drive a little bit slower than before. With the old micros the chauffeurs compete to pick up more passengers. That was a reason why I didn't like to use the micros and reason why my mom prefered to pick me up and also take me wherever I needed to go.
The fact that transantiago is now slower it's positive because that makes it safer, but for the people who drive cars is a little bit annoying because the traffic gets slower and as the buses are so big it's kind of scare to pass them from the side.
Also, transantiago has more space inside for people to walk. In the old micros the corridor was too narrow so when someone had to get off it was difficult to stand from the seat. A very important positive point is that the new buses pollute less than the old ones helping the enviornment.
Finally, transantiago helps to the peoples' pocket because before it was obligation to pay every time someone had to use a different bus, but with transantiago the passengers can pay ones when they use one bus after the other consecutively.

Monday, September 21, 2009

A country I would like to visit

There are a million of countries that I haven't visit and I would never will in my whole life. It is difficult to decide one country to visit because I think every country has it beauty and things that makes it unique. From all the countries I would choose Peru. Although I think that many countries in Europe, Asia, have a lot of history and, because of that, have a lot to visit and learn from them, I feel that first I need to know a lot from my own country. I was born in Peru and since little that I go all the summers to visit my family, but still I only know Lima, a couple of beaches and Ica. Lima is very similar to Santiago, but I admit that I prefer Santiago rather than Lima. Still, Peru, the same as Chile, have very beautiful places in the north and south and that are worthy to visit.
I have friends that aren't Peruvian and have visit more places than me. I have 20 years old and still I haven't visit Machu Picchu, Cuzco, the jungle and many others important places that I need to visit not only because it's my country but also because of cultural knowledge.
All the people I know, and that visited all these places, have amazed when I tell them that I don't know any of the places. All of them have told me that the places are amazing, very interesting and especially Cuzco is beautiful because of the vegetation and the ruins and the history the city has.
I think that first I need to learn about my own home before getting to know other countries. Maybe it sounds more interesting travel to some part of Europe or Asia, but I think that everybody has to learn about its own country, reason why schools teach about "Historia de Chile", and because I left Peru when I was a baby I didn't have the opportunity to learn about Peru.
I will continue travelling all the summers to Peru to visit my family and I hope someday I visit other places and not only the beaches and Lima. But sometimes it's difficult when I'm with my family that I only have the chance to see one time during the whole year.