We started out on our daily walk about town in our own neighborhood, west of center, destination Parque Normal. The temperature was quite a bit cooler than the previous day and we were dressed for sun & warmth. We visited a museum of victorian trains that were used in Chile until the 1980s. It was interesting and filled with beautiful spring gardens.
Also in the park is Museo Artequin, Chile's addition to the 1889 Paris Expedition where the Eiffel Tower was displayed. The pavilion was deconstructed and returned to Chile after the expedition and it now houses a Children's Interactive Art Exhibit with copies of famous paintings and sculptures on display throughout. It was very colorfully whimsical; just like the children for whom it's intended, we enjoyed visiting it a great deal.
We walked home for a rest and lunch and then returned went out in the neighborhood in a different direction. Today's local excitement was the demolition of the inside of two neighboring houses. The one directly to the side of our room was previously occupied by 'anarchists', who were described as good neighbors by our host. The building on the other side of the anarchists had a crazy 'mean man' squatting there for many years. Judging from the handiwork pulled out of his building he was a creative welder in his day. The mess kept coming out of both buildings all day long, but by the morning the sidewalk and street was clear.
Friday night we were disturbed to read via email that Lyndz's sweet puppy Keita had been attacked by three Bull Mastiffs while Lyndz was walking her. The mean dogs' owner took Lyndz and Keita to his vet and Keita was stitched up around her neck area. She should recover nicely, but what a terrible experience from them both. This emergency prompted us to sign up with Skype so that we can call her & others as we need to without needing to search our phone cards & public phones. Our Skype login is momjsb57 for anyone else who wants to chat via computer or video. What a great tool this is! We felt much better after being able to speak directly with Lyndz who reported that Keita is doing well, slow, drugged, but in no danger.
Today, Saturday, we headed toward the nicest part of town, Los Condes. We visited a farmer's market which included fresh fish of all varieties. We even saw an Airedale running wild! This city has more street dogs than any place we've visited, many are cared for, including this Dale, they just roam the streets at will.
Behind a Dominican Church was an Artist Market with stall of crafts of all kinds, birds, antiques, cafes, and live music. We spent a couple of hours looking and stopping to listen and read on benches under flowering trees. What fun it is to smell the strong scent of lilacs in October!
Across the hallway from us lives a young engineering student whose family emigrated to Chile ten years ago from Bulgaria. He is very bright and fluent in English as well as Spanish & Bulgarian. We have enjoyed speaking with him during our hours at the hostal. Velin is his name~ he describes himself as a man without a country being a relative newcomer here and many years away from his native homeland. As I write, Keith is in the dining room singing Mana songs as Velin plays the guitar. Hostals are great fun until the young people return from partying in the middle of the night talking at full volume as their cigarette smoke drifts under our door... Ahhh, traveling, you must take the good with the bad!
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