Part 2 of my week's excursion included a trip to La Moneda, Chile's White House, basically. Had I gone 2 day earlier, I could've ran into Michelle Bachelet, Chile's female president (who happens to be a divorced woman, which is shocking that a very Catholic country to elect a president like her). Oh well. Unlike in the U.S., the Chilean president does not live in La Moneda. She lives in a neighborhood called Providencia, which is super close by!
Obligatory tourist shot. No WuWu vest this time. Lo siento.
Looking onto Avenue Bernardo O'Higgins. I think that's the funniest name ever. Bernardo=Spanish. O'Higgins=Irish.
Room with red walls! I love red walls! Too bad I was too busy taking pictures to listen to the tour guide. However, I did learn about the Chilean flag. Apparently it is only in La Moneda that there can be a crest/emblem on the flag (the eagle looking thing on the flag). Anywhere else it is prohibited. The red stands for the blood of the soldiers who fought for independence. The white stands for the snow-capped Andes. The star stands for...I forget. And the tour guide joked that the blue stands for the blue skies of Chile...everywhere else but Santiago due to its nasty smog. True that, sista. Cough cough.
More red room.
The chapel of La Moneda. Very Catholic, as you can see.
This room of La Moneda was dedicated to Salvador Allende. He was the first democratically elected Socialist president in the world, which scared the US at the time of the Cold War because it would mean another Cuba. Chile was in shambles. Then he committed suicide. Then Pinochet, the dictator of the military government came in and the rest is (contested and controversial) history...
A museum dedicated to Allende.
In the gift shop, displays of Mapuche ceramics. These ceramics are doing my favorite activity! Can you guess what it is?
Very patriotic little ones they are.
A 50-foot long map of Chile in the gift shop.
And I located my 'hood. I live here! I'm so proud to say that. :) It took a lot of work to be living here-- lots of paperwork in the US and when I got here as well, a lot of waiting in line, a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of fees, a lot of time devoted to learning Spanish...
But I'm still divided who I love more. We'll see when I go there this Saturday. : )
Random shot of food at home. That is lettuce, tomato, and 1/2 an avocado filled with clams. Deee-licious. Even though Chilean food is lacking in the flavor department, I think the daily (yes, DAILY) dose of avocado makes up for everything.
This is a dog sleeping in my classroom. You see, Chile has a dog overpopulation problem. This random dog followed a classmate to school today because it was raining. It decided that it could just follow her right into class, scratch at the carpet as if he were digging, and make himself at home. Chile is so weird.
1 comment:
Dogs generally scratch at the area that they're going to sleep at while circling it-- it's like an instinctual thing, like they're gathering leaves or something of the sort to lay down on. Cookie does it with the blankets and makes a soft little cushion-y place for her spoiled butt to lie down on. I think that I'd love all the stray dogs in Chile. *_*
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