For a big city it feels small, like everything is within walking distance. I went to the supermarket last night just before closing hour (11 pm) and Claudia, a Colombian girl who works at the hostal, asked me if I needed company. The store's a block and a half away. Now that's just plain nice, right? And God bless Chile, there's a subway! Now, we're talkin'! Santiago is beautiful this morning. I don't know what happened.
Everyone talks about the pollution, the smog & I've got a magnificent blue sky with sun. A gift. This morning a guy saw me smile and followed me into a market. Just for clarity's sake, I was smiling in general, beautiful day, happy to be alive, not smiling at him, people. I'm not sure he'd slept the night before. Know the feeling and it's a good thing to see...how scary a person looks without any sleep. He spoke to me with the informal tu at first and then made a quick switch to usted. Guess it took a minute to realize he was talking to a lady.
Well, I declare! And poor guy, the market I chose to cruise was the fish market. Here he is trying to pick me up, a bit wrecked already, and he has to follow me into a dark, dank fish market. Atta girl, Anne. Make 'em work for it. But this was no simple fish market. There were porcupine-looking specimens and, once cracked open, the inside looked like a starfish! The fella had to keep up with me, jumping from kiosk to kiosk like a kid on Christmas. He even told me not to be rude and to wait for him. I ain't got time. I bid him 
adieu 2 blocks later. Shame on me, right? I should have at least bought him a coffee.Crossing the Santiago streets feels good. I visited the Plaza de Armas which always has something fun going on. Painters, jugglers, cops taking photos of tourists. I crossed over the river as well into what looks like it may be a more questionable neighborhood. The fruit market, flower market, Bolivia bus terminal. People looked at me kinda funny. I stopped at a
sidestreet cafe for a coffee. It's a neighborhood joing. A couple with a baby and a dog. Two gentlemen eating sandwiches. Wooden tables and chairs with colorful umbrellas. In the sunshine.Oh, and get this! The hostal has a hairdryer. Oh my heavens. Given that the water is luke warm and it's damn cold at night (quick note: I slept in all of my clothes last night, including my jacket...and sneakers), the hairdryer made my morning. Sad, but true enough.
I also found a park with a lookout tower. I've gotten some serious walking in today but this park ranks
as the best of what I've seen so far. The backdrop of ice-capped mountains and the city full of traffic and life. And some smog. It's visible now. But it's nothing like Quito, in my opinion. Sonja, a German girl who left for Rio this morning, mentioned last night that she had to have a few days to acclimatize but I feel ok. Really pretty good, actually. Maybe my body's gotten used to the changes in altitude. Once I end up back in New York, in the same place for a while, I'll probably get lack of altitude sickness! Is there a pill for that?!?
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