First week in Chile, South America completed on 9.8.13, it has been sheer bliss. 🙂
I had a very lovely meeting today with Sr. Patrick Matzler, who is Swiss and speaks English. Dr. Matzler is a professor on the faculty of the Instituto de Estudios Generales at UCMaule. We discussed my dissertation research and how I could assist with other scholarly activities there at UCM. Following out meeting he invited me to attend a Tertulias universitarias estudiantiles 2013.
In the tertulia students and faculty came together to discuss el tema de “Educación: Calidad y Gratuidad, ¿son compatibles?” There appears to be some concerns being raised about the quality of education from the standpoint of it being free. This is an interesting debate, as many people are of the position that if an offering is free, it may not be of good quality. Such ideas may also create conflict as some people believe that an education is a human right and therefore should be offered as a free opportunity for all. This is a fascinating and complex subject to explore, particularly in light of reduced resources and issues of debt associated with the pursuit of higher education in Chile specifically and the global community generally.
Here are some great pictures and short comments related to some recent photos and videos I took in Talca.
I noticed this young man taking a bunch of glass bottles to this receptacle in my neighborhood. It seems that recycle is an important goal in Talca.
This was a charming little tienda de verduras where vegetable are sold in my neighborhood. As I approached, I asked a guy nearby if I could take a picture of the store. He said I had to pay him, yeah I passed on the close-up shot in that instance.
Today was my first trip to El Centro or in other words, downtown Talca where the larger mall is located. I needed a curling iron and the folks at the mall near my habitación said I would have to find that particular item in El Centro mall.
Entering downtown Talca.
Many portions of downtown Talca seemed very similar to my remembrance of downtown Manhattan in New York City, more particularly the SoHo area.
Yay!! Shopping and browsing time. 🙂
Lots of traffic in downtown Talca (El Centro).
Chilean Independence Day is celebrated on September 18th. The country of Chile secured its independence in 1810 and history records that the area of Talca played a major role in that event.
These young dancers performed in honor of the upcoming September 18th Independence Day Celebration
There are very few public restrooms in Chile which surprised me. When we were at the bus station in Santiago my new friend Carmila told me, “Use the for-pay restroom, trust me!” I was able to use el ban pictured above because I was a patron at one of the mall restaurants.
Mi cena (dinner).
La mayonesa is a common dressing on food here in Chile. As you know, yo’ girl and feeling the mayonnaise so I ended up selectively removing portions of my salad to another small plate.
I also learned that ice isn’t as common in drinks here as is the case in the United States. That’s been quite the adjustment as well. I was happy to have a Sprit with my dinner. Bottled drinks are served in 1/2 liter bottles versus the 12, 16, or 20 oz. bottles.
Taking a taxi back to La Casa.
Purchased this little change purse to avoid having to always pullout my wallet. So cute and granny style. 🙂
Chocolate doesn’t seem to be as available here as back in the US, however I was so happy to find these familiar friends. 🙂 They are smaller thank your typical North American candy bar, but most snacks foods appear to be in smaller portions here in general.
La biblioteca (library) isn’t open on Sundays like is common at UGA but there is an area that’s right by the library that is open and has access to WiFi and electrical outlets for laptops. It’s kinda like a cabin-style smaller version of the MLC (Miller Learning Center) at UGA. 🙂 Also if you look to the lower left corner of this pic you will see some dog paws. Dogs roam quite free here. I don’t who this one belonged to as he was there when I (and the woman in this picture) departed. He was just laying there chillin’! lol
My good friend and hostess in Chile Carmen, offered me an invitation to attend her church today where other Christians came together on behalf of the deaths and injury to the people in Syria. It was an spiritually empowering experiences and the presence of the Holy Spirit was very clear especially in the singing of the congregates. I’m so happy I was able to share in the prayers and experience with them today.
I will add video of their beautiful singing and guitar playing shortly.
The Chilean Chronicles Blog (The US Return Extended Version) 