Only in Chile...

Only in Chile...

1. do the buses honk at the ambulances to move out of the way.
2. will you see old men riding down the road on their horse and cart while talking on their cell phone.
3. are there malls and shanty towns on the same block
4. are there so many stray dogs that you get to know your local stray dogs enough to name them.
5. can you get hot empanadas from a man with a cart (I still have no idea how he keeps them hot.)
6. will six 12 year old boys hang out of a small school bus yelling and waving at you just because you have blond hair.
7. do families have dogs as big as St. Bernards, when they only have a 15x15ft. yard of tile. Can you imagine cleaning up?
8. do you practically become a third party of a make-out session everyday on the bus or the metro.
9. will the Chilean mailman tell you to take the clothes inside that are hung out front on a line because ALL Chileans are thieves.
10. when you sit down to have a salad, will you get more oil and salt than actual lettuce.
11. are there lines for fresh bread everyday.
12. do you have to fight the raggedy guys from the street for the cheap, 'cold', one-day old, super cheap bread in the morning.
13. will teenagers with an i-pod in their hands come up to you and ask you for money.
14. does it snow and there is still no indoor heating.
15. is there no insulation in the walls of homes.
16. are there ferrias (markets) every few blocks.
17. can you get sopaipillas, churrascos, and completos from the street vendors. Mmmm...delicious.
18. are there trash bags hung from fences, trees, and shrubs twice a week on garbage day.
19. do y0u learn the individual tunes of the street vendors who walk down your street playing their flute. The knife-sharpening man, the cotton candy man, the natural gas man, and the fruit and vegetable man.
20. do people knock on your door and ask if they can dig through your trash at least twice a week.
21. do you see people going for their daily jog with a soccer ball.
22. is there practically a non-existent middle class...and the part that does exist is built solely on credit.
23. do all the dogs get clothing of some sort when it's cold, including some of the strays...shirts, scarves, etc...
24. do people put 3-5 heaping teaspoons of sugar into their coffee and tea.
25. do all the stray dogs actually have their own social community. They have packs, they have territory, and yep they even have loners.
26. is there change worth less than a penny.
27. do even the poorest families buy gigantic bags of dog food, even though they can barely afford food for their family.
28. is all the food smothered in salt, sugar, oil, or mayonnaise.
29. does everyone park their vehicles inside their gates at night.
30. does the man across the street wash his vehicles once a week, even in the rain.
31. do people sweep their gutters daily.
32. will the local mini-market owner bring you out a cup of coffee while you are waiting for the fresh bread (your also very wet from the recent rain, which he's concerned about).