Monday, March 22, 2010

Day 5: Visit to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar

It was really really strange to revisit the place where Sarah and I spent 6 weeks learning Spanish. It was familiar, yet unfamiliar. I can't name the feeling quite right, but something had changed, and it didn't seem to be Valparaiso.

I did get a chance to meet our Spanish professor, Marcela. She was enchanting as ever and we swapped stories about family, I showed off pictures, and we talked politics. She was glad that Pinera won because he was younger, vibrant, and had a specific vision. However, the earthquake has changed Chile. Not in physical way, but in a mental one. "Chile changed in 3.5 minutes," was what she said. A country used to stability and control has been dislodged from comfort and faced with the same thing other well developed countries are facing: chaotic, unrelenting world markets.

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