Celebrating 47 Years of Marriage

December 27th was our wedding anniversary. To celebrate ,we decided to get out on the town without any Spanish speakers as companions. It is always an adventure to go sight seeing in Santiago but even more so when you have so little Spanish that you know you won't be really understood or really understand anywhere to go. But we went anyway and had a great time.

We took a bus and then the subway to the Aviation Plaza which features this amazing fountain. It is operated with over 100 water pumps. It was exhilarating to watch the tremendous water show that it is. We went in the early evening before sundown and noticed that a large group of youth with dyed black hair, face jewelry and black clothing were congregating in large numbers. There was also a large number of police officers. So we decided not to stay after sunset to see the fountain lit for nite. We will return on a week night with a group of friends for safety. We did see many examples of PDA (public displays of affection). This is very common in Chile and seems strange to us North Americans but any place is a place for love in this country. We have even seen a couple kissing very warmly in church! If you want a better view of this behavior just click on the picture and it will enlarge it for you!!

We don't want you to think that this is all the young people do so we have included some picture of kids in the same park doing gymnastic tricks. You see lots of gymnastic teams doing tricks during the red lights at busy intersections. They then run among the cars collecting donations.

Interestingly, there was a couple lying on the grass almost in the middle of these athletes entwined in each others arms as if they

were alone. Oh well, I guess in a city of 7 million you just get use to crowds.

I have included two pictures of street dogs. They are a curious breed. They are everywhere in Santiago. The strange thing is that you never see a puppy or even a toddler dog anywhere.
We wonder where they keep their babies. They are so smart that
they always seem to cross streets with the light and they are always aloof of people. Never rude. You never touch or talk to a street dog however. You ignore them if you can and watch where you step. They all appear fairly healthy but a little dirty and rough.

The fountain and park are adjacent to the Mapocho River which runs out of the Andes chocolate brown. The bridge you see is as steep as it looks and takes some energy to climb. It is for pedestrians only. You get a great view of the park and the city and the mountains.

The blue bell flowers grow on a lacey leafed tree here that blooms in spring and early summer. I don't know that name so my son in law has to look it up and tell us all about it.

The first day of our celebration is complete but tomorrow the fun will continue.