TrAnSaNtIaGo

I can't say many things about this transport system, because I'm not from here. I mean, I was born in Santiago, but I've been living here for almost two years. I went to Santiago last year, and I found it awful..it was a nightmare to me. But then, I thought that it wasn't as terrible as people said.
I was used to pay with money (not with the bip card), because I'm from Valparaíso, and the transport systems works different there. But in my opinion, this system is working good, maybe the big problem is that there's a lot of people in Santiago, and the buses and the subway can't cope with all of them. There are periods, specially in the morning, when the buses and the subway are full, and you can't get into them, and you have to wait for the next one; actually, these things can be very terribles, because you can be late to college (in my case).
But I think that there're things that are very good, like the bip system; you can get into three buses, or change from buses to the subway, and you don't have to pay in every one of them, you just pay once. In other cities you have to pay them all, and it's very terrible (specially when you have to go to a further place), because you spend a lot of money travelling.
Other benefit, is that there are designated bus stops, so the driver can't "stop" in any place. Sometimes, in Valparaíso, the bus drivers used to stop in the middle of the street, or sometimes they didn't stop and you had to walk many blocks.
In the other hand, people complains that the system is not working, but some of them don't pay, that is to say, they get into the bus from the back doors, or they don't pass the bip card. One of the problems, also of the transantiago is that the buses are too big, so many of them didn't fit in some streets; but this problem was resolved, because they put into the streets other buses, but smallers.
One of the things that I would change, is that I would put more buses, with schedule (timetable) and with more frequency, so people wouldn't have to wait for the buses.
When the bus is empty, I love the transatiago: is cheaper and fast.

regards,
penny

A country I would like to visit

Actually there are a lot of countries I would like to visit, because I've never been out of Chile, I don't know any country but this. It's very hard to decide wich one of them I would like to visit, because I would be the happiest person in the world if I could visit them all. But the one I always have in mind is Perú.

Well, I dont know many things about Perú, only that is a neighboor country, it's one of the countries that borders with Chile in the North. I know that its actual president is Alan García, and that it was the cradle of a lot of important cultures like, for example, the Inkas, Chavín and Wari...I know that Sendero Luminoso is from there, but that's not a topic I would like to talk right know. I've seen pictures, and I think it's one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen; it also has a lot of "native" population, so it's a very interesting country to visit, specially for an anthropologist (not only for the native people, but the relations between people, etc.).

I would like to go, because I've always wanted to visit Machu Picchu; on the other hand, I would like to visit Cuzco, and the Uro's floating islands in the Titicaca river. I would like to meet new people, chat with the peruvians, and the most important thing: I would like to go because I've always wanted to know a new culture different from mine.

I don't know if I would like to live there, I think that's something I haven't decided yet. Maybe I would like to study there, or work for a while...or maybe stay there just to "know". I don't know what the fate has in store for me, or what I'm going to do in a couple of years from now...the only thing I know is that I want to go to Perú, and I'm going to work in the summer to have money to travel there on my vacations with a friend.

PennyLane

First terms: good points and bad points

I think the last semester was the most difficult period I've ever experienced since I got in this college, that is to say, it was difficult in the academic side. This is my second year in this career, and the hardest, because the first year was very easy compared with this. I learned a lot of things related with anthropological theories, specifically cultural materialism, and with different aspects of social sciences. For example, I had subjects like: linguistic, psicology, and physical anthropology. I was very stressed up, because in almost every subjects we had a lo of things to read and a lot of pieces of work, essays, investigations reports to do; and the hardest thing of all this was that the most of them were in group, so it was very difficult, because doing them took a lot of time.

Actually I was very tired, so I didn't have the chance to do other activities, besides I didn't have many free time, but when I had it, I listened a lot of music, I went out with my friends, I read things for my own and not for the college's subjects, I saw a lot of movies, and I went to Valparaiso to see my family. I didn' t do any sports!!!!, but I walk a lot during my daily life. I started to participate in a project of popular education (educación popular) called "la escuelita", doing workshops to kids. Sometimes I felt very bad, because I couldn't lay out my time in my family and friends, college and "la escuelita"; on the other hand, I'm a very "slow" person, and everything I do take me lot of time; but I'm trying to achieve my purposes of making things right.

Since I got into college, I haven't seen my family very often, but I try to travel to Valparaiso every weekend. Last semester I was so stressed up that I traveled to Valparaiso every time I could, because I feel very good and relax when I'm with my family and specially when I'm near the sea. Besides, almost all my friends live there, so I try to meet them when I go.

regards,
penny