L: Laissez-Fair, Lessons on Pragmatism, and Lack of Time

From my vantage point at a table in the corner restaurant between the two main halls of the next-door mall, I can see it all.  A family of Chileans speaks rapid Spanish.  My shopping bag with a Pacific shirt for Seth that the clerk sprayed with cologne sits on the table next to my frambuesa crepe.  The ever-present sun glares through the thin glass window.  I shouldn't even be able to keep my eyes open because I've barely slept, but somehow the adrenaline and sheer energy that is Santiago, Chile keeps me awake without caffeine.

I wake up every day to a breakfast feast of fresh fruit, baked breads, meats, cheeses, coffee, and juices that makes it worth getting up.  I board a coach that drives me to the Universidad de los Andes about twenty minutes outside of Santiago.  The modern lecture halls are ensconced by green foliage, bright flowers, and the Andes mountains.  I sit in the middle row of the lecture hall and catch my friend's eyes.  The professor is once again debating the difference between principled and pragmatic decisions.  He feels that universal principles exist which apply to utterly every situation, so one can never make a decision that applies to only a particular situation, because that would be pragmatic and wrong.  Thankfully, this portion of the class is over and I'll only have to hear about Chilean economics from here on out.  

After lectures end, I dine in the cafeteria and board the coach for the ride back to the hotel.  A thirty-minute rest later, I hurry to the lobby to leave for the afternoon's cultural activity which can range from visiting a museum to hiking a large hill.  The activities in the hot sun send us running to the cafe's for limonada and water.  By 9 o'clock, we're debating dinner (this is truly a process) and returning to the hotel late.  Of course, no one goes to sleep directly after dinner, so I sit near the swimming pool and debate politics, restaurants, ideas, or just listen to people talk about life.  Around 2:30, I drag myself to my room while bemoaning the fact that I only have four hours to sleep.  Somehow, come morning, it just doesn't matter.  Chile is exhausting, but I'm never really tired.

Life in Santiago is such that time seems not to exist at all.  Dinner is eaten between 8 and 10pm, so I rarely return to my hotel before 11 or midnight.  On those evenings when I explore the city lights or learn to salsa dance, it is as though night exists for only a few hours, since I have to rise early for breakfast and class.  From whitewater rafting and riding an ascender in Puerto Valparaiso to learning about Latin American politics from first-hand sources and getting a crash course in survival Spanish, it's been a true adventure.