Differences and Observations, Part III

Just a few more differences and observations that I noticed during our time in Chile...

When I was coming home from taking Caleb to Pipo recently, I was quite surprised to see six green parakeets (loros) fly across the street and onto some tree branches in front of me.  Landon and I stood and watched them for a few minutes until some loud cars passing scared them away.

I don't know a lot about birds, but for me, these kind of birds would only be seen in a pet store or in someone's home in the U.S., but apparently here they are out on their own, too.  I wished I had my camera with me, and the attempt with my cell phone didn't come out at all, so here are a few pictures I found online that best match what I can remember them looking like:

The green birds, not the pigeon :)

 

http://www.avesdechile.cl/468.htm

There are several job positions that would never exist at home, with our obsession with streamlining and cutting out everything extra and not absolutely necessary, even at the expense of jobs for people who need them!  Some seemed nice, and others definitely seemed worthy of elimination when it came to waiting in line (that's the impatient American side of me talking...)...

People sit near scales to weigh your produce for you, instead of it being done at the registers. 

The grocery store we shopped at most frequently - the one that became only a ten minute walk to instead of twenty after getting the double stroller back and working again!

Car wash while you shop?  These guys are the ones that you pay for parking at the grocery store (yes they charge you to park there, depending on time there and money spent inside), and they also help direct cars coming in and out of parking spots in the sometimes very busy parking lot, and they'll wash your car while you get your groceries (for a fee, I'm sure).  This would definitely be nice to have at home!

On the walk to Caleb's school there was a tiny little 'security' booth on the sidewalk.  The first time we walked by it we were unsure why it was located where it was, because it is in front of a very old and small house compared to the other much nicer ones in the area, and it wasn't near any buildings marked embassy like others around town.  We soon realized it was there for the security of the neighborhood of Las Condes.  There are two older gentleman in street clothes who rotate night and day shifts and keep an eye on things in the area, and either sit in their booth reading the paper, or wander around the surrounding area visiting with neighbors.  I suppose we could liken them to the Partners police volunteers, who are retired and just around to have an extra set of eyes on things.  One of them was very friendly and would always smile and say hello when we passed.  I didn't ever take a picture of it, but here is a screen shot of it on Google Maps. :)

Not much room in there... I'd want to get out and walk the neighborhood, too if I were them!

I had intentions of listing a few things that we saw around Santiago that I thought would be nice to have in Lodi.  One idea was these exercise machines in public parks to encourage people to get some exercise.  Jimmy chuckled when he saw an article on Lodinews.com last week about the new Roget Park near Target - they have put some in! (h)ttp://www.lodinews.com/news/article_25452894-c548-5eba-a060-750968d368e0.html#.UV23QICPBjE.gmail)  Nice to be able to offer people something free to help them be healthier, not just an expensive gym membership!

These machines were at one of the parks near our house that we visited often, and it even had turf grass in the area where the machines are. 

School buses in Chile are very small.  I assume this is because many kids either live close enough to walk or ride a bike, unlike here there are so many kids that need transportation.