I grew up in NY and went to college in New England. That’s about 21 winters of sloppy, gloppy, slushy puddles and stained cuffs and wet shoes and freezing socks. And though I’ve now spent nearly half my life mostly outside the reach of winter’s frigid grasp, I love nothing more than standing in the snow and having it land slowly on in my hair, outstretching arms to feel watch it collect on my coat. Falling snow muffles everything. Stomping feet knocking the snow off in the entryway makes me want to go to the kitchen and heat some milk for hot cocoa.
I probably romanticize snow to a great extent. And if you’re in the northern hemisphere, you’re wondering what’s gotten me suddenly thinking about the fluffy stuff. Well for one thing, there’s today’s view from the balcony, which makes me seriously consider selling tickets. See?
But down here in the city, we seldom see actual snow on the ground, and downtown, even less so. Which is why when we got stuck in this traffic jam on the way up to the Termas de Chillán, it kind of felt like Christmas (except I’m Jewish, but I still think I know what Christmas feels like).
And we were admonished to use chains. As though we’d have considered going without.
And all night long, they were trying to clear the roads, which only partially worked, and a worker was killed when a landslide crushed his vehicle. I vaguely wonder if it could have been this guy. Pretty terrible news for his family.
And we lost power, but the dogged among us kept working anyway.
And in the morning, my first thought was, “what floor am I on?” Answer: second.
And some of the hostellers pitched in to dig out the hostel, since the mountain was closed for business (they were there to snowboard). Very nice those French Canadians. Astonishingly so.
And then we finally decided that we should get out of dodge before we got dumped on again, and thus began the long way home. Kudos again to R for not killing any of us, me, Chispita (the car), or Simon the very tall and lovely Australian who crunched himself into the back of the car on the way to Chillán.
And still people ask me why do I live in chile [mostly chilenos!]. Hello.Snow.View.Obvio
I know, this snowfall was awesome! Snow.View.Obvio is going to be my new response to absolutely everything!
That view is absolutely unfair. I feel that citizens in Santiago should be made to pay a view tax. Or something, anything, to make it easier for those of use not so blessed to avoid fits of petulant envy.
view tax? Well, to be fair, you have to live high up and face east to get this view, but yes, we probably should have to pay said tax. What if we just agree to either send you pictures or offer you a spot on the couch when you come to visit?
A VIEW TAX?? No way!! I’d say we pay our view tax in the form of SMOG! And that very occasional wonderful view is our reward for putting up with the normal smudgy view the rest of the time!
Then of course, I don’t have a view, so I would most definitely consider buying tickets to your next event Eileen! Can you please hold another in a couple weeks?
oh, you’re right, we do suffer through some pretty bad smog. And sure, come over any time for the view. We’ll just have to coordinate with mother nature re: fresh snowfall.
Your pictures of snow made me ache for home. Then I remembered that I’m going home this week. Then I remembered it’s summer.
awww, sorry! I made it bad, then good, then bad again. I love New England winters. For about 2 days!
Eileen, is this from yesterday’s rain/snow? Or a memory you’re replaying from another time? Landslides and snow digging aside, I’d love to see that much snow on the ground so close to Santiago.
the mountains are from today (first pic), and the snow up in Chillán is from last Friday/Saturday. We did have a little bit of accumulation downtown in 2005 or 2006, but even up on San Cristobal, there were only a few inches. Make that centimeter.s
Ooh! those snowy Chillán shots make me want to head straight for the hills! Haven’t been there yet, but it’s pretty darned high on my list.
well, being from a snowy part of the world, I’m sure you’d know how to drive in it. Everyone else? Not so much. I think you kind of take your chances with that kind of thing. I still haven’t been up to actually ski or sled in it, but winter’s grip seems pretty tight. I’m sure we have time.
I’m from Canada & obviously I’m no stranger to winter but having been abroad in SE Asia for an extended period of time I look at these photos and realize I miss snow 🙂
falling snow is the best. Falling, fluffy, have to go nowhere snow. You’re probably not thinking about it now, since it’s summer where you are and summer in Canada, but when northern winter comes, I always get a bit nostalgic! Thanks for popping by!
Hi again,
I’m French-Canadian too! Yes, snow is so much a part of life in the northern hemisphere as well as parts of the southern hemisphere.We Canadians are proud to say that the Inuit of northern Canada have no less than 30 words for snow. We rarely get snow in Kyoto, Japan where my family and I live. The pictures of all that snow is refreshing. We are now in the middle of a very hot Japanese summer; we could use some snow.
John
And are you surprisingly nice, like these people? I’m sure you have done your share of snow-shovelling. And I can only imagine how hot it is in Japan in the summer, if how freezing it was during the one Japanese winter I was there is any indication (just a couple of weeks, but still, very cold!). Hope you can stay cool, and enjoy that quirky vegetarian restaurant in a small bar with all the cat statues, if you know what I’m talking about (near the canal, if memory serves). BTW, do you not have a blog we can catch up with you on?
Hmmm … all the cat statues … near the canal. Can’t say that I’ve been there, but I’ll keep it in mind. I think most north americans would find Kyoto winters mild, but there sometimes are unusually cold days. No blog, but there will be in the future.For now I’ll enjoy those that I find … I will contribute soon (relatively). Found a link to yours on Cachando Chile. Good reading, yours and Margaret’s
John
I meant cat figurines, not statues. It’s a vegetarian restaurant in a very tiny bar, and the woman was able to explain to me that the eggrolls had okara in them, and goodness only knows how that conversation occured, since my only question word in Japanese is doko (where). Would love to see your writing when you get it up and running, be sure to let us know! In the meantime, good to see you around here!
Wow, that’s some serious snow! I’m glad you weren’t stuck in it. I don’t think I’d like to live in a snowy place, but there’s a definite excitement that comes with being around snow for a bit.
I think I’m in the same camp, but I could definitley use more snow on an annual basis. If the snow won’t come to me, I guess I’ll just have to make more time to go to it!