Better Late Than Never...

It's been over a month since I first arrived in Santiago, and I've seen so many things, met so many interesting people, and learned so much that it's hard to know where to begin this blog. But I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Amanda Wallas, I'm 26 years old, and I'm studying Public Health at the University of Chile for a year, thanks to the Rotary Foundation by way of the Rotary Club of Martha's Vineyard and District 7950. For those of you who don't know, Rotary International is, according to the website "...the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self." In the summer of 2009, I applied for a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship through the Martha's Vineyard club with the help of Rotarian Harvey Hinds, and after an interview with district leaders, was awarded a $25,000 grant to help spread world understanding and peace by being an Rotary Ambassador to Santiago, Chile. Zip forward to March 1st, 2011, and I've landed at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport excited, nervous, happy and exhausted from 14+ hours of travel.


Jose Miguel Oportus Mateluna of the Vitacura Rotary Club (and my temporary host counselor) met me at the airport and brought me to the house of the López family in Las Condes, a comuna (suburb) of Santiago. Along the way, I couldn't help but be struck by the differences between Santiago and Martha's Vineyard, my home for the past 3 years. Santiago is a metropolitan, modern city, a lot like New York in terms of size. We drove on a major highway past towering skyscrapers, apartment buildings, malls and commercial centers. Martha's Vineyard is a small island off the coast of Massachusetts with a year-round population of about 16,000 and no traffic lights (the blinker at the 4-way stop does not count). I grew up just outside of Boston, but had never lived in a city before; Santiago is nothing like Boston. Santiago could probably eat Boston for lunch.

Los López are the extended family of a coworker of my father's, and they had graciously offered to let me stay with them until I could find a permanent place to settle. Their house is as close to the center of Santiago as my house in Newton is to Boston - they're about a 15 minute cab ride from the Los Dominicos end of the Red Line (Metro); I was about a 20 minute walk from the end of the Riverside end of the Green Line (T). I ended up spending 3 weeks with Arturo, the Patricias (Sr. and Jr.), Connie, Cristobal, and Juana (the nana), along with various other family members and friends who stopped by for Saturday lunch or a weekend visit. They treated me like one of the family, helping me adjust to a new place with such love and understanding that I don't think I'll ever be able to truly thank them as much as they deserve.