It took almost 2 weeks for me to get some Chilean pesos at my bank in Edmonton, and shortly – too late – before I left, I realized I’d need some more money right away in Santiago after paying my first month’s rent. I knew exchanges at airports tend to charge a lot, so I decided to take out my cash in Canada, bring it with me, and exchange it when I got into the city.

I found – no joke – dozens of cambios on Compañia street, and they were all packed. It seemed unlikely they were ALL tourists. I could find only one place that would change Canadian money, so I got a ticket, and waited almost an hour for my turn.

In the meantime, a very nice man from Santiago and his co-worker, a lady from Bolivia, let me practice my Spanish on them – I learned they were both waiters. And that’s when I started to clue in: almost all of the people in there were black, and the ones who were Latino were in their regular clothes, some with little children. They were all changing American money to Chilean. I saw two more dressed-up Chilean people – they were the only ones changing Chilean pesos to American dollars.

Almost all of those cambio customers are working in Chile at service jobs, and likely getting paid under the table and in tips. They have to change all of their earnings into pesos, and probably lose quite a bit of money every time. The people changing to American must have been either tourists about to visit the US, or (given what I discovered in China) maybe they bringing their money out of the country.

Meanwhile, I’m a white girl with the choice to be in Latin America for a year before going home. I am a very lucky bunny.

Taxi drivers going after tourists are even crazier here than China!
Petrobras (Brazilian company) gas stations.
Palm trees again! But leafy, deciduous trees, too!
Big blue Costco equivalent
I’ve grown up with red cross meaning medical/first aid, but here’s it’s the green cross, like in France!
Graffiti here!
Bonkers traffic (it IS Saturday)
Parque en la Avenida Bernardo O’Higgins (good Irish boy?)
Different colour license plates depending on vehicle! (car, taxi, bus…)
I guess 2 guys got tired of the traffic and just got out of their taxi in the middle of the street!
Niño a bordo – Baby on Board
The Nissan Tiida – same as in China!!
Mussels in a CAN, like tuna!!
Ketchup in a pouch, like tomato sauce is sometimes in Canada.
I’m using my EU adaptor to plug in!
Lots of stray dogs…they’re all big ones, like Labs. All pet dogs are small ones.

Woe. As of now, there won’t be as many people voting for the leader of the Conservative Party as way back when Stephen Harper won in 2004. Let’s change that, shall we?

My best friend briefly joined the PC Party of Alberta when Alison Redford ran for their leadership. She’s NOT remotely conservative (she’s voted NDP all her life!), but she wanted to make sure the only woman running, in years, to be our premier was elected. I was shocked: it didn’t seem worth it to me to join the most arrogant, entrenched group of cronies to vote for their leader.

I have changed my mind. Right now, Canada is undergoing its own xenophobic crisis folowing the Brexit vote and the US election. There are like-minded candidates running to lead a major political federal party here — people who have publicly said that immigrants should prove they hold “Canadian values” and have grabbed a woman on TV— want to be prime minister of this country.

And they are DESPERATE for us to vote for them.

If, like me, you feel icky about joining the Conservative Party just to vote for its leader, just know you’re not alone. I’m calling it $15 well spent.

Here is the link to join and decide WHO YOU WANT to run for prime minister in the next election.

(Previous thoughts in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)