Rainy Days and Monday's...

As long as there is not rain and cold to start off each and every week, I don't usually mind it every once in a while.  It gives you the excuse to build a fire (though you can't do that here in Chile unless it is a gas fire place) and snuggle under a blanket.  I also get to wear sweaters and boots that I haven't worn in years because it never got cold enough in California. This week the rain is very welcome because recently the air quality has gotten so bad here in the city, the government has taken to using their  “restricción vehicular” system.  It's a pretty good system and easy to implement. When the air gets so bad you can actually taste and smell it (in your lungs, on your skin, lingering in your hair), they start taking cars off the road.  First they start with those that don't have catalytic converters.  Those get parked when the smog is pretty mild and that seems to be all winter.  Then, when we hit a pre-emergency point, they start pulling more cars off the road.  At pre-emergency levels, the government pulls cars off the road according to the last digit of their license plate and it goes in order.  1 and 2 first, then 3 and 4 etc...  I am told that you can live here for years and if you time it right, you will never be affected.  I have been here 2 months, and lucky me, it was my turn to be parked for the day...if only someone had told me.

B took MadHatter to school in the morning on Wednesday or I might have noticed that there was less traffic.  Or maybe not - I am not really awake at that hour.  We don't get a paper except on Thursdays - Sundays and because my Spanish is not great, I tend not to watch the nightly news.  If any one of these things were different, I may have known not to drive.  The digits that are grounded for the day are published in the paper and flashed all over the news.  But in my oblivious state, I head out at about 11 am to get a birthday present for the party we were invited to on Saturday.  This time I do notice that traffic is light (by 11 am I am usually a bit more aware of my surroundings) but just chalk it up to being Wednesday, and everyone was just staying inside to avoid breathing the air (the smog was so thick that I couldn't even see the mountains)



You can make out the smallest peaks but the tallest peaks are hidden in the smog. 
They should be about as tall as the tree in the foreground. (Picture to follow)

I get to the store, get what I need, pick up MadHatter and head home for lunch.  I still need to do my Spanish homework so I get the girls in bed for naps and sit down to finish it up.  Ok, I get the girls in bed, check my facebook, make a pot of tea, clean that up and then sit down to do it.  I may have moved but I can still put off homework.  I must have gotten really engrossed in it because I didn't realize that my teacher wasn't there.  Nani finally asked me if I was going to have lessons today and I realize that she is a half an hour late.  I go get my phone to check for messages and sure enough, she had to cancel class.  Why?  She couldn't drive her car because of the restrictions.  It's the first I had heard of them enacting them today...and it's 3 pm...and I had been driving all day.  I think, what are the odds that out of all 10 numbers, and me being here for only 2 months, that the number is 3 (my final digit)?  Don't think I will be playing the Lotto any time soon with that kind of luck.  I just thank my lucky stars I didn't get pulled over!  It's a whopper of a fine - about $300 US.  I guess I could have played the "I'm a blonde from the US and just didn't know" card but you really don't want to use those up on things that could really be avoided. 

So, the rain that washes this nastiness away for all of about a day is welcome in my neck of the woods.  It was so clear and beautiful this morning with all the snow that fell on the mountains.  The mountains you could actually see again.


Ah, you can see the mountains again!  (not the same vantage point as the last picture, but you get the idea)

Let it rain.  Maybe once a week so this junk can't settle in my lungs and I can let the girls play outside.  And let it rain often enough that the snow on the mountains accumulates so that the ski resorts open later this month.  Just don't let it rain so much that we have to worry about mud slides and flooding... And please give me some sort of warning next time I am not supposed to drive on the streets.  I don't want to have to play charades with a cop!