Chil’in in Chile #1

Chil’in in Chile #1.

   It has been exciting, STRESSFUL, and enjoyable in Chile.  The best move was for me to stay an additional week (I return to UM to teach for 3 week on 24th August). This allow us to accomplish so much more. 

Our House:

    We have a house that is 100 m above the ocean with a clear view of incoming waves.  Most afternoons end in a beautiful sunset with the warm rays heating our house.  I mention the warm rays, because in Chile it is late winter/early spring and while not freezing, it is very moist and cold.  Additionally, we have been warned by everyone that “one should not heat your house” because the natural gas is so expensive.  Thus, we only turn on the heat for a few hours in the morning, and are always dressed in layers. Not surprisingly, everyone else at restaurants, grocery stores, school, the marine laboratory, just about everywhere is dressed in layers.  Yet, in the afternoon, the sun streams into our windows, warming our bedrooms, and the living room looking over the ocean.  It is delightful—the warmth, the view, … life.

Speaking of warmth ,we have discovered caliente-camas: warm bed.  Basically, a heated sheet that goes underneath the fitted sheet.  We get to go to bed in a warm bed.  Warmth—a real blessing.  It is cold in our house and a warm bed is nice. 

STRESS:

 What has been a headache is getting at RUT/RUN*, a national identification number.  Theoretically, with a temporary resident visa we should be able to go on line, click a few button and arrange to go to civic registration office and get both the RUN and an National ID.  Why is this important?  You cannot get order on line, create internet account, signup for internet or phone service, get a bank account – basically do any business—without a RUN/RUT.  Want to buy a car? What is your RUT? Order school supplies on-line? What is your RUT?  Having said that we are in the process of buying a 2010 Nissan X-Trail 4 WD (Rogue in USA) for 8.5 million Chilean Pesos.  Are plans include going south to Patagonia, east to the mountains, and north to a few national parks, thus 4WD is important.

SMC: 

Samantha is going to a local private school that is all in Spanish.  The school year is ½ over and so she has to jump in mid-way through and learn in Spanish.  She seems to be enjoying it.  She reports that the kids are very nice and helpful.  Last Friday she spent the nigh at a friends house.  So, it seems to be going well. 

SCIENCE;

    We have successfully gone out into the rocky intertidal.  At low tide with 2 meter waves crashing against the rocks, it is an impressive environment.  We collected sample in low wave zones and high impact wave zones.  The latter is a challenge.  You watch the waves, wait for a break, run/climb down the rocks and collect samples hoping to avoid the more massive waves.  In both high impact zones, Sergio (our host) avoid getting wet. I, on the other hand, got soaked but did not get washed away.  

   These collections are for the course Margie and I teach, where the undergraduate willing get 100s of billions of sequences to determine genetic differences between samples.  Our unlikely hypothesis, is that natural selection favors different genotypes depending on the wave impact and wave effect on species interactions.  Regardless of the outcome, the undergraduate get learn about genomics and computational analyses.  

For now.  

D, M & S. 

*It is actually a RUN, a registration unique number; like social security number, and a RUT is for  businesses, but everyone refers to it as RUT (root).