Posts Tagged ‘summer’

Down here in the Southern Hemisphere, we’re sweating basking in the glow of summer. Last year, I spent almost every January and February weekend by a friend’s pool. As a self-admitted tanorexic (no really, you can be too skinny, but I’m not sure you can ever be too tan), pool time is a key feature of any summer.

This year, however, we have a problem. While most newer apartment buildings in Santiago come with pools, over this past year my friends and I all seem to have ended up in houses and apartments without. Obviously the lack of pool is a challenge to say the least. Enter the public pool.

Growing up in California, I never went to a public pool. I had my own in my backyard, as did many of my friends. In fact the only time I can remember ever going to one is in France, of all places. My family and a few others had rented a house in a small village, and when we kids rebelled against the monotony of days filled with the croissants, cafés and contemplation of slow-paced village life, our parents brought us to the local pool for an afternoon.

Club Providencia - ready for the sunbathers to arrive

Today I had my first semi-public pool experience. I say semi because I went to Club Providencia’s pool. The club is a gym and social club run by the municipality of Providencia, one of Santiago’s comunas. The fact that people pay to be members (the gym is members-only) makes me hesitate to call this a 100% public pool, but they do let anyone pay to visit the pool for one day. Works for me.

It seems like a lot (or even most) of the municipalities have piscinas municipales, but I don’t know much about them. I knew La Florida had a few only because they ran a promotion with the Santiago metro system last year offering discounts for charging your metro card with a certain amount. A quick search, however, reveals all sorts of pools all over the place!

Tupahue pool on San Cristóbal

Despite this apparent smorgasbord of aquatic options, there’s no doubt as to the best-known pools in Santiago. The two pools on top of Cerro San Cristóbal – Tupahue and Antilén – hold that title. They’re really big with fancy designs and great views, and they get packed in the summer. I’ve never gone in either, but after today’s first dip into the public pool waters, I’m starting to think I may have to have this quintessential Santiago experience before summer ends.

Emily Williams is a US gringa living in Santiago, Chile. She writes about expat life at AffordableCallingCards.net and on her personal blog, Don’t Call Me Gringa, and loves hearing from readers!

It’s November, and that means that we should be sweating down here in the Southern Hemisphere. This year, however, not yet, much to my dismay.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsalgado/ / CC BY 2.0

In fairness, last summer stuck around a bit longer than usual. So I could forgive an extra week or two of winter. September 18, Chile’s independence day and time for long weekends and general merry-making, is usually considered the start of spring. After that date we still get plenty of grey, chilly days, but it’s usually heating up more or less definitively by mid-October.

But this? This seems like overkill. This morning was overcast, and I froze in my 3/4-sleeve jacket, wishing I’d opted for fuller coverage. Sure, by the time I got out of work it was decent enough, but by no stretch of the imagination was it hot.

Most Chileans I know are similarly frustrated by this shy summer, but they’re not too worried about it yet. That’s because unlike me, they didn’t hear about the Northern Hemisphere’s awful, cold, wet summer. As soon as I saw raindrops fall in California in JUNE, I started hoping Chile wouldn’t get hit with its own weird weather during what should be the warmer months.

I’m not giving up hope just yet. We’ve had enough nice, warm and even hot days to give me hope that this might just be a fluke, and by this time next month I might be missing the cool mornings and downright cold nights. But I will say that I’m starting to get worried. Weather gods, if you’re listening, please bring a little summer to Santiago.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsalgado/ / CC BY 2.0

Emily Williams is a US gringa living in Santiago, Chile. She writes about expat life at AffordableCallingCards.net and on her personal blog, Don’t Call Me Gringa, and loves hearing from readers!