save the dolphins

Calle 13-Muerte en Hawaii

first impressions

New country, new city, new people, new perspective. . . I've moved away from the everyday normalcy and comfort from my life in the US. My friends, my family, my house, my job, my university.. my cat.. have all been replaced. Replaced by similar but strange versions that all still possess that unique freshness that can only be found the first time you meet something.  You get to see it in its raw form, as it exists in nature, untainted by the feelings you possess toward it. You see every detail in its beauty and each item contains an infinite amount of mystery.

But this can only last a moment before these new things transform into the everyday routine and comfort of the familiar. The street art surrounding my house on the hill has already begun to transform. It is still as equally beautiful but, it will never look the same as it did that first day. Now, when I see the mural with the large butterfly and the ducks on the water I know my home is two winding curves ahead, past the lookout point panorama of the Valpo bay, past the tiny blue ferreteria with the shaggy dog always asleep on the stoop, and one stop after the market that runs out of bread after 5pm. This is now my home, and as each day passes the different transforms into the familiar, the exciting into normal, and the strange into comforting. I will stop viewing the city as an outsider and I will start to see it as a resident. This transformation is neither good nor bad, but most definitely part of every new encounter. So I cherish these moments of exciting newness and try to hold on to the virginity of each moment because these eyes will never again see Valparaíso the same as they do today.