Snow in Santiago, Chile

Today at 3 or 4 a. m. I was in an uber on my way back home from visiting a friend, it was raining and, slowly, the rain became hail and then turned into snow!

It's super rare that this occurs, and extra rare in the middle of the city. The last snowstorm was on August 2011, but just some districts close to Los Andes mountains, like Las Condes, Vitacura, Lo Barnechea or Peñalolén. Before that, on August 2007, we had a little snow in the city too, but not like this!

Snowstorms in the last 46 years.

I must have fallen sleep an hour later because I was too excited! A lot of people woke up in the middle of the night to see it. For many it was their first snowfall (for me it was).

An the morning after:

During the night, I was very happy about the snow but suddenly remembered: "my poor aloe vera plants! they're going to freeze to death!", but they are too heavy for me to lift alone. I checked them the morning after and they seem to be okay. I hope.

A neighbor also forgot her aloe vera pots outside of her house:

Whole families left their houses despite the cold temperatures to play and enjoy.

Credit to Mitzy Martinez

Credit to Alexander Capuano

Credit to Yusleidy Mariaca

Credit to Rosa Diestra

Some got creative and showed skills in crafting all kind of snowmen and snowfigures.

I found this one on my way to my boyfriend's house:

Some even got political:

Piñera CTM (CTM is short for conchetumadre which is equivalent to MF).
Credit to Gamba

Credit to @MARYTA2011

("Snow for everyone. Free and high-quality", alluding to people's educational demands for Chile).

Another example, the following comment on my Facebook feed: "There's so much inequality that even in the possibility of seeing snow you can notice class differences..."

Can we just enjoy the snow for today... pleeeeease???
Just today, just for some hours, all of you Mr. Buzzkill, can we just forget our national reality and just be happy?

Well, of course, you can understand there will be people who won't enjoy it. This fellow Haitian, for instance, when asked about the snow, he says "it's bad", "my hands, my head, my whole body hurts".

According to Onemi (our national emergency agency), a blackout left around 260.000 houses without power, and there's light posts and traffic lights outage in some streets. The electricity company is working on it. (Source: AdnRadio)

There are dangers to the snow, especially for a country that isn't used to it. Vulnerable families will have a hard time bearing it, with the hardships of the cold and the faulty structures of their houses. I can't help to think about the many streets dogs, a sad trademark of my country, and how they're going to deal with the cold of this day. I hope this snowfall have the least consequences possible.

Nevertheless, I will always treasure the memories of this gorgeous day.

#nieveensantiago

More pictures at
Biobiochile.
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