Chile: vultures!

Monday I went for a walk downtown, and on the near edge is a block that's entirely an abandoned prison. I'm told there's debate about maybe turning it into a museum of the Pinochet era. What I noticed perched on a tall building inside was a big black bird with a red bald head. In fact, many such birds with straight wings when they flew. My first thought was Andean Condor but they're not *that* big, and I didn't think you'd get them down here. Later I saw one being chased and mobbed by a seagull, if one gull can be a mob, and it seemed a big bigger than the gull. S said they're turkey vultures, like the ones in California. At any rate, it was neat to watch them flying around. I figured a block of pale concrete in a sunny late afternoon is Updraft Central, and you could see them circling over the corners of the prison, rising effortlessly as they came back over the prison.

Downtown I found an anime store, of sorts. Given claims of 13 episodes on a single disc, I suspect totally illegal fansubs, though I didn't look for a price. I say this with no great sense of condemnation. Later I even thought of getting one: practice my two nascent languages at once! Or get very confused.

There's a "Cafe Eros". I can't guess whether it's "strip club" or "nightclub" or what.

Downtown proper is a decent walk: tall enough buildings to provide shade, trees in the median of Francisco de Aguirre, and of course lots of shops. I need to remember to avoid Amunátegui: sunny, boring, car-smelly, and annoying crossings.

It'd be half an hour to a Japanese garden I've never been taking to. Need to get there. I might have today, intending a late morning walk, but S2 was very upset that the others had unfairly gone fun shopping without her (spoiler: they hadn't) and I took her to a park/playground she rarely gets to instead.

Down here, today's Google Doodle link says "Fin del 13th Baktún de los Mayas".