Paying Attention on a February Day in Santiago

Things I saw:

In the metro—

Three passengers across from me glued to their cell phones

Next to me a young woman reading John Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charley” in Spanish. I wanted to tell her how I’d loved the book, but she was plugged into ear phones.

On the street –

Three yellow hard-hatted workers pushing three new yellow wheel barrows

Two young women standing by a magazine rack of Jehovah Witnesses’ literature

A full bicycle rack of blue city-bikes

A middle-aged woman in shorts, something unheard of when I arrived 40 years ago

Tee-shirt logos: Grand Forks, Red Sox, Subversive Exchange, Nike, Rock ‘n Roll

In a tree –

A red-breasted father plant cutter feeding two raucous chicks.