Writing about my favourite animal is very difficult for me because there is not just one animal I like, there are lots of them. I love chameleons, hippos, dogs, rhinos and so on. Having said that I’m choosing one of all the animals I love and I think it’s going to be the wild dog, also called dingo.
I didn’t know much about dingos, just that they existed. Then, a couple of years ago I travelled to South Africa to work in a wildlife rehabilitation centre. There they had a lot of animals they couldn’t put back into the wild because their injuries were to severe or there was just not enough room for them. Among these animals was a pack of dingos in good conditions in the sense that they weren’t injured. Nevertheless they couldn’t put them back into the wild because there isn’t any room for them. Dingos live in packs and hunt in groups. They are very efficient hunters, intelligent and organized and there is now way a prey is going to escape. The problem is that sometimes they don’t hunt because they are hungry; sometimes they just hunt for fun. And this is the big problem. In South Africa there a lot of national parks and wildlife reserves. However, all this parks have a number of animals they can support and at the same time there must be a balance between hunters and preys. It because of this that wild dogs aren’t welcome in this reserves, because they can kill for fun and endanger the balance that is so hard to keep.
It is very sad that these beautiful animals can’t be located anywhere. Now because of that they are an endangered species. I would love to work with them and find a place where they can live in peace. I’m mean, maybe it’s strange that they kill for fun but it’s in their nature, and there is nothing wrong with that.
It is very difficult for me to find 5 highlights to see here in Santiago because for me it’s just another big city. I don’t think Santiago is ugly or not fun, but it doesn’t have that much of history like other south American cities, for example Lima or Quito. However there are some things you have to see if you come to Santiago. Here are the 5 things you shouldn’t miss:
1. Cajón del Maipo: This valley isn’t necessary in Santiago but still for me it’s part of the city. It juts takes an hour to get there and the landscape is beautiful. There are a lot of places to eat and if you have time and the right car you can get very far and high into the mountains. Also there’s the possibility of do some rafting or other sports. So, if you come to Santiago you can’t miss Cajón del Maipo.
2. Plaza de Armas: Of course you can’t miss this reunion point of the city. It’s the main plaza of the city. You can find the cathedral there and there is also a museum of pre-Columbian history. If you want to eat some Chilean hot dogs, also called completos, you can find very cheap ones there. 3. La Moneda: You can’t leave Santiago without visiting the government house. It’s a building with a lot of history and there is a museum there too. I don’t really know why but you just have to visit it.
4. Cerro San Cristóbal: If you want to have a great view you have to go to this hill. You will be able to see Santiago. Of course you need a big of luck, because if there is smog probably you won’t see much. There’s also the national zoo if you are interested in animals, but don’t expect to much, from my point of view it isn’t very nice.
5. Pueblo los Dominicos: As a tourist you probably want to buy some souvenirs. There are two good places to buy them, one is the Feria Santa Lucía and the other one is this place. Here you can find lots of stuff made of lapizlazuli, a blue stone that only exists here in Chile and in Afghanistan. It isn’t necessary cheap, but there are some nice things to buy here.
If you ask me, death penalty shouldn’t be a punishment option. Some people argue that this way of punishment is more a type of revenge and not of justice, and I have to say I agree with them. To my mind killing someone, even if this person is a murderer, makes you a murderer too. From a political point of view, death penalty is a way to save money, because you have less people to feed. It is sometimes argued that death penalty, or capital punishment, is a way to discriminate against the poor, because they don’t have the option to pay their way out, so they aren’t really important for the government. Another issue is that there have been wrongful executions, so innocent people have been killed, and once you kill someone you can’t bring him back. To be honest, I think that death penalty is a dangerous weapon and way of making justice, because you can be wrong, sometimes nothing is like it seems and also, you take somebody else his right to live. However, in some countries like Chile, prisons don’t work as well as they should. Dangerous people stay a while in prison, but afterwards they are released. That’s why many people think death penalty should exist. Murderers have to be in jail for ever and if this doesn’t happen killing them is a good option to make sure they won’t kill again. I feel that improving justice in Chile, making sure wrong people aren’t going to be released is the way to avoid death penalty. I remember that Chile had de death penalty some years ago, and I remember that it was the president who said if the persons deserved to die or not. To my mind this is very stupid, because it shouldn’t be the president’s responsibility to make that call. So I’m a glad the abolished this way of punishment, but still I think justice has to improve a lot and make sure the population is save by not releasing so easily murderers.
I would like to visit Switzerland because I lived there for 4 years. I arrived with eight years and left with twelve. I haven’t been back, so it would be really nice if I could go again. Actually, last weekend my best friend from school there came to Chile. We didn’t see us for 12 years and didn’t have contact for 11 years. But thanks to facebook we were able to communicate again, and finally she came to visit me. It was very nice, we had a lot of fun and we almost forgot that we hadn’t seen us for 12 years. While I was talking to her I remembered a lot about school and my friends. It would be very nice if I could see them all again. And not just them, I also would like to see the house I lived in, the school and many other things. Basel is the city where I lived; it is a very nice city, one of the biggest in Switzerland. Everything is very clean and organized, public transport is just perfect and they have really nice bike streets. And of course I would like to eat a lot of chocolate and cheese; two things Swiss people do very very well. Switzerland is beautiful but still I wouldn’t move back there because I can’t stand cold weather and it gets really cool there. Winter is very long also. Another reason I wouldn’t move back to Switzerland is because Swiss people are very different, they are colder and more serious. It’s hard to adapt, not when you are a child like I was when I moved there, but as an grown up it is more difficult because they are very closed up people. Very polite and correct, but not warm.
Writing about my favourite animal is very difficult for me because there is not just one animal I like, there are lots of them. I love chameleons, hippos, dogs, rhinos and so on. Having said that I’m choosing one of all the animals I love and I think it’s going to be the wild dog, also called dingo.
