Kelly Bonilla 8

One of the things this class has made me think a lot of is changes in environment. I grew up in Queens, there's not a great deal of landscape to be appreciated around here. But thinking about new settings I've found myself in, I remembered my first trip to Chile about four or five years ago. So I decided to share this photo taken from a hill top looking over the capital, Santiago, with the Andes right there in the background. What was striking about this moment was noticing the difference in air qualities in the altitudes. On that hill top, as you might imagine, has lots of trees, fresh air and cool shade. But go down into the city for about15 minutes later your eyes will start to water and feel incredibly dry and irritated. That's not sleepy eyes from jetlag, honey, that's because Santiago de Chile is one of the most heavily air-polluted cities in the world. If you're not used to such dense pollution, you just tear up at random moments. And if you have asthma, forget about it. My brother went through about four pumps during that trip. But thats a great photo, huh?