No leaf blowers

We are now deep into the autumn, and leaves are falling like crazy. The cool and sometimes rainy weather reminds us of home. Yet, as we walk the streets of Chillán, there is something missing, something that sets this fall apart from the ones back in the USA. Ah, yes, it is the silence. No leaf blowers. Not one. Instead there are people with rakes and brooms gathering the leaves into piles. The only sounds are the slight scraping of the rakes on the ground and the conversations among the people raking side-by-side. Call me old-fashioned, but those are the sounds of autumn that I like best.