It's also a little strange readjusting to this country. My Spanglish is no longer taken for granted, and there's a subtle difference between the people that isn't any better or worse, but for the time being makes me a little uncomfortable. I'm sure I'll feel back to normal really soon.
One difference that is very striking to me is the excessiveness in the States, or at least in this part of the states. Everything is bigger than it needs to be and we use more resources than we need. In some cases, it almost seems beyond the level of comfort and purely for the sake of opulence.
Yet at the same time, I admit it's nice to not worry about taking long, hot showers or sharing modest living quarters with a family. I guess the keys are balance and appreciating what you have.
On another note, I'm trying to decide whether or not to continue this blog now that I'm home. I've enjoyed keeping a record of my experiences and keeping in touch with people I'm not immediately with. And I think a little self-expression has done me well.
Of course, continuing this blog will make its title a misnomer. Maybe when I get to Ithaca in the fall I'll make a new one. Or maybe not. We'll see.
In any case, thanks for reading for the last 5 months. It's been nice to know that people care what I'm up to, or at least have nothing better to do than read this thing! If you're in Hillsborough, let's hang out so I can catch up on your life. If you're in Ithaca, see you soon. Wherever you are, love to you all!
I realized I never posted about language or food in Chile this entire time. Let me drop a quick blurb about each.
Language:
I was going to go into phonological rules and things of the sort, but I think I'll just say that Chilean Spanish is very unique. It's full of different words and comes out without half it's sounds. They say that if you can understand Chilean you can understand anyone else's Spanish. So of course this was a challenge. Unfortunately I spent a lot of time speaking English here, as the majority of my friends are Americans. However, I don't regret that anymore because it made my experience what it is. I realized that there's more to my time abroad than learning Spanish (although that was my number 1 goal for my time here before I arrived). In any case, I'm a whole lot more comfortable with my Spanish now than I was before I got here. I can hold a conversation with a native speaker and follow a conversation between native speakers. I'm far from perfect, but it was a good first shot at it.
Food:
In short, Chilean food sucks. Maybe that isn't fair, but I'm not a huge fan. It's salty and mayonnaisey and bland. Vegetarians are poorly understood, and white bread and fake sugar are necessities for all. That said, the fresh fruits and veggies during the summer were delicious and cheap from a fruit stand, and you can't go wrong with an empanada. I also will miss the palta (avocado) and quesillo (this weird cheese that I don't ask questions about) sandwiches. Plus I'll miss having someone making me lunch everyday! Oh well- I look forward to cooking when I get home anyway. Pisco is the alcohol Chile is known for (just don't say that to a Peruvian), and a pisco sour is a tangy concoction of pisco, lemon juice, egg whites, and sugar. I'm hoping to buy some Pisco in the duty free shopping at the airport on the way home.
I'll be on my way home in less than 2 hours. Wow. The way home starts with a drive to the airport and some goodbyes. A lot of my friends are taking the "group flight" back with me to Miami, so that'll be nice. After an 8 and a half hour flight to Miami, I get to chill there for another 8 hours or so until I can catch the 1pm flight into Newark. My friend Annie has family in Miami, so I might try to go out to breakfast with them all :-) Anyway, I'll be in New Jersey at 4pm. In New Jersey- that's nuts. I think it's going to take me some time to readjust. Bear with me please!
Thursday night we adjusted, Laura tried to eat guinea pig (two bites was the best she could do), and made some plans through our hotel. Friday we took a tour of the "Sacred Valley" and learned about some interesting ruins. Saturday we took the 6:45 am train three hours to Aguascalientes which is the little tourist town down the hill from Machu Picchu. We had a great tour guide who showed us around the abandoned city. It was smaller than I had expected, but was resonating with history, mystery, and energy. The Incans were pretty smart people. Sunday morning we got up at the crack of dawn to go back to Machu Picchu and climb Wainupicchu which is a big mountain with more ruins on the top. Only 400 people are allowed up the mountain each day. I think I was number 318. The climb was tough, but we rested a lot and the view was absolutely amazing. Of course it would have been better without 50 other people up there with us, but still. I wish I could sit on top of a mountain whenever I wanted. We headed back to Cuzco Sunday night, and after some (more) delicious food , we flew back to Santiago on Monday.
Tuesday was my birthday (yay!), and I went out at night with my friends and had so much fun. It was an excellent 21st.
Tomorrow I have to take care of some things around the city and start packing. Packing is going to be interesting because I've accumulated a heck of a lot of stuff since I've been here, and have to stick to airline limitations. Oy. I still can't believe I'm leaving in like 50 hours. It makes me sad, but I miss everyone at home and, as great as my host family has been, I miss living in my own house. So I think I'm ready. I'm not in love with Santiago, but I'll miss the people I've spent the last 4+ months with, and I know I'll miss the adventure. I'll just have to make my own.
Our tour guide told us that most of the people who ended up in the tower were killed. He himself had been a prisoner at this camp and had somehow made it out of the tower alive. The tour was extremely moving and sad. He described to us the horrible types of torture used on prisoners, and told us what it was like to live in detainment, blindfolded at all times, crouched with 3 other people in a cell the size of a port-o-john (we saw a replica), listening to screams of the tortured all day, given a count of 3 to use the bathroom, being threatened and beaten by guards. We also went inside the tower where he and a group of 17 others, including a pregnant woman, had been locked up. It was horrible just being there. I can't even imagine.
entered, are locked indefinitely as a symbol
that nobody should have to walk through
doors like that again
The general was all in good spirits and making jokes and reminiscing, and it all seemed to me like an extra slap in the face to our previous tour guide and all of his companeros who suffered and lost their lives. They justify these deaths by saying that it was like a civil war and there were casualties on both sides, and this general even said outright that Pinochet didn't know there was torture going on. I'll let you draw your own conclusion.
Our final stop (after lunch), was the Cementerio General. This cemetery was created in the 1820s and is huge. All but two of Chile's presidents are buried there, and there's a big memorial to Allende right in the middle. Half of the cemetery is almost like a little city, with rows and rows of huge, ornate tombs, many of which are larger and better constructed than the majority of Chilean homes... you know, where people who are alive live. The cemetery was also full of huge walls divided into cubbies with plaques that signified the bodies behind them.
Of course, even in death the super rich and the dirt poor share the same land. Just beyond the last of the amazing tombs were endless rows of crosses for the regular folk. Even beyond that there were rows of metal crosses, some of which were labeled as nameless bodies killed during the dictatorship. There was also a memorial wall for the "desaparecidos" and other people killed due to the dictatorship. I took about a hundred pictures at the cemetery, some of which I'll post soon. Here are a couple.
(click on a picture to see it larger)
The next morning I got up bright and early for a little day-long retreat with my program. The deal was that we had to fill out all this paperwork (mostly evaluations), but that we were going to do it at this swanky, upscale club for the rich-folk in Santiago. Hacienda Santa Martina was a heck of a place. Located about half an hour from the center of the city, this place was perched at the top of a windy road, even out of sight from the big, modern housing complexes below it. The hacienda boasts a rolling golf course, fancy indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs, studios for dance, yoga, karate, and exercise classes for the whole family, some pretty delicious dining., and a heck of a view. Actually, we all felt a little uneasy there, in the rich-people's haven situated so closely to poverty. It was a really great day though. We started out with some reflections on the semester. It's crazy to think that we're wrapping up already. We were given letters that we had written to ourselves during orientation. I'm still on the same page as my former self, I think. Then we wrote letters that will be mailed to us in September. I scribbled out a page and a half before it was time to move on, but for one thing that made me realize that I should really start trying to articulate my thoughts on my experiences more. I've been taking everything in up to this point, but in order to make the most of it, I think it's really important that I draw some definite conclusions for myself. Anyway, we spent the rest of the day filling out forms, eating at an amaaaazing buffet (Mexican food- with SPICES!!!), playing soccer, and swimming. We stayed in the outdoor hot tub until the sun disappeared behind the mountains, and then headed back to the city.
I spent the night at my friend Christine's apartment (her host parents were out of town), and in the morning we made cookies! We figured it would be a good thing to give our host-dad's for El Dia del Papa. Buying ingredients was a bit of an adventure. For future reference, "bicarbonato" is baking soda, brown sugar is not widely available, and chocolate chips are not a concept easy to explain. However, if it's 400 kinds of mayonnaise or a whole wall of salt products you seek, do your food shopping in Chile. Well I found the baking soda, decided to skip the brown sugar, and substituted the chocolate chips for Rocklets (Chilean M&Ms- although they have those too), but my biggest problem was unbeknown to me until well after the cookies had baked. It turns out there are two types of flour at the grocery store. And it turns out that "con polvo de hornear" means that it had yeast in it. So, we ended up with cakey cookies that were still pretty delicious.
Sunday afternoon the extended family came over for lunch and once (the small meal that's either the last one of the day or between lunch and dinner, depending on the family). It was really nice to be part of a family get together, and I was somewhat pleased with my ability to converse with everyone. I actually really enjoyed it!
So that was a long entry about not a whole lot. I think I'll be really happy to have some record of weekends like this though. OH! Guess what happened today? I'm not giving you time to guess- I felt my first tremor!! I was in Spanish today and at first I thought my friend had kicked the table or something, but then I realized everything was shaking! When I realized what it was, it freaked me out for a second, but it wasn't dangerous or anything. I was on the 17th floor of the building, so I think it was a little more pronounced. Apparently when there are earthquakes in Japan (as there was a few days ago), we get little aftershocks here. (I'm not sure what they're actually called.) Anyway, that's my news. Hope everyone had a happy Father's Day.
<3
We flew into Calama, a small city boasting some mines and a mall. For the most part it was a run down little place with a few nice plazas and churches. Not a lot to write home about. We spent the night there and in the morning hopped a bus to the dusty little town of San Pedro. The ride was about an hour on a desert road.
We made it to San Pedro, which is a little town with dirt roads and houses made of brick and clay. The place is bursting with tourists- this time of year it's mostly backpackers from Europe. The main street is dotted with shops, restaurants, hostels, and tour agencies. The more residential area is maybe two blocks away, but I'm pretty sure that at any given time there are more foreigners in town than locals. I think the fixed population is only around 1,500. In the center of town there's an old colonial church, a tiny little Plaza de Armas, and a museum. We stayed in the International Hostel there for 3 nights, and had fun meeting the other travelers that came through. There's not much of a nightlife in the town- in fact, "nocturnal dancing" is illegal! And it's also against the law to serve only alcohol to a customer. One night we went to the hopping restaurant for a beer, and we were served a plate of cold potato pieces too. Even with the crazy laws, we still managed to meet a few crazy locals and hang out with some people in our hostel. Plus most nights we had to get up early the next morning anyway.
So we got there Friday around noon, checked into our hostel, and went out to choose some trips and activities. We walk out into the street and all of a sudden this parade of cars and children dressed as clowns, mimes, and fat people poured down the street! You can check out the videos of that on my facebook as soon as I put them up. Anyway, we decided to go sandboarding that day and then go to the Valley of the Moon (one of the main attractions in the area). Sandboarding was fun- think snowboarding but with the appropriate substitution. I took a few dramatic spills, but the most painful part was walking up the giant dune between runs! The Valley was amazingly beautiful at sunset. The pictures just don't do it justice at all. The scenery is so other-worldly. I believe the actually did tests for the Mars Rover in the Valley of the Moon because the terrain resembles Mars. Really stunning.
The next day was probably my favorite, although I was aching for the next 3 days. Abby and I took our time in the morning and then rented bicycles for the day. They gave us a map and off we went. The scenery was magnificent. There was no way to capture that with my camera. We saw two Incan fortresses, biked through the "Devil's Gorge", and continued up the road to what I think used to be Incan headquarters. Up there we ignored the signs and climbed up to a colonial church. In total we biked about 15 miles, I'd say. That night we went on a star tour run by a really nice and knowledgeable couple.
Sunday we woke up at the unholy hour of 3:30 AM to go on the tour to the geyers 3 hours away. About 20 minutes out, there was a problem with our bus, so we sat there for an hour while they tried to fix it, and then the guide told us that people had to leave because the new bus couldn't hold everyone. I felt like I was in a third grade class when he said that if people didn't volunteer, he would choose for us. He was kind of a jerk. But anyway, they got two vans and we made it there (although we missed sunrise). The views on the ride there were awesome- in parts the ground looked like a giant slab of clay that someone had kneaded into hills. The geysers themselves were very interesting. The were in a big, flat valley with little frozen streams and were really active. We walked around them for a while, had some breakfast, and got back on the van. The way back was bumpier than I remembered and I was not feeling too good. Did I mention it was a three hour ride? We did make a few stops through. Most were to see some animals, but one was to this little tiny town less than an hour from the geysers, stuck in the middle of these hills, and really in the middle of nowhere. The guide didn't explain very well what the deal is there. For the rest of the day we just hung out. We went to the museum which was full of artifacts and pretty interesting. The next morning we caught the first bus back to Calama and flew back to Santiago in time for class. Even the flight back was absolutely beautiful. You can really see the entire width of the country from an airplane.
The pictures I've posted here are just a small sampling. Even though I was having camera battery issues, I still managed to take a heck of a lot of photos and a few videos, all of which will be online soon. So conclusions- The title for the most beautiful place I've been keeps changing. This place was amazing- really. If you find yourself with the means and will, I'd suggest a trip here. Traveling with two people is better than traveling with 15 people. A few more weeks in Santiago, a few days in Peru, and then home! Time flies...
Here's a picture I took today of the gates to a university campus en toma (down the street from my house). Note the pile of chairs barracading them in.
And while I'm showing pictures, there was a stray dog on the bus today...
Friday night we had a make-up class at my Spanish professor's house. We were learning about the huge gap between the rich and poor in Chile, so this was an opportunity for us to see if firsthand. My professor Paula lives in an area maybe 15 minutes east of my house called Penalolen. This area is really interesting because of the sharp juxtaposition of the upper-middle class and the poorest of the poor. I got my first taste of this on the bus ride to Paula's house. As we drove towards the Andes (they're right there), we passed many stand-alone, decently sized, well-kept homes. With our little mapcity map in hand, we managed to miss our stop and ended up going a little bit further. By the time we got off the bus, the large modern homes had turned into rows of dilapidated shelters. Finally we got to where we were going.
Paula lives with her husband, an engineer, and her two children in a gated community of condos. Her house is modern and very nice. There were only a few of us there, so we hopped into her car for a little tour. We went back through the gate, went 25 meters to the next light, made a left, and all of a sudden we were in a poor rundown area. Paula stopped the car when we came to what was basically a shanty town. It was a little community of makeshift homes, falling into each other, without floors, etc. They call it a "toma". She asked the two police officers outside if she could leave her car there. She told us that there are always police officers on duty there because there is a high crime rate. There was a group of young boys kicking around a soccer ball right in front, so, hesitantly, we followed Paula through the fence to talk to them. The boys were 10-13 years old, and really adorable. We talked to them for a little bit. All of these boys attended school and even practiced some of their English phrases with us. The thing with Chile is that, even though there's a lot of poverty, education is mandatory and available. The literacy rate is really high, and English classes are mandatory too. I asked the boys what they want to be when they grow up- cliche, I know. One wanted to be a veterinarian, another an engineer, and one of them said he just wanted to be an adult. I could make that moving and sad, but I think in reality they were just being silly. However, it really was sad and moving to spend even 10 minutes there. I wanted to stay and hang out with the kids. It's so easy to forget that a lot of people live like that.
The next place we passed was a ritzy looking gated community called "Casagrande". Just up the street we stopped to look at an area of government housing that was created for the purpose of getting people out of the shanty towns- an ugly purple condo complex, which gives each family a whopping 360 sq-ft. A little further up the hill was an eco-community which is home to mostly artists and actors. On the corner a man and a women were selling Hare Krishna bread (?), and there was a sign for a Montessori school. The houses here were tucked behind trees and a little quirky. Then we drove back to Paula's house and had "once" (a light evening meal) with her and her son. The entire car ride, with stops and all, took no more than 20 minutes. We covered probably about a square mile- at very most two.
The gap between the rich and the poor in Chile is a big issue. Even though the poverty rate has improved significantly over the last ten years or so, there are still many very poor people in this country. Furthermore, people here are very sensitive to class. Often people are turned down for jobs because they don't have a good address or can't supply an e-mail address. I regret not doing service in the poorer communities while I've been here.
Something else interesting, unfortunate, and not at all related- On Thursday, Chile's federal police chief, a few other officials, among others, were killed in a plane crash in Panama. I actually read it on CNN before I had heard anything about it here, but today my host parents were watching the funeral procession on TV and it was massive. Apparently the police chief was very well respected. My host mom told me that it's really amazing to see so much respect for a member of the police force because in the past, like during the dictatorship, the relationship between the people and the government was obviously very different.
Those are my observations for now. I'm supposed to be writing a paper, but instead I've pretty much blown off the day. Oops. Oh well, it'll get done. Oo! I bought my tickets for Cuzco, Peru today! I'm going with my friend Laura to visit Machu Picchu in the beginning of July! If anyone's been, suggestions or tips are more than welcome!! Let's see, what else... Yesterday was a gorgeous day! 60 degrees, sunny, and you could see the now snow-covered mountains so clearly! Alright, I have nothing else to say, it seems. Back (implying I've started?) to work!
Happy June
So here's what we did- my comments in blue:
Friday, May 23
8:30 am Depart for airport. Depart for
I made my way through flooded Santiago to their hotel, awkwardly tried to decipher if that big group of gringos was the one I was looking for, boarded the bus eventually, and listened to Katty's comfort disclaimer about possibly the less than luxurious conditions down south.
12:00 pm Arrive
I'm really lucky to have gotten a window seat. The view of rolling hills, farms with squiggly tree-lined borders, and snow covered mountains made the hour+ trip seem even shorter. Even the cloud of smog over Santiago had thinned out thanks to the days of rain. The view as we arrived to Temuco stuck with me. Deep green farm land stretched for as far as I could see, then there was a hill, and all of a sudden a little city appeared. The sudden transition was really striking.
Temuco was a small city without too much excitement. The university was small, and of course the students were protesting. It seems like students all over Chile are upset about the price and exclusiveness of education. (Where are the protests in the US?) The students were out and about, playing ping pong, hanging out, eating lunch, etc. I feel like to some degree the culture of being a college student overrides cultural differences between college students.
Lunch together at campus cafeteria
While we ate lunch (chicken lunch, aka mashed potatoes, salad, and granola bars for me!), our bus went to go pick up the Mapuche craftspeople who would be showing their wares later on. When the filed into the casino (cafeteria) dressed in their traditional garb, the juxtaposition of two cultures seemed really prevalent, definitely more so than when our big group of Americans did the same.
Presentations by UCT faculty on public policy focusing on Mapuche issues.
The presentations were very interesting. I feel like I got a good background about an issue that is really important to Chile and that I should know about since I'm living here. One of the main ideas was that Chile does not recognize the Mapuche culture. For instance, someone important over the course of Chilean history coined the idea "un estado, una nacion"- one state, one nation. (Forgive my lack of specifics- I wasn't listening to the translators!) For the Mapuche nation, this statement is a negation of their existence.
A group of Mapuche craftswomen will also be at the university displaying their wares and open to conversation.
8:00 pm Depart for Villarrica by bus. Check into hotel.
The hotel was FINE. That brings me to my question: Is Chile a third world country? My instinct is no. Santiago is a completely developed city (although their drainage system could use some work), and the towns that I've visited have been relatively well-kept, although that's not to say I've spent much time in the poorer areas of Chile. I know that many people do suffer from poverty in this country, and that the gap between the rich and the poor is unbelievable. Still, most people have roofs over their heads, the literacy rate is 96%, and the gross domestic product ranks in the low 40s. But what does all of that mean? From the tiny bit of research I just did, it seems like "third world" is a term with little concrete substance that was coined to make distinctions during the Cold War. Now it's used to label developing countries in the world, but it still seems to lack a specific definition or standards.
Good food, good conversation, and good live music. The owner and the musicians (his son, a friend, and a violin playing boy who, if I understood correctly, they rescued from the streets) were all very nice people. A few of us stayed, drank wine, listened to music, and got the son (26 years old) to play pink floyd and led zeppelin on his guitar! haha
Saturday, May 24
10:00 to 12:30pm
Visit to CIEM. Visit section that works with abused children, juvenile offenders released on probation.
Visit section that works in domestic violence, alcoholism, poverty.
The general consensus about the way agencies like these function here in Chile is that they do a really great job of integrating all of the players on a case. That is, there is communication and collaboration between the social worker, the psychologist, and anyone else involved, and that leads to success stories. However, their funds are low, and in the words of the presenters, they have to be magicians to do what they do with the resources that they have.
This was a home for girls between the ages of 2 and 18 who for one reason or another (usually abuse), cannot live with their families. We had an information session with the woman in charge, and then went for a little tour. The girls were eating their lunch and there were sandwiches for us on their tables, but we were to take them and not sit down. I think the idea was for us to mingle with the girls, but with only a handful of Spanish speakers, and with the fact that we were some strange group of Americans observing them, the situation was awkward and probably very uncomfortable for the girls.
2:00 pm Visit local prison and FUNDAR, a local NGO
FUNDAR was pretty uneventful, but the prison was very interesting. When my group visited, the inmates were outside playing soccer and such, so we were only able to visit a few select areas. The first was a room for well-behaved women. Instead of a gray cell with bars, this was more like a big dorm room, filled with enough bunk beds to sleep maybe 20 women. There was a table in the back with some coffee on it, and the walls were decorated with posters and things. The women were a young, giggly bunch. We chatted uncomfortably for a while, and they told us about what they miss most (family, mostly). We also learned a little about the court system. In Chile, their fate is not decided by a jury of their peers, but instead by three judges.
The next room was smaller, but full of bunk beds and with a little kitchen. The room was empty- all of the men were outside in their tiny fenced in "backyard", standing in a circle, waiting for our arrival. We were told these men were here for worse crimes and had to be kept separate because otherwise other inmates would kill them. A few of us went out into the middle of their small, intimidating circle. When we started talking, we realized that these men were actually new inmates, not necessarily there for violent crimes, and many were willing to talk to us. One man had killed someone who broke into his store, another hit somebody while driving drunk, and there was even an Englishman there for possession of ecstasy. Some were very old while others were young and would get out again soon. We talked to them about the services provided by the jail (they can take classes, there are religious services, and I'm pretty sure there's some sort of counseling available- though I honestly can't remember), and about how their families are making ends meet while they're away. In many cases it's nearly impossible.
The last room we visited was occupied by a small group of men who actually paid $40/month to live there. The conditions were a little bit better (cleaner), and they wanted to separate themselves from other inmates. Their hope was to be released on good behavior. A few of them even worked in the prison kitchen to earn some money. One many was there for burning down a warehouse, another had illegally slaughtered and sold animals, and another flipped a truck and killed the passengers in the truck bed. In their spare time, these men worked on crafts. The room was decorated with beautifully carved wooden horses.
I know very little about the jail system in the US, but the general consensus by the group was that conditions are much better here in Temuco. Granted, we only saw the "good" rooms.
This was interesting, yet touristy. We first were presented with a traditional dance by a little girl in traditional clothes. The woodwind and percussion music came through on a stereo system, and the little girl's undershirt said "20th Century Fox" on the sleeve. More than questioning the authenticity, I would take it as a representation of the evolution of cultures.
The food was delicious (they made a vegetarian option which was some sort of root with vegetables and quinoa), and at the end of the meal, the wife of the leader gave us all a scarf that she had made.
It turned out that the man who had led the ruca visit and his wife who had made us the scarves would be my hosts for the night. A bunch of us boarded a van from the hotel and took a 20 minute ride, first through town, and then off on a gravel road, maybe a mile or two up a hill. Four of us got off at the first stop and followed a man and his son by flashlight down a grass hill, over a wooden bridge through some woods, and up to a decently-sized house in a sizable clearing. The main room of the house was large, with a few couches, a wood stove, two looms for weaving, the kitchen table, and a computer. The kitchen was adjacent, and a small hallway led to bedrooms and a bathroom. Our host, Hector, and his wife (unfortunately I can't remember her name!) had three boys, two teenagers and the sweetest little 6 year old (he drew me a picture!). The oldest is studying, or wants to study, tourism in the University, which is what his father did too. We spent the evening conversing, mostly with Hector. I was the only one of the 4 of us who spoke Spanish, so I got to play translator, which wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be (not that I was so great at it). Actually, it was a big confidence boost! We spoke a lot about Mapuche customs. We had a lot of questions and Hector was nice enough to humor us. We also spoke about his travels and other visitors, and we spent some time talking about dreams. Unsurprisingly, dreams are extremely important to the Mapuche people. Dreams guide us and should be looked at carefully. He also told us that often someone who has passed away will guide us through our dreams. For him, a dream led him to leave Santiago (where they had lived for a few years) to come down here and build a house. Yes, he built the house. It was uninsulated and unpainted on the inside, but we were still warm and comfortable. So we talked for sometime, looked at some pictures, drank yerba mate together, ate chestnuts, and went to sleep. In the morning, we awoke to more of that percussion and woodwind music. Hector told me that he and a friend had made it, and he showed me how to use a bunch of the instruments. We ate breakfast together, which was a pretty typical Chilean meal (bread, cheese, jelly, eggs), although everything was homemade. I wish I could have stayed longer so we could have gotten passed the whole "random guest in your house for one night" thing, but still, it was something I'll always remember.
Return to hotel
Skipped it and laid down for a bit.
Did some shopping in the artesian market, then had empanadas with a bunch of people at a bakery.
Clean pools, very relaxing, ahhhhhhh
Monday, May 26
10:30 am Return to
Our flight was delayed an hour, so we had some time to check out the big artesian market in Temuco.
2:10 pm Fly to
8:55 pm Depart
Well, that was what was supposed to happen, but instead our flight was canceled. In the rain, the pilot couldn't see the runway, and was unable to land the plane. After many hours in the airport, Katty was able to coordinate a bus ride back to Santiago (and a different flight for the rest of them back to the states). We went to a nice restaurant, and then started the 10 hour, overnight trip back to Santiago. I slept some, and when we finally arrived, I hung around the airport for a while so that I could take some people to the Plaza de Armas in the city. Finally I made it back home, went to class (took notes that I don't even remember taking!), got my bag back from Katty (who kindly held on to it for me), fell down the stairs in the metro (my butt still hurts), came home, took a nap, and woke up the next day.
SO, all in all it was an excellent trip. I learned a lot and was able to have some of the experiences that I've really been eager to have since I've gotten here. I actually forgot my camera in Santiago (errrrrgggg), but some people were nice enough to send me pictures, so I'll put some of those up soon.
This weekend will be spent in Santiago playing catch up and catching my breath. Sorry this was a really long post! I had a lot to say :-)
Back Monday!
Having a Wednesday off made this a very tempting weekend (yes, I'm referring to right now as the weekend already) for travel, but between flights, hostels, sites, and coordinating with other travelers, I just don't have the energy to put something together. It might be this sudden rainy-ness that's made me feel lazy and tired. Still, I have no complaints about the weather. When it rains, the smog clears and you can breathe again. Yesterday I was up on the 17th floor of "Torre 15" where my program office is, and I was able to see mountains in the distance that I never even knew were there. (Too bad I didn't have my camera!) I get the feeling that for a lot of people in Santiago, the rain signifies a sort of release. Quite a metaphor, huh? So if I don't travel this weekend, I'm hoping I am able to knock out a few essays and such so that I can free up following weekends.
For what? Well, as my time in Chile ticks away, I'm trying to decide what I want to see before I leave. There are all kinds of nooks in the city I still need to explore, but as far as big trips, I've narrowed it down to three places...
1. San Pedro de Atacama- In the northern Chile desert, this is the one place that everyone tells me I must visit. It boasts stargazing, sandboarding, mines, volcanoes, and archeology. Plus it's eerie other-world landscapes are apparently unlike anything I've ever seen.
2. Chiloe- Chiloe is a big island in the lake district of Chile. It's relatively rural and takes pride in a distinct culture rich in mythology.
3. Machu Picchu- I can't be this close to Peru and not explore the famed Incan ruins.
Let's see if I can scrounge together the time, money, and energy for these potentially amazing trips!
<3
Sometime in the last month or so, the reliable sun and heat of summer has gone for good. Now the days are cooler, the nights are getting cold, and a cloud of smog hangs ominously over our heads. The mountains that felt practically in reach in March are sometimes indistinguishable behind a curtain of pollution. Nice, huh? In Santiago, autumn and winter are supposed to be the rainy seasons, but this time around there's a bit of a drought (though they're expecting rain soon!), and the lack of precipitation has kept the black cloud from dissipating. Still, the cooler weather has been nice. On nicer days I'm comfortable without a jacket, and on cooler days the crisp air is refreshing. Usually the temperature is in the 60s or 70s, and when the sun goes down it usually drops into the 40s or so. (You may notice I've been too stubborn- read, lazy- to adopt the metric system.) In the dead of winter, the temperature can even dip below freezing, which the mere thought of elicits an uncontrollable shiver from Santiago residents. Now, having survived an Ithaca winter, it's tempting to scoff at this weakness and show off my frost-bite scars of pride (that's a joke, don't worry), but the fact of the matter is that this fairly temperate weather in Santiago never necessitated the construction of central heating systems. Therefore, when it's forty degrees outside at night, it's somewhere around there in your room too. To counteract this, I have a gas heater in my room that I turn on whenever I'm cold. For fear of asphyxiation, I'm not supposed to sleep with it on, so my bed currently has a sheet, a wool blanket, a down blanket, and a warm top blanket on it. So far so good.
Another interesting thing about this colder weather is the pervasive idea here that being cold makes you sick. Actually, this isn't something that's only come with Fall. From the first day in my house (when it was 85 degrees outside), if I walked around my house with only socks on (only socks on my feet, that is) or god forbid barefoot, I was told that I must go put on shoes so that I do not get sick. If I wash my hair at night, I am asked multiple times if I want to blow dry it, lest I get a cold. While I think it's possible that prolonged exposure to cold can lower your defenses to an already present bug, some things just won't hurt you. Anyhow, last week I took a walk to the nearby supermarket (it's called "Hiper Lider" and it's like a big Walmart!) and bought myself a nice pair of cheap slippers. Everybody wins :-)
I suppose that's all on the weather for now. This weekend was a lot of fun, so let me run through that. Thursday night (yes, that's when my weekends start!!), I went to the Jazz Club and saw two great blues bands play. Love the blues. Friday I met with the teacher of one of my English classes, then went to a museum of contemporary art with some friends, and later hung out at and slept over the apartment of a friend whose "parents" were away for the weekend. Saturday we went food shopping and did some cooking, which was nice because I don't get many opportunities to cook here. Then we dyed my friend's hair, and I got a little stripe of red hidden on the bottom of my hair. I'm thinking about dying all of it, just for a semipermanent change. Saturday night I met my friends brother who was visiting, and we all went to an Irish pub for drinks and a delicious salad and fries. Today was a lazy Sunday, as it usually is in the house. I went to the gym when I got up, we ate lunch around 2:30 (meals are later here), and then I did some homework and am relaxing for a bit. I'm well aware of what an awesome set up I have right now, and I'm trying to take full advantage of it. Only two more months in Santiago, and I don't want to have any regrets!!
Riding the bus in Santiago is always an adventure. One of the more entertaining reasons for that is that the government of Santiago now allows people to register themselves to solicit donations on the public transportation. These people ask the bus driver for permission, show the ID card/certificate they have around their neck, get on the bus, and ask for the attention of the "senores pasajeros"... "mr. passenger"'s. After a short introduction usually, they proceed with whatever it is they do. Often they're selling something- everything from peanuts, cookies, and candies, to wallets, bandaids, and felt-tipped pens. Another group of regulars are the musicians. The pan flute is very popular, touching on the indigenous influence here. As a side note, here it's still called "flauta de Pan", which literally means "bread flute". Guitar and vocal combos are pretty popular as well, and once I even saw two guys that rapped (they talked about social issues and were really good!!). Occasionally you get people who are preaching some idea or refuting a law, but I'm not sure if they're "registered" or what. Anyway, this post is about odds and ends from today, so let me tell you about who marched his floppy feet up the bus stairs today. Complete with giant, goofy clothes, face paint, and a big red nose, a clown entertained me on the way home from class today. He was really funny too! He was messing with passengers and actually keeping people's attention. He told us he wants money, not applause, because he can't use the applause to buy food with or pay for his daughter's birthday present. I guess it's true that comedy and tragedy are often interwoven.
English Classes and Technical Difficulties
My class last night was great. It's a group of 10 or so girls on the beginner level. They're all super sweet and right around my age. I'm thinking of hooking them up with English speaking chat-buddies, so if anyone's interested, let me know! Today I had an intermediate class, and only two of them showed up. There are about 10 people in that class and I've only met 4 of them. Part of the reason that they don't come, I think, is that we have yet to get the computer program they're supposed to be working on (and will be getting a grade for) to work! Apparently it's very typical of la Universidad de Chile to have delays and difficulties. Another example- a few weeks ago the computer lab where we have our class was being occupied by protesting faculty, so we had to find somewhere else to sit. As a side note, they're really big on having strikes, rallies, walk-outs, and general protests here. If people don't like something, they voice it. For example, one of the girls in my program doesn't have class tomorrow because the students decided they're going to march in protest... we couldn't figure out exactly what they're protesting though. Tomorrow I have my advanced English class for the first time. That means that tomorrow morning I get to wander around and ask random people how to get to a building I've never been to before and try to figure out which room the class is supposed to be in, because no one told me. I spend a lot of my time doing things like that around here!
Host Dad pep talk
A little while ago my host dad was in my room to see if I needed more gas in my "estufa" (the stove that keeps my room warm when I'm cold), and he asked me if everything was okay and I said it was (it is!!), but he didn't believe me ("Mentirosa!" "Te extrana a tu mama?"), and I'm not sure why. But anyway, he left saying that if I ever want to talk about anything, they're always there to listen to me. It was a little weird, but very, very nice.
Just now he came in to ask if I would be eating lunch here tomorrow (if not, they give me about $4, as specified by COPA rules), and he made the same "are you going to eat meat?" joke that my friends love :-)
Creepy Crawly Things
So luckily Chile's pretty low on deadly predators. That is, except for one tiny little spider called "la arana de rincon" (The corner spider) or the Chilean recluse spider. These guys are tiny but can do some serious damage. The fact that I've recently seen two spiders in my room is now making me feel like I'm crawling with creepy crawlies. The first one was bigger, with long-ish legs, and even though I was freaked out at first, I let it be, partially because I was not in the mood for a spider hunt, I did not want spider guts on my wall, and because I learned on Monday that the kind of spider that eat the rincon spiders look a lot like that one. I figured he could be my protector, and I went to bed. Then this evening I saw a littler guy crawling on my floor and smooshed him. I don't think he was anything dangerous, but still. Gives me the heebee geebees. (ever seen that written out before?) I told my host dad I saw spiders, so he said on Sunday we'll clean all the corners, but he didn't seem alarmed at all.
That's it for now. I'm going to go back to researching something interesting to do this weekend! I'd really like to find something off the beaten path a little bit. I'll see what I come up with!
Happy "Summer" to those of you who are all done with the semester!!
Love.
Obviously that was the sparknotes version of my trip. I'll expand upon it soon and decorate it with links and pictures, but for now I just wanted to tell ya'll what I've been up to and let you know that I am nowhere near where the volcano erupted, in case you were worried :-)
****************************************
PICTURES!
La Serena
Valle de Elqui
In my Chile class, the professor says that the prototypical Chilean woman is the mamá and the prototypical Chilean man is the child. According to him, on the surface the husband is the leader of the household, but truly the wife has the power. They say that boys are babied and taken care of by their mothers, and then they expect the same thing from their wives.
I can only speak with any authority about one specific family. Both of my host-parents work full time, my host-mom goes to school in the evenings, and during the week a "nana" comes to take care of the kid and the house. There's a laudable (thank you GRE vocab) balance of housework and chores between husband and wife, which from what I hear is not so common here. Still, my host-mom does seem to do a lot more running around than my host-dad.
In any case, whenever the little one starts acting up (keep in mind that part about little boys being a little spoiled), my host-mom has a favorite phrase to say to him: "Quién manda aquí?" "Who's in charge around here?". The other day we were eating lunch together and the question was posed. The little one offered as an answer, "Papá?", and my host-mom laughed and said "No, Papá no manda aquí"- and my host-dad was sitting right there, without objection! My host-father often jokingly calls my host-mom his "dueña"- owner- or "jefa"- boss-, and if I ask for something, he always runs it by her.
I guess all in all I would say that my host-mom is the prototypical Mother figure. After a busy day of running around, she often half-heartedly justifies her exhaustion with "Soy la mamá". On the other hand, I would not categorize my host-dad as the Chilean man-child. He works hard, helps out, and spends a lot of time with his kid.
That's one really interesting aspect about a homestay. I learn (or hear in passing) about "the way things are" in Chile, and then I get to compare it to what I see firsthand. In general, I've always found it really interesting to see how much the individual and the society actually overlap.
Anyway, I'm procrastinating instead of studying for a psicolinguistics test I have tomorrow. Have I mentioned how disappointed I am with that class? ugh. Time to be productive!
Well let's see. I could blame it on being unsure of how slander and self-incrimination work on the internet. That covers some ground and holds some truth, but since I'm working towards complete honesty, I can't pretend that's a thorough explanation. I think the real reason is tethered to my general tendency to put on a happy face, especially if it's the easiest thing to do. I'm not saying that's a horrible thing or that from now on my journal is going to be full of whining, but I think you deserve a more complete picture. I guess I'm still trying to find a good balance between private and public, which is hard enough in real life and really thrown out of wack by having a private journal on a public forum.
Okay, so this is a resolution to tell the whole story- the good, the bad, and the ugly. For my records, for your entertainment, and maybe even just for the sake of honesty.
Okay, now go look at my pictures from Mendoza :-)
I've posted 4 new albums from the past few trips...
Patagonia
Sewell and the mine
Mendoza
Paragliding in Mendoza (Unfortunately I can't figure out how to post videos on here!)
Those are my four questions. The answers are always a lot longer. At least you didn't have to take turns reading these around the table...
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
saminsantiago- saminsantiago
Syndicate
