So, first my apologies for never following up "Chiloe Part 1" with a "Part 2". I got really busy with finals/end of the semester fun and basically, just couldn't get back into the blogging mood to write about something that happened like three weeks ago. Sorry. If you really want to know how the rest of our trip went, well, you'll just have to ask me when you see me!!!!
That's right, in exactly SIX DAYS I will be boarding a plane for the United States of America.
And as much as I love all of you, and I really have missed you, and I can't wait to talk without a computer screen and keyboard interfering, I really don't want to leave Chile.
The one other girl from Kalamazoo, my good friend Jessie, and I are the last two to leave and as such we have had to say goodbye one by one to all our American friends. At least with them, though, there's a realistic possibility of getting together sometime in America--although they come from all over the country: Boston, Seattle, Nebraska, Chicago, New York, etc.
Anyway, so basically its been a jam-packed, fun, sad, hilarious past few weeks.
Little highlights:
-Staying up all night(from 12 to 6:30am) having an incredible conversation with one of my environmentalist friends...who might happen to be the cute recycling one....
-My tia teaching me how to make the most delicious pineapple juice from scratch. Why have we been throwing out the husk all this time?!?!
-Spending the weekend at my chilean friend Ale's house in Rengo, a small town two hours south of Santiago, going on an epic hike, falling into a raspberry bush and thus getting about 20 spines stuck in my hand-which are still not all out, meeting her whole family and having her 91 year old grandpa recite us love poems
-Eating ice cream everyday because when its 32 degrees Celsius that's really all you can stomach
-Finally learning the words to "Amigos Especiales"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpdzrGUO568
and "Tocarte Toa" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qb9zRzAXrU
which are two songs played at EVERY party/carrete/club/bar/festival etc.
(The words are, in general, terrible/cliche/sexist/vulgar but I still love them...that's just how reggeaton is)
ps: I have finally learned pretty much all the basic slang necessary para manejarme bien con los jovenes, and I use my favorites as much as possible, like any good chilena.
Here are some standards:
"Bakkan"=cool, awesome, kick-ass, great, etc.
"fome"=lame, boring
"cachai?"=understand? get it?
"weon"=(This is the ultimate chilean slang word, used 2x in every sentence by some teenagers. Depending on the tone it can mean SO MANY THINGS.) In order from inoffensive to get-punched-in-the-face: friend, dude, dummy, idiot, asshole, scum-of-the-earth
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Isla de Chiloe!!! Part 1: "How close is my face to yours?"
After a two hour plane ride from Santiago to Puerto Montt, we stayed on enight in Casa Perla, a nice knick-knack-filled hostal in a semi-sketch neighborhood run by a sweet, million-lingual woman named Perla with an incredible view of the coast.
Wet, but happy
Don't be fooled by the blue sky, it disappeared in about three seconds
The kayaking happens on this river, which even during the day is kind of mystical and
other-worldly-looking
These were my lovely traveling companions-Meghan, Jessie and Kelsey-in front of Casa Perla
My first impression of the South of Chile was that it's very Seattle-like: permanently drizzling, lush geen countryside and surrounded by water, except that there are sheep and cows everywhere. Our first full day we took a bus-and for part of it the bus was on a ferry- accross the channel to the actual Island of Chiloe and into one of the main towns, called Ancud. We then called Antonio Yanez, a recommended driver from a tour guide in Puccon, and two minutes after I left an awkward, “Hi I got your name from a tour guide in Puccon who’s name I can’t remember”, he called me back and within five minutes was driving us down a rural road to see PENGUINS!
For about $30 a person, Antonio drove us 40mins to the west coast of the island to see the penguin rookery, plus we got our own guided boat tour(from a very cute, college-aged Chilean bird lover named Claudio) and insane rain ponchos made of tent tarps b/c it NEVER STOPPED POURING. We saw adorable penguins-honestly I wasn’t that excited beforehand b/c birds aren’t really my thing, I kept searching for sharks- but they were just soo cool to watch wobble down the rocks and into the water. Plus we saw a seal taking in some non-existent sun on the shore, tons of other bird species, and some kind of endangered otter/ferret/mammal scurrying between penguin nests looking for eggs.
Wet, but happyThen Antonio drove us to our next destination: Chepu.
Don't be fooled by the blue sky, it disappeared in about three secondsOwned by wife Amory and Husband Fernando, Mirador Chepu is a sort of eco-lodge in a teensy town also called Chepu on the west coast of the island(95% of ppl and towns are on the tranquil east ocast of the island b/c Chile’s main land is so close there aren’t really waves). I chose it because I read on tripadvisor the most rave reviews about the lodge, the owners and especially the dawn kayaking.
The kayaking happens on this river, which even during the day is kind of mystical andother-worldly-looking
Well, after ten minutes of background on how they met and why they decided to pick up and leave their entire lives in Santiago in order to live simpler, natural lives off the grid and without any debts or strings, I was in love with these people. They built their house and the little cabins we were to stay in by hand, have only solar panel and wind powered electricity and heating, have an organic garden, compost like five different ways, and make money introducing tourists to one of the most gorgeous, unappreciated places I have ever been. The only awkward part was they kept taking pictures of us, I guess for their website, but we shrugged it off as camera-happy b&b owners looking for good publicity. So all was basically fine and dandy, until the one other person staying at the lodge, Brady, a really cool british woman in her 30s, asked about the Mapuche, Chile’s main indigenous group I talk so much about---see my post on the Mapuche March I attended.
I babbled a little bit about injustice, feeling pretty free to speak my mind since the couple was obviously so liberal and awesome, and then Amory interrupted me-“Well, if you want to know the real truth, it’s as follows”.
DUN DUN DUUUN.
She then proceeded to spout EVERYSINGLE stereotype, prejudice and racial slur I have ever heard about the Mapuches, plus some new conspiracy theories I had never heard before. One of the first and classic ones was “The problem is the Mapuche are too lazy and spend all day drinking. That’s why they have no land and are so poor”. Yea. My friends and I(3 out of 4 are also in my “Human Rights of Indigenous Groups and Criminalization of Mapuche Demands” class, so we’re all on the same pretty well-informed page) just sat there trying not to gasp, or groan, or say something like “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR F-ING MIND?!”
Instead at the first moment possible we excused ourselves and when Brady also left, we ambushed her and said, politely, “If you’d like to hear a different perspective on this issue, we’d love to talk more away from the owners”. Thankfully she’d noticed our ashen faces and awkward silence during Amory’s rant and we ended up having a great talk and I hope, cleared up a bit of the stereotypes that had been flung around.
By the way, from the moment we stepped off the plane, through penguins, through car rides, through Mapuche talks and re-caps, it was POURING. So much so, that all of our clothes were soaked through, to our underwear. Even my friend’s Patagonia raincoat had been permeated. 
Now normally we would hang all our clothes to dry in front of a fire, or perhaps an electric heater-called “estufas”, they saved our lives many a time this trip-but we discovered our cabin had neither, nor did the bunk beds have sheets or blankets or pillows. Hmm. I specifically mentioned in my reservation email that we would need bedding, even though we knew it would cost an extra couple of dollars. When we pointed this out to Amory, she looked at us like we were crazy and said, basically, “Boy are you girls brave for not bringing sleeping bags. You are going to freeze!”
Umm, thanks….
Ultimately we found some thick blankets and doubled up in the little twin beds in order to maximize body heat. Because our group of friends is so great, no one complained too much, and we actually had a fun night singing songs and telling non-ghost stories to pass the time. My favorite line from the night was after we’d turned out the lights, and my friend Kelsey asks her bedmate Meghan, “How close is my face to your face?” Haha, needless to say, we all became really close. We also had hoped to purchase food from them, or a nearby grocery store, but when that proved impossible, we found a bag of spaghetti and had the quickest, saddest dinner I’ve had in a while, then washed the bowls in cold water in their outhouse under a shaking single light bulb in the pouring rain. B/c of the rain, and the fact that we had NO dry clothes, we decided not to do the dawn kayaking, which I think was a good choice, although it still sounds like a fantastic opportunity, and instead left Chepu as soon as we could the next day. The scenery was stunning and we all agreed Fernando was a sweetheart when his “dragon lady” wife Amory wasn’t around-Brady’s words, not mine. Thankfully, since the nearest bus was a 15 mile walk up huge muddy hills, Fernando drove us in a rickety old jeep to the closest bus station and didn’t charge us for the ride, even though the website said it was $10 a person.
Ok I promise the rest of the trip recap will be less wordy, I just wanted to highlight one of our many adventures....
But in the mean time, here's a little more of Chepu
BTW, the plethora of dead trees is due to the salinity of the water, this part of the river is so close to the coast that the water so brackish it kills all the trees. This doesn't stop birds, fish and mammals from enjoying the area though...
Thursday, November 12, 2009
I HAVE PURPLE HAIR!
Ok, so I realized that perhaps my little note under my halloween pictures was too subtle.
Let me try and be more direct:
I DYED MY HAIR PURPLE!
PERMANENTLY!
(not all of it, just a streak)
Here are some pics of the process-my amazing friend Michelle who has her own red streak offered to dye my and my friend Kelsey's hair-as well as the result.
Sincereley,
Your favorite violet-tressed gringa
A little scared....
Why I will NEVER be a blonde
Let me try and be more direct:
I DYED MY HAIR PURPLE!
PERMANENTLY!
(not all of it, just a streak)
Here are some pics of the process-my amazing friend Michelle who has her own red streak offered to dye my and my friend Kelsey's hair-as well as the result.
Sincereley,
Your favorite violet-tressed gringa
A little scared....
Why I will NEVER be a blonde
How to start a 2-step fire!
So this past weekend my entire CIEE program went to Temuco and Pucon, two major cities in the south of Chile-only ten hours away by bus(do you hear sarcasm? maybe because no one slept on either of the bus rides there or back...)! Since I'm a little lazy right now I'm going to mostly put up pictures and then give them descriptions instead of writing out a long summary of the whole week. As you'll see though, we had a great time.
The gorgeous, green, cloudy, rainy south of Chile
This is an example of the infamous pine tree plantation which is now taking over the south, sucking all of the underground aquifers dry, and since its a monoculture(meaning they ONLY grow "mono-"=one crop) they douse the land with pesticides and fertilizers which are contaminating the air, water and soil. (Sorry about the weird glare, I took the pic through the bus window)
We visited an elderly mapuche woman who runs a sort of tourist/cultural exchange/restaurant deal where she invites people into her home, serves them a feast of traditional foods and then has a dialogue about Mapuche culture, history and current lifestyles. She was basically a kickass entrepreneur and in exchange for her family singing us a song, we sang "This Land is Your Land". Yes, I was in the back cringing.(BTW don't mind my friend, Michelle, who's giving the death stare. She was actually very happy)
My favorite dish: includes hominy, barley, squash and a million proteiny delicious legumes.
How to dye yarn the ultra-natural way: in boiling onion skins!
We also had the opportunity to visit a rural K-8 school where 100% of the students are Mapuche, and they'll soon be starting a bilingual program(Spanish and Mapundungun) that the government funds. I've never been to a rural school before and it was pretty shocking-the principal said until a few years ago everyone walked about 5km to get to school and their "playground" was a bunch of tires half buried in the dirt. On the other hand, when we arrived they were doing a salsa workshop....(the type of dance kind, not the tomato kind)
So among our many activities in Pucon, a cute ski village-looking town known for its adventure sports, we went horseback riding! Here's my glorious horse. When I asked one of the guides her name, he paused for a long time, and then told me, "well she's my friend's horse, but we can call her 'castaña' aka 'chestnut'". Fome. I mostly called her "mi amor" as I tried to coax her ahead of the group.
Our "guide"(I'm using this word in the loosest sense possible b/c he was mostly the owner of hte horses who grudgingly went with us and would sometimes shout out incomprehensible commands like "para! al a derhsaosdlsaflk izlkajsldf ahora! NO! El otro direccion!" etc.) told us our ride would end at "the most beautiful waterfall in Pucon" but since everyone likes to brag in Chile, I didn't really pay him any attention, until he ordered us off our horses and then we started a 40 minute hike, in the rain, down a muddy mountain and found ourselves a) in a rain forest and b) at the base of this staggering waterfall.
OK this waterfall was SO powerful, the spray reached all the way to us-we were this soaked and never got closer than ten feet to the falls!
So after all those wet, rainy adventures, it was delightful to come back to our adorable cabins and curl up with hot chocolate and good friends. All in all there were 6 of us in our cabin, and my friend Kelsey and I noticed that we had a wood-burning stove and wanted to make a fire(for warmth, but also s'mores-making).
THIS FIRE TOOK TWO HOURS TO START....this is step 1.
(all I can say about step 2 is that it involved rum-doused napkins...)
Since we are stereotypical "city girls" we found it both absurdly exciting and necessary to go foraging for kindling in the "forest" around our cabin.
Here Kelsey and I show off one of our best finds.
The gorgeous, green, cloudy, rainy south of Chile
This is an example of the infamous pine tree plantation which is now taking over the south, sucking all of the underground aquifers dry, and since its a monoculture(meaning they ONLY grow "mono-"=one crop) they douse the land with pesticides and fertilizers which are contaminating the air, water and soil. (Sorry about the weird glare, I took the pic through the bus window)
We visited an elderly mapuche woman who runs a sort of tourist/cultural exchange/restaurant deal where she invites people into her home, serves them a feast of traditional foods and then has a dialogue about Mapuche culture, history and current lifestyles. She was basically a kickass entrepreneur and in exchange for her family singing us a song, we sang "This Land is Your Land". Yes, I was in the back cringing.(BTW don't mind my friend, Michelle, who's giving the death stare. She was actually very happy)
My favorite dish: includes hominy, barley, squash and a million proteiny delicious legumes.
How to dye yarn the ultra-natural way: in boiling onion skins!
We also had the opportunity to visit a rural K-8 school where 100% of the students are Mapuche, and they'll soon be starting a bilingual program(Spanish and Mapundungun) that the government funds. I've never been to a rural school before and it was pretty shocking-the principal said until a few years ago everyone walked about 5km to get to school and their "playground" was a bunch of tires half buried in the dirt. On the other hand, when we arrived they were doing a salsa workshop....(the type of dance kind, not the tomato kind)
So among our many activities in Pucon, a cute ski village-looking town known for its adventure sports, we went horseback riding! Here's my glorious horse. When I asked one of the guides her name, he paused for a long time, and then told me, "well she's my friend's horse, but we can call her 'castaña' aka 'chestnut'". Fome. I mostly called her "mi amor" as I tried to coax her ahead of the group.
Our "guide"(I'm using this word in the loosest sense possible b/c he was mostly the owner of hte horses who grudgingly went with us and would sometimes shout out incomprehensible commands like "para! al a derhsaosdlsaflk izlkajsldf ahora! NO! El otro direccion!" etc.) told us our ride would end at "the most beautiful waterfall in Pucon" but since everyone likes to brag in Chile, I didn't really pay him any attention, until he ordered us off our horses and then we started a 40 minute hike, in the rain, down a muddy mountain and found ourselves a) in a rain forest and b) at the base of this staggering waterfall.
OK this waterfall was SO powerful, the spray reached all the way to us-we were this soaked and never got closer than ten feet to the falls!
So after all those wet, rainy adventures, it was delightful to come back to our adorable cabins and curl up with hot chocolate and good friends. All in all there were 6 of us in our cabin, and my friend Kelsey and I noticed that we had a wood-burning stove and wanted to make a fire(for warmth, but also s'mores-making).
THIS FIRE TOOK TWO HOURS TO START....this is step 1.(all I can say about step 2 is that it involved rum-doused napkins...)
Since we are stereotypical "city girls" we found it both absurdly exciting and necessary to go foraging for kindling in the "forest" around our cabin.
Here Kelsey and I show off one of our best finds.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Chilean Elvis
Santiago is big on trends. Right now, sushi is huge, as is Depeche Mode, fanny packs(I'm not kidding), and basically anything 80s. However, a separate but equally pervasive phenomenon is the obsession with Américo. Américo is a 31 year old Chilean cumbia singer, who is taking over the party world. Every bar, club, hotel, house party, restaurant, anywhere really, will eventually play Américo at some point in the night. After hearing his songs about a million times, I finally realized that a) I knew all the words, and b) I really loved his music. He truly is a phenomenon though; some clubs play his most popular songs ten times in one night. He's very handsome, does a mean cumbia, has a gorgeous voice, and wears shiny silver suits and sun glasses. He's constantly guest starring on one talk show or another, and drives the Chilean housewives NUTS. Basically, he's the Chilean Elvis.
So, in my constant search for new/live music, I found out that Américowould be concluded a 2 month long country-wide tour by performing in Santiago, at the Estadio Nacional. Of course I immediately sent out a message to all my friends: Américo performing in Santiago stop we must go stop I'm buy you all tickets stop.
(Ok so it wasn't a telegram, but if they were still around I would've sent one just like that. In reality I sent a facebook message)
All in all, seven of my friends decided to come along and the concert was FABULOUS!
Not quite as packed as I expected, the crowd was still boy-band crazed and absolutely over-joyed to be there.
Now I never got that into any of the boy bands, Spice Girls, etc. and yelling, screaming, squealing and fawning are also really not my style, but when Américo came out...
I thought my voice would be lost for a week.
A picture speaks a million words-or whatever cliche it is they say- but let me just add a few more comments before I put the pictures.
*Every song he would loosen his tie, and the crowd would scream. Then he'd take it off. More screaming. Then he'd unbutton one, two, and finally three buttons and do a sexy cumbia dance. My eardrums were at this point basically shattered. Then the song would end, more cheering, and he'd return for the next song in a new suit and start the process all over again.
*For one song, there was a little 2 min. movie showing the outside of a motel, and a car driving up. Then Américo appeared on stage, standing next to a bed, with a rose on it, and a bediside table topped with a glass of whiskey. He utilized all these props throughout the song and ended the song lanced on the bed in faux-sob.
*My family continues to make fun of me for going b/c his music is the classic, cliched romantic crap, but set to danceable, catchy cumbia with great electric guitar and bass solos.
*I have never felt more chilean than I did screaming the words to "Te Vas" while cumbia-ing as fast as I could.
OK you're ready. Here he is:
(note the unbuttoning)
on a lighter note...
So despite my best intentions, that last post seemed like such a downer. It might be that I don't write about my feelings very often, so that little glimpse of human emotion was too out of context. In order to get back on track with what my life is like 99.9% of the time:
On monday I made apple crisp!!! I think my family enjoyed it, although they'd never tried anything like it before. I'd wanted to make apple pie but was waay to lazy to make up all that dough, and I thought a crisp would be faster-it wasn't. I felt so anachronistic sitting at a table peeling and coring apples by hand for (what seemed like) an hour, but that's also why I love cooking.
So here's how it turned out:
Even though my tia said she preffered my "pan de platano," the entire 9x12 pan was emptied in 48 hours, so I think overall they approved.
On monday I made apple crisp!!! I think my family enjoyed it, although they'd never tried anything like it before. I'd wanted to make apple pie but was waay to lazy to make up all that dough, and I thought a crisp would be faster-it wasn't. I felt so anachronistic sitting at a table peeling and coring apples by hand for (what seemed like) an hour, but that's also why I love cooking.
So here's how it turned out:
Even though my tia said she preffered my "pan de platano," the entire 9x12 pan was emptied in 48 hours, so I think overall they approved.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Emo post-Dont worry, I haven't died my hair black or started wearing absurd amounts of eyeliner
(Written Friday afternoon:)
So, I just got served the largest salad of my life. My "tinisima" salda arrived in a boat-shaped bowl LARGER than my head, filled with what must be an entire head of ice berg lettuce, plus spinach leaves, plus a whole tomato(diced), a whole avocado(sliced), a generous dose of palmitos(hearts of palm), and at least half an ear of corn kernels. This, combined with my all time favorite hot chocolate in Santiago, is why I come regularly to Mundo De Papel. Every tuesday, in between my "Ecology and Social Movements" and "Legal Rights of Indigenous Groups in Chile" classes, I make my way to the artsy neighborhood of Bellavista, cross the muddy sewage-filled Rio Mapocho and walk past rows of second hand book sellers and sugar-coated peanut stands. I first went to Mundo de Papel with my friend Meghan, whose guidebook recommended it. As soon as we saw the three story windows, the couches made out of cardboard, and the walls chock full of quirky Chilean childrens books and Neruda poetry, I knew this would be my study spot. Once we ordered hot chocolate(which I do everywhere, in order to compare and contrast, in my undending search for the best hot cocoa in Santiago) I was sold. It's creamy-but not too rich, chocolatey-but not in a sickeningly sweet way, and has this satisfying deep, dirt brown color.
Also, after coming here various times, I was suddendly filled with the urge to write poetry-which I have NEVER felt before. I love to read poetry, but I have never been good at or found satisfaction in writing anything remotely artistic. But, sitting in the outside patio under a gorgeous Japanese maple tree, sipping my hot cocoa, I felt compelled to express myself lyrically- and it turned out well! I mean, what came out semi-captured my internal dialogue, and at the same time was enjoyable to read later!(although it's for sure only going to be read by me...so don't even ask!)
So, I owe Mundo de Papel a lot.
But, right now, I'm in this weird melancholical(real word?) state.
Very recently, as detailed in another blog post, I became friends with some of the enviro kids at my university, and while I'm thrilled to have met them, I can't help feeling frustrated that it took me until my LAST month of school to find them! Plus, no quiero irme de Chile! Estoy feliz aquí, y tengo bastante independencia. Además, me encanta hablar en español, aunque todavía hago muchos errores cuando estoy hablando con Chilenos.
On the other hand, I miss my friends terribly. And I miss my family. And I really miss Kalamazoo as a college, as a city, and as a community. I find myself thinking about Kim's garden, Trowbridge, Sarkozi's, and renting bikes from HUB just to ride to the farmers market and stock up on Amish cookies and asparagus. When I say I miss these things, its not like if someone gave me a ticket home today I'd take it, nor are my days consumed by these feelings, its more just a quiet nostalgia that pops up every once in a while to remind me-your real home is waiting. Yea. That's another semi-unsettling thought: my "real" home. Everyday its more and more clear that my "real" home if there is such a thing, is Kalamazoo, MI. (And if Michigan had a soundtrack, a theme song, it would totally be Frontier Ruckus:
“I still dream of snarled backyards and being chased by nighttime’s discards, where my fence reddens rust and bleeds. And the curbs are haunted by the killers of memories of your back pillars where nothing wakens as it seems. All our rooms are hopefully mornings, laugh like tunes when nights are swarming, and branching feathers fan our dreams. Pitiful in sun soaked soggy, beautiful inside the muggy.”)
I think sometimes sitting alone, especially on a cloudy rainy day like today, makes me, understandably, pensive, which tends to lead to melancholy. But not always. I mean, I chanted at least 30-40 minutes today. And I am technically happy. I mean, I have fun things happening, I’m super appreciative for my life, the opp to study abroad here, the friends I’ve made, the fact that I have a life I love waiting for me at home. But sometimes its hard. I find myself constantly in between two worlds. Being in LA and missing Kalamazoo, being in Michigan and missing California, being in Santiago...you get it. Unfortunately, I tend to think about this while I'm in the middle of one experience/one world, which I feel like wastes my precious time... Airplane rides, fine, those are legit times to feel homeless. But while I’m still studying abroad, it seems so... rude? Wasteful? Ungrateful? Dumb? To be thinking about how much I’ll miss Santiago and whether or not I’ll enjoy being home. I partly blame this on my American friends, just because they keeps talking about this, but really these are pretty normal thoughts that I’m sure would surge w/ or w/o their impetus.
I know that I should just be in the moment, enjoy eating delicious food in one of my fav places and being in Chile. But its so hard to not think about the future, and the past, although I’m not one to dwell in the past much. But I just LOVE to speculate, plan, organize, ponder, dream, and fantasize, about the future. To the detriment of the present? I don’t know.
So, I just got served the largest salad of my life. My "tinisima" salda arrived in a boat-shaped bowl LARGER than my head, filled with what must be an entire head of ice berg lettuce, plus spinach leaves, plus a whole tomato(diced), a whole avocado(sliced), a generous dose of palmitos(hearts of palm), and at least half an ear of corn kernels. This, combined with my all time favorite hot chocolate in Santiago, is why I come regularly to Mundo De Papel. Every tuesday, in between my "Ecology and Social Movements" and "Legal Rights of Indigenous Groups in Chile" classes, I make my way to the artsy neighborhood of Bellavista, cross the muddy sewage-filled Rio Mapocho and walk past rows of second hand book sellers and sugar-coated peanut stands. I first went to Mundo de Papel with my friend Meghan, whose guidebook recommended it. As soon as we saw the three story windows, the couches made out of cardboard, and the walls chock full of quirky Chilean childrens books and Neruda poetry, I knew this would be my study spot. Once we ordered hot chocolate(which I do everywhere, in order to compare and contrast, in my undending search for the best hot cocoa in Santiago) I was sold. It's creamy-but not too rich, chocolatey-but not in a sickeningly sweet way, and has this satisfying deep, dirt brown color.
Also, after coming here various times, I was suddendly filled with the urge to write poetry-which I have NEVER felt before. I love to read poetry, but I have never been good at or found satisfaction in writing anything remotely artistic. But, sitting in the outside patio under a gorgeous Japanese maple tree, sipping my hot cocoa, I felt compelled to express myself lyrically- and it turned out well! I mean, what came out semi-captured my internal dialogue, and at the same time was enjoyable to read later!(although it's for sure only going to be read by me...so don't even ask!)
So, I owe Mundo de Papel a lot.
But, right now, I'm in this weird melancholical(real word?) state.
Very recently, as detailed in another blog post, I became friends with some of the enviro kids at my university, and while I'm thrilled to have met them, I can't help feeling frustrated that it took me until my LAST month of school to find them! Plus, no quiero irme de Chile! Estoy feliz aquí, y tengo bastante independencia. Además, me encanta hablar en español, aunque todavía hago muchos errores cuando estoy hablando con Chilenos.
On the other hand, I miss my friends terribly. And I miss my family. And I really miss Kalamazoo as a college, as a city, and as a community. I find myself thinking about Kim's garden, Trowbridge, Sarkozi's, and renting bikes from HUB just to ride to the farmers market and stock up on Amish cookies and asparagus. When I say I miss these things, its not like if someone gave me a ticket home today I'd take it, nor are my days consumed by these feelings, its more just a quiet nostalgia that pops up every once in a while to remind me-your real home is waiting. Yea. That's another semi-unsettling thought: my "real" home. Everyday its more and more clear that my "real" home if there is such a thing, is Kalamazoo, MI. (And if Michigan had a soundtrack, a theme song, it would totally be Frontier Ruckus:
“I still dream of snarled backyards and being chased by nighttime’s discards, where my fence reddens rust and bleeds. And the curbs are haunted by the killers of memories of your back pillars where nothing wakens as it seems. All our rooms are hopefully mornings, laugh like tunes when nights are swarming, and branching feathers fan our dreams. Pitiful in sun soaked soggy, beautiful inside the muggy.”)
I think sometimes sitting alone, especially on a cloudy rainy day like today, makes me, understandably, pensive, which tends to lead to melancholy. But not always. I mean, I chanted at least 30-40 minutes today. And I am technically happy. I mean, I have fun things happening, I’m super appreciative for my life, the opp to study abroad here, the friends I’ve made, the fact that I have a life I love waiting for me at home. But sometimes its hard. I find myself constantly in between two worlds. Being in LA and missing Kalamazoo, being in Michigan and missing California, being in Santiago...you get it. Unfortunately, I tend to think about this while I'm in the middle of one experience/one world, which I feel like wastes my precious time... Airplane rides, fine, those are legit times to feel homeless. But while I’m still studying abroad, it seems so... rude? Wasteful? Ungrateful? Dumb? To be thinking about how much I’ll miss Santiago and whether or not I’ll enjoy being home. I partly blame this on my American friends, just because they keeps talking about this, but really these are pretty normal thoughts that I’m sure would surge w/ or w/o their impetus.
I know that I should just be in the moment, enjoy eating delicious food in one of my fav places and being in Chile. But its so hard to not think about the future, and the past, although I’m not one to dwell in the past much. But I just LOVE to speculate, plan, organize, ponder, dream, and fantasize, about the future. To the detriment of the present? I don’t know.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
EnvOrg flashbacks
When I imagined study abroad, which I randomly tried not to do b/c apparently it goes better if you don't have expectations-but who doesn't have expectations, really?!- my ideal Chilean university experience was very similar to my American one. My goal was to take the most fascinating classes I could, get involved in student activities, ie clubs, that related to my passions and then make as many friends as possible.
Well, I accomplished the first one, and have made a lot of friends, but the club part turned out to be much harder than I expected. Clubs just aren't a big deal at my school, and the ones that do exist(remember its called la Universidad CATOLICA) are mostly centered around faith-based activities like praying, and/or Christian solidarity work. After asking around and getting the same, confused/amused looks, I almost gave up home that student organizations devoted to aetheistic social justice or environmental work existed.
Until....
Every once in a while, a handful of banners will pop up in just one section of campus, advertising an Encuentro Ambiental=environmental encounter. They generally show up the DAY before the event and the past two times took place right in the middle of my classes. However, finally, a poster showed up long enough for me to jot down the little "sustentableuc@uc.cl" email address. I admit that it took me at least three weeks to finally email them, and when I did it wasn't with a lot of esperanza. Most clubs that have email addresses use them for complaints/never check them.
But I sent a cute little, "Hi, I'm Allie from America, I was one of the leaders of my Environmental student org on campus, and I'd love to get involved while I'm in Chile"
Two days later, I got a wonderful response from a guy named "Robert Petitpas"-whose name I remembered only b/c Petitpas is a really uncommon Chilean last name- and we made plans to get together for lunch. However, the day before our lunch, my Ecology Professor said she wouldn't be teaching the next two classes, and instead we had a visiting professor. In walks this young guy, really tan with long brown dreads and wearing Keanes....and he announces his name is Robert Petitpas!! I almost fell out of my chair. What are the chances?!
SO long story short, I introduced myself, we had lunch, and in the span of fifteen minutes of walking around, he showed me the organic vegetable garden in the back of the Facultad de Agronomia(?!?!!?WHAT MY CAMPUS HAD AN ORGANIC VEGGIE GARDEN AND I NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT?!?!) and introduced me to like half the environmental club kids!! Including this guy who's the head of recycling, who is cuuute.
So Robert, who everyone calls Tito, turns out to be a grad student(? maybe? still not sure?) who graduated a while ago but helped start the enviro club, called "Sustentable UC", teaches random classes, and still helps out with everything environmental b/c he basically knows EVERYONE. Really the perfect person to meet.
So when he introduced me to the enviro kids he said, "She wants to help you guys with whatever you need." And they were thrilled b/c apparently there aren't a whole lot of students interested in the club. Then he said, "We're having a panel, and you should speak about your experiences with enviro organizing in the States!"
My eyes opened wide and I just laughed: "Um, I was thinking I could help set up chairs or move tables, but ok..."
Well, I accomplished the first one, and have made a lot of friends, but the club part turned out to be much harder than I expected. Clubs just aren't a big deal at my school, and the ones that do exist(remember its called la Universidad CATOLICA) are mostly centered around faith-based activities like praying, and/or Christian solidarity work. After asking around and getting the same, confused/amused looks, I almost gave up home that student organizations devoted to aetheistic social justice or environmental work existed.
Until....
Every once in a while, a handful of banners will pop up in just one section of campus, advertising an Encuentro Ambiental=environmental encounter. They generally show up the DAY before the event and the past two times took place right in the middle of my classes. However, finally, a poster showed up long enough for me to jot down the little "sustentableuc@uc.cl" email address. I admit that it took me at least three weeks to finally email them, and when I did it wasn't with a lot of esperanza. Most clubs that have email addresses use them for complaints/never check them.
But I sent a cute little, "Hi, I'm Allie from America, I was one of the leaders of my Environmental student org on campus, and I'd love to get involved while I'm in Chile"
Two days later, I got a wonderful response from a guy named "Robert Petitpas"-whose name I remembered only b/c Petitpas is a really uncommon Chilean last name- and we made plans to get together for lunch. However, the day before our lunch, my Ecology Professor said she wouldn't be teaching the next two classes, and instead we had a visiting professor. In walks this young guy, really tan with long brown dreads and wearing Keanes....and he announces his name is Robert Petitpas!! I almost fell out of my chair. What are the chances?!
SO long story short, I introduced myself, we had lunch, and in the span of fifteen minutes of walking around, he showed me the organic vegetable garden in the back of the Facultad de Agronomia(?!?!!?WHAT MY CAMPUS HAD AN ORGANIC VEGGIE GARDEN AND I NEVER KNEW ABOUT IT?!?!) and introduced me to like half the environmental club kids!! Including this guy who's the head of recycling, who is cuuute.
So Robert, who everyone calls Tito, turns out to be a grad student(? maybe? still not sure?) who graduated a while ago but helped start the enviro club, called "Sustentable UC", teaches random classes, and still helps out with everything environmental b/c he basically knows EVERYONE. Really the perfect person to meet.
So when he introduced me to the enviro kids he said, "She wants to help you guys with whatever you need." And they were thrilled b/c apparently there aren't a whole lot of students interested in the club. Then he said, "We're having a panel, and you should speak about your experiences with enviro organizing in the States!"
My eyes opened wide and I just laughed: "Um, I was thinking I could help set up chairs or move tables, but ok..."
Monday, October 19, 2009
email onslaught
Hey guys, so some of you may have just gotten an email alerting you that I posted a new lil' something on this blog. It has come to my attention that unlike other, "cooler" blogs, I don't send email/facebook alerts when I post something new on the blog. I always found this a little intrusive/presumptive(?). However, some people have actually requested it. So. If you'd like your email on the list, lemme know. If I assumed you'd like to be on the list and you wouldn't, also let me know. No offense will be taken.
Hope you are all well!
Con cariño,
Allie
ps: Its 24 degrees celsius here. Happy Southern Hemisphere Spring!
Hope you are all well!
Con cariño,
Allie
ps: Its 24 degrees celsius here. Happy Southern Hemisphere Spring!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
absurdly long post part 2: aka Mapuche meets Metallica
Ok, sorry that was long and I’ll try to keep editing down, but I wanted to contextualize what comes next.
Now at this point my mom was freaking out so I’ll add the all important caveat that the few big Mapuche protests that have taken place in Santiago have not been violent nor have there been such examples of property destruction or police brutality. On the other hand, even the big university student marches to protest inadequate government funding of the public school system IN SANTIAGO were broken up by police and friends of mine found themselves fleeing very angry cops wielding tear-gas.
Ok, so one of my classes is called “Derechos de los Pueblos Indigenas” and is specifically about the conflict between the Chilean government and the Mapuche people. This is my only all-gringa class because it’s only offered to students in my study abroad program, and so there are all of 5 students in our class. We regularly have visiting professors and many of them have been Mapuche activists/intellectuals.
So last week we had a really awesome young Mapuche Prof come speak with us. After giving us a great summary of the history of Spanish and Chilean interaction with the pueblo Mapuche, he invited us to a March his organization (one of the most active Mapuche groups composed of young professionals) was co-sponsoring. I, of course, just about fell out of my chair, since a) I love marches and b) I really wanted to support the Mapuches in some way, having spent a lot of time learning about their struggle and seeing it as a major area of injustice.
Julie and I at the School Of the Americas protest in Georgia last fall. Isn't the sign just too perfect?
However, when I mentioned the march to one of our other teachers for the class, who’s not Mapuche, she looked a little worried. “Are you allowed to go to this kind of March?” she asked doubtingly. Smilingly weakly, I responded, “Well, I figured I just wouldn’t tell anyone in my program about it until afterwards.” She laughed, but then proceeded to tell us about a march she had been to in the south (remember, that’s the hotspot of the conflict) where a few Italian students were standing on the sidelines of the march filming, and then the police showed up, confiscated their film, arrested them and within two days had them deported.
Yeah.
That also reminded me of a box I had hesitantly checked when applying for my visa, which said I promised not to get involved or in any way affect the natural course of Chilean politics.
These things all made me a bit concerned about going to the march (although full disclosure, I should admit they also made it infinitely more appealing) and so I decided to mention it to my host mom and gauge her reaction. You should know my host mom is from the Left, and marched in protests to end Pinochet’s dictatorship, a pretty dangerous political act at the time. While she may have confronted angry soldiers defending the last dredges of military rule, she is also now a semi-over-protective mom who takes excellent care of her children and understands really well what a 20 year old American exchange student can and can’t do in Chile. Basically, her reaction was of concern, but also support. Her one major issue was that she, along with my host bro and sis, would be out of the country on vacation during the march. So, she gave me the phone number of her brother who also lives in Santiago and told me to call him if I had any problems. She also asked that I call/facebook her when I got back from the march, to confirm that I was safe.
I don’t know if this sounds over/under dramatic, but I can only tell you that personally, I was slightly anxious but mostly super excited.
I also made sure that I had at least three other friends going with me and at least one Chilean.
I will admit though, that the night before I looked up on the internet what (not) to wear during a protest and how to cope with being tear gassed.
Finally, I arrived at the metro stop my friends and I had designated as our meeting place, and we all walked to Plaza Italia (one of the most famous, central spots in Santiago) where we had been just a few weeks earlier for the Gay Pride parade. Needless to say, the vibe was very different; I don’t know if it was my own self-consciousness, but I felt distinctly out of place. There were dance troupes in traditional outfits, marching bands, hundreds of banner-waving communists and a large group of anarchists with the classic bandana’d faces.
After some intensely awkward waiting around, in which the few police who were present stared at us with a “what-the-heck-are-these- gringas-doing-here-they-must-be-lost-maybe-we should-escort-them-out” look, the march finally started. At first it was weird and tense and a couple dozen police officers in full-on riot gear watched the procession, but the mood quickly changed as the marching bands started to play joyful, invigorating beats and we changed from a shuffling pace to a purposeful dance-walk.
As the march went on it gathered people and momentum, and eventually must have included over 6,000 people-a sizeable number considering there are only around 800,000 Mapuches in Chile, and even more impressive because it contradicted the misperception that Mapuches only live in the rural South, when in fact more and more Mapuches are moving to the cities.
Anyway, except for the handful of policemen on horseback who watched critically from across the street, there was no trouble or danger whatsoever. Phew.
The march ended with a huge concert/rally in which mothers of young activists in prison spoke, and bands played traditional Mapuche instruments. My all time favorite moment, besides eating the most delicious empanadas and buying AMAZING silk-screened patches and posters, was the performance by this family band. Perhaps for all y’all reading this, if anyone has made it this far, the phrase “family band” conjures up images of the Partridge family, or the Brady bunch, but this band was different. Oh so different.
First, two men in their thirties with long black ponytails walked on stage, each holding a toddler in one arm and a traditional cow horn instrument, called a “trutruca” in the other. Then, a teenage drummer and twenty-something guitar player joined them, each sporting black t-shirts and scowls. Finally, the two singers took their places, one wearing sagging jeans and a backwards baseball hat, and the other wearing a plaid button-down shirt and spiked hair. When the music started, it was so odd and unexpected that I immediately started grinning, then tapping my feet and finally gave into the beat and began to head-bang. The drummer and guitarist had a solid rock sound going, which was then complimented/contrasted with random blasts on the trutrucas, sort of like what you’d imagine a conch shell to sound like. Then on top of all this, the two teenage singers paced back and forth, holding their mikes like rappers and spitting Mapuche and Spanish lyrics so quickly it was hard to distinguish which language they were using. This didn’t seem to matter to the crowd, who somehow knew all the words and were totally rocking out-even the old Mapuche grandmas! Bu the singers would alternate between rapping, and screaming a few choice words over and over again, ala death metal-or is it thrash metal? I dunno, there are so many kinds nowadays. Anyway, it was this incredible fusion of genres, languages and cultures that just made me so happy. These kids were channeling Metallica, 50 cent, Linkin Park, etc but translating it into their daily lives and doing so at least partly in Mapudungun, a pre-Incan language on the verge of extinction. Plus, throughout the entire cacophonous concert, the two toddlers were sitting happy as clams in their fathers’ arms, calmly taking in the performance.
So, I am happy to report, I was not arrested, nor was I deported, and I was able to take a stand against what I perceive to be a major social justice and human rights issue. Hurray study abroad! Just don't tell my program...
Now at this point my mom was freaking out so I’ll add the all important caveat that the few big Mapuche protests that have taken place in Santiago have not been violent nor have there been such examples of property destruction or police brutality. On the other hand, even the big university student marches to protest inadequate government funding of the public school system IN SANTIAGO were broken up by police and friends of mine found themselves fleeing very angry cops wielding tear-gas.
Ok, so one of my classes is called “Derechos de los Pueblos Indigenas” and is specifically about the conflict between the Chilean government and the Mapuche people. This is my only all-gringa class because it’s only offered to students in my study abroad program, and so there are all of 5 students in our class. We regularly have visiting professors and many of them have been Mapuche activists/intellectuals.
So last week we had a really awesome young Mapuche Prof come speak with us. After giving us a great summary of the history of Spanish and Chilean interaction with the pueblo Mapuche, he invited us to a March his organization (one of the most active Mapuche groups composed of young professionals) was co-sponsoring. I, of course, just about fell out of my chair, since a) I love marches and b) I really wanted to support the Mapuches in some way, having spent a lot of time learning about their struggle and seeing it as a major area of injustice.
Julie and I at the School Of the Americas protest in Georgia last fall. Isn't the sign just too perfect?
However, when I mentioned the march to one of our other teachers for the class, who’s not Mapuche, she looked a little worried. “Are you allowed to go to this kind of March?” she asked doubtingly. Smilingly weakly, I responded, “Well, I figured I just wouldn’t tell anyone in my program about it until afterwards.” She laughed, but then proceeded to tell us about a march she had been to in the south (remember, that’s the hotspot of the conflict) where a few Italian students were standing on the sidelines of the march filming, and then the police showed up, confiscated their film, arrested them and within two days had them deported.
Yeah.
That also reminded me of a box I had hesitantly checked when applying for my visa, which said I promised not to get involved or in any way affect the natural course of Chilean politics.
These things all made me a bit concerned about going to the march (although full disclosure, I should admit they also made it infinitely more appealing) and so I decided to mention it to my host mom and gauge her reaction. You should know my host mom is from the Left, and marched in protests to end Pinochet’s dictatorship, a pretty dangerous political act at the time. While she may have confronted angry soldiers defending the last dredges of military rule, she is also now a semi-over-protective mom who takes excellent care of her children and understands really well what a 20 year old American exchange student can and can’t do in Chile. Basically, her reaction was of concern, but also support. Her one major issue was that she, along with my host bro and sis, would be out of the country on vacation during the march. So, she gave me the phone number of her brother who also lives in Santiago and told me to call him if I had any problems. She also asked that I call/facebook her when I got back from the march, to confirm that I was safe.
I don’t know if this sounds over/under dramatic, but I can only tell you that personally, I was slightly anxious but mostly super excited.
I also made sure that I had at least three other friends going with me and at least one Chilean.
I will admit though, that the night before I looked up on the internet what (not) to wear during a protest and how to cope with being tear gassed.
Finally, I arrived at the metro stop my friends and I had designated as our meeting place, and we all walked to Plaza Italia (one of the most famous, central spots in Santiago) where we had been just a few weeks earlier for the Gay Pride parade. Needless to say, the vibe was very different; I don’t know if it was my own self-consciousness, but I felt distinctly out of place. There were dance troupes in traditional outfits, marching bands, hundreds of banner-waving communists and a large group of anarchists with the classic bandana’d faces.
After some intensely awkward waiting around, in which the few police who were present stared at us with a “what-the-heck-are-these- gringas-doing-here-they-must-be-lost-maybe-we should-escort-them-out” look, the march finally started. At first it was weird and tense and a couple dozen police officers in full-on riot gear watched the procession, but the mood quickly changed as the marching bands started to play joyful, invigorating beats and we changed from a shuffling pace to a purposeful dance-walk.
As the march went on it gathered people and momentum, and eventually must have included over 6,000 people-a sizeable number considering there are only around 800,000 Mapuches in Chile, and even more impressive because it contradicted the misperception that Mapuches only live in the rural South, when in fact more and more Mapuches are moving to the cities.
Anyway, except for the handful of policemen on horseback who watched critically from across the street, there was no trouble or danger whatsoever. Phew.
The march ended with a huge concert/rally in which mothers of young activists in prison spoke, and bands played traditional Mapuche instruments. My all time favorite moment, besides eating the most delicious empanadas and buying AMAZING silk-screened patches and posters, was the performance by this family band. Perhaps for all y’all reading this, if anyone has made it this far, the phrase “family band” conjures up images of the Partridge family, or the Brady bunch, but this band was different. Oh so different.
First, two men in their thirties with long black ponytails walked on stage, each holding a toddler in one arm and a traditional cow horn instrument, called a “trutruca” in the other. Then, a teenage drummer and twenty-something guitar player joined them, each sporting black t-shirts and scowls. Finally, the two singers took their places, one wearing sagging jeans and a backwards baseball hat, and the other wearing a plaid button-down shirt and spiked hair. When the music started, it was so odd and unexpected that I immediately started grinning, then tapping my feet and finally gave into the beat and began to head-bang. The drummer and guitarist had a solid rock sound going, which was then complimented/contrasted with random blasts on the trutrucas, sort of like what you’d imagine a conch shell to sound like. Then on top of all this, the two teenage singers paced back and forth, holding their mikes like rappers and spitting Mapuche and Spanish lyrics so quickly it was hard to distinguish which language they were using. This didn’t seem to matter to the crowd, who somehow knew all the words and were totally rocking out-even the old Mapuche grandmas! Bu the singers would alternate between rapping, and screaming a few choice words over and over again, ala death metal-or is it thrash metal? I dunno, there are so many kinds nowadays. Anyway, it was this incredible fusion of genres, languages and cultures that just made me so happy. These kids were channeling Metallica, 50 cent, Linkin Park, etc but translating it into their daily lives and doing so at least partly in Mapudungun, a pre-Incan language on the verge of extinction. Plus, throughout the entire cacophonous concert, the two toddlers were sitting happy as clams in their fathers’ arms, calmly taking in the performance.
So, I am happy to report, I was not arrested, nor was I deported, and I was able to take a stand against what I perceive to be a major social justice and human rights issue. Hurray study abroad! Just don't tell my program...
an absurdly long post that I promise to edit down---if you make it to the end you win a prize!(probably just my undying affection)
So I haven’t written this post yet because when I tried to tell this story to my mom I failed to strike a balance between gritty realism and dramatic speculation and ended up freaking her out.
Let me see if I can explain this truthfully without exaggerating or underplaying.
So what the heck am I talking about?!
Well, similar to the United States, Chile has a long history of repressing, massacring and discriminating against the indigenous groups who lived in south America long before any European whose name rhymes with Shmistopher Shmolombus stepped foot on a boat.
As soon as the Spanish began colonizing South America, they started killing indigenous people and taking their lands. The main indigenous group in Chile are the Mapuches, who at one point spanned the land from Bolivia to Antarctica and from the Pacific to the Atlantic, aka Chile and Argentina. As the Spanish colonized, they mixed with the indigenous populations(ok, this is a euphemism for sexual relations between Spanish men and indigenous women-and even “relation” is a nice word, considering the bulk of these brief hook-ups were plain old rapes) as happened across Latin America and their children became the people we now consider “(Latin) Americans”. Unfortunately, with the creation of the Chilean nation-state, Mapuches found themselves alternately being massacred, and then “assimilated” while their land was slowly taken, stolen or “purchased”(of course 99% of Mapuches couldn’t read or speak Spanish, so the legitimacy of contracts they couldn’t read in government offices they didn’t know existed is questionable). By 2009, a full 95% of their original land had been transferred to the hands of private citizens and/or multi-national corporations.
While there have always been Mapuches who fought back (physically and politically) against these injustices, there was no massive social movement until around the ‘60s, but really the ‘80s.
There are a million interesting issues involved, including fascinating water rights, globalization, and cultural patrimony issues. Basically, since the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s “discovery” of America (also known as the Spanish invasion) in 1992 there have been widespread Mapuche protests for constitutional recognition, the right to self-determination and/or self-government, the return of ancestral territory, the right to bilingual/bicultural education and much more. Since the largest Mapuche communities are concentrated in the South, most of the protests also take place there. In general the police have reacted to these protests with extreme and unwarranted force, using tear gas, rubber bullets and sometimes even live ammunition. There are over 50 Mapuche political prisoners in jail right now and over a dozen Mapuches have been murdered by police in political actions in the past 15 years. As Mapuche demands have been met with nothing but police brutality, protests have radicalized and SOME Mapuches have begun to attack the pine tree plantations, mostly by cutting down the trees and/or burning the trucks that transport the harvested logs, and fight back against the police.
Friday, October 9, 2009
things I do when I'm bored, aka WATCH THESE NOW!
If you don't know who sarah haskins is, you're missing out. But don't worry, after watching maybe 30 of her clips in a row, I've picked out some of the best for your enjoyment:
(warning, these are almost all "inappropriate" in some way, meaning they're things that should be talked about but aren't, or are so incredibly absurd that talking openly about them seems awkward.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Omm5CPIOI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IjNWYh4lkU&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpLnPEVl538&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU1BidE1VSg&feature=channel
(warning, these are almost all "inappropriate" in some way, meaning they're things that should be talked about but aren't, or are so incredibly absurd that talking openly about them seems awkward.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Omm5CPIOI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IjNWYh4lkU&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpLnPEVl538&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU1BidE1VSg&feature=channel
Thursday, October 8, 2009
its not all rainbows and sunshine
bad #1:
So I realized I don’t write much about experiences that aren't generally outstanding, which makes my blog not entirely representative of my time here. I would say 80% of my time is spent doing wonderful things, 15% doing boring things and 5% stressful things.
So, here's a stressful thing:
I'm taking one class at la Universidad de Chile, which is Chile's most famous, prestigious, humongous public university. It’s also a bit more left-leaning and radical than the other school I'm enrolled in-the private catholic one.
So my only U Chile class is called “Ecology, Ecologists and Social Movements” and is taught by this hilarious, Marxist who wears pointy silver suits and rectangle glasses. It only meets once a week and since it’s in the Agriculture dept, takes place at the agriculture/forestry/veterinary sciences campus which happens to be waaaay south of downtown Santiago, a full hour away on public transportation. Coming from the catholic school, it takes me about 50 minutes and 3 metro trains + a bus to get to this class. Thankfully(?) my teacher announced the first day that he would be consistently 30 mins late to class, so I get there right when he does...when he shows up. More so at the public univ than the private, professors randomly not showing up are a fairly common phenomenon. However, if they do this repeatedly, then they have to report it to their faculty and reschedule classes. This can be problematic for exchange students who generally leave right at the end of the semester, often before the makeup classes occur.
After making my hour-long commute and then finding class canceled 3 times, I talked with one of my study abroad program directors, Elsa, in Santiago. She was really concerned about the amount of class the teacher had missed, and the fact that he still hadn't handed out a syllabus! Which, besides being super-useful to me as a student, is also crucial for my study abroad program to have/send to Kalamazoo as proof I'm taking real classes! She told me to email him and politely but doggedly request a syllabus. However, the U Chile website, like any huge bureaucratic organization, is labyrinthine and difficult to understand and after searching high and low I could not find my Prof's email anywhere. I became super frustrated and as a last ditch effort asked my one friend who goes to the U Chile if she had any suggestions. None of them worked out, and finally, talking on facebook she asked me what his name was. "Sebastian Bastias", I typed bitterly. Not realizing she was saving my life, she replied nonchalantly, "Oh, he's my professor too! I have his email right here".
Yea. that's being in rhythm right there.
But then, he gave us our first assignment (only 2 months into the course) that was basically a 5 page paper utilizing class notes and "obligatory readings". What?! I had absolutely no idea there were readings, since he still never gave a syllabus, nor mentioned a course website. Finally I emailed him and asked if he wouldn't mind telling me where to find these readings, and he gave me a website that only works for Agriculture majors...which I am not. On and on, back and forth went the emails. Finally he said he'd email the readings to me, four days before the paper was due, only to find that the lectures turned into gibberish when he sent them to me! After reporting all of this faithfully to Elsa, who was getting more and more angry w/my prof, I also showed the emails to my host mom who was super indignant. Sometimes it’s just nice to have people be angry on your behalf.
When Elsa called the faculty office to complain, it turned out they didn't even know he'd canceled class, let alone have his contact info or a copy of the syllabus. Because they didn't know about all the classes he'd canceled, Elsa's call basically counted as an allegation of misconduct or something, and suddenly they wanted my name in order to confront him!!! This was so not my goal, since despite all the miscommunication and flakiness, he's a really interesting teacher and (verbally) has been really nice and supportive about my taking his class. Plus, I really don’t want/need to be getting professors fired…
So bottomline, I get to class on Tuesday, when the paper is due, and obviously haven't done it. After class I go up to him and explain, your last email came out as gobbledygook and I still need the readings. I offered to go to w/e library had the texts and make photocopies myself, but he said they were scattered around the city in many different libraries and it would be too difficult to round them all up. OY. He recommended I ask a friend for the texts, which was great considering that's the one class I haven’t made friends in, and even random strangers had already left by the time we finished talking. Plus the class only meets once a week and that’s the only time I'm at that campus, so my chances of seeing them elsewhere were basically zero. I was too nervous to remember to ask for an extension, but I think it was pretty clear I'd be needing more time. So, bottomline, now its 2am on Friday and I still haven’t started the paper b/c I still don’t have the readings. At this point I'm not stressed about it anymore b/c a) Elsa's on it, and b) I just don’t care that much! There are a million other exciting things to think about, and my grades don’t count here (at least not in my GPA) so it’s just not worth the energy.
Whew. Ok, that was a long story, I apologize. But at least now my blog can be considered slightly more realistic, gritty, hardcore...I mean here you have the seedy underbelly of Chilean universities... haha, sort of.
So I realized I don’t write much about experiences that aren't generally outstanding, which makes my blog not entirely representative of my time here. I would say 80% of my time is spent doing wonderful things, 15% doing boring things and 5% stressful things.
So, here's a stressful thing:
I'm taking one class at la Universidad de Chile, which is Chile's most famous, prestigious, humongous public university. It’s also a bit more left-leaning and radical than the other school I'm enrolled in-the private catholic one.
So my only U Chile class is called “Ecology, Ecologists and Social Movements” and is taught by this hilarious, Marxist who wears pointy silver suits and rectangle glasses. It only meets once a week and since it’s in the Agriculture dept, takes place at the agriculture/forestry/veterinary sciences campus which happens to be waaaay south of downtown Santiago, a full hour away on public transportation. Coming from the catholic school, it takes me about 50 minutes and 3 metro trains + a bus to get to this class. Thankfully(?) my teacher announced the first day that he would be consistently 30 mins late to class, so I get there right when he does...when he shows up. More so at the public univ than the private, professors randomly not showing up are a fairly common phenomenon. However, if they do this repeatedly, then they have to report it to their faculty and reschedule classes. This can be problematic for exchange students who generally leave right at the end of the semester, often before the makeup classes occur.
After making my hour-long commute and then finding class canceled 3 times, I talked with one of my study abroad program directors, Elsa, in Santiago. She was really concerned about the amount of class the teacher had missed, and the fact that he still hadn't handed out a syllabus! Which, besides being super-useful to me as a student, is also crucial for my study abroad program to have/send to Kalamazoo as proof I'm taking real classes! She told me to email him and politely but doggedly request a syllabus. However, the U Chile website, like any huge bureaucratic organization, is labyrinthine and difficult to understand and after searching high and low I could not find my Prof's email anywhere. I became super frustrated and as a last ditch effort asked my one friend who goes to the U Chile if she had any suggestions. None of them worked out, and finally, talking on facebook she asked me what his name was. "Sebastian Bastias", I typed bitterly. Not realizing she was saving my life, she replied nonchalantly, "Oh, he's my professor too! I have his email right here".
Yea. that's being in rhythm right there.
But then, he gave us our first assignment (only 2 months into the course) that was basically a 5 page paper utilizing class notes and "obligatory readings". What?! I had absolutely no idea there were readings, since he still never gave a syllabus, nor mentioned a course website. Finally I emailed him and asked if he wouldn't mind telling me where to find these readings, and he gave me a website that only works for Agriculture majors...which I am not. On and on, back and forth went the emails. Finally he said he'd email the readings to me, four days before the paper was due, only to find that the lectures turned into gibberish when he sent them to me! After reporting all of this faithfully to Elsa, who was getting more and more angry w/my prof, I also showed the emails to my host mom who was super indignant. Sometimes it’s just nice to have people be angry on your behalf.
When Elsa called the faculty office to complain, it turned out they didn't even know he'd canceled class, let alone have his contact info or a copy of the syllabus. Because they didn't know about all the classes he'd canceled, Elsa's call basically counted as an allegation of misconduct or something, and suddenly they wanted my name in order to confront him!!! This was so not my goal, since despite all the miscommunication and flakiness, he's a really interesting teacher and (verbally) has been really nice and supportive about my taking his class. Plus, I really don’t want/need to be getting professors fired…
So bottomline, I get to class on Tuesday, when the paper is due, and obviously haven't done it. After class I go up to him and explain, your last email came out as gobbledygook and I still need the readings. I offered to go to w/e library had the texts and make photocopies myself, but he said they were scattered around the city in many different libraries and it would be too difficult to round them all up. OY. He recommended I ask a friend for the texts, which was great considering that's the one class I haven’t made friends in, and even random strangers had already left by the time we finished talking. Plus the class only meets once a week and that’s the only time I'm at that campus, so my chances of seeing them elsewhere were basically zero. I was too nervous to remember to ask for an extension, but I think it was pretty clear I'd be needing more time. So, bottomline, now its 2am on Friday and I still haven’t started the paper b/c I still don’t have the readings. At this point I'm not stressed about it anymore b/c a) Elsa's on it, and b) I just don’t care that much! There are a million other exciting things to think about, and my grades don’t count here (at least not in my GPA) so it’s just not worth the energy.
Whew. Ok, that was a long story, I apologize. But at least now my blog can be considered slightly more realistic, gritty, hardcore...I mean here you have the seedy underbelly of Chilean universities... haha, sort of.
Hallelujah!
I've been busy!
Since I'm sort of hungry, lets go for a food theme and I'll sandwich some good and bad experiences, since overall things are still wonderful and for those of you who know me, you know that the good experiences always outweigh the bad.
So good #1:
I just got back from seeing the Harlem Gospel Choir in concert doing a tribute to Michael Jackson!!!! It was one of the pricier concerts- well ok, by far the most expensive thing I've done in santiago, actually- but SO WORTH IT! They ROCKED the house and got the usually timid, quiet, hands-on-lap Chileans up, dancing, and shouting "hallelujah!!". Literally!
Even I was doing a lot of praising the Lord. You might be wondering, "Hey, allie, how'd you praise the lord if you're a buddhist who doesn't believe in God?" Well, I justified it by thinking that in buddhism we basically say that every person has the traits a Xtian would associate with God/jesus within themselves, and that the "god" who can save us/bring us happiness is actually ourselves. So, I figured I was basically praising myself and everyone around me's inner divinity
Anyway, it was an insanely joyful, energetic, good-for-the-soul kind of night and I am sooo appreciative I was able to go. And their michael jackson impressions were great too. Also, there was one adorable singer who was so into it that she would squeal randomly when talking with the audience, and at one point started crying with joy and couldn't keep singing! Also, they all tried to talk to the audience in Spanish, and at one point urged the crowd to loosen, or just take off their ties and coats, but thought the word for "coat" was "camisa", which actually means t-shirt! So the gospel choir basically encouraged us to take our tops off...
Since I'm sort of hungry, lets go for a food theme and I'll sandwich some good and bad experiences, since overall things are still wonderful and for those of you who know me, you know that the good experiences always outweigh the bad.
So good #1:
I just got back from seeing the Harlem Gospel Choir in concert doing a tribute to Michael Jackson!!!! It was one of the pricier concerts- well ok, by far the most expensive thing I've done in santiago, actually- but SO WORTH IT! They ROCKED the house and got the usually timid, quiet, hands-on-lap Chileans up, dancing, and shouting "hallelujah!!". Literally!
Even I was doing a lot of praising the Lord. You might be wondering, "Hey, allie, how'd you praise the lord if you're a buddhist who doesn't believe in God?" Well, I justified it by thinking that in buddhism we basically say that every person has the traits a Xtian would associate with God/jesus within themselves, and that the "god" who can save us/bring us happiness is actually ourselves. So, I figured I was basically praising myself and everyone around me's inner divinity
Anyway, it was an insanely joyful, energetic, good-for-the-soul kind of night and I am sooo appreciative I was able to go. And their michael jackson impressions were great too. Also, there was one adorable singer who was so into it that she would squeal randomly when talking with the audience, and at one point started crying with joy and couldn't keep singing! Also, they all tried to talk to the audience in Spanish, and at one point urged the crowd to loosen, or just take off their ties and coats, but thought the word for "coat" was "camisa", which actually means t-shirt! So the gospel choir basically encouraged us to take our tops off...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Epic Weekend Part 3: Crepes and vegetables
Sunday:
Then, despite going to bed at 3:30am, I dragged myself out of bed-with Kelsey’s help-at 8:45am in order to take 2 buses and an hour later, arrive in Las Condes-the rich upper-class neighborhood- to watch my American friend Meghan cross the finishline on her 10K race.
There were a surprising number of runners and supporters at this competition-at least 400 people, which I totally didn’t expect. Meghan had lured us out of bed with the promise of homemade “panqueques”, which in Chile actually refer to crepes. Her host mom did not disappoint, and I was really glad Kelsey and I had been able to show up and support Meghan/eat a delicious breakfast.
However, that was only the beginning of my day, and so unfortunately I couldn’t fall back into bed, but instead ran home, scarfed down a lunch and then waited for like 20 minutes in the rain to make it to my organic gardening class. I sped-walked down the slippery sidewalks in order to get there at 2pm on the dot, only to find that I had read the time wrong and class wasn’t until 3pm! Just by way of explanation, math has never been my strong suit, and since Chileans use military time, I had misread the 15:00 classtime…
Regardless, Stepahanie, the woman who runs the garden and co-teaches the class (both of which occur in her house/backyard) is super sweet and was happy to let me in early and provide me with some delicious steaming tea to warm me up. She reminds me a lot of my friend Evie, she’s petite, with long curly hair, wears clogs and layers funky patterns in a way that somehow remains stylish. Class was wonderful, although freezing since their living room is really drafty. We talked about four kinds of organic agriculture: agricultura bio intensive, agricultura natural (fukuoka), permacultura y agricultura biodinamico… all very different, but fascinating.
The permaculture snake-egg...curious? Google it for more info
At first I really looked down on biodynamic agri b/c it seemed too woo-woo, and mystical (yes this could seem ironic coming from a girl who chants a Sanskrit phrase twice a day, 365 days a year), but then I remembered Prof. Snyder’s class on Religion and Environmental Ethics and that religion is our way of making sense of the world around us, and/or that man is a myth-making creature and ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY THAT I CANT FIND THE EXACT QUOTE!!! Ahhahah ok, well have to go to bed, its 1:17am and my goal was to be asleep by 1am, or 12.. oops. Point is, people seek/crave rituals and symbols and myths, whether they find it in baseball, fishing, gardening, or more traditional religions like Buddhism or Catholicism, so who am I to judge one ritual over another?!
Ok, well,
Love ya!
Then, despite going to bed at 3:30am, I dragged myself out of bed-with Kelsey’s help-at 8:45am in order to take 2 buses and an hour later, arrive in Las Condes-the rich upper-class neighborhood- to watch my American friend Meghan cross the finishline on her 10K race.
There were a surprising number of runners and supporters at this competition-at least 400 people, which I totally didn’t expect. Meghan had lured us out of bed with the promise of homemade “panqueques”, which in Chile actually refer to crepes. Her host mom did not disappoint, and I was really glad Kelsey and I had been able to show up and support Meghan/eat a delicious breakfast.
However, that was only the beginning of my day, and so unfortunately I couldn’t fall back into bed, but instead ran home, scarfed down a lunch and then waited for like 20 minutes in the rain to make it to my organic gardening class. I sped-walked down the slippery sidewalks in order to get there at 2pm on the dot, only to find that I had read the time wrong and class wasn’t until 3pm! Just by way of explanation, math has never been my strong suit, and since Chileans use military time, I had misread the 15:00 classtime…
Regardless, Stepahanie, the woman who runs the garden and co-teaches the class (both of which occur in her house/backyard) is super sweet and was happy to let me in early and provide me with some delicious steaming tea to warm me up. She reminds me a lot of my friend Evie, she’s petite, with long curly hair, wears clogs and layers funky patterns in a way that somehow remains stylish. Class was wonderful, although freezing since their living room is really drafty. We talked about four kinds of organic agriculture: agricultura bio intensive, agricultura natural (fukuoka), permacultura y agricultura biodinamico… all very different, but fascinating.
The permaculture snake-egg...curious? Google it for more info
At first I really looked down on biodynamic agri b/c it seemed too woo-woo, and mystical (yes this could seem ironic coming from a girl who chants a Sanskrit phrase twice a day, 365 days a year), but then I remembered Prof. Snyder’s class on Religion and Environmental Ethics and that religion is our way of making sense of the world around us, and/or that man is a myth-making creature and ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY THAT I CANT FIND THE EXACT QUOTE!!! Ahhahah ok, well have to go to bed, its 1:17am and my goal was to be asleep by 1am, or 12.. oops. Point is, people seek/crave rituals and symbols and myths, whether they find it in baseball, fishing, gardening, or more traditional religions like Buddhism or Catholicism, so who am I to judge one ritual over another?!
Ok, well,
Love ya!
Epic Weekend Part 2:
Saturday:
I slept in to the best of my abilities, but had to get up at 12 because I had decided to attend Santiago’s Annual Gay Pride Parade!! In the subway there are bulletin boards that advertise all sorts of concerts, protests and conferences, and the “Marcha para la Diversidad Sexual” had caught my attention right away. I’ve always wanted to go to a gay pride parade in America but never been able because of scheduling/transportation issues. Plus, Chile is still a hugely homophobic country, so I find myself even more aware of sexual orientation and gender injustice here.
Anyway, after convincing my friends that marching on a cloudy day with any number of gay Chileans would be a fabulous adventure, we met up in the heart of downtown Santiago on Saturday afternoon. My friend Hope from Kalamazoo college who is studying abroad in Valparaiso took a bus down for the event, and after going out for lunch, we met up with the rest of our friends and started decking ourselves in rainbow paraphernalia.
I had conveniently brought my “Pace” flag, which for those of you who don’t know, is Peace in Italian and happens to be written on a rainbow background! Tons of vendors were selling homemade rainbow flags, varying in size and material (some were tiny crepe paper ones, others huge silk flags worn as capes)so by the end the crowd was a sea of colors. There were floats with mostly men in various stages of undress, a couple dozen drag queens sprinkled around and a wonderful drumline. The march started with a rally whose highlight, at least for me, was an awesome Lady Gaga impersonator and then the surprising booing of Eduardo Frei’s spokesperson who had come to offer her (questionable) support. However, I thought it was interesting that Frei was the only Presidential candidate to even send a rep… By the end of the rally, there were at least 10,000 people amassed in the Plaza and we began to march down the main street of Santiago, alternately called Avenida Providencia, Avenida Alameda and then, Avenida Bernardo O’Higgins.
As most of you know, I’m a sucker for a good march, and this one was great. We took over three lanes of traffic and drew all of downtown’s attention. As far as I could tell, there were very few, if any, hecklers, and despite the presence of a couple dozen anarchists…yes I know anarchists aren’t always violent but still… no violence. After posing for semi-provocative pictures in front of the capitol building, the march ended in a big celebration with, of course, more Lady Gaga impersonators. I think she’s giving Cher a run for her money as musical icon for the gay community.
Oh also, since I had brought my Pace flag, and we were marching with it stretched out through the streets, we were stopped all the time for photo ops with random people and even interviewed! If anything comes of the interviews, I’ll be sure to post a link. Plus we made some lesbian friends who were awesome and want to take us clubbing!! Not sure if I’ll be taking them up on the offer, but its still flattering…
Overall, an incredibly fun, informative and energizing Saturday afternoon, and I’m so happy to have been able to do something to show my support for a still very marginalized and oppressed group in Chile. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
Epic weekend Part 1: Valpo
Friday: Woke up early to catch a 10am bus to Valparaiso with two of my American friends. We had a loose idea of things we wanted to see/do, but also were all very happy to get swayed by any interesting things we saw along the way…
As soon as we arrived in Valpo-which was unfortunately overcast and drizzly, but hey, it’s a port city-our growling stomachs decided which item on our to do list would come first: a seafood lunch!
I had read an article raving about a)the seafood at this huge central market by the oceanfront, and b) a “marisqueria sin nombre” that was supposed to be at the top of some rickety stairs in the back of the market. I guess I inherited my dad’s penchant for divey, jewel-in-the-rough restuarants because as soon as I read this review I knew I had to check it out. Well it turns out there are at least a dozen divey looking restaurants with as few as four tables stashed on the upper floor of the market and after touring all of them twice, we failed to find one that either literally had no name, or was called, “Marisqueria sin nombre”, so we settled for one that had a nice view and was also recommended in my friend’s Lonely Planet. For those who are interested, we ate: an entire delish lightly breaded whitefish, a monster salad with the required beets and avocados buried underneath a mound of lettuce, mashed potatoes and potatoe salad, and a soda, for just about $5 US.
The next item on our list was Pablo Neruda’s house, called La Sebastiana. After a bit of transportation finagling, we found ourselves on the top of one of Valpo’s many signature hills, with a breath-taking view of the Ocean. Although Neruda has three houses scattered around Chile, this was the first one I had visited and it was fantastic. He had an obsession with the ocean, and all his houses are heavily nautical themed, all the way down to designing houses that from the outside look like boats! His had at least six floors, each with fabulous artwork, furniture and trinkets from all over the world. The house is now a museum with a really great audio tour that lets you linger in each room to admire all of Neruda’s crazy décor and gaze out of each window, because EVERY ROOM HAS AN OCEAN VIEW. Yeah. For real.
After that, we rewarded our taste of culture with a taste of, well, culture, by eating onces, aka stopping at a bakery/deli and buying bread, meat, cheese and cookies for less than $1 US each. Gotta love Chile.
Since the sun was starting to set, our plan to visit the nearby cemeteries (ok, confession: this was not on my to-do list, but my friends were very excited about it since they’d seen the cemeteries from afar the last time we were in Valpo and apparently they looked really cool-Chileans to like to heavily decorate their loved ones’ graves, with flowers, umbrellas, presents, gardens, and more) was thankfully postponed. Instead, we decided to revisit the Natural History museum we had passed earlier when we were trying to find the special taxis that take you up to Neruda’s house…we never found the taxis…however, when we got to the huge old neocolonial building that houses the museum, we realized they were about to close. The sign advertising hours of operation and admission prices was inside the doorway, and the museum lobby was empty. However, for some reason I decided to pop in anyway, and we hesitantly snuck into the first room. Emboldened by the fact that no one saw or cared that we had entered the first exhibit, we proceeded to tour at least half of the museum, which was fantastic. They have amazing animal specimens, including some really creepy Siamese twins(Siamese cow babies, Siamese pigs, Siamese snakes AND SIAMESE HUMAN BABIES!!! I couldn’t really look at them for long, but since they were born in 1913 and are apparently one fo the major attractions for this museum, lots of other people could). Finally when the lights started to shut off and we were feeling creeped out by the prospect of specimens coming alive, ala Night at the Museum, an old man curator found us and said, “closed” and we quickly obliged.
After watching the sun set, yes it had peaked out of the clouds just to give a beautiful silvery aqua glow to the water, we sped-walked a bit in order to prepare for our dinner plans.
One of the most traditional foods to eat in Valparaiso is Chorillana, a sort of casserole looking dish made with a layer of French fries, topped with grilled onions and egg, covered in chopped steak. Many a Chilean had recommended we try chorillana at a restaurant called J Cruz, and it turned out to be quit a trip. Hidden behind a long and incredibly sketchy alley, lined with graffiti and urine, was this small, totally trashed door covered in carvings and penmarks with faux-stained glass. Fearing a little for our lives, we entered and were greeted with the smell of meat and the hiss of oil frying in massive cast iron pans. The chorillana was delicious, the old men playing accordion adorable, and the surprising amount of antiques scattered around the restaurant quite intriguing. A fellow diner who has been eating chorillana there for 18 years told us that the owner was an antique dealer who keeps the glass display cases dingy on purpose in order to give the illusion that the contents are mere knick-knacks, when, according to him, just one of the silver carvings on the wall is worth over $40,000 US…. I wasn’t quite buying it, but regardless, the theme of the restaurant was definitely things-are-not-what-they-seem.
Finally, we hoped on a 9pm bus, and caught the last metro in Santiago back to our houses.
As soon as we arrived in Valpo-which was unfortunately overcast and drizzly, but hey, it’s a port city-our growling stomachs decided which item on our to do list would come first: a seafood lunch!
I had read an article raving about a)the seafood at this huge central market by the oceanfront, and b) a “marisqueria sin nombre” that was supposed to be at the top of some rickety stairs in the back of the market. I guess I inherited my dad’s penchant for divey, jewel-in-the-rough restuarants because as soon as I read this review I knew I had to check it out. Well it turns out there are at least a dozen divey looking restaurants with as few as four tables stashed on the upper floor of the market and after touring all of them twice, we failed to find one that either literally had no name, or was called, “Marisqueria sin nombre”, so we settled for one that had a nice view and was also recommended in my friend’s Lonely Planet. For those who are interested, we ate: an entire delish lightly breaded whitefish, a monster salad with the required beets and avocados buried underneath a mound of lettuce, mashed potatoes and potatoe salad, and a soda, for just about $5 US.
The next item on our list was Pablo Neruda’s house, called La Sebastiana. After a bit of transportation finagling, we found ourselves on the top of one of Valpo’s many signature hills, with a breath-taking view of the Ocean. Although Neruda has three houses scattered around Chile, this was the first one I had visited and it was fantastic. He had an obsession with the ocean, and all his houses are heavily nautical themed, all the way down to designing houses that from the outside look like boats! His had at least six floors, each with fabulous artwork, furniture and trinkets from all over the world. The house is now a museum with a really great audio tour that lets you linger in each room to admire all of Neruda’s crazy décor and gaze out of each window, because EVERY ROOM HAS AN OCEAN VIEW. Yeah. For real.
After that, we rewarded our taste of culture with a taste of, well, culture, by eating onces, aka stopping at a bakery/deli and buying bread, meat, cheese and cookies for less than $1 US each. Gotta love Chile.
Since the sun was starting to set, our plan to visit the nearby cemeteries (ok, confession: this was not on my to-do list, but my friends were very excited about it since they’d seen the cemeteries from afar the last time we were in Valpo and apparently they looked really cool-Chileans to like to heavily decorate their loved ones’ graves, with flowers, umbrellas, presents, gardens, and more) was thankfully postponed. Instead, we decided to revisit the Natural History museum we had passed earlier when we were trying to find the special taxis that take you up to Neruda’s house…we never found the taxis…however, when we got to the huge old neocolonial building that houses the museum, we realized they were about to close. The sign advertising hours of operation and admission prices was inside the doorway, and the museum lobby was empty. However, for some reason I decided to pop in anyway, and we hesitantly snuck into the first room. Emboldened by the fact that no one saw or cared that we had entered the first exhibit, we proceeded to tour at least half of the museum, which was fantastic. They have amazing animal specimens, including some really creepy Siamese twins(Siamese cow babies, Siamese pigs, Siamese snakes AND SIAMESE HUMAN BABIES!!! I couldn’t really look at them for long, but since they were born in 1913 and are apparently one fo the major attractions for this museum, lots of other people could). Finally when the lights started to shut off and we were feeling creeped out by the prospect of specimens coming alive, ala Night at the Museum, an old man curator found us and said, “closed” and we quickly obliged.
After watching the sun set, yes it had peaked out of the clouds just to give a beautiful silvery aqua glow to the water, we sped-walked a bit in order to prepare for our dinner plans.
One of the most traditional foods to eat in Valparaiso is Chorillana, a sort of casserole looking dish made with a layer of French fries, topped with grilled onions and egg, covered in chopped steak. Many a Chilean had recommended we try chorillana at a restaurant called J Cruz, and it turned out to be quit a trip. Hidden behind a long and incredibly sketchy alley, lined with graffiti and urine, was this small, totally trashed door covered in carvings and penmarks with faux-stained glass. Fearing a little for our lives, we entered and were greeted with the smell of meat and the hiss of oil frying in massive cast iron pans. The chorillana was delicious, the old men playing accordion adorable, and the surprising amount of antiques scattered around the restaurant quite intriguing. A fellow diner who has been eating chorillana there for 18 years told us that the owner was an antique dealer who keeps the glass display cases dingy on purpose in order to give the illusion that the contents are mere knick-knacks, when, according to him, just one of the silver carvings on the wall is worth over $40,000 US…. I wasn’t quite buying it, but regardless, the theme of the restaurant was definitely things-are-not-what-they-seem.
Finally, we hoped on a 9pm bus, and caught the last metro in Santiago back to our houses.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
at the moment, I'm obsessed with:
cumbia superstar sweeping the nation/latin america, aptly named Americo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1-8O4mADc0
My favorite Chilean artist right now-I'm seriously considering dropping out of school and becoming her groupie-Camila Moreno:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H30AaZHVwmE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn0afEy8My0&feature=related
(note the headbanging-when she plays live, she ROCKS OUT, its soo much fun to watch)
A few legendary Chilean folk bands from the 60s, most of whom went into exile after the coup, but are now as popular as ever:
Quilapayun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HyJgtBdVes
(ignore the pics, this video just had the best sound quality)
Inti Illimani:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkm4FB71DmI
Victor Jarra (Pete Seeger of Chile, murdered by Pinochet at beginning of the coup):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hesTpJ4oGvk
Violeta Parra (one of Chile's most celebrate singer-songwriters, also an incredible artist/weaver/poet):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ9CeICphL8&feature=PlayList&p=886C63DCF4BD4B7B&index=0&playnext=1
and a new, young, singer named Fransisca Valenzuela's version of the same song("Run Run se fue pa'l norte"):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roD4uOxOaaw&feature=related
Enjoy!!!
Love,
Allie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1-8O4mADc0
My favorite Chilean artist right now-I'm seriously considering dropping out of school and becoming her groupie-Camila Moreno:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H30AaZHVwmE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn0afEy8My0&feature=related
(note the headbanging-when she plays live, she ROCKS OUT, its soo much fun to watch)
A few legendary Chilean folk bands from the 60s, most of whom went into exile after the coup, but are now as popular as ever:
Quilapayun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HyJgtBdVes
(ignore the pics, this video just had the best sound quality)
Inti Illimani:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkm4FB71DmI
Victor Jarra (Pete Seeger of Chile, murdered by Pinochet at beginning of the coup):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hesTpJ4oGvk
Violeta Parra (one of Chile's most celebrate singer-songwriters, also an incredible artist/weaver/poet):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ9CeICphL8&feature=PlayList&p=886C63DCF4BD4B7B&index=0&playnext=1
and a new, young, singer named Fransisca Valenzuela's version of the same song("Run Run se fue pa'l norte"):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roD4uOxOaaw&feature=related
Enjoy!!!
Love,
Allie
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