Stumbled across this interesting article on global post about the trend of carbon neutral wineries in Chile. One of which we visited!- De Martino wineries.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/101111/carbon-footprint-wine
Monday, December 27, 2010
Jails in Chile
It barely made international headlines, but Chile was faced with a tragedy without a happy ending in the beginning of December. One of Chile’s largest and most overcrowded jails, San Miguel, caught fire due to conflict between gangs, killing 80 people. There was a great deal of panic and distress among relatives who attempted to find out the status of their loved ones, after the number of dead was released without any names. The inmates in the jail ranged in the severity of the crimes they had committed; however, the majority were first time offenders.
Despite the tragedy, in my opinion, due to his masterful control of the media, Piñera was able to use the tragedy to once again improve his image, calling the state of the prison system “ a shame” and promising reform, despite the fact that his policies of liberalization and privatization likely contributed in many ways (both directly and indirectly) to the occurrence.
The human rights of prisoners are a challenge everywhere in the world, due to limited international law and a lack of willingness to address the issues of those who have threatened society. Increasingly, greater percentages of populations are imprisoned in attempts to deal with delinquency, gang violence and the drug trade.
While nowhere near the 751 people held in prison for every 100,000 in population in the US, Chile has the highest rate of incarceration in Latin America, with 310 for every 100,000.
While it should be noted that this statistic may be higher than some countries due to a stronger rule of law in general, increasingly incarceration is being used in Chile as a solution to the problems posed by the población.
Regardless, there’s increasing evidence that incarceration is far from the only solution to deal with crime. How long will it take to create comprehensive policies that address the root causes rather than the outcomes? While it’s hard to describe them as innocent, as an international community, there is a responsibility to prevent these deaths from being in vain.
Here's a good article from global post that contextualizes the event and surrounding human rights abuses very well:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/101214/prison-reform-fire
Despite the tragedy, in my opinion, due to his masterful control of the media, Piñera was able to use the tragedy to once again improve his image, calling the state of the prison system “ a shame” and promising reform, despite the fact that his policies of liberalization and privatization likely contributed in many ways (both directly and indirectly) to the occurrence.
The human rights of prisoners are a challenge everywhere in the world, due to limited international law and a lack of willingness to address the issues of those who have threatened society. Increasingly, greater percentages of populations are imprisoned in attempts to deal with delinquency, gang violence and the drug trade.
While nowhere near the 751 people held in prison for every 100,000 in population in the US, Chile has the highest rate of incarceration in Latin America, with 310 for every 100,000.
While it should be noted that this statistic may be higher than some countries due to a stronger rule of law in general, increasingly incarceration is being used in Chile as a solution to the problems posed by the población.
Regardless, there’s increasing evidence that incarceration is far from the only solution to deal with crime. How long will it take to create comprehensive policies that address the root causes rather than the outcomes? While it’s hard to describe them as innocent, as an international community, there is a responsibility to prevent these deaths from being in vain.
Here's a good article from global post that contextualizes the event and surrounding human rights abuses very well:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/101214/prison-reform-fire
Hydro-Aisen: Field reports from the Energy Nerd!
Word of the day: represas- dams
So I never got a chance to write about this before (nor did I actually go there), but there’s another debate currently going on in Chile over a common energy source: the hydroelectric dam. Chile has traditionally derived the greatest percentage of its energy from dams, mainly although not exclusively located in the south of Chile.
So another one shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Well, not so much. Hydro-Aisen, a multinational corporation, has highly controversial plans to build 5 dams along two rivers in a region of northern Patagonia prized for its pristine wilderness. This has draw criticism from international environmental groups such as Greenpeace, Sierra Club, etc. but other domestic groups as well. A campaign known as “Patagonia sin represas” (Patagonia without dams) has created very eye-catching bumper stickers and posters showing pollution or energy paraphenalia through the center of some of Chile’s most pristine natural areas. It definitely wasn’t uncommon to see the bumper stickers. One of Chile’s most read magazines, the satire magazine “The Clinic” featured ads for and against the project in a recent edition.
Part of the problem from the environmentalist perspective, at least as I see it, is that saving this region from the effects of the dam doesn’t immediately have value for many Chileans. Not to say that they are environmentally insensitive, but a personal connection may be lacking. Most Chileans may never have the money to go to Patagonia: its an expensive trip, even for nationals. From my perspective at least, this creates a barrier to a strong rallying cry to save the zone. Furthermore, dams are always tricky in that they create “clean” energy. When they would be potentially located in an isolated zone, without having to resettle a large population, it’s even more of a temptation in a world threatened by global climate disruption. And of course, there’s always the job creation carrot, in a region where there are few opportunities for employment. Tricky business.
Nevertheless, the environmental hazards are pretty stark. We're talking destruction of ancient hardwood forests in remote areas and damming that would affect the livelihood of farmers and fishermen. Not to mentioning trampling through one of the world's last wild places. We'll see how it ends up.
Here's a comprehensive article, though slightly outdated (in english)
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/the-price-of-renewable-energy-pursuits-in-patagonia/
There's always more...
There were a bunch of things I didn't have time to write about before I left, since the last few weeks were crazy. But worthy subjects, at least I think so. So here's some más...
December 27th: Have Suitcase, Willing to Learn
If study abroad teaches you anything, it’s that you don’t know anything. You know far less of a culture, language and history than you may think. The world is simultaneously bigger and smaller than you imagined.
With this in mind, recognizing my limitations but also trying to slake my intellectual curiosity a bit, I’ve been reading a lot (in English no less!) One book my parents got for me for Christmas, travel writer Rick Steve’s “Travel as a Political Act” deserves mention on here. While I found the book a bit preachy at times, he made very legitimate points about what travel experiences can have the potential to be.
By his definition, travel as a political act means getting to know what another place is like, by forming connections with other people, and letting them air their opinions and world views, and attempting to understand how these are linked to history and culture. It also means acknowledging, in a non-ethnocentric way, that other countries may have found different (and possible even “better”) solutions to problems that we also face, knowledge which can potentially be used in ways that will benefit our own societies. Lastly, he talks about the importance of using travel as a method to overcome fear, both about safety, but also of that which is different than us, especially in the post 9/11 world.
I realized that I’ve been fortunate enough to never have really traveled internationally in a non- political way, perhaps trips to Argentine wine country or Patagonia excluded :) And I think that is why I am having a hard time explaining both the value and the meaning of my experience to those who haven’t had the same kinds of travel experiences. Furthermore, in reading Steves’ chapter on El Salvador, which reminded me a bit of my experience in Guatemala last January, I realized that travel in Latin America, in anything outside of a resort, leaves you with something indelible. The struggles are so epically proportioned and framed that you are drawn into them. I don’t want to say that this is a good or bad thing, merely that it changes people. It radicalizes you. It makes you more cynical. On a good day, maybe more thankful. Often these reactions are justified: contrary to the way Latin America is constantly portrayed in the media as a place that is far away and very different, a glimpse under the surface reveals we have a huge stake in so much of the goings on there, whether corporate or political. As consumers, voters and human beings, we should care.
In describing his travels to Iran, however, Steves’ also makes a point that I find equally valid: you can’t exclusively view another country through its politics, much less the sanitized vision of what another country’s politics that is so often found in the media or even academic caricatures. Nor can you use any other single criteria.
This is one thing I found really challenging at times in Chile (and in the imagined community of “Latin America” as a whole): it’s always tempting to view the country exclusively through the lens of the dictatorship. While this period hugely impacted modern politics and culture, its important to keep it in perspective. Chile has strengths and challenges that both stem from but are also deeper than one historical era. Similarly, its dangerous to look at a country (or people!) in terms of its economic status. Chile is certainly defined by its developing nation status and its inequality/continued struggle with poverty, but again, this isn’t the whole story.
Ideally, government is a reflection of the will of the people, but often the desires of this “group” are so varied that there is bound to be discord. Just as Bush’s foreign policy was completely estranged from my vision of what I want for the US, Obama’s foreign and domestic policies represent something similarly distant for some sectors of the population.
Just as I had to learn to accept different cultural realities during my time abroad, America’s “culture wars” are something I’m having to learn to readjust to. However, as much as I may disagree politically with many people, its imperative to remember that this doesn’t have to prevent friendship or other forms of understanding. If only we could remember this, we’d have a civil society that looks a lot more “civil” and less like a paintball range. That’s my “imported from abroad” two cents for the day...
So travel as relaxing but educational, humbling and eye-opening? I’m all for it. Bank account permitting.
With this in mind, recognizing my limitations but also trying to slake my intellectual curiosity a bit, I’ve been reading a lot (in English no less!) One book my parents got for me for Christmas, travel writer Rick Steve’s “Travel as a Political Act” deserves mention on here. While I found the book a bit preachy at times, he made very legitimate points about what travel experiences can have the potential to be.
By his definition, travel as a political act means getting to know what another place is like, by forming connections with other people, and letting them air their opinions and world views, and attempting to understand how these are linked to history and culture. It also means acknowledging, in a non-ethnocentric way, that other countries may have found different (and possible even “better”) solutions to problems that we also face, knowledge which can potentially be used in ways that will benefit our own societies. Lastly, he talks about the importance of using travel as a method to overcome fear, both about safety, but also of that which is different than us, especially in the post 9/11 world.
I realized that I’ve been fortunate enough to never have really traveled internationally in a non- political way, perhaps trips to Argentine wine country or Patagonia excluded :) And I think that is why I am having a hard time explaining both the value and the meaning of my experience to those who haven’t had the same kinds of travel experiences. Furthermore, in reading Steves’ chapter on El Salvador, which reminded me a bit of my experience in Guatemala last January, I realized that travel in Latin America, in anything outside of a resort, leaves you with something indelible. The struggles are so epically proportioned and framed that you are drawn into them. I don’t want to say that this is a good or bad thing, merely that it changes people. It radicalizes you. It makes you more cynical. On a good day, maybe more thankful. Often these reactions are justified: contrary to the way Latin America is constantly portrayed in the media as a place that is far away and very different, a glimpse under the surface reveals we have a huge stake in so much of the goings on there, whether corporate or political. As consumers, voters and human beings, we should care.
In describing his travels to Iran, however, Steves’ also makes a point that I find equally valid: you can’t exclusively view another country through its politics, much less the sanitized vision of what another country’s politics that is so often found in the media or even academic caricatures. Nor can you use any other single criteria.
This is one thing I found really challenging at times in Chile (and in the imagined community of “Latin America” as a whole): it’s always tempting to view the country exclusively through the lens of the dictatorship. While this period hugely impacted modern politics and culture, its important to keep it in perspective. Chile has strengths and challenges that both stem from but are also deeper than one historical era. Similarly, its dangerous to look at a country (or people!) in terms of its economic status. Chile is certainly defined by its developing nation status and its inequality/continued struggle with poverty, but again, this isn’t the whole story.
Ideally, government is a reflection of the will of the people, but often the desires of this “group” are so varied that there is bound to be discord. Just as Bush’s foreign policy was completely estranged from my vision of what I want for the US, Obama’s foreign and domestic policies represent something similarly distant for some sectors of the population.
Just as I had to learn to accept different cultural realities during my time abroad, America’s “culture wars” are something I’m having to learn to readjust to. However, as much as I may disagree politically with many people, its imperative to remember that this doesn’t have to prevent friendship or other forms of understanding. If only we could remember this, we’d have a civil society that looks a lot more “civil” and less like a paintball range. That’s my “imported from abroad” two cents for the day...
So travel as relaxing but educational, humbling and eye-opening? I’m all for it. Bank account permitting.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Continuation?
So I realized this semester that
a) I love blogging and
b) It's a great way to keep in touch with people!
My life at Tufts can be interesting enough sometimes to mine a few posts from, time permitting, so for now I'm going to keep updating things. We'll see where it goes!
a) I love blogging and
b) It's a great way to keep in touch with people!
My life at Tufts can be interesting enough sometimes to mine a few posts from, time permitting, so for now I'm going to keep updating things. We'll see where it goes!
Things I'm Going to Miss about Chile
Things I’m going to miss about Chile
-the constant view of the mountains.
-Bread. fresh baked bread daily. AHHHHHHHHHHH
-the protests and energy of the student movement
-graffitti/art/political messages everywhere
-Brigada Chacon
-men who can dance
-a functioning (if crowded), clean metro system and fairly efficient buses
-cheap museums
-cheap clothes at Patronato/Bandera
-Valparaiso
-the gorgeousness of the South
- the mystery of the north
-the independent book chains
-ferias- fish, fruits and artisanal goods
-outdoor exercise parks
-old areas of the city
-pasajes peatonales
-the extremely cheap inter-city bus transport
-hostels
-reggaeton/cumbia/folk
-cheap artisanal beer within walking distance of my home
-delicious, affordable wine
-pisco
-Peruvian food
-asados
-Emporio la Rosa
-the absurd public makeout sessions
-informality of economic transactions
-kissing as a greeting
-the possibility of constantly exploring new places
-the ridiculousness of Chilean slang
-my host family and friends
-challenge of communicating/translating myself
-the life I created for myself
-the constant view of the mountains.
-Bread. fresh baked bread daily. AHHHHHHHHHHH
-the protests and energy of the student movement
-graffitti/art/political messages everywhere
-Brigada Chacon
-men who can dance
-a functioning (if crowded), clean metro system and fairly efficient buses
-cheap museums
-cheap clothes at Patronato/Bandera
-Valparaiso
-the gorgeousness of the South
- the mystery of the north
-the independent book chains
-ferias- fish, fruits and artisanal goods
-outdoor exercise parks
-old areas of the city
-pasajes peatonales
-the extremely cheap inter-city bus transport
-hostels
-reggaeton/cumbia/folk
-cheap artisanal beer within walking distance of my home
-delicious, affordable wine
-pisco
-Peruvian food
-asados
-Emporio la Rosa
-the absurd public makeout sessions
-informality of economic transactions
-kissing as a greeting
-the possibility of constantly exploring new places
-the ridiculousness of Chilean slang
-my host family and friends
-challenge of communicating/translating myself
-the life I created for myself
“Educación es lo que queda después de olvidar lo que aprendí en escuela”
Education is what remains after you forget what you learned in school.
I’m having a really hard time summing up what I got out of this semester. When people ask me, “How was Chile?” it seems totally clique and arrogant to say “It totally changed my life” as much as this may be true. So I usually end up saying "it was really good" which is totally lame.
If anything, my experience in Chile was more a look at what it is like to try another life on for size for a while, let it grow and then eventually step back to see what was created. And while that life may have passed, it still influences the way I think and act. But communicating the fullness of this is virtually impossible. And communicating the things I learned about culture, and human rights and mining and everything else aren't the quick fun stories everyone wants to hear, as much as these are the things I care about and want to talk about.
As many people had warned me, the culture shock coming back is much worse upon return than it is when you are abroad. Usually, I found that my culture shock in Chile was never that bad because it was similar enough and the things that were different were usually surprising or funny or interesting.
But upon my return, I feel like I’m analyzing everything double. And my natural adaptation to freezing cold climes from 20 years of northern hemisphere life is completely gone. I feel completely cold physical but also the culture itself seems so much colder. Aside from hugs, there is no physical goodbye or hello. Everything starts and ends earlier. I’m currently back at Tufts visiting friends which is wonderful, but it’s exam time, so everyone is essentially freaking out big time. And everything seems so petty in a way I hadn't before: for example, while students in Chile have clashes with the police to protest the privatization of their education, Tufts kids complain when their cafeteria trays are taken away to be more environmentally friendly. Come on.
By now, I’ve at least stopped speaking Spanish inadvertantly to people, but this makes me feel sort of empty, like something I want to is inaccessible.
It's gonna be a little while before it's going to feel like my country again.
I’m having a really hard time summing up what I got out of this semester. When people ask me, “How was Chile?” it seems totally clique and arrogant to say “It totally changed my life” as much as this may be true. So I usually end up saying "it was really good" which is totally lame.
If anything, my experience in Chile was more a look at what it is like to try another life on for size for a while, let it grow and then eventually step back to see what was created. And while that life may have passed, it still influences the way I think and act. But communicating the fullness of this is virtually impossible. And communicating the things I learned about culture, and human rights and mining and everything else aren't the quick fun stories everyone wants to hear, as much as these are the things I care about and want to talk about.
As many people had warned me, the culture shock coming back is much worse upon return than it is when you are abroad. Usually, I found that my culture shock in Chile was never that bad because it was similar enough and the things that were different were usually surprising or funny or interesting.
But upon my return, I feel like I’m analyzing everything double. And my natural adaptation to freezing cold climes from 20 years of northern hemisphere life is completely gone. I feel completely cold physical but also the culture itself seems so much colder. Aside from hugs, there is no physical goodbye or hello. Everything starts and ends earlier. I’m currently back at Tufts visiting friends which is wonderful, but it’s exam time, so everyone is essentially freaking out big time. And everything seems so petty in a way I hadn't before: for example, while students in Chile have clashes with the police to protest the privatization of their education, Tufts kids complain when their cafeteria trays are taken away to be more environmentally friendly. Come on.
By now, I’ve at least stopped speaking Spanish inadvertantly to people, but this makes me feel sort of empty, like something I want to is inaccessible.
It's gonna be a little while before it's going to feel like my country again.
Torres del Paine Tips
My friends and I were frustrated by the lack of information for planning a backpacking trip to Torres del Paine, even in guide books. Maybe this will be relevant for future Tufts in Chile-ers or someone else, but at any rate, here are our reccommendations.
Buying a ticket
-The easiest way to get to southern Patagonia, unless you have 60 hours to take the bus or are willing to hitchhike, is to fly to Punta Arenas. However, if you are not buying a ticket in Chile itself, or have a US credit card, buying a flight on LAN, the principal national airline, will be at least 3 times as expensive as it would typically cost for a Chilean.
This leaves 3 options:
-Buy your ticket over the phone from LAN. They add a $10-20 US surchage, but it will still be totally worth it.
-Use Servipag to buy it, paying in cash.
-Fly on SKY airlines, a smaller company. You may also need to buy the ticket over the phone. If you are in a rush, they also have flights to Puerto Natales, but they are far more expensive.
-Where to rent gear
From our experience, renting gear in Punta Arenas is the best way to go, as it is slightly cheaper than in nearby Puerto Natales, the so-called gateway to the park.
We used Hostel Independencia (Direction, Phone #) and were pleased with the quality of the gear as well as the pricing. The owner of the hostal is a wonderful human being: he didn’t charge us for the last day that we had the gear since we were in transit and he let us stay at his hostal until 1 in the morning since our flight was a 3:30am without charging us a dime. He also let my friend borrow a backpack without charge after his waist buckle broke on the flight down.
Sample prices (in Chilean pesos, per day):
-Tents- $2000
-Sleeping Bag- $2000
-Sleeping Matt- $500
-Campstove, with whatever cooking accessories you need- $1500
Getting to the Park
From Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales
The bus takes 3 hours and should cost $4000 one way or $7000 roundtrip on BusSur (operated by Pullman bus) and you can buy tickets at their office located on Baquedano _____. The buses leave from there as well.
Schedule:
From Puerto Natales to the Park
1.5-2 hour ride.
Schedule:
Catamaran
Depending on which way you are doing the trail, you will most likely need to take a boatride across beautiful Lago Pehoé. $11,000 CP.
Schedule:
Entering the Park
Prices vary by nationality to get into the park. If you are studying abroad and have a Chilean identity card, you can enter for only $4000 CP. Otherwise, as a foreigner, you need to pay the much steeper $15000 CP.
-W Trail Recommendations.
The W Trail is the easiest route to see as much of the highlights of the park as possible in the shortest amount of time. There’s also a route known as “The Circuit,” but this takes several more days and therefore requires much more planning. You can do the W trail in anywhere from 3-6 days depending on your fitness level, how far you are willing to walk daily and if you are willing to skip anything.
Here’s the most cost efficient route I would recommend for the W Trail, doing it “backwards” from the traditional way. This allows you to work up to the harder parts of the trail and ease into hiking with a pack. Also, you lighten the load by eating a lot of food before you have to hike with it :)
4 day trip
Day 1: Spend the night before at Mountain Lodge Paine Grande, the site where the catamaran drops you off. Leave your pack in the free lockers and then hike out to Glacier Grey. Return and hike to Camping Italiano.
Day 2: Leave belongings at Italiano. Hike up into Valle Frances. Spend the night at Italiano.
Day 3: Longest day. Hike to Chileno, or to Campamento Torres (not much further and free.) If really adventurous, hike up to see the Torres during daylight.
Day 4: Get up to see the sunrise at the Torres. (approximately 5 am) Hike out.
5 day trip (to take things a bit slower- what we did)
Day 1: Spend the night at MLPG. Hike to Glacier Grey and spend the night at MLPG again.
Day 2: Hike to Italiano with packs and drop them there. Hike into Valle Frances. Spend night at Italiano.
Day 3: Hike to Camping Torres.
Day 4: Hike to Campamento Torres.
Day 5: Get up to see the Torres at sunrise and hike out.
-Here is a really good map, with approximate distances.
Camp Site Accomodations
During high season (December to March), it can be a good idea to reserve camp sites and you can pay in advance by credit card. However, if you change your reservations, they can charge you $10CP, so make sure you are sure of your plans.
Mountain Lodge Paine Grande
$4500 CP nightly
On site tent rentals
Lodge, common area with stoves (although sometimes they run out of fuel), showers/bathrooms/water, groceries
Call 56-61) 412742, Vertice Patagonia, for reservations.
Italiano
Free, but no tent rentals
Hut for cooking
Bathrooms but no water
Well sheltered from the wind.
Cuernos
$5000 CP nightly
There is no good reason to stay at Cuernos. It is expensive, can be horribly windy since it’s right next to a large lake and is at an awkward point on the trail for stopping. The one upside of the site is a nice lodge where you can warm up or get food.
Camping Torres
$4000 CP nightly
Not to be confused with Campamento, Camping Torres is near the tourist hotel. The site was not a favorite with our group since it is a bit far out of the way, is relatively exposed to high winds and doesn’t have infrastructure for cooking that other sites have.
Call (56-61) 614 184 / 614 185, Fantastico Sur, for reservations.
Chileno
$4000 CP nightly.
This site is fairly small. It’s a great spot to stop to eat your lunch, in the large dining room equipped with a woodstove.
Call(56-61) 614 184 / 614 185 for reservations.
Campamento Torres
Free, no rentals
Our favorite camp site. Well sheltered from the wind, gorgeous!
Hut for cooking, bathrooms but no water. 45 minutes from the Torres.
-What to Bring
-Food- We bought food in Santiago which saved a lot of money since every kind of food needs to be imported to Punta Arenas. There are grocery stores however, and you can even buy food on the trail, although it is extremely overpriced.
-Rain gear. I had rain pants, which really helped, more as a windblock than anything.
-toilet paper,
What not to Bring:
-trowel is not really necessary. Frequent bathrooms at campsites.
-Not really bears/racoons, so don’t need to worry about protecting food as much
-Iodine tablets for water. Supposedly its totally fine to just take water from most streams. They actually don’t even sell tablets anywhere in Chile, so you’ve got to take your chances. We were perfectly fine though.
Buying a ticket
-The easiest way to get to southern Patagonia, unless you have 60 hours to take the bus or are willing to hitchhike, is to fly to Punta Arenas. However, if you are not buying a ticket in Chile itself, or have a US credit card, buying a flight on LAN, the principal national airline, will be at least 3 times as expensive as it would typically cost for a Chilean.
This leaves 3 options:
-Buy your ticket over the phone from LAN. They add a $10-20 US surchage, but it will still be totally worth it.
-Use Servipag to buy it, paying in cash.
-Fly on SKY airlines, a smaller company. You may also need to buy the ticket over the phone. If you are in a rush, they also have flights to Puerto Natales, but they are far more expensive.
-Where to rent gear
From our experience, renting gear in Punta Arenas is the best way to go, as it is slightly cheaper than in nearby Puerto Natales, the so-called gateway to the park.
We used Hostel Independencia (Direction, Phone #) and were pleased with the quality of the gear as well as the pricing. The owner of the hostal is a wonderful human being: he didn’t charge us for the last day that we had the gear since we were in transit and he let us stay at his hostal until 1 in the morning since our flight was a 3:30am without charging us a dime. He also let my friend borrow a backpack without charge after his waist buckle broke on the flight down.
Sample prices (in Chilean pesos, per day):
-Tents- $2000
-Sleeping Bag- $2000
-Sleeping Matt- $500
-Campstove, with whatever cooking accessories you need- $1500
Getting to the Park
From Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales
The bus takes 3 hours and should cost $4000 one way or $7000 roundtrip on BusSur (operated by Pullman bus) and you can buy tickets at their office located on Baquedano _____. The buses leave from there as well.
Schedule:
From Puerto Natales to the Park
1.5-2 hour ride.
Schedule:
Catamaran
Depending on which way you are doing the trail, you will most likely need to take a boatride across beautiful Lago Pehoé. $11,000 CP.
Schedule:
Entering the Park
Prices vary by nationality to get into the park. If you are studying abroad and have a Chilean identity card, you can enter for only $4000 CP. Otherwise, as a foreigner, you need to pay the much steeper $15000 CP.
-W Trail Recommendations.
The W Trail is the easiest route to see as much of the highlights of the park as possible in the shortest amount of time. There’s also a route known as “The Circuit,” but this takes several more days and therefore requires much more planning. You can do the W trail in anywhere from 3-6 days depending on your fitness level, how far you are willing to walk daily and if you are willing to skip anything.
Here’s the most cost efficient route I would recommend for the W Trail, doing it “backwards” from the traditional way. This allows you to work up to the harder parts of the trail and ease into hiking with a pack. Also, you lighten the load by eating a lot of food before you have to hike with it :)
4 day trip
Day 1: Spend the night before at Mountain Lodge Paine Grande, the site where the catamaran drops you off. Leave your pack in the free lockers and then hike out to Glacier Grey. Return and hike to Camping Italiano.
Day 2: Leave belongings at Italiano. Hike up into Valle Frances. Spend the night at Italiano.
Day 3: Longest day. Hike to Chileno, or to Campamento Torres (not much further and free.) If really adventurous, hike up to see the Torres during daylight.
Day 4: Get up to see the sunrise at the Torres. (approximately 5 am) Hike out.
5 day trip (to take things a bit slower- what we did)
Day 1: Spend the night at MLPG. Hike to Glacier Grey and spend the night at MLPG again.
Day 2: Hike to Italiano with packs and drop them there. Hike into Valle Frances. Spend night at Italiano.
Day 3: Hike to Camping Torres.
Day 4: Hike to Campamento Torres.
Day 5: Get up to see the Torres at sunrise and hike out.
-Here is a really good map, with approximate distances.
Camp Site Accomodations
During high season (December to March), it can be a good idea to reserve camp sites and you can pay in advance by credit card. However, if you change your reservations, they can charge you $10CP, so make sure you are sure of your plans.
Mountain Lodge Paine Grande
$4500 CP nightly
On site tent rentals
Lodge, common area with stoves (although sometimes they run out of fuel), showers/bathrooms/water, groceries
Call 56-61) 412742, Vertice Patagonia, for reservations.
Italiano
Free, but no tent rentals
Hut for cooking
Bathrooms but no water
Well sheltered from the wind.
Cuernos
$5000 CP nightly
There is no good reason to stay at Cuernos. It is expensive, can be horribly windy since it’s right next to a large lake and is at an awkward point on the trail for stopping. The one upside of the site is a nice lodge where you can warm up or get food.
Camping Torres
$4000 CP nightly
Not to be confused with Campamento, Camping Torres is near the tourist hotel. The site was not a favorite with our group since it is a bit far out of the way, is relatively exposed to high winds and doesn’t have infrastructure for cooking that other sites have.
Call (56-61) 614 184 / 614 185, Fantastico Sur, for reservations.
Chileno
$4000 CP nightly.
This site is fairly small. It’s a great spot to stop to eat your lunch, in the large dining room equipped with a woodstove.
Call(56-61) 614 184 / 614 185 for reservations.
Campamento Torres
Free, no rentals
Our favorite camp site. Well sheltered from the wind, gorgeous!
Hut for cooking, bathrooms but no water. 45 minutes from the Torres.
-What to Bring
-Food- We bought food in Santiago which saved a lot of money since every kind of food needs to be imported to Punta Arenas. There are grocery stores however, and you can even buy food on the trail, although it is extremely overpriced.
-Rain gear. I had rain pants, which really helped, more as a windblock than anything.
-toilet paper,
What not to Bring:
-trowel is not really necessary. Frequent bathrooms at campsites.
-Not really bears/racoons, so don’t need to worry about protecting food as much
-Iodine tablets for water. Supposedly its totally fine to just take water from most streams. They actually don’t even sell tablets anywhere in Chile, so you’ve got to take your chances. We were perfectly fine though.
The Last Days
We flew back to Santiago at 3:30 in the morning on the 9th, meaning we got back to our homes by about 9 am that day. That night, we had a wonderful goodbye asado for our soccer team and one last visit to El Tunel, one of our favorite clubs. Saturday, our last day, featured a fun asado with Tufts kids and our Chilean invitees followed by a birthday party. And my last day, well, I just tried to pack and not be sad, which was impossible. I played with Martina one more time, had lunch with the parents and around 5 I had to head out. I was so sad to leave, my friend and I spent most of the ride to the airport crying. This semester was truly some of the best moments of my life, and I was devastated to leave the people and the country that had made it that way for me.
Day 6: Torres!
We woke up at 4 to make the hike by sunrise...The towers were absolutely beautiful as the light rose on them. After that, we hiked out through fields of skeletal and eerie trees, and bused back to Puerto Natales, where we had an interested celebratory party with some Israelis who were at a hostal, which including some quite tune deaf renditions of Bob Dylan songs...
Day 5: The Windiest Yet
When we looked at the map for where we would be hiking for the day and saw the phrase "Passage of the Winds," we were terrified. Hadn't we been through the windy bit already? Sure enough, after climbing up for about an hour, we found ourselves walking along a very narrow path overlooking a gorge with 60 mile an hour winds absolutely attacking us. It was certainly the most scared I've been in quite some time, possibly all trip. Needless to say, there aren't too many pictures from this day. We spent the night at the base of the Torres, a unique rock formation for which the park is famous, so that we could see them at sunrise.
Day 4: Lago Nordenskjöld
Today we hiked between our campsite in a wooded area past the length of the beautiful Lago Nordenskjöld, to a new campsite in an area of Andean steppe. It was absolutely stunningly beautiful, but the wind increasingly caused problems, as it battered our tents ferociously overnight. Also unfortunate, my camera malfunctioned, meaning that most of the pictures beyond this point are from friends.
Day 3: Valle Frances
After hiking through forests with our packs, we dropped them at a new campsite, before heading up into the glacial lined Valle Frances. On one side was a tremendous glacier, and on the other, beautiful rock formations. We got to see three avalanches! We hiked in and out of forests, with trees simply carved by the wind. I think this may have been my favorite day of the trip.
Day 2: Glacier Grey
Our first day of hiking was relatively light: while it was about a 12 mile day, we were able to leave our packs at the camp site and simply make our way to the stunning glacier grey, a large glacier situated over a lake with grey water. We got used to one of Patagonia's most interesting features: the constant wind, with incredible strength.
Day 1: Planes, Buses and Boats
Due to our adventurous spirit and willingness to save money at whatever cost, my friends and I took the cheapest flight down to Punta Arenas, the starting point for trips in Southern Patagonia, that we could find. This meant leaving Santiago at 1:30 am and arriving at 4:30. After napping for a brief spell on the floor of the airport in the small city, which boasts the largest population for anypoint that far South in the world, we got a taxi into the city past the beautiful Strait of Magellan to collect a friend and the majority of our camping supplies at a hostel. We then bused to Puerto Natales, 3 hours away, and then on to the park of Torres del Paine. Once there, we took a ride on a catamaran across gorgeous blue water to arrive at our camping site for the first night, before beginning our 5 day trek.
Hasta el culo del mundo
I was lucky enough to have the fabulous opportunity to go to Chilean Patagonia for a weeklong camping adventure in one of the most pristine environments on earth. Pictures to follow!
December 3 and 4th: Teleton! Un solo corazón
I wasn't actually around to witness the Teleton, I'll get to the reason why in my next post, but it's a very big part of Chile.
In its 32nd year, it's a really big telethon to raise money for an organization that works with children with disabilities in a variety of ways. Every year they set a goal to raise and there's a giant show in the national stadium that accompanies it. Starting about a month beforehand, maybe even 2 months, signs went up about it EVERYWHERE. And not just official signs: the date was written all over buses and cars and pretty much everything else.
Many Chileans will point to El Teleton as evidence of how strong the links of "solidarity" are in their country: everyone chips in to do their part, a comment that I think is very valid. This year for example, the target goal was to raise $16 million, but $24 million was raised, a tremendous sum given that Chile only has a population of 17 million....And actually that's in Chilean pesos, so double that for the US dollar sum.
However, at the same time, the opposing dialogue of neoliberalism is very evident. The entire idea that it is the responsability of private charities to provide care for the disabled and not the state is very linked to this model. El Cuidadano, the leftist newspaper, has criticized this aspect of the event, seeing it as exploitation of those with disabilities by a reality TV system to cement a certain economic model. It's an interesting argument, not sure I agree with it entirely, but spanish speakers, here's the article.
http://www.elciudadano.cl/2010/12/08/la-teleton-y-el-prestigio-del-modelo-neoliberal/
Another interesting anti-violence against women campaign...
Maricon, el que maltrata a una mujer= Maricon is someone who mistreats a women
There's an interesting campaign in Chile, lead by SERNAM, the women's issues sector of the cabinet, going on to redefine the word maricon. Originally, the word meant something akin to "wife beater", but it has come to be used in common speech to refer disparagingly to homosexual men. Like everything else in Chile, it also has another "joking" use, where guys who are good friends might use it to refer to each other in a relaxed, joking and seemingly inoffensive way, sort of along the same lines as the use of the "n word" among African Americans in the US. Basically, the goal of the campaign is to bring the original use of the word back. It would basically be the equivalent of using the word f*@#$t to refer to abusive men rather than gay men. It's certainly an interesting idea, but I doubt it will be accepted widely. Furthermore, using one word to refer to an entire group of people is never a particularly good idea, at least by my judgement. But maybe one step towards a weird sort of political correctness in Chile?
Violencia Contra Mujeres
The poster above is part of a campaign, "Careful: Machismo Kills"
The ad is for a razor for me and says "If you shave, I'll go out with you". RIDICULOUS.
Word of the Day:
dar piropos(Chile)- cat call
femicidios- killing of women, usually meant for very specific reasons related to gender
I’m fairly sure that I rant about catcalling quite a bit, but as much as I get used to how frequently it occurs, it still really angers me. At least in the US, cat calls are usually related to how good you look. In Chile, it has pretty much nothing to do with that. It’s more a manner of marking you as female and responding in kind.
Today made me really mad although at the same time it was admittedly kind of hilarious. I was just waiting for a bus, not looking particularly good, wearing pants, with a tank top because it was broiling, but not showing any cleavage whatsoever. A truck stopped at a light, filled with construction workers who began to clap and yell at me. Of course it was a long light...The bus finally came, except once I got on, they continued to yell things at me, causing everyone on the bus to stare at me like I was insane. Not cool.
While piropos might be the most evident manifestation of machismo in the street, Chile has a very serious problem with domestic and other violence against women which I wanted to use this forum to speak out against, since I wasnt able to make it to a protest march about it the other day. Doing my part!
By some estimates, 1 woman in Chile is killed WEEKLY by her partner. The Chilean Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence counts 55 femicidios during this year alone. Sexual violence and domestic abuse are far far more common, with some estimates at 35 % of the population subject to violence from their partner, with tragic results for many women. Until very recently, we’re talking the 80s or so, there weren’t even laws that distinguished between a husband beating his spouse and him hitting a random person on the street: it was considered a private matter. So there’s been an improvement, at least legally. But there’s a real need for cultural change, which many strong women are cultivating.
If anyone is really interested and speaks Spanish, here’s a really comprehensive article about the problem.
http://www.nomasviolenciacontramujeres.cl/files/Femicidio_en_Chile_2004.pdf
“Agarrar papa”: Adventures in the Barrio Alto
Words of the Day:
agarrar papa- to go all out, over the top, become really involved or enthusiastic
te pasaste!- you outdid yourself!
enchulado- roughly, pimped out
ubicarse- to know what’s going on, literally and figuratively.
top- the best
Unlike pretty much every other day since I’ve been here where I invariably wind up in some random part of Santiago, all my activities today were solidly in the barrio alto. Which was delightful but also weird given that my Tufts in Chile experience usually ensures that I am constantly traveling between extreme landscapes, especially on the days I go to my internship. Even my weekends are extremely varied: while I spent last Friday in a Chilean dive bar, this weekend’s outing took place in one of the most upscale hotels in the city.
Today started with a lovely, delicious lunch at a friend’s house in Las Condes (the 2nd wealthiest comuna) which literally looked straight out of Better Homes and Gardens, followed by a dip in her gorgeous pool :)
Then, that evening, a friend from the program went to perform with a jazz band in the Hyatt hotel, so we decided to go along and dress up. The Hyatt is pretty much one of the fanciest and most upscale places in Santiago. Luckily, I was able to get a ride over from my host mom, but unfortunately, this meant that I arrived VERY early. I sort of wandered in and awkwardly waited, hoping no one was going to ask me what I was doing there. Granted I was very well dressed, but I was still sort of waiting for spotlights and flashing alarms to go off and be like “You there, stop, where do you think you are going?” The fact that this didn’t happen made me feel pretty adult, which was nice...The performance was a ton of fun and we spent all evening there, singing and dancing (the theme of the night was American music, so we were experts...)
Day Trek: Cajón del Maipo
word of the day- el glaciar
Everyone always says this about Cajon del Maipo, so I feel ridiculously cliché saying it, but it’s so cool that something so distinct could be so close to Santiago. I visited the tiny pueblito of Baños Morales (2.5 hours from Santiago by bus) with a friend and we did a 9 mile hiking circuit that allowed us views of colorful mountainsides, natural springs that spewed carbonated water and a spectacular glacier. The perfect antidote to finals....
Tur de Grocery Stores
Word of the Day:
fiambre- cold cuts??
último/a- the absolute worst
For some reason, I ended up visiting 3 grocery stores in 2 days, which like everything else in Chile, provided very strong messages about class. I spent a lot of Hiper Lider and Jumbo to get food for our impending camping trip. Those stores essentially follow a Walmart sort of big box store model, but what I find fascinating and sort of creepy about them is the amount of English that you see in them. Half the packages, especially the toys, are listed in English. There’s usually American music playing. The non-place strikes again!
However, I also ended up accompanying my host Dad to Vegamercado, on the other side of Ñuñoa, past Estadio Central. Driving with Arturo is always entertaining, because he knows the history of every site and always has interesting tidbits to share, rendering even the smallest stream into a highly important agricultural canal. He also is able to give a sense of the transformations the city has gone through, which is very interesting.
Anyway, Vega mercado is an entirely different animal, sort of like a Costco if Costco was in a totally random warehouse and blasted cumbia music.
Sort of like this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPByxdchIBo
(Speakers up to 11 for full effect) There was absolutely no English anywhere. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a grocery store that had more of a sense of place.
It also isn’t the sort of place you would necesarily expect to find people like my host parents, except for the fact that they are extremely good at finding a bargain, which is useful for living on a budget. All in all, an interesting sociological glimpse.
fiambre- cold cuts??
último/a- the absolute worst
For some reason, I ended up visiting 3 grocery stores in 2 days, which like everything else in Chile, provided very strong messages about class. I spent a lot of Hiper Lider and Jumbo to get food for our impending camping trip. Those stores essentially follow a Walmart sort of big box store model, but what I find fascinating and sort of creepy about them is the amount of English that you see in them. Half the packages, especially the toys, are listed in English. There’s usually American music playing. The non-place strikes again!
However, I also ended up accompanying my host Dad to Vegamercado, on the other side of Ñuñoa, past Estadio Central. Driving with Arturo is always entertaining, because he knows the history of every site and always has interesting tidbits to share, rendering even the smallest stream into a highly important agricultural canal. He also is able to give a sense of the transformations the city has gone through, which is very interesting.
Anyway, Vega mercado is an entirely different animal, sort of like a Costco if Costco was in a totally random warehouse and blasted cumbia music.
Sort of like this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPByxdchIBo
(Speakers up to 11 for full effect) There was absolutely no English anywhere. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a grocery store that had more of a sense of place.
It also isn’t the sort of place you would necesarily expect to find people like my host parents, except for the fact that they are extremely good at finding a bargain, which is useful for living on a budget. All in all, an interesting sociological glimpse.
A Taste of Mistral
The Poet, not the pisco. I promised I'd put up some more poetry other than Neruda, so here's Gabriela Mistral, another Nobel Laureate!
From her children's poetry (They taught this one at the NGO/preschool where I had my internship)
Dame la Mano
Dame la mano y danzaremos;
dame la mano y me amarás.
Como una sola flor seremos,
como una flor, y nada más...
El mismo verso cantaremos,
al mismo paso bailarás.
Como una espiga ondularemos,
como una espiga, y nada más.
Te llama Rosa y yo Esperanza:
pero tu nombre olvidarás,
porque seremos una danza
en la colina, y nada más...
Give Me Your Hand
Give me your hand and give me your love,
give me your hand and dance with me.
A single flower, and nothing more,
a single flower is all we'll be.
Keeping time in the dance together,
you'll be singing the song with me.
Grass in the wind, and nothing more,
grass in the wind is all we'll be.
I'm called Hope and you're called Rose:
but losing our names we'll both go free,
a dance on the hills, and nothing more,
a dance on the hills is all we'll be.
Many of her poems are not this positive, and use death as a major theme, but I had a hard time finding an english translation for many of them.
From her children's poetry (They taught this one at the NGO/preschool where I had my internship)
Dame la Mano
Dame la mano y danzaremos;
dame la mano y me amarás.
Como una sola flor seremos,
como una flor, y nada más...
El mismo verso cantaremos,
al mismo paso bailarás.
Como una espiga ondularemos,
como una espiga, y nada más.
Te llama Rosa y yo Esperanza:
pero tu nombre olvidarás,
porque seremos una danza
en la colina, y nada más...
Give Me Your Hand
Give me your hand and give me your love,
give me your hand and dance with me.
A single flower, and nothing more,
a single flower is all we'll be.
Keeping time in the dance together,
you'll be singing the song with me.
Grass in the wind, and nothing more,
grass in the wind is all we'll be.
I'm called Hope and you're called Rose:
but losing our names we'll both go free,
a dance on the hills, and nothing more,
a dance on the hills is all we'll be.
Many of her poems are not this positive, and use death as a major theme, but I had a hard time finding an english translation for many of them.
The Magical North: La Serena/Valle de Elqui
Day 1:
-We took the bus up to La Serena, about a 6 hour ride along a beautiful blue coastline and rugged rolling hills
-La Serena itself is an odd sort of city, sort of a conglomerate between old historical arquitecture and a relatively new sprawling boom in beach homes
-We had a relaxing time on the horseshoe shaped beach, flanked at one end by a large cross on a hillside, even venturing into the water a bit, playing “futbol” and taking walks past gigantic mounds of shells
-Our delicious dinner of pastel de papas, a casserole with mashed potatoes and meat featured a delicious local specialty for dessert, papaya tinged ice cream!
Day 2:
-We started the day off with a visit to a colorful church and cemetary
-To get to our destination of Valle de Elqui, we drove through the desert, the bleakness of which was offset in places by the artificiality of brilliant patches of green agricultural fields. Because there is sun year round, it makes a perfect place to grow grapes. Minus one thing: water. Combined with increased agricultural pressures and climate change, the pressures for water in this region are increasing, as supply falls. We saw one consequence of this, an albeit beautiful dam that covered what previously had been fields for growing. Although it generates a little bit of electricity, it’s main purpose is for irrigation.
We traveled on through the valley to the town of Pisco Elqui, home to the tourism center of Pisco Mistral, one of the higher end makers of pisco in Chile. Pisco, practically the national drink of choice, is essentially wine that is processed down, making a stronger alcohol. We had a tour of the process and got to try some pisco, although it was by our judgement a little too strong to taste test without some sort of a mixer. After a wonderful lunch, we headed back a ways to visit the grave of nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral, who sadly, while extremely popular in Chile, is largely unknown outside her homeland. (Likely) A lesbian schoolteacher and later stateswoman, she lived much of her life in poverty and obscurity, which is somewhat reflected in her poetry. However, she was also a woman of very strong faith, and many of her writings reflect a religious element. Some of her most well known poetry is for children: as a schoolteacher, she wrote many songs to teach Christian themes.
After a ride back through the valley, we arrived at our beautiful hotel in the town of Vicuña, where we relaxed from the heat for a bit next to the gorgeously landscaped pool. After a gracious afternoon and a lovely dinner, we headed out to an observatory up in the mountains for some stargazing. This area of Chile, due to the relative lack of light pollution and the extreme dryness, is home to many of the world’s scientific observatories.
Unfortunately, due to the light thrown by the incredibly full moon, the stars were not quite as clear as they had been when I was further North in San Pedro, but they were still phenomenal. With the aid of a telescope, we were able to see a close up on the moon, the Pleiades, a nebula and planets, including Jupiter and some of its moons. It was a magical night.
Day 3:
We started our last day with a trip to Gabriela Mistral’s house and museum, which I really liked, because it gave me several perspectives on her life that I had not previously known about. She had a beautiful quote in one of her books that falling in love with a country was something akin to marriage, which really summed up how I felt about Chile at the time. I’ll have to find it at some point and share it with you all...
For something completely different, we stopped by a solar restaurant! Using mirrors and special boxes, this restaurant only uses heat from the sun to cook all their food, which is tremendously tasty because of the slow way it is cooked.
We made our way back towards Santiago, but not without one more stop: in the beach town of Guanaqueros, a beach town with beautifully colored ocean on one side and desert on the other. We had a nice lunch of shrimp empanadas and fish before heading back for a long ride home.
Major Catching Up to Do....
So the end of the semester was a very crazy time in my life.... Meaning the reflections on that time are slightly delayed. Apologies! Anyways, here are some more adventures...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
November 24: Music in the City/Thanksgiving on a Wednesday?
Word of the day:
camote (Chile)- sweet potato
ponche- a drink with white wine & chirimoya (a fruit from the North of Chile)
Today featured two very interesting musical panoramas that I wanted to write about.
-During the hubbub of the national paro, featuring a strike by thousands of public servants (including teachers employed by municipalities) a lone violinist played a sad but sweet tune just outside the Baquedano metro station. It seemed fitting, people marching for more rights they will probably never recieve, but keeping the hope and action of seeking alive.
-On a bus I took up the Alameda to Las Condes, a Brazilian drummer got on. In broken Spanish he explained he was going to play some samba. It had been a hot day and although it was joyful music performance lacked luster. Without a band behind, the lone samba drum seemed plaintive and echoing through the bus, where few people watched or listened, everyone plugged into their individualized i-pods and individual dramas. It struck me as terribly sad, a voice far from home, searching for ears and finding none.
I had a very UChile experience today. I went to class expecting to have my final for “Globalization and Copper” but when I arrived the professor (after having sent out a message earlier in the afternoon telling us to come to class even though several of the facultades were on strike) informed us that there had been a problem and that our final examination would now be held next week. I am fairly certain that heads would roll if a professor at Tufts tried to pull that one. Just saying.
Luckily, however, this meant that I could go on time to the Thanksgiving dinner our program directors had planned for us, in the beautiful barrio alto home of our program assistant Loreto’s mother. Dinner was delicious, and possibly the most “American” thanksgiving I’ve ever had: they served sweet potatoes with marshmallows and the jelly kind of cranberry sauce, neither of which I had ever had before. It was also interesting to be eating meat again- last Thanksgiving I hadn’t, breaking the American model of animal protein as central to any meal. There were some very Chilean touches to the meal however- pebre, a delicious spicy sauce, Chilean bread, some exquisite wine (agua rojo as our program director jokingly called it). It was kind of bittersweet to have the whole entire group in one place as we realized it might be the last time that every single one of us would be together again. Ahh gringo pack! We’ve been blessed with some really great group chemistry that has made this semester especially wonderful.
camote (Chile)- sweet potato
ponche- a drink with white wine & chirimoya (a fruit from the North of Chile)
Today featured two very interesting musical panoramas that I wanted to write about.
-During the hubbub of the national paro, featuring a strike by thousands of public servants (including teachers employed by municipalities) a lone violinist played a sad but sweet tune just outside the Baquedano metro station. It seemed fitting, people marching for more rights they will probably never recieve, but keeping the hope and action of seeking alive.
-On a bus I took up the Alameda to Las Condes, a Brazilian drummer got on. In broken Spanish he explained he was going to play some samba. It had been a hot day and although it was joyful music performance lacked luster. Without a band behind, the lone samba drum seemed plaintive and echoing through the bus, where few people watched or listened, everyone plugged into their individualized i-pods and individual dramas. It struck me as terribly sad, a voice far from home, searching for ears and finding none.
I had a very UChile experience today. I went to class expecting to have my final for “Globalization and Copper” but when I arrived the professor (after having sent out a message earlier in the afternoon telling us to come to class even though several of the facultades were on strike) informed us that there had been a problem and that our final examination would now be held next week. I am fairly certain that heads would roll if a professor at Tufts tried to pull that one. Just saying.
Luckily, however, this meant that I could go on time to the Thanksgiving dinner our program directors had planned for us, in the beautiful barrio alto home of our program assistant Loreto’s mother. Dinner was delicious, and possibly the most “American” thanksgiving I’ve ever had: they served sweet potatoes with marshmallows and the jelly kind of cranberry sauce, neither of which I had ever had before. It was also interesting to be eating meat again- last Thanksgiving I hadn’t, breaking the American model of animal protein as central to any meal. There were some very Chilean touches to the meal however- pebre, a delicious spicy sauce, Chilean bread, some exquisite wine (agua rojo as our program director jokingly called it). It was kind of bittersweet to have the whole entire group in one place as we realized it might be the last time that every single one of us would be together again. Ahh gringo pack! We’ve been blessed with some really great group chemistry that has made this semester especially wonderful.
November 22: Plane Tickets at the Grocery Store?
So luckily for me, one aspect of American culture hasn’t taken off in Chile to quite the same extent as elsewhere: the credit card. It’s still possible to pay for even the most expensive things like your electricity, phone bill, or even plane tickets with cash (not even by check!) at centers known as Servipag, which are located all over the place, especially in grocery stores. All you have to do is either print out a receipt or bring your bill, wait in line for a long time with a ton of other people and then fork over your cash.
In my case, this helped me two ways in purchasing a flight to Patagonia for the end of the semester:
a)since the disappearance of my wallet, I don’t actually have a credit card and
b) LAN airlines, Chile’s main airline (sort of a monopoly actually, much of which is owned by President Piñera) charges foreign credit cards an obscene amount more. ie a flight that was well under $200 magically transformed into a $600+ flight when some of my friends tried to use their credit cards. I’m not entirely sure how/if this is entirely legal, but así es.
This is an example of an irony I’ve found really interesting: sometimes living in a slightly less developed economy is actually more convenient. You don’t need a credit card or bank account to pay for things. Because a lot of people don’t have cars or don’t want to pay for long trips, there are extremely efficient and cheap bus services almost everywhere. In the center of Santiago, you never have to walk into a store to get snacks or a newspaper- you can just grab one at one of the millions of stands that dot the streets. Even clothes, electronics and toys are sold on the streets. Ice cream vendors are constantly climbing onto the buses. You don’t have to pay for a cell phone plan and can just get a rechargeable phone, putting money on it when you have it from phone recharger people who wear gigantic flags and wander around subway stops. I don’t want to say that the informality of the economy is a good thing, merely that it is kind of useful as a student with limited funds and time.
In another interesting occurence, today my econ professor asked me and the other American classmates “O, today is a holiday for you right?” He received several blank looks. “Thursday? Thanksgiving?” Finally a French classmate who seems generally knowledgeable about history helped us out: “Kennedy?” We wanted to explain that no one commemorates Kennedy’s assasination especially, but it seemed sort of unnecessarily defensive after our ignorance about our own history. I think he probably assumed that we would commemorate Kennedy’s death since the death of Chilean President Allende during the coup d’ etat is a really big deal here, especially among certain political sectors. But I guess since Kennedy’s death wasn’t followed by 20 years of dictatorship, it doesn’t warrant too much commemoration. Awkward.
In my case, this helped me two ways in purchasing a flight to Patagonia for the end of the semester:
a)since the disappearance of my wallet, I don’t actually have a credit card and
b) LAN airlines, Chile’s main airline (sort of a monopoly actually, much of which is owned by President Piñera) charges foreign credit cards an obscene amount more. ie a flight that was well under $200 magically transformed into a $600+ flight when some of my friends tried to use their credit cards. I’m not entirely sure how/if this is entirely legal, but así es.
This is an example of an irony I’ve found really interesting: sometimes living in a slightly less developed economy is actually more convenient. You don’t need a credit card or bank account to pay for things. Because a lot of people don’t have cars or don’t want to pay for long trips, there are extremely efficient and cheap bus services almost everywhere. In the center of Santiago, you never have to walk into a store to get snacks or a newspaper- you can just grab one at one of the millions of stands that dot the streets. Even clothes, electronics and toys are sold on the streets. Ice cream vendors are constantly climbing onto the buses. You don’t have to pay for a cell phone plan and can just get a rechargeable phone, putting money on it when you have it from phone recharger people who wear gigantic flags and wander around subway stops. I don’t want to say that the informality of the economy is a good thing, merely that it is kind of useful as a student with limited funds and time.
In another interesting occurence, today my econ professor asked me and the other American classmates “O, today is a holiday for you right?” He received several blank looks. “Thursday? Thanksgiving?” Finally a French classmate who seems generally knowledgeable about history helped us out: “Kennedy?” We wanted to explain that no one commemorates Kennedy’s assasination especially, but it seemed sort of unnecessarily defensive after our ignorance about our own history. I think he probably assumed that we would commemorate Kennedy’s death since the death of Chilean President Allende during the coup d’ etat is a really big deal here, especially among certain political sectors. But I guess since Kennedy’s death wasn’t followed by 20 years of dictatorship, it doesn’t warrant too much commemoration. Awkward.
November 20: Relationships.
I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships today, in the normal two people together way but in a variety of other exchanges too. If anything, these are some of the things that have changed the most for me while I’ve been abroad, or at least the way I think about them.
1. The juicy kind of relationships.
I haven’t had a serious relationship while I’ve been here. I think this is due to several factors such as circumstances, fear of compromising my life to stay here to be with someone, and my only partial ability to translate myself into Spanish. Unless someone is billingual, there is a fairly significant part of my self- expression that they wouldn’t be privy to, which for me would almost be tantamount to keeping a big secret from them. Of course now though, I feel like my “Spanish” personality is a big enough person to that someone who didn’t speak the language wouldn’t be able to know everything about me either. This may either be a problem or something that narrows the field later on.
Chileans are very funny about relationships. Some days, it seems like practically everyone is “going steady” aka “pololeando.” People see nothing wrong with asking you straight up if you have a boyfriend, in a way that I think would be considered too personal back home. And if you say, “No, I don’t have one” they’ll be like “Why not?!?!” as if it was purely a matter of personal choice rather than as I see it, a matter of chance. My host brother was really funny about it for a while- he kept joking that I obviously had a Chilean boyfriend because I had been going out to see a lot of grunge concerts by coincedence and this aspect of my personality probably seemed inconsistent with my home personality which is frankly pretty lame: I usually am either reading for school or knitting while watching TV.
Truth is, I just haven’t ever met anyone who was “the one,” even in a short term sort of way. Maybe I’m too picky or too shy or too nervous, but I like to think that its also a matter of high standards and unwillingness to settle. Usually, I’ll reply that I value my personal independence, which doesn’t always translate well. I told this to my host dad once, and he replied, quite rightly, that in the right kind of relationship you gain more from the other person than you lose in terms of independence. I guess what I had been trying to say was that I have no idea where in the world I will be in the next 5 years or so and I don’t want to have extra factors weighing me down in tough decisions I will have make. It’s difficult enough not to be able to see friends and family, but I can’t imagine how complicated decision making would be with an extra special person. Sometimes I’ll play the studious card too though, for instance the other day when I got asked the question by a 9 year old at my internship. I replied that I’m concentrating on studying for university right now. This is pretty much not true, if anything it might be nice to have a distraction from studying, but it seemed like a good role model type thing to say to a girl living in an area where few people go to college, there’s a lot of familiar violence and there are high rates of teen pregnancy.
So, I’m unapologetically single for the moment, as culturally inappropriate as this may be.
2. Daughter
If anything, I feel like I’ve gained another set of parents this semester, which is wonderful. As for my real parents, its been admittedly a bit challenging to keep up, especially the last few weeks. In a lot of ways though, I think sometimes that space is a wonderful thing in the parent child relationship. I appreciate my parents and (I think) get along with them much better now that we only live together a much shorter amount of time. When you aren’t in physical proximity, you have less time to remember the things that annoy you about the other person and more time to remember the things you love about them.
3. Friendships
Friendships here have been difficult to form for sure. For one thing, everyone lives so spread out across a giant city vs. living on a tiny campus, so that certainly changes things.
Secondly, as my friend Regina put it, would you honestly go out of your way to be friends with someone who speaks your language badly and isn’t going to be around for very long?
In many ways, what I have formed here have been more like acquaintances, hanging out with people here and there, just getting to know a little bit of what they are like and learning how to share yourself on a limited time basis. It’s a wonderful experience and I think it makes me want to be a friendlier person.
In terms of my friendships back at Tufts, I have admittedly been horribly at keeping up with people. But facebook really changes things and a gives you an (somewhat creepy) glimpse of everyone’s lives, even when you aren’t on hand to see people yourself. This is one thing that certainly feels like it is on hold, just waiting to be resumed.
4. Relationship to Nature
I’ve become a nature junkie while I’ve been here. Or at least, I’ve rediscovered this aspect of myself. For whatever reason, living in a city here sometimes makes me long for open fields and country roads and mountains in a way that I never felt when I was in Boston. I think this has to do with a bunch of factors, namely the tantalizing peeks of nature that are everywhere- the ever present Andes, luscious parks and now that everything is coming into full bloom, the gorgeous brightly colored flowers. Probably also the fact that Chile is an amazingly beautiful country and I want to explore every nook and cranny of it. But it’s definitely the sort of experience I now place high value on. Tomorrow, for instance, I am going to Cajon del Maipo, a river valley in the mountains, to hike. I have homework I could and probably should do, sure, but I’ll find a way to get everything done. When else am I going to hike in Chile?
1. The juicy kind of relationships.
I haven’t had a serious relationship while I’ve been here. I think this is due to several factors such as circumstances, fear of compromising my life to stay here to be with someone, and my only partial ability to translate myself into Spanish. Unless someone is billingual, there is a fairly significant part of my self- expression that they wouldn’t be privy to, which for me would almost be tantamount to keeping a big secret from them. Of course now though, I feel like my “Spanish” personality is a big enough person to that someone who didn’t speak the language wouldn’t be able to know everything about me either. This may either be a problem or something that narrows the field later on.
Chileans are very funny about relationships. Some days, it seems like practically everyone is “going steady” aka “pololeando.” People see nothing wrong with asking you straight up if you have a boyfriend, in a way that I think would be considered too personal back home. And if you say, “No, I don’t have one” they’ll be like “Why not?!?!” as if it was purely a matter of personal choice rather than as I see it, a matter of chance. My host brother was really funny about it for a while- he kept joking that I obviously had a Chilean boyfriend because I had been going out to see a lot of grunge concerts by coincedence and this aspect of my personality probably seemed inconsistent with my home personality which is frankly pretty lame: I usually am either reading for school or knitting while watching TV.
Truth is, I just haven’t ever met anyone who was “the one,” even in a short term sort of way. Maybe I’m too picky or too shy or too nervous, but I like to think that its also a matter of high standards and unwillingness to settle. Usually, I’ll reply that I value my personal independence, which doesn’t always translate well. I told this to my host dad once, and he replied, quite rightly, that in the right kind of relationship you gain more from the other person than you lose in terms of independence. I guess what I had been trying to say was that I have no idea where in the world I will be in the next 5 years or so and I don’t want to have extra factors weighing me down in tough decisions I will have make. It’s difficult enough not to be able to see friends and family, but I can’t imagine how complicated decision making would be with an extra special person. Sometimes I’ll play the studious card too though, for instance the other day when I got asked the question by a 9 year old at my internship. I replied that I’m concentrating on studying for university right now. This is pretty much not true, if anything it might be nice to have a distraction from studying, but it seemed like a good role model type thing to say to a girl living in an area where few people go to college, there’s a lot of familiar violence and there are high rates of teen pregnancy.
So, I’m unapologetically single for the moment, as culturally inappropriate as this may be.
2. Daughter
If anything, I feel like I’ve gained another set of parents this semester, which is wonderful. As for my real parents, its been admittedly a bit challenging to keep up, especially the last few weeks. In a lot of ways though, I think sometimes that space is a wonderful thing in the parent child relationship. I appreciate my parents and (I think) get along with them much better now that we only live together a much shorter amount of time. When you aren’t in physical proximity, you have less time to remember the things that annoy you about the other person and more time to remember the things you love about them.
3. Friendships
Friendships here have been difficult to form for sure. For one thing, everyone lives so spread out across a giant city vs. living on a tiny campus, so that certainly changes things.
Secondly, as my friend Regina put it, would you honestly go out of your way to be friends with someone who speaks your language badly and isn’t going to be around for very long?
In many ways, what I have formed here have been more like acquaintances, hanging out with people here and there, just getting to know a little bit of what they are like and learning how to share yourself on a limited time basis. It’s a wonderful experience and I think it makes me want to be a friendlier person.
In terms of my friendships back at Tufts, I have admittedly been horribly at keeping up with people. But facebook really changes things and a gives you an (somewhat creepy) glimpse of everyone’s lives, even when you aren’t on hand to see people yourself. This is one thing that certainly feels like it is on hold, just waiting to be resumed.
4. Relationship to Nature
I’ve become a nature junkie while I’ve been here. Or at least, I’ve rediscovered this aspect of myself. For whatever reason, living in a city here sometimes makes me long for open fields and country roads and mountains in a way that I never felt when I was in Boston. I think this has to do with a bunch of factors, namely the tantalizing peeks of nature that are everywhere- the ever present Andes, luscious parks and now that everything is coming into full bloom, the gorgeous brightly colored flowers. Probably also the fact that Chile is an amazingly beautiful country and I want to explore every nook and cranny of it. But it’s definitely the sort of experience I now place high value on. Tomorrow, for instance, I am going to Cajon del Maipo, a river valley in the mountains, to hike. I have homework I could and probably should do, sure, but I’ll find a way to get everything done. When else am I going to hike in Chile?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
MÚSICA
A few more listens...Guess who doesn't tener ganas to read about import substitution industrialization anymore...A bunch of these guys definitely should have made up here earlier, so we'll call it rectifying a grave error rather than procrastination.
Mostly a "muy tipico chileno" edition.
Los Tetas- Corazon de Sandía
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28WdtLHF2nM
So of like a funkier/rappier Chilean version of the Red Hot Chile Peppers. Also super 80s/90s. In about the same way as as nylon tracksuits.
Chancho en Piedra- Locura Espacial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4fzdpJ7yl4
Even more like a Chilean version of the Red Hot Chile Peppers.
Matorral- Hasta que cubra el mar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjk2zFo8xR4
Rock with a bit of a retro twist
Los Jaivas- Todos Juntos (Kind of like an unofficial national anthem)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me4gBn3sb48
Los Jaivas- La Poderosa Muerte-From a really cool project recorded at Machu Pichu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExGOc5dVY10
EPIC fail on my part on not putting up anything by them earlier!!! Muy tipico chileno. Funny story with their name- Jaiva= a type of Chilean freshwater crab. But originally they were called hi-bass, as in the bass, jazz and all that. Since the name didn't translate well, they Chilenized it and made it punny. Hi-bass= jaivas...jajaja.
Los Tres-Amor Violento
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g9jvY_gMGo
Sol y Lluvía-Pudahuel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9BPRwrN_7w
Nano Stern y Chinoy- Para la Pena No
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeaPmfX4rnA&NR=1
So sad, I almost got to see Chinoy when we were in La Serena!!!, but no one wanted to go and it was sort of expensive :(
Javiera Mena- Hasta la Verdad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wzp_VT-YkE
Mostly a "muy tipico chileno" edition.
Los Tetas- Corazon de Sandía
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28WdtLHF2nM
So of like a funkier/rappier Chilean version of the Red Hot Chile Peppers. Also super 80s/90s. In about the same way as as nylon tracksuits.
Chancho en Piedra- Locura Espacial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4fzdpJ7yl4
Even more like a Chilean version of the Red Hot Chile Peppers.
Matorral- Hasta que cubra el mar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjk2zFo8xR4
Rock with a bit of a retro twist
Los Jaivas- Todos Juntos (Kind of like an unofficial national anthem)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me4gBn3sb48
Los Jaivas- La Poderosa Muerte-From a really cool project recorded at Machu Pichu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExGOc5dVY10
EPIC fail on my part on not putting up anything by them earlier!!! Muy tipico chileno. Funny story with their name- Jaiva= a type of Chilean freshwater crab. But originally they were called hi-bass, as in the bass, jazz and all that. Since the name didn't translate well, they Chilenized it and made it punny. Hi-bass= jaivas...jajaja.
Los Tres-Amor Violento
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g9jvY_gMGo
Sol y Lluvía-Pudahuel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9BPRwrN_7w
Nano Stern y Chinoy- Para la Pena No
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeaPmfX4rnA&NR=1
So sad, I almost got to see Chinoy when we were in La Serena!!!, but no one wanted to go and it was sort of expensive :(
Javiera Mena- Hasta la Verdad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wzp_VT-YkE
Quién merece que ser milionario?!?!
Word of the Day: lentejas- lentils
1. My host mom makes the most delicious lentils ever. I asked for the recipe and it was nothing special which makes this even more intriguing.
2. Lentils are apparently a good luck food to be consumed on New Years. Jumping on that bandwagon...
Thank you Tufts in Chile, I can't even watch TV anymore without analyzing class messages.
A couple days back, I watched Chile's version of "Who Wants to be A Millionaire” with my host dad. It was good because I learned a ton of trivia about Chile that I had never heard before but also, realized how little I actually know about Chile. There are so many things you take for granted growing up in a place, or in "Latino" culture.
What interested me most about the show though, was the way it was structured. Basically, famous contestants play on behalf of "worthy" Chileans who are in difficult economic situations, accompanied of course by dramatic or touching stories. In some ways this makes for better TV, because comedians/actresses can make answering questions entertaining, but its also sort of demeaning. There were several instances where the "average" person knew the answer and the person playing on their behalf did not...
Basically, it was fascinating to me because it unites two discourses about in Chile, the idea of solidarity but also the idea that it is the responsability of those with wealth or fame to "save" people from poverty.
1. My host mom makes the most delicious lentils ever. I asked for the recipe and it was nothing special which makes this even more intriguing.
2. Lentils are apparently a good luck food to be consumed on New Years. Jumping on that bandwagon...
Thank you Tufts in Chile, I can't even watch TV anymore without analyzing class messages.
A couple days back, I watched Chile's version of "Who Wants to be A Millionaire” with my host dad. It was good because I learned a ton of trivia about Chile that I had never heard before but also, realized how little I actually know about Chile. There are so many things you take for granted growing up in a place, or in "Latino" culture.
What interested me most about the show though, was the way it was structured. Basically, famous contestants play on behalf of "worthy" Chileans who are in difficult economic situations, accompanied of course by dramatic or touching stories. In some ways this makes for better TV, because comedians/actresses can make answering questions entertaining, but its also sort of demeaning. There were several instances where the "average" person knew the answer and the person playing on their behalf did not...
Basically, it was fascinating to me because it unites two discourses about in Chile, the idea of solidarity but also the idea that it is the responsability of those with wealth or fame to "save" people from poverty.
November 18: The good things in life
Words of the day:
descomunal- enormous, colossal
traba- barrette, derived from the word trabar, meaning to hold something back. Spanish is such a cool language.
malabarismo- juggling
chispa- spark
Sort of a crazy day. Got up super early to go to Maipu for the Anniversary celebration at El Trampolin. Made a ton of food and got to spend time and talk with a lot of people I hadn't previously interacted with very much. All the adorable kids from the center put on little "acts" which were adorable and usually included at least one child who broke down in tears. And then everyone ate a ton of food.
The event was a little bittersweet though to be honest. There were a lot of people who came, albeit late, but apparently nothing compared with past years. A lot of the staff talked a bit about how the "spark" had gone out of the community, in terms of their involvement and willingness to initiate things. There was a whole picture display which showed the evolution of the community and the center. What struck me the most was the way that, as they described it, material progress hadn't exactly translated into a better sense of community or even better lives. Not to romanticize poverty, but the direness of the initial conditions led to a need to fight in a way that isn't entirely consistent with gated houses on square blocks.
I guess this reality is, well, awkward. When you have an non- profit working in an area, there is an expectation, at least internally, that things will improve in a linear fashion. And when they don't?
Regardless, the staff hung out for a while after and I got to join since my class was cancelled which was fun because I got to see another side of their personalities.
After, I had the last (gasp!) class of salsa and headed home, where I danced more, this time a zumba workout video with 3 year old Martina. Which was hilarious. And then I just hung out for a bit with my host parents and Arturo's sister who is visiting. And played with Martina a lot more- school, dolls, legos...Just as its the little things from home that I miss, I'm going to miss daily life here a lot as well.
descomunal- enormous, colossal
traba- barrette, derived from the word trabar, meaning to hold something back. Spanish is such a cool language.
malabarismo- juggling
chispa- spark
Sort of a crazy day. Got up super early to go to Maipu for the Anniversary celebration at El Trampolin. Made a ton of food and got to spend time and talk with a lot of people I hadn't previously interacted with very much. All the adorable kids from the center put on little "acts" which were adorable and usually included at least one child who broke down in tears. And then everyone ate a ton of food.
The event was a little bittersweet though to be honest. There were a lot of people who came, albeit late, but apparently nothing compared with past years. A lot of the staff talked a bit about how the "spark" had gone out of the community, in terms of their involvement and willingness to initiate things. There was a whole picture display which showed the evolution of the community and the center. What struck me the most was the way that, as they described it, material progress hadn't exactly translated into a better sense of community or even better lives. Not to romanticize poverty, but the direness of the initial conditions led to a need to fight in a way that isn't entirely consistent with gated houses on square blocks.
I guess this reality is, well, awkward. When you have an non- profit working in an area, there is an expectation, at least internally, that things will improve in a linear fashion. And when they don't?
Regardless, the staff hung out for a while after and I got to join since my class was cancelled which was fun because I got to see another side of their personalities.
After, I had the last (gasp!) class of salsa and headed home, where I danced more, this time a zumba workout video with 3 year old Martina. Which was hilarious. And then I just hung out for a bit with my host parents and Arturo's sister who is visiting. And played with Martina a lot more- school, dolls, legos...Just as its the little things from home that I miss, I'm going to miss daily life here a lot as well.
November 16: Turning 21 Abroad
Word of the Day: ser harina de otro costal- to be irrelevant, come out of nowhere. Sort of how I feel about my birthday.
Life goes on whether you are there or not. For every amazing moment I’ve had from my study abroad experience, there are so many moments I’m missing. With my family, with my friends at Tufts, with older friends and acquaintances...For everything we gain, we lose a little.
My birthday here was little bittersweet for that reason. I realized today how truly far I am from home. And sometimes, our digital replacements aren’t enough to simulate real togetherness, moreso when internet connections are non-functioning. There is still nothing that can simulate real eye contact, physical presence or touch, the importance of which I’ve come to appreciate more this semester.
My Dad sent me a really beautiful and sweet email this morning, which combined with a few other factors led me to start bawling in the Tufts in Chile office. Thank god the program assistant Loreto was there to comfort me. After a teary attempt at learning about Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in law class, things were finally righted with a run for ice cream from Emporio La Rosa with my friend Regina.
If you’d told me a year or 2 ago I’d be spending my 21st birthday in a Chilean población I probably would have asked what a población is (basically a catch all term for a poor area) and why on earth I would be there on my birthday. But, since this week is the anniversary celebration at El Trampolin, where my internship is, I went in to help decorate the center for a celebration. No reason not to go really. Unfortunately, it took forever to get there after my salsa class so I missed the actual decorating, but arrived in time for the giant gathering of children from the community for music and games. Also unfortunate, I happened to be wearing a white tee shirt, which was good for looking non-descript, but not appropriate for a water balloon fight. (The thermometer reached around 32 C today...) Luckily, I managed to at least keep the front of my shirt from being soaked.
I got to talk and play with a lot of the kids, which was really great on a personal level and eye-opening as to the nature of the challenges of the community on a more academic level.
I finally got home from Maipu 2 hours later and had a frustrated attempt at communicating with my real family via various electronic media. Then, I had a nice dinner and cake with my host family and some friends of theirs who happened to be in town.
After, I met up with fellow Tufts in Chile-ers Molly and Judy and headed to Maestra Vida, an amazingly awesome salsa club in Bellavista, the night district, where Chico Trujillo, an AWESOME cumbia band was playing. It was just a really really good time.
Two things were really great about today, that wouldn’t have been so had I been stateside:
I didn’t recieve any presents. What I did recieve were many hugs and kisses, and beautiful wishes of well-being which were much more wonderful.
I only consumed one alcoholic drink today. Turning 21 in the US has turned into such a ridiculous ritual but since I’ve already been consuming some excellent alcohol over the last few months, there was no need. My host family doesn’t drink, so there was nothing at dinner. Just got a Corona at the bar and that was it, nice and refreshing.
It’s weird to “officially” be an adult though, since my living arrangements are less than independent nor am I financially independent. Not having barriers anymore is sort of scary. I guess I still can’t rent cars or drive stick shift, so that’s a few limits. Thank Goodness.
Life goes on whether you are there or not. For every amazing moment I’ve had from my study abroad experience, there are so many moments I’m missing. With my family, with my friends at Tufts, with older friends and acquaintances...For everything we gain, we lose a little.
My birthday here was little bittersweet for that reason. I realized today how truly far I am from home. And sometimes, our digital replacements aren’t enough to simulate real togetherness, moreso when internet connections are non-functioning. There is still nothing that can simulate real eye contact, physical presence or touch, the importance of which I’ve come to appreciate more this semester.
My Dad sent me a really beautiful and sweet email this morning, which combined with a few other factors led me to start bawling in the Tufts in Chile office. Thank god the program assistant Loreto was there to comfort me. After a teary attempt at learning about Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in law class, things were finally righted with a run for ice cream from Emporio La Rosa with my friend Regina.
If you’d told me a year or 2 ago I’d be spending my 21st birthday in a Chilean población I probably would have asked what a población is (basically a catch all term for a poor area) and why on earth I would be there on my birthday. But, since this week is the anniversary celebration at El Trampolin, where my internship is, I went in to help decorate the center for a celebration. No reason not to go really. Unfortunately, it took forever to get there after my salsa class so I missed the actual decorating, but arrived in time for the giant gathering of children from the community for music and games. Also unfortunate, I happened to be wearing a white tee shirt, which was good for looking non-descript, but not appropriate for a water balloon fight. (The thermometer reached around 32 C today...) Luckily, I managed to at least keep the front of my shirt from being soaked.
I got to talk and play with a lot of the kids, which was really great on a personal level and eye-opening as to the nature of the challenges of the community on a more academic level.
I finally got home from Maipu 2 hours later and had a frustrated attempt at communicating with my real family via various electronic media. Then, I had a nice dinner and cake with my host family and some friends of theirs who happened to be in town.
After, I met up with fellow Tufts in Chile-ers Molly and Judy and headed to Maestra Vida, an amazingly awesome salsa club in Bellavista, the night district, where Chico Trujillo, an AWESOME cumbia band was playing. It was just a really really good time.
Two things were really great about today, that wouldn’t have been so had I been stateside:
I didn’t recieve any presents. What I did recieve were many hugs and kisses, and beautiful wishes of well-being which were much more wonderful.
I only consumed one alcoholic drink today. Turning 21 in the US has turned into such a ridiculous ritual but since I’ve already been consuming some excellent alcohol over the last few months, there was no need. My host family doesn’t drink, so there was nothing at dinner. Just got a Corona at the bar and that was it, nice and refreshing.
It’s weird to “officially” be an adult though, since my living arrangements are less than independent nor am I financially independent. Not having barriers anymore is sort of scary. I guess I still can’t rent cars or drive stick shift, so that’s a few limits. Thank Goodness.
Monday, November 15, 2010
November 15: Back in Santiago
Had another wonderful weekend trip up to La Serena/Valle de Elqui in the Norte Chico (Little North of Chile). Unfortunately, wont be able to write about it for some time since the long awaited homework has arrived. A few hundred pages of econ reading need to be done. Til later!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Word of the day:
hidrocarburos- hydrocarbons
países en vía de desarrollo- developing countries
pudor- modesty, but a very loaded word that describes a certain type of sexuality for women. Used a lot in older international treaties from the 1940s.
You never learn the most from the things you think you will. Take my Globalization and Copper class. While it may not count for much academically, it has made me think about a variety of issues and I might even go so far as to credit it greatly in my recent decision to change my academic focus within my International Relations major. Anyway, today’s discussion was a meta-look at the idea of the university and its relationship with knowledge, government and development. We talked about how the best knowledge is attained: is it possible to do the best critical or investigative research done when the educational institution is controlled by the state or follows a for profit model? How can universities be innovative and leverage this dynamism into political policy? This was all very interesting because at the same time, there’s much talk in the student community (and class itself ) about the need to make higher education free. Suspending concern over practicality of this, however, would this give the state too much control over the university, disenabling its critical role? Would the state ever finance something that was not directly working for its benefit? Would the greater economic productivity created by better educated workforce outweigh the downsides? Where does the model of the “university” go in an age where there arguably isn’t a unified current of thought anymore (but rather a string of separate realities, typified by the idea of post modernism)?
Another train of thought for today:
There are so many times when ideas aren’t communicated because of the different “languages” used. In my econ class today, we talked about the need to frame poverty and inequality as an economic issue, in the sense that over the long term, the productivity lost by having underperforming sectors can put a brakes on even the most superficially healthy economy. (ie. the US????) It’s a sad reality, but using moral and “human rights” based arguments has failed to create a strong enough impetus for intervention. Similarly, today in my law class we talked about women and political/economic discrimination. I think that again this is one reason feminism has had marginal success internationally is exactly this: it has only recently started to show economically the negative effects of discrimination against women.
As much as its easy to disagree with economics being the focal point of our value system, when arguments are shaped in the same language as an opponent, it’s much easier to show how everyone loses from not promoting “just” policies. Cynical to believe this is the most likely way to achieve change? You bet. But maybe a type of diplomacy that will become a career path?
hidrocarburos- hydrocarbons
países en vía de desarrollo- developing countries
pudor- modesty, but a very loaded word that describes a certain type of sexuality for women. Used a lot in older international treaties from the 1940s.
You never learn the most from the things you think you will. Take my Globalization and Copper class. While it may not count for much academically, it has made me think about a variety of issues and I might even go so far as to credit it greatly in my recent decision to change my academic focus within my International Relations major. Anyway, today’s discussion was a meta-look at the idea of the university and its relationship with knowledge, government and development. We talked about how the best knowledge is attained: is it possible to do the best critical or investigative research done when the educational institution is controlled by the state or follows a for profit model? How can universities be innovative and leverage this dynamism into political policy? This was all very interesting because at the same time, there’s much talk in the student community (and class itself ) about the need to make higher education free. Suspending concern over practicality of this, however, would this give the state too much control over the university, disenabling its critical role? Would the state ever finance something that was not directly working for its benefit? Would the greater economic productivity created by better educated workforce outweigh the downsides? Where does the model of the “university” go in an age where there arguably isn’t a unified current of thought anymore (but rather a string of separate realities, typified by the idea of post modernism)?
Another train of thought for today:
There are so many times when ideas aren’t communicated because of the different “languages” used. In my econ class today, we talked about the need to frame poverty and inequality as an economic issue, in the sense that over the long term, the productivity lost by having underperforming sectors can put a brakes on even the most superficially healthy economy. (ie. the US????) It’s a sad reality, but using moral and “human rights” based arguments has failed to create a strong enough impetus for intervention. Similarly, today in my law class we talked about women and political/economic discrimination. I think that again this is one reason feminism has had marginal success internationally is exactly this: it has only recently started to show economically the negative effects of discrimination against women.
As much as its easy to disagree with economics being the focal point of our value system, when arguments are shaped in the same language as an opponent, it’s much easier to show how everyone loses from not promoting “just” policies. Cynical to believe this is the most likely way to achieve change? You bet. But maybe a type of diplomacy that will become a career path?
November 9: Outskirts
Word of the day: porte- size (Chilenismo?)
bote- touch, as in when you lightly tap the ball in soccer to control it.
Today was a really weird day. I got back to Santiago right before 9, giving me just enough time to make it to my internship. Memories of my weekend of green were quickly assaulted by a lot of harried people and pavement. It made a lot more sense why every single person I talked to in the South expressed their dislike of Santiago.
Being in Villa San Luis kind of depressed me a lot today. Every time I go there, I want there to be a magic cure for poverty, an incredibly simple and fast solution that will bring everyone’s lives up to a standard that by my estimation is liveable. But the truth is, life goes on, beautiful or not. Collectivos and buses come and go, goods are bought and sold in the feria and in the streets, children go to school, babies are born. Redemption is nowhere visible in the big picture, but there’s a glimmer in the small things: the women in the taller becoming friends and planning a barbecue and an exposition, the few hopeful murals that don’t get painted over with graffiti and the children who have a safe place to play and learn in the Trampolin center. For better or worse, life goes on.
I’ve been thinking a lot about physical space again today both as a globalized entity and one that has a sense of place. I tried out a new micro route today, wanting to see more of Maipu, which didn’t really happen, but still gave me a look at another peripheral comuna, Cerrillos. The bus passed by scenery that seemed indistinguishable from run down areas of the US. A busy stream of cars, gas stations, disused factories and other vacant buildings, graffiti. At one point I even saw “All cops are bastards” written in English, which really threw me for a loop. I’ve already written about the imposition of neoliberal policies has lead to a convergence of the way elite areas appear(see any of my frequent rants about Las Condes/Parque Arauco), but are the places neglected by these models also converging?
Another thing I felt really cognizcant of today was the de-marcation of space. Much of the farmland in the South is marked with light fences but small farm houses are open to the road, which in some of the more remote areas of Chiloé were spaces in which animals simply wandered. This is in the complete opposite of Santiago where everything is gated, iron- fenced, put in place. I couldn’t help thinking on the psychological effect this must create. While gates may protect against crime, doesn’t also a culture of sharing and knowing your neighbor? How can you casually greet iron bars?
Realizing I only have a month or so left is terrifying, absolutely terrifying. Having declined the option of extending for a whole year, I’m wondering if I made the right choice. Will what I will gain intellectually from being back at Tufts be on par with what I would gain personally and linguistically from staying in Chile? Have I changed as a person as much as I wanted to, and in the right ways? I’m trying to not see this as an end point. You never can know where you will end up in life and I want to keep all of my options wide open. While I often wonder if my ability to not get attached to things is damaging, it may be useful in the long run. If anything, I’ve realized how adaptable I am this semester. Apart from people and decent coffee, I don’t really miss much from back home. My friends joke about how I’m supposedly a “bad american” since I’m often ignorant of music, movies, tv and don’t have much of a nostalgia for the foods or fashion of home. While in some ways I’m starting to see this as an element of elitism that I need to exise, I think I am well equiped to absorb other ways of being. Not to compare myself to a whiteboard by any means though: if anything, this experience has shown me how deep seated my prejudices and habits are, whether for fault of my nationality or not: my impatience, desire for instant results, directness, independent working style, etc, etc.
bote- touch, as in when you lightly tap the ball in soccer to control it.
Today was a really weird day. I got back to Santiago right before 9, giving me just enough time to make it to my internship. Memories of my weekend of green were quickly assaulted by a lot of harried people and pavement. It made a lot more sense why every single person I talked to in the South expressed their dislike of Santiago.
Being in Villa San Luis kind of depressed me a lot today. Every time I go there, I want there to be a magic cure for poverty, an incredibly simple and fast solution that will bring everyone’s lives up to a standard that by my estimation is liveable. But the truth is, life goes on, beautiful or not. Collectivos and buses come and go, goods are bought and sold in the feria and in the streets, children go to school, babies are born. Redemption is nowhere visible in the big picture, but there’s a glimmer in the small things: the women in the taller becoming friends and planning a barbecue and an exposition, the few hopeful murals that don’t get painted over with graffiti and the children who have a safe place to play and learn in the Trampolin center. For better or worse, life goes on.
I’ve been thinking a lot about physical space again today both as a globalized entity and one that has a sense of place. I tried out a new micro route today, wanting to see more of Maipu, which didn’t really happen, but still gave me a look at another peripheral comuna, Cerrillos. The bus passed by scenery that seemed indistinguishable from run down areas of the US. A busy stream of cars, gas stations, disused factories and other vacant buildings, graffiti. At one point I even saw “All cops are bastards” written in English, which really threw me for a loop. I’ve already written about the imposition of neoliberal policies has lead to a convergence of the way elite areas appear(see any of my frequent rants about Las Condes/Parque Arauco), but are the places neglected by these models also converging?
Another thing I felt really cognizcant of today was the de-marcation of space. Much of the farmland in the South is marked with light fences but small farm houses are open to the road, which in some of the more remote areas of Chiloé were spaces in which animals simply wandered. This is in the complete opposite of Santiago where everything is gated, iron- fenced, put in place. I couldn’t help thinking on the psychological effect this must create. While gates may protect against crime, doesn’t also a culture of sharing and knowing your neighbor? How can you casually greet iron bars?
Realizing I only have a month or so left is terrifying, absolutely terrifying. Having declined the option of extending for a whole year, I’m wondering if I made the right choice. Will what I will gain intellectually from being back at Tufts be on par with what I would gain personally and linguistically from staying in Chile? Have I changed as a person as much as I wanted to, and in the right ways? I’m trying to not see this as an end point. You never can know where you will end up in life and I want to keep all of my options wide open. While I often wonder if my ability to not get attached to things is damaging, it may be useful in the long run. If anything, I’ve realized how adaptable I am this semester. Apart from people and decent coffee, I don’t really miss much from back home. My friends joke about how I’m supposedly a “bad american” since I’m often ignorant of music, movies, tv and don’t have much of a nostalgia for the foods or fashion of home. While in some ways I’m starting to see this as an element of elitism that I need to exise, I think I am well equiped to absorb other ways of being. Not to compare myself to a whiteboard by any means though: if anything, this experience has shown me how deep seated my prejudices and habits are, whether for fault of my nationality or not: my impatience, desire for instant results, directness, independent working style, etc, etc.
Final Reflections on my mini-trip prompted by my impending “Globalization and Copper” monografía....
So what can an obscure, rural, rain soaked, geo-politically non-important island tell us about the processes of globalization?
For one thing, in such a context, it’s easy to see which flows have been excepted and grafted onto a once isolated lifestyle. From what was visible, this is mainly the internet, TV, video games, but also the department store, the supermarket and in a historical context, Christianity.
When we consider the concept of a “traditional lifestyle,” however, what are we really looking at? A fight for preservation or a lack of opportunity to “superar,” rise above?
How can you enable economic development without losing the critical elements?
Chiloé is a unique place for tourism in that it is mainly daily lives that are on display, which in a way may breed distrust or suspicion because to the one living it, your actions seem unremarkable. Ironically, it may be tourism itself that enables the “culture” to hold on, but does that mean that the culture is the same or merely a reflection of what we want to see?
For one thing, in such a context, it’s easy to see which flows have been excepted and grafted onto a once isolated lifestyle. From what was visible, this is mainly the internet, TV, video games, but also the department store, the supermarket and in a historical context, Christianity.
When we consider the concept of a “traditional lifestyle,” however, what are we really looking at? A fight for preservation or a lack of opportunity to “superar,” rise above?
How can you enable economic development without losing the critical elements?
Chiloé is a unique place for tourism in that it is mainly daily lives that are on display, which in a way may breed distrust or suspicion because to the one living it, your actions seem unremarkable. Ironically, it may be tourism itself that enables the “culture” to hold on, but does that mean that the culture is the same or merely a reflection of what we want to see?
Monday, November 8: A New Level of Southern Hospitality
Words of the day:
archipiélago- archipelago, group of islands
milcao- local food, sold in the street everywhere. Made from fat, potato and bits of meat...It was kind of gross although warmed you up, I guess. Another food to add to the “How are Chileans skinny?” list.
Today we headed out to another island close to the big one, known as Quinchao. We went to the biggest city, Achao, no more than a little town really, but quite charming. The ferry ride and the bus ride were very beautiful with views of the ocean from many different angles, the roadsides were lined with giant yellow-flowered buses and there were many sheep filled farms with beautiful old houses. We went down to the beach and wandered a bit, checking out fishing boats beached with the tide, a giant rock formation off the coast which is a hang out spot for sea lions (this one live!) and cliffs lined with vegetation. After a funeral had departed , we checked out one of the oldest and most famous of the wooden churches of Chiloe, this one dating back to the 18th century and with a beautiful all wood interior. It’s so interesting to think about the contrast between the heavy presence of Christianity on an island that originated a very unique paganistic mythology. We grabbed some delicious empanadas from a nearby mini-mart, beef surrounded by potato and then lightly fried. Quite possibly the best empanada I’ve had in my time here, and I’ve had my fair share...
While trying to find where the buses back to the main island departed from, we had a very interesting experience with a “local.” We asked a woman with a baby for directions and she replied that since she had only lived here for a year, she didn’t know exactly the name of the streets to tell us where to go, but could bring us there herself. Not wanting to bother her, we replied that we would just find it. But she replied that she didn’t have anything to do at present and before we knew it though, Thomas had been handed her baby, we were packing into her car, and Eric was sitting on top of the baby’s car seat. She told us she was originally from Easter Island and had lived in Santiago before that and as something of an outsider herself, liked to help foreigners out. She offered to let us use her bathroom and completely seriously said she would have given us oysters if she had only run into us earlier. This is what I mean when I say people in the south of Chile are ridiculously nice.
Then sadly, after a bit of time in Dalcahue, a small ocean side town with lots of fishing, a beautiful church and an artisanal fair that is especially famed on Sundays, when artesans from all over the area come with their wares, we made our way back to the mainland by bus and ferry combo. Just as we were about to leave the island, up by the city of Ancud, it got sunny, really sunny, with the ocean turning a beautiful shade that was practically turquoise. Tricky Chiloé, Tricky.
I got a little taste of Puerto Montt today while we were waiting for a bus connection. All the tour guides describe it as nothing really special. It’s grown quite large in recent years, meaning that it doesn’t have a lot of character, with American style housing developments packing the outskirts, and a few high rises going up. It definitely was interesting to see a southern city that wasn’t especially touristy though. It was very bustling and kind of grating, in a sort of off-color port way, although there was a reasonably nice park area right by the waterfront, with a beautiful view. There were tons of homeless people wandering around, which kind of surprised me. I guess they ended up there because it’s the biggest city in the area, but it must be a horrible climate for them to live in, with all the rain and cold. Curious if there’s some other factor involved.
Basically, the streets were just crowded with people, ethnically showing the dual Mapuche and German influence of the region, fruit vendors outside of grocery stores, even more stray dogs than usual, buses and collectivos, a lot of construction work and diner style restaurants. The bus station was even more crowded and random, filled with dogs, a random clown, families traveling in groups or wishing off their loved ones, African nuns, and the usual food sellers hawking their wares.
Found a bus back for even cheaper, $17, and for a nice semi-cama. Going to miss this aspect of traveling in Chile a lot.
archipiélago- archipelago, group of islands
milcao- local food, sold in the street everywhere. Made from fat, potato and bits of meat...It was kind of gross although warmed you up, I guess. Another food to add to the “How are Chileans skinny?” list.
Today we headed out to another island close to the big one, known as Quinchao. We went to the biggest city, Achao, no more than a little town really, but quite charming. The ferry ride and the bus ride were very beautiful with views of the ocean from many different angles, the roadsides were lined with giant yellow-flowered buses and there were many sheep filled farms with beautiful old houses. We went down to the beach and wandered a bit, checking out fishing boats beached with the tide, a giant rock formation off the coast which is a hang out spot for sea lions (this one live!) and cliffs lined with vegetation. After a funeral had departed , we checked out one of the oldest and most famous of the wooden churches of Chiloe, this one dating back to the 18th century and with a beautiful all wood interior. It’s so interesting to think about the contrast between the heavy presence of Christianity on an island that originated a very unique paganistic mythology. We grabbed some delicious empanadas from a nearby mini-mart, beef surrounded by potato and then lightly fried. Quite possibly the best empanada I’ve had in my time here, and I’ve had my fair share...
While trying to find where the buses back to the main island departed from, we had a very interesting experience with a “local.” We asked a woman with a baby for directions and she replied that since she had only lived here for a year, she didn’t know exactly the name of the streets to tell us where to go, but could bring us there herself. Not wanting to bother her, we replied that we would just find it. But she replied that she didn’t have anything to do at present and before we knew it though, Thomas had been handed her baby, we were packing into her car, and Eric was sitting on top of the baby’s car seat. She told us she was originally from Easter Island and had lived in Santiago before that and as something of an outsider herself, liked to help foreigners out. She offered to let us use her bathroom and completely seriously said she would have given us oysters if she had only run into us earlier. This is what I mean when I say people in the south of Chile are ridiculously nice.
Then sadly, after a bit of time in Dalcahue, a small ocean side town with lots of fishing, a beautiful church and an artisanal fair that is especially famed on Sundays, when artesans from all over the area come with their wares, we made our way back to the mainland by bus and ferry combo. Just as we were about to leave the island, up by the city of Ancud, it got sunny, really sunny, with the ocean turning a beautiful shade that was practically turquoise. Tricky Chiloé, Tricky.
I got a little taste of Puerto Montt today while we were waiting for a bus connection. All the tour guides describe it as nothing really special. It’s grown quite large in recent years, meaning that it doesn’t have a lot of character, with American style housing developments packing the outskirts, and a few high rises going up. It definitely was interesting to see a southern city that wasn’t especially touristy though. It was very bustling and kind of grating, in a sort of off-color port way, although there was a reasonably nice park area right by the waterfront, with a beautiful view. There were tons of homeless people wandering around, which kind of surprised me. I guess they ended up there because it’s the biggest city in the area, but it must be a horrible climate for them to live in, with all the rain and cold. Curious if there’s some other factor involved.
Basically, the streets were just crowded with people, ethnically showing the dual Mapuche and German influence of the region, fruit vendors outside of grocery stores, even more stray dogs than usual, buses and collectivos, a lot of construction work and diner style restaurants. The bus station was even more crowded and random, filled with dogs, a random clown, families traveling in groups or wishing off their loved ones, African nuns, and the usual food sellers hawking their wares.
Found a bus back for even cheaper, $17, and for a nice semi-cama. Going to miss this aspect of traveling in Chile a lot.
Sunday, November 7: In to the Wild
Words of the day:
púdu- a Chilean deer, which supposedly inhabit the national park. Didn’t see any though.
Today, since we had a full day which promised reasonable weather by Chilote standards (some rain instead of exclusively rain) so we figured it would be great to see the national park, on the side of the island furthest away from the mainland. It was a beautiful ride, very rural for the most part, but more forested than the other side of the island, and past two large lakes as well. Everyone seemed to know each other. The bus driver acted almost like a mail carrier- people would hand him packages to give to friends along the way. The park was one of the most beautiful, deserted and weird landscapes I’ve ever seen. Wild horses blocked the path. We had an entire beach to ourselves, minus a dead sea lion, once we finally found it due to unclearly demarcated paths. Rain clouds swooped in and out. Giant nalca, a plant looking similar to rhubarb (perhaps related) sprouted everywhere, giving everything a pre-historic feel. Birds were everywhere, from sandpipers to parakeets. As with many of the best experiences of this trip, words don’t really describe it well. So, I leave you with pictures.
Saturday, November 6: Fields, Boats and Rainbows
Words of the day:
Chilote- of or relating to Chiloe and its people
curanto- a delicious collection of sea creatures and land creatures assembled in a way that somewhat resembles a soup. see above image.
palafito- houses on stilts
We arrived in Castro around 3, by the time we took the bus between Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt and then another bus on a ferry across the bay, to the mainland where we drove to the “city” of Castro. The owner of the hostel where we were staying was very friendly as well, and as a sign of welcome, gave us shots of licor de oro, a local liquour made from milk, lemons and some other things that was surprisingly good, as well as hard ring- shaped biscuits. After another warming lunch (it was still raining), we went for a long walk, heading out of town a ways, passing some palafitos and winding up by a pasture and a beach. We climbed up a hill and got a great view back over the little town and the surrounding fields. However, by far the best was the gigantic rainbow that came out across the sky, a full arc and very bright. Sadly, my dying camera didn’t capture it, but it was undoubtedly the best one I had ever seen and welcome too since it stopped raining for a bit. We had a late dinner at a nice restaurant on the water. Had an excellent curanto, probably the best sea food I had ever had, and there has certainly been competition...
Chilote- of or relating to Chiloe and its people
curanto- a delicious collection of sea creatures and land creatures assembled in a way that somewhat resembles a soup. see above image.
palafito- houses on stilts
We arrived in Castro around 3, by the time we took the bus between Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt and then another bus on a ferry across the bay, to the mainland where we drove to the “city” of Castro. The owner of the hostel where we were staying was very friendly as well, and as a sign of welcome, gave us shots of licor de oro, a local liquour made from milk, lemons and some other things that was surprisingly good, as well as hard ring- shaped biscuits. After another warming lunch (it was still raining), we went for a long walk, heading out of town a ways, passing some palafitos and winding up by a pasture and a beach. We climbed up a hill and got a great view back over the little town and the surrounding fields. However, by far the best was the gigantic rainbow that came out across the sky, a full arc and very bright. Sadly, my dying camera didn’t capture it, but it was undoubtedly the best one I had ever seen and welcome too since it stopped raining for a bit. We had a late dinner at a nice restaurant on the water. Had an excellent curanto, probably the best sea food I had ever had, and there has certainly been competition...
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
November 5: Southern Hospitality
Word of the Day:
kuchen- German for cake, it is pretty much just that. but with tons of delicious variations involving different fruit, crumbles, and creams. The Germans have given Chile a lot of really nice things by my estimation...
I awoke around 6: 30 which was absurdly early given that I had arguing with seatmate Jon about politics until about 1 in the morning. Luckily, it was beautiful when I awoke. Pastoral countryside, green, lush, trees and forests, rivers and gigantic azaleas and rhodedrehons.
We arrived in Puerto Montt around 9 am, to a lot of rain. It was sort of cold and reminded me of the Adirondacks, maybe a Saranac Lake crossed with a bunch of German immigrants and a vague Hamptony touch. Unfortunately, our original plan of kayaking around Lake Llanquihue with the Volcano Osorno reflected in the water seemed unlikely to happen. It was downpouring, but more importantly, the volcano was absolutely nowhere to be seen with the heavy fog blocking it and remained invisible for the rest of the time we were there. We wandered to our hostel, perfectly adequate and as the oldest hostel in the town, full of interesting quirks such a floors and stairs that were completely slanted and woodstoves. After, we went exploring for a bit, checking out the Church of the Sacred Heart, a beautiful and very Germanic castle looking national landmark. Then it started to sleet! Deciding there was not much we could do about the weather, we wandered a bit more looking for the historical neighborhood with Germanic style architecture for which the town is famed. This sort of failed as we ended up in a random neighborhood for a bit that was purely residential and not notably historical. We called it quits for a bit and searched for lunch, stopping into a little hole in the wall for some delicious cazuela, soup with beef, part of a corn cobb and a potato, which warmed my freezing bones. Since it was still raining after, we figured a little kuchen and coffee couldn’t possibly hurt, especially after questionable amounts of sleep the night before.
Afterwards, we finally found the Barrio Historico, which was quaint and pretty. We ran to a small verdulería get some vegetables for dinner and ended up having a half-hour long discussion with its Costa-Rican owner. People in the south love to talk, and since its rude to rush away, we found that this meant that it was wise to pad the amount of time planned to accomplish activities by a least half an hour. It was nice though, and certainly great for getting language practice :)
Afterwards, we climbed up into Parque Philipi, a beautiful vegetation laden hill with some nice views out towards the towns.
We went back to the hostal where I cooked dinner, which was wonderful as I hadn’t cooked anything since I’d been up in the desert. The cooking process was interrupted for a good 45 minutes though, when I ran into the hostal owner in the kitchen and became part of an extensive chat about everything from employment and crime in the south of Chile, president Piñera, experiences with the earthquake and the woes of Haiti. Eventually, I got back to cooking, and the hostal owner gave us some homemade ají, let us dry our clothes by the woodstove, offered coffee, all very "acogedora": welcoming. We had a lovely dinner and after a bit of hanging out listening to music we crashed hard.
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