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...

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.

Thursday, November 4: On the Road Again

Today was a just a real feel good day. The morning was admittedly stressful as I had to finish a somewhat challenging law exam outlining the links between democracy and human rights in international law. Challenging since a) they are pretty much related in every way b) explaining this in only 2500 words in spanish was an added twist and c) I had no internet at my house so I couldn’t rely on word reference to look up words I didn’t know, such as “treatise” or “jus-cogens”. There’s an adorable café near by house that I went to though, and I got in a groove and felt excited and accomplished to be completing real school work and actually learning non-language related material. Since I didn’t have to go to class, I got to eat lunch with my host family, which rarely happens on weekdays since I usually have class at times that coincide with Chilean lunchtime (anywhere from 1-3 in our house).
I really like my host family. Everyone is just “buena onda,” to use a Chilenismo, just good people, “good vibes.” My host dad always tries to trick me, jokingly, which he is often able to pull off due to his straight face and my incredible gullibleness. Today’s instance:
“Did you hear what happened to Chiloe?” Me: “No, what?!?” Arturo: “It sank.”

I made it by bus across the scorching hot city to salsa class (the crowded metro is insufferable in the summery weather), only to find that there were about 10 more women than men. It ended up not be a total waste though- my friend Molly came to class and was dancing with a guy who invited us for drinks with another Chilean friend and a German exchange student. It was one of those really random and unexpectedly fun afternoons- we ended up hanging out with them for 3 hours or so, making random comparisons between our respective countries, learning Chilean slang and poking fun at the way different Spanish speakers talk in different countries. I ran to get the bus in Los Heroes and made in just in time for the 12 hour ride south. Buses here are ridiculously cheap which is one thing that makes traveling reasonably priced, at least for extranjeros. In this case, we found a bus for around $22 US, not semi cama, but we figured we would rough it out for a night. I can barely even get to NYC from my house in Jersey for that much anymore!
Our group this round included the first man dominated travel ratio in Tufts in Chile 2010 history: since the other female who had planned to go on the trip couldn’t make it, it was just me and the boys, Jon, Eric and Thomas.

The Catch Up Game

Haven’t written in way too long, thanks to school work and lack of internet. Time to catch you all up on my newly blossomed love affair with the south of Chile! Went down to Puerto Varas and South America’s 2nd largest island, Chiloé, for a few days...

October 30: A spot of "mala pata"

Words of the day:
Dejar una constancia- doesn't translate exactly, but basically means to make an informal complaint- let the police know you lost something
Hacer una denuncia- Make a formal complaint. As a student, this is something you should NEVER do for missing objects because it means they could refuse to let you out of the country because you are needed for an ongoing investigation.
Cartera/billetera- wallet
carnet/cédula- identity document in Chile, like a driver's license but much more important.

So I lost/may have had my wallet pickpocketed. ¡Qué lata! Luckily, I realized this the day after, but inconviently the one place where I may have left it is closed for the long weekend. At any rate, I had to go to the police station to report my national identity card as missing. It was kind of weird- I just walked into the station, where all the police cars were sitting around- thought there would be a lot more security. I was kind of expected someone in armadillo suit riot gear to jump out and tackle me. It was also funny for me to try and explain how to spell my name... Didn't lose hardly any money, just my debit card but could have been worse. Unfortunately, because of all the running around I missed a talk by Rigoberta Menchu. O well, sometimes life is less than peachy keen. Watcha gonna do?

October 28: más palabras

Nothing particularly significant happened to me today. Law class was really interesting because we talked about evolution of a human rights perspective in the visual arts. Then I had an excellent piece of chocolate cake and walked around. Salsa got cancelled because of a karate tornament.Then I came home and wrote in spanish about how the Americas developed differently due to the way their institutions developed to exploit "endogenous factors". Pretty riveting day.

So, I'm dedicating today's post to words again, I've learned a bunch today.

Mala cueva- bad luck. Synonym to mala pata, mala racha, or the standard "Español 2" mala suerte
And probably a bunch more.

desquisiado- completely out of control, mad, crazy, unhinged

cancelar- often used to mean "pay for"

suspendido- cancelled. ie "La clase de salsa está suspendido hasta el martes."
Suspender can also mean adjourned, called off, withdraw, put off or to hung from, depending on context.

la calcomanía- sticker or decal

la dulce de membrillo- quince jam in a block shape. At least I think it's quince, not totally sure. Also, it totally tastes mostly the same and has the same consistency as guava jelly, so that's confusing too.

el murciélago- bat. rawr. Gettin’ ready for halloween.

la lechona- Argentine word meaning piglet. the food, not the pooh character.

escalofriante- shocking, incredible, horrifying.
los escalofríos- shivers

percatarse- to notice

las migas- layers of a sandwich ie pan de miga- doesn’t exactly translate.
There’s a sandwich shop near my house called “Entre Migas” which is punny: Between friends or between layers. JAJAJA.

October 21-24: El Vino y El Destino- Mendoza, Argentina

Finally catching up on my Mendoza trip!
Words of the Day:
alama- sycamore tree. Fun fact: these are the reason the main street in Santiago is called the Alameda- it's lined with them!
chorizo/longaniza- sausage. Longaniza=used in Chile. Chorizo= used in both
masceración- the amount of time wine is aged with the grape skins, giving it different shades of color
añejar- to age wine. I dont think age is actually the right word. Whatever.
roble- oak
baricca- cask
alfahores- cookies sandwiches with dulce de leche in the middle.
bodega- in Argentina, vineyard
desgustación- wine tasting

Thursday 21
Took the bus through the Andes to Mendoza Argentina. What a magical ride. The mountains were dark and sharp on the Chilean side and then softer with beautiful earth colors on the Argentina side. The bus ride from Ny to Boston is going to seem really really boring when I return to school now :)
Everything in Mendoza is really cheap: our hostel was only $8 US a night!
Arrived with two other friends around dinner time, where we went to Las Tinajas, which had a ridiculously large buffet packed to the brim with delicious things. $10 for all you can eat!
Argentine men have won the most aggressive catcalling award. To be fair, we went out dressed up perhaps slightly provacatively for a Thursday. By which I mean we were wearing dresses when jeans would have been appropriate. At one point, we got applauded just for walking by, which was beyond comical. Lulled to sleep by the delicious food and a spot of wine, we went to bed early by Argentine standards, around 1 or 2.

Friday 22
We got up leisurely, reunited with some more of the gringo pack. We walked with plans around the sycamore and café lined streets of Mendoza which managed to be both elegant and quaint. Then, we decided to rent bikes and go to Parque San Martin for a picnic lunch. We had forgotten about the siesta element though- commerce shuts down pretty much between 1 and 4 pm. Luckily, we found a fabulous gourmet shop with goat cheese, salads and homemade bread which we got for literally $5. Amazing, as was our relaxing ride around the park.

Saturday 23
We went for a wine tour, renting bikes in the nearby area of Maipú. ($12 for an all day rental and transportation one way to Maipú) We biked about 15 miles total past beautiful fields lined with sycamores, testing malbec wines for which the region is famed, absinthe (totally random but also gross), jam, dulce de leche, smoked cheeses, specialty olive oils, tapanades, and last but certainly not least, chocolates.
Most vineyards had good deals where you could taste wines and get a tour for between $3 and $5.
And we squeezed in a gourmet lunch too. We had an interesting time getting back on the bus- you need to pay in coins, which Argentina apparently has a shortage of. Also, their paper bills are horrible quality- they literally fall apart. We guessed it had something to do with country's history of inflation- there's probably a great hesistancy to print new bills.
For dinner, we had a ridiculous parrillada- a barbeque of every kind of meat ever. SO GOOD.

Sunday 24
After relaxing in a café during the morning and walking around a bit more, we boarded the bus back home, armed with some excellent cheeses, sun dried tomatoes, figs and alfahores. It was such a wonderful trip, quite spontaneous and full of the best and simple things in life: good quality food, wine, beautiful scenery and most importantly, good friends. A lovely little taste of Argentina. Even though in some ways it wasn't as developed as Chile- the cars for one thing were straight out of the 70s and 80s, there's a certain elegance to it that is hard to describe but makes it wonderful.

Some More Music

Haven't put up any music in a while, this guy is my new obsession!

Nano Stern-"Necesito un Canción"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hd4AMaZ7So

Nano Stern- "Casualidad"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQbdgZdWTQY&feature=related

October 27: Wednesday Wanderings

I have a bunch of classes on Wednesday, but I fit in some wandering in between, popping over the Museo de Arte PreColombino, which I couldn't believe I hadn't visited yet because guidebooks are always ranting about how its the one museo you have to see.
Which I would probably agree with. It's expensive by Santiago standards though, a whole luca for students! The collection was really great although I'm not sure if everything was on display yet: some of the building was still being fixed up from earthquake damage. It amazed me to see the level of detail in the artifacts on display and the variety of cultures/civilizations, most of which I had never ever heard of. Since they let you take pictures without flash, here are some of the highlights!

Globalization and Copper, as usual, was interesting today. We were having a very discussion based class open ended question day and talked about what makes Chileans Chilean, which is actually a very hard thing to define. The professor also asked the students what they thought should be done to increase participation and civil society organization. Most of the answers were something along the lines of: "fight the commercialistic influence of the US" which is something of a valid critique I suppose. Citizens shouldn't have to buy their way into belonging to the social fabric, which is increasingly becoming the norm. Food for thought.

October 18: The Zipper Incident

Words of the Day:
zipper- I thought this one was la cremallera, but apparently the normal thing to say in these parts is el cierre.
banano (Chile)- fannypack. Actually quite the fashion accessory here/incredibly useful. I caved and bought one. I think the name comes from the shape, because they are sort of shaped like bananas, cachai? Probably I just completely made that up though.

I bought a zipper today to fix a bag, and while this is the most mundane news ever, the incident was actually quite illustrative. I went to the sewing shops on a streets called Rosas near Plaza de Armas and attempted to buy one from a very patient clerk who must have spent over 10 minutes helping me find one the right length. Since I couldnt figure out how long I needed it to be in centimeters. The guy was totally patient though and we worked through it eventually.

Afterwards, I thought how unlikely the same situation would have been in the US. Despite our immigrant nation rhetoric, let's face it, there's a general impatience when people dont speak English well or when transactions take a long time.
I don't currently consider myself to be an immigrant, and certainly not one forced by circumstances outside my control, but it is interesting to live as an outsider because it gives you a bit of insight into the occasional anxiety that is par for the course in a new linguistic and cultural territory.

October 26: ¿Cínica?

Words of the Day: False cognates edition!
cínico/a- In normal Spanish, this means cynical. In Chilensis, it means lying. Easy to remember if you think that cynism is an false worldview.
personalidad jurídica- legal status (a false cognate if I've ever heard one)

Yesterdays post is proof of why I should not blog while trying to figure things out at 2 in the morning. Surprisingly, going to my internship made me feel less cynical today, as much as the zone sometimes depresses me.

I guess yesterday when I was denouncing the notion of "social change" in bold strokes, what I really wanted to say was that I've become disillusioned with the idea of large sweeping change. Change when it ever does roll around comes from the small things. Probably, the work that goes on in El Trampolin and most other NGOs will realistically probably never bring people truly out of poverty, at the very least not in this generation. But that doesnt mean it wont generate tremendous good, albeit on the micro-micro-micro level. For instance, empowering a group of women to stand up to a corrupt local official so that they can use municipal space for an income generating sewing workshop, as they have the right to do. Giving the next generation education and options. Or just building links between people who otherwise would have absolutely nothing in common.

October 25: Never Be Afraid to Sit A While And Think

Word of the Day: el cargador- charger

$140 is what it took for me to be able to talk to you all again, once I finally caved and bought a new computer charger. One reason not to buy a Mac. Thanks to hefty import taxes, technology products here don't come cheap. And I had to go up to Parque Arauco, which as I think I have mentioned before, makes me feel physically ill with its blatant commercialism. Which is a hypocritical statement, coming from someone who just had quite possibly the most bourgeousie weekend imaginable in this ever wonderful semester...

I titled this post with my favorite quote from the play "Raisin in the Sun" because sitting and thinking were, for once, in ample supply this weekend. Although I was on the move again, hopping over the Andes to Mendoza, Argentina, I had no real agenda. I even sat in a chair for 15 minutes and looked at the sky. And I felt very at peace, realizing the relative pettiness of the decisions I have to make.

Now that I'm back in Santiago, that zen has evaporated a little, certainly not aided by the massive crowds on public transport. I'm only just starting to realize how much I've grown as a person this semester, which is good, but as I think I've mentioned before, I've grown disillusioned with so many of my former ideals and interests. Notions of "change", "equality", "justice," "progress"and "development" seem like a field strew with landmines where once they were shining beacons of hope. So do I brave the minefield, hoping my prejudices and actions wont trigger a dangerous result or do I search for an entirely new route, whatever that might entail? And does the fact that I'm willing to let idealism fall by the wayside so easily make me a weak person?

So, less metaphorically/long term, what is the rest of my college career going to look like? Gulp.

October 16-17: Fútbol and Meat

Words of the Day:
fanschop- Another surprisingly good "Let's mix something weird in beer" combination: beer + fanta
choripan- chorizo (sausage) +pan (bread)= choripan
hinchas-fans
Albos- fans of Colo-Colo, a very popular soccer team (in both senses of the word popular)
asado- barbecue. Which means bread and meat. Vegetables do not exist in Chilean barbecues.
Mete la pata- stick your foot on it! Get in there! Trip her up!
Dále, dále, dále!- Go, go, go!
Sacálo!- Get it out of there!
good sportsmanship- according to word reference, it's buena deportividad. In practice though, there is no definition.

So this weekend may have been the most un-vegetarian thing to ever happen to me. Not that I regret it especially.

On Saturday, we had a game for the soccer team, which was a lot of fun. We lost, but only by 1 and it was a really tight game. Then, afterwords, we had an asado! It was great to get to chill with everyone because they are all really sweet and really cool.

Today, Sunday, a large majority of the gringo pack went to a fútbol game of Colo Colo vs. U. Cátolica. (The third major Chilean team is U. Chile) It was quite the adventure.
We had another asado first with some friends from the School of Engineering, fans of Colo-Colo. It was unbelievably delicious: I could eat choripan every day and never get tired of it. The stadium was actually fairly orderly, although there was a heavy police presence (in riot gear no less) and no alcohol was sold inside. The fans were rowdy though. There's practically a sub-genre of books talking about the links between Soccer and Globalization and one I read recently talked about how soccer fan violence and rivalries are a pretty good example of how important a force tribalism still is to modern societies, a thesis that seems pretty well supported in South American soccer.
There were streamers, balloons, pep bands, probably completely illegal and dangerous fireworks, jumping, dancing, and singing, of the literally dozens of team songs. And plenty of foul language. The opposing teams, their own players and frequently, everyone's mothers, were treated to a heavy barage of insults. More of that than actually "constructive" type cheering like you usually hear at sports events in the US. It was cool to see all the different types of people who were there: wealthy, middle class, not so wealthy, teens, kids (questionable parenting?), the occasional grandma. Mostly men, but far from exclusively. And the U Catolica fans were in their own section, heavily guarded by the police. Although I really had no personal investment in Colo-Colo, it was one of the most fun and intriguing sporting events I've ever been too.

Here's the easiest Colo- Colo chant:
CHI-CHI-CHI- LE-LE-LE...Colo Colo de Chile!

6 UnChilean Things: Home Edition

1. Drinking Water
Chileans don't drink water. This isn't strictly true, but it's almost funny how much other beverages are favored. Specifically, "juices" which are water mixed with aspartame flavoring. Or soda. Or coffee. Or tea. Several people have mentioned how these liquids "have water in them" and I'm fairly sure they were somewhat serious. I mean, that's kind of true, but definitely not the same, especially given that SODA DEHYDRATES YOU and Chilean food is salty to begin with.
My host mom always gives me weird looks when I reach for some plain old water from the tap. "Are you sure you don't want something else? Juice? Coffee?" When I was sick, she brought me tea and fanta, which I found culturally amusing.

2. Milk
Drinking milk: also weird. I usually try and do it when no one is around. Also, milk comes in boxes but is liquid and isn't refrigerated until opening. Pretty sure there are lots of chemicals in it.

3. Eating Alone
This one is pretty universal outside the US, I think, but it's generally considered anti-social. Same for eating while standing around. I usually end up bringing a lunch because its less awkward to eat at school than to eat an early lunch by myself.

4. Not Wearing Shoes
My family is big on shoes in the house. The other day, I slipped down the stairs while only wearing socks. Thick woolen socks. "That's what happens when you are barefoot!" I was told. My (real) mother loves to yell at my siblings and I for not wearing socks or slippers, so I find it extra amusing. In another annecdote: My friends host family calls her "Indiancita" (little Indian) because she likes to go around barefoot. Shoe obsession and awkwardly un-pc nicknames: very Chile.

5. Air drying your hair
My host mom is big on me using the hairdryer, especially when it was winter. "So that your wet hair won't get you sick." I am not, since more often than not it results in an interesting 1980s throughback, which despite mens hairstyles being mulletlicious is not the fashion for women. Coincidentally, my real mother also yells at me about this a lot too.

6. Tupperwear Lids in the Fridge
Unlike America's obsessive compulsiveness about germs, it's totally normal to just leave a bowl or container uncovered in the fridge. Generally, Chileans eat their lunch leftovers for dinner though, so things hang around for less time.

October 15: Human Rights.

Word of the Day: Arpillera- a Chilean craftwork tradition of using scraps of fabric to tell a sew a picture, which during the dictatorship period were used as a form of memory, protest and healing

Today I went to the Museo de la Memoria y Derechos Humanos (Museum of Memory and Human Rights) and it was unlike any other museum I had ever been to before, both structurally and conceptually. It's a beautiful, very new, huge, modern, open space with lots of light that enters.
Conceptually, it is a fascinating idea: a museum on a national level that attempts to commemorate victims of violence perpetrated by the state itself, openly exposing the past to the viewer.
I thought the museum in general did an excellent job of commemorating the victims, making them seem like real people with testimonies, pictures and artifacts. One area that I thought it was a little weak in was explaining the context of the dictatorship and the strength of support for Pinochet, factors that are still important in understanding political realities in Chile today.
It's hard to do that though without making apologies for abuses and I think the factions that directed the project itself would not have wanted to do that. Above all, its an interesting concept, the idea that a museum can create a historical narrative.

My favorite part of the museum was the large display spanning 2 floors of faces from those who were disappeared, tortured, or killed during Pinochet's regime. Pictures are so simple, but they express so much sometimes, in this case, the faces of the living expressing everything that political violence and intolerance can rob from a society.
There was also a large set of beautiful arpilleras upstairs, the quality of which I had never seen before.

There was also extensive information in the foyer on Truth Comissions from around the globe and on Chilean memorial sites.

All in all, a well done project.

Here's an article about the museum that was in Newsweek a while back: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/31/the-art-of-darkness.html

Thursday, October 14: Walking Around Some More.

Word of the Day: media odisea- My friend used this expression a while ago, and it's not really related to anything today, but I figured I'd put it up.
media, en Chilensis, means something extreme. And odisea means odyssey. As in Homer.
media+odisea implies "Wow, that place we went to was in the middle of nowhere and it took forever to get there! What a hike"

Today was pretty standard. I walked to law class, which I guess is a media odisea if you don't like taking hour and a half walks, but that's my thing, so it was cool. We've been learning about humanitarian interventions for conflicts, a subject on which surprisingly little international law exists. Then, I hung out at a cool café in Lastarria, a "hip" neighborhood, which is probably my favorite in Santiago. It was right on the corner with views of this really modern arts center constructed from copper and also prime views of some of the best street art (also known as graffiti) in Santiago. The tables were all covered in collages and the whole place had a rocker vibe and played some excellent early nineties/alternative stuff, which was certainly overdue. Think Beachhouse, Pavement, some 90s girl band and Cansei de Ser Sexy, a brazilian rock band.

Salsa class has become very trying. I've definitely improved, but the prof has started throwing in these impossible moves that don't look very graceful and appear much more like martial arts or self defense than anything else. I'm half expecting that any day now he will make an announcement that he's not actually a Cuban exile but rather an ex-member of the Israeli Armed forces who has secretly been teaching us Krav Maga. Either way, it can't hurt.

I ended up going for a walk by the metro stop El Golf today, the start of the real barrio alto, or at least it's beating heart: the financial sector. It was well, way more beautiful than I expected. It was overcast and misty out and you could barely see the mountains, but made the crystaline blue high tech modernity of the skyscrapers more prominent. It was so clean and new everywhere and the streets were lined with trees and fascinating sculptures. I realized I hadn't gotten a dose of what upper class Chile is really like in a while, despite my frequent ranting about it. My host mom had been complaining about this the other day "They take you to all these ugly ugly places!" Her statement did have some truth to it. They've spent a lot of time showing us the poor parts of Chile in the program, which are hugely important for us to see. But it's also important to see the wealthy wealthy wealthy Chile, lest one forget why Chile has one of the highest level of inequality in the Americas (Gini coefficient between .50 and .54 for any econ types). It is kind of interesting to think about to: I'm pretty sure that foreign students who come to the US to study are never brought to poor areas, not that there aren't an overabundance of structurally disadvantaged zones in the US. There are certain safety reasons for this I'm sure, unfortunately having to do with race for the most part , but the fact remains that I've been in many places in Chile who's US equivalent I've never been to. Interesting to think about.

Culinary News

Word of the Day: Heavy (pronounced “Jevi”): good, great
I also wondered why ads for Subway sandwhiches said "Se puso heavy", since Subway always markets how they can make you less fat than other fast food...silly chilenismos.

I had Caldillo de Congrio today for the first time because my host mom made it for dinner!

Guess who wrote a really good poem about it: Pablo Neruda! Contrary to this blog, there are tons of other AWESOME chilean poets, who should probably be getting more due in this increasingly long travel document. I'll get on that...

Anyway,
Oda al caldillo de congrio/ Ode to Eel Soup (Or Chowder)

I'm actually not gonna put the whole poem up because it's really long AND it reformats it. But read it, it's really good.

Castellaño:http://www.poemasde.net/oda-al-caldillo-de-congrio-pablo-neruda/
English: http://spanishpoems.blogspot.com/2005/02/pablo-neruda-oda-al-caldillo-de-congrio.html

Also, the yogurt guinda (cherry yogurt) flavor at Emporio la Rosa is pretty much the best dessert I've ever had. Mild exageration, but rich frozen yogurt + real cherries= a very good idea.
I'm sure I'll get around to trying the ice cream of other establishments eventually, but it's hard when theirs is SO good.

October 13: The Miners are Out! CHICHILELELE VIVA CHILE!

Word of the Day: cuenta regresiva- countdown

The miners are finally all out, safe and well, Gracias a Dios! It's been really interesting seeing the excitement. Although certainly less public celebration than when they first found out they were alive.
For anyone who missed it, here's the first rescue completed: http://emoltv.emol.com/actualidad/indexSub.asp?id_emol=5992
Last night, the whole family gathered round the TV late at night to watch the first miner come to the surface. It felt a little bit like waiting for the ball to drop on new years, except way more touching of a moment. Beautiful and touching, and that's coming from me, the queen of not being super sappy, so there. One of the those moments that makes you glad the human race is capable of something slightly more refined than killing each other and belching carbon into the atmosphere. If only Al Gore could have made his powerpoint slides as riveting as miner rescues...

Speaking of mining, today was part 2 of the lesson on how international corporations screw over Chile by not paying for copper extraction!!! Basically, corporations don't really pay royalties on copper extracted due to some confusing loophole and they don't have any sort of tax on copper profits.

Oversimplified story, Chile sold copper super cheaply during the World Wars and then during the Cold War and the not so cold Korean War, the US convinced them to keep copper cheap so we could fight communists more affordably. Then, in the 60s, Chile realized that it should probably be getting some revenue out of the mining and moved for a pacted nationalization. Then, according to my professor, who loves to beat on Latin America for economic mismanagement, they basically failed to manage the sales of copper they had negotiated for and essentially gave up and just went back to the old system. Later on, Pinochet's minister of mining continued to privatize things even more, creating laws for international corporations to invest that were so favorable that they weren't even taken advantage of because it was assumed that they would be changed if Pinochet fell. Well, when that came around, not much did change. The situation is so extreme that not even the state can invest in the mining sector without legislative approval. The World Bank and the IMF even say that there's nothing wrong with Chile profiting from its mineral wealth. So basically, the only impediment is political will which continues to see changes to Chilean mining law as something that "can't be done", I'm guessing because of concern over what the international reaction would be like.

Ok, so less awesome than mining rescues, but still crazy! After learning all this, I feel like I did after they made us read a book about water called "The Blue Death" before freshman year of college and I learned that we could all become deathly ill from waterbourne diseases because a) our water supply is totally not safe and secure from birds, manure, pollution, terrorists, etc.
b) water is carried through ancient and disgusting pipeways that are barely functioning
The feeling is something like this:
SOMEONE SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS RIGHT AWAY BECAUSE IT'S SUPER SUPER IMPORTANT BUT ITS THE LEAST SEXY ISSUE EVER SO PROBABLY NO ONE WILL EVER CARE AND THE OUTCOME COULD BE VERY VERY BAD. or at least very very not optimal.
So anyway, I don't know what I'm gonna do about it yet other than rant about it in my blog, probably chain myself to a bulldozer. Just kidding.

I went to part 2 of the Marginality forum at the Public Affairs school today in which we watched a Chilean documentary called "Locos del Alma", about a group of patients at a mental hospital who take part in theater lessons and eventually put on a production. Basically, the theme was to look at what we consider as "sane" or "normal" and how this creates marginality.
As anyone who has been near a college campus during exam season, in rush hour traffic or shopping on Black Friday knows, these terms should be a lot more flexible than make them. I wish I could have understood the documentary better, since pretty much all the people filmed had these impossible to understand mumbly accents.
It got me thinking though, about all the layers of people that make up a city. So many times we walk through with a projection of a certain normal expectation onto the people we see, but what about those who don't fit into the "normal" box? What does it mean to be "loco", blind, deaf, mentally or physically disabled in Santiago? And what about those who don't fit into the myth of the Chilean race? What does it mean to be Mapuche, Afro- Chilean, Peruvian, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Chinese, Japanese, Arab, Indian or German in the city space? Or gringo/a for that matter :)

October 12: "No te pinta como gringa, pero tus ojos..."

This was a taxi driver telling me I don't look like a gringa, except for my eyes. Hmmm. Not totally sure what that means, but I guess my new Chilean camoflague attire will need to include sunglasses in addition to faded/patched jeans and a keffiyeh (Everyone here wears them, not totally sure if they're even political anymore in this context...) Good to know.