Me queda un mes :(

Wow. It's about time for an update. Nothing like a 14-page paper (NOT double-spaced) and an oral exam to make you really want to update your blog instead...

Let's do this in backwards order. At the moment I am finishing classes and getting stuff taken care of before leaving. I'm a month away!!

Over the past two weeks I've done a lot of wandering around Santiago, just to take advantage of my final time here. I've been to Villa Grimaldi (old Pinochet-era torture site), the Cementario Nacional, another cerro (Santa Lucia), the Biblioteca Nacional...etc. We even went to a gay parade!! It wasn't too exciting, but I was impressed that Santiago had one at all...

We also went for a day-long trip to Doñihue, a little pueblito about 2 hours out of the city. We basically spent the day eating and trying different artisan products that they make: honey, aloe vera, and lots of types of alcohol (not my favorite at 10 in the morning...). It was a lot of fun to get out of the city for a day. We also got to take the train, which is not particularly fast, but very nice nonetheless.

A few weekends ago, we went to Mendoza. It was a "quick" 7-hour bus ride across the cordillera. The ride over was beautiful and we got through everything pretty quickly. We got in mid-afternoon and walked around, eventually finding our way to a delicious restaurant where we dined on steaks, salad, wine, AND dessert for about $8 apiece. I'm so glad I decided to start eating red meat again before coming to South America. Anyway, it was a great weekend. We did a little dancing, took a tour of the city (which included a tour to a chocolate factory) and toured some vineyards. I even managed to study for an exam and buy a few gifts in the feria! The only down-side was the ride back. Apparently, some random girls thought it'd be a good idea to try and bring 2 kilos of cocaine across the border. Turns out not so much. It took us around 3 hours JUST to cross the border.

The week before Mendoza was busy, but with nothing particularly exciting. Except, I did sing with my padre at a big folklore festival. There must have been about 200 people there, so it was exciting, while at the same time frightening. I also made friends the sweetest 12-year-old boy who entertained me with stories in his gypsy costume until it was my turn to go on. This past week I sang with Sole at a scholarship dinner. So definitely my artistic career has not been on hold in Chile. Between that and the fact that I'm helping my colegio kids prepare a Michael Jackson dance for the graduation party...

Speaking of the colegio where I volunteer, I decided to go to a party there a few weeks ago. It was a blast!! I felt like I was in high school again. Except this time, a high school where everyone crowds together and dances reggaeton in front of their teachers! (Or WITH their teachers, in my case...)

Ok, so before Mendoza the most exciting thing that happened was going to Buenos Aires. It was one crazy weekend, that's for sure. We ate well and slept little, which I feel is the opposite of what most Argentinians do. Or at least, they're all skinny and hang out in cafes until 2pm most days. Probably the most exciting thing was that we went to the Argentina-Peru soccer game. Looking back, it was a heck of a lot of effort. We stayed out til 5am carreteando and then went to wait in line for another 4 hours to get the tickets the day they went on sale. Then, after sleeping about and hour and a half back in the hostal, Carolyn's bunkbed disconnected from the wall and fell on Emily. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt, although she had a pretty nasty bruise for awhile. During the game, it started POURING rain. We decided to leave to try and beat the crowds and the stadium was literally flooding. There was water cascading down the stairs. It really was a downpour. And once we were on the street, we continued walking around in the downpour for an hour or so looking for a taxi or some other way home. At this point the water was about a foot deep in the streets. We finally stumbled upon a restaurant which was nice enough to let us in. They called us a taxi and we left after drying off (leaving behind puddles and 2 empty bottles of wine).

That was Argentina. My overall observations are that they're much more attractive than Chileans and have delicious meat. But other than that the food is pretty bland and the women are too skinny (and grow their hair too long). And their metro is nothing compared to Transantiago. Stop complaining, chilenos. I did, however, come home with a nice new pair of leather boots. And some very wet clothes...

Wow, beyond that I can't think of anything at the moment. Which is fine cause this is enough for now. I can't believe I leave for good in less than a month. But...I'm heading to Viña, Patagonia, and Brazil before that! What a wild ride it's been...

Chiloé, Chica, and more Cueca!

So, I just ate lasagna with ham and refried beans inside. It made me want to write a blog solely dedicated to Chilean food, but too much has happened since the last one, so I figure I should talk about that instead.

Chiloé
The weekend after San Pedro de Atacama I hoped on another plane. This time, down south to the beautiful Isla Grande de Chiloé! I went with a gringo from another program, having no plans or reservations except a round-trip flight to Puerto Montt. We landed Thursday afternoon and decided to go straight to the island. After a beautiful ferry ride (which the bus drove right onto), we reached the small (but large by chilote standards) pueblo of Ancud.

In hind-sight, I wish we had spent more time there because I didn't notice how beautiful it was until we passed through it on the way back to Puerto Montt and the sun was shining. We stayed in a great little hostel right on the water with the nicest hostess (we love you, Rosita!!) and delicious breakfasts. The first night consisted of dinner, walking around the (more or less) 3 blocks of the town, FINALLY finding a bottle of tequila, and chatting it up with a German couple, French man, and Bulgarian (if I remember right) girl.

The next day we hopped on a bus to Castro, the biggest town and capital of Chiloé. Here, we saw the famous palafitos and once again found a great hostel. We decided right away to go visit the even-smaller island of Quinchao. Once again, we hopped on a bus which hopped on a ferry and ended up in a small pueblito. We managed to spend about an hour there, although I'm not sure how. We even went into a museum, which consisted of one room and essentially nothing to see except a written history of the island.

The next day we made it over to Parque Nacional Chiloé. The drive across the island was probably the prettiest thing I'd ever seen in my life. Soo green and soo beautiful, even in the rain and fog. Once there, we attempted to find the beach, which seems to be inacessible in the winter. After wandering through some private property with cattle, we decided it was time to go back. We made it through one more trail, but were soaked to the bone from the consistent rain so we decided to go back home.

The last day we went to a feria where I bought lots of fun gifts and then we headed back to the mainland. All in all, I decided Chiloé is probably the prettiest place I've ever been in my life, but there's not a whole lot to do there in the winter.

On the other hand, we spent our last night in Puerto Varas, a really cute lake town that kind of reminded me of a swiss ski village. While there wouldn't be much to do there for more than a few days, it was a nice change of pace after the rain and isolation of Chiloé.

Fiestas Patrias
The next weekend was by far the best one I've had since coming to Chile. I got back Tuesday morning to find that all my classes had been canceled for the rest of the week, except for one in which I had an exam the next day. So, starting Thursday, the festivities began. Fiestas Patrias (or el 18 de septiembre) is the Chilean independence day. It's equivalent to our 4th of July, except that they celebrate it for about 5 days with empanadas, asados, chica, and cueca.

Quick culture lesson:

empanada

• classic Chilean dish that can be made of many things, the traditional being pino (ground/shredded beef, onions, 1 raisin, 1/2 a hard-boiled egg, and 1 olive)
  
• In a word: delicious.

asado

• barbeque
• wayy too much food, but so delicious
• typical way of getting family and friends together for fiestas patrias

chica

• a sweet wine-like drink made of grapes but not fermented
• very strong, alcohol-wise (I'm not sure how this works with the whole non-fermented thing)
• goes WAY back to early mapuche times when a cacique showed his wealth by how much chica he could provide at a wedding

cueca

• the official dance of Chile (btw USA, where is our national dance??)
• based on a rooster courting a chicken
• actually really really fun!! and danced everywhere during 18 de septiembre

So, in summary:
food + drink + sack races + música folklórica + little boys dressed in gaucho costumes + neighborhood bbq's with old people dancing reggaeton = 18 de septiembre (a.k.a. best Chilean weekend ever).

Recent update:

1. Decided to try taekwando last Monday. Turns out I'm pretty good. Also turns out I hurt my ankle so badly I had to miss 3 classes because my hermana wouldn't let me out of the house.
2. It's spring!! Finally there is sun and flowers and fresh air!
3. Went to an 80's disco on Saturday with my hermanas and brother-in-law. The wonderfulness of this night plus the wonderfulness of the Fiestas Patrias has officially made carreteando with the familia my favorite kind of carrete.
   
4. Going to Viña del Mar and Vaparaíso this weekend! Hopefully the weather holds up...
   

Colegios, Cueca y las 5incomparables

Well...much has happened since my last entry. I'll try to make this one a relatively short summary :)

First things first, I started my volunteer program. It's called Inglés Abre Puertas. Basically, I spend 5 hours on Wednesdays helping an English teacher in a high school without a lot of resources. I LOVE it. The kids are soo sweet and very happy to have a gringa in the classroom. I thought the piropos on the street were bad, now I'm getting them from 16-year-old students!! The program people told us to try and speak English only, which is nearly impossible as a lot of them hardly speak it. So...it's turning out to be great practice for my translating skills!

Two weekends ago I went to a Cueca competition with my padre. He is in a folklore group and they were asked to sing. I didn't realize what a huge deal it was!! It was called the Primero Concurso Nacional de Cueca Chilena and have 15 pairs come from all over Chile to compete. The Cueca is the Chilean national dance. It is supposed to represent the way a rooster conquers a chicken. If it sounds kind of funny-looking, well, it is. I would call it the chilean version of the chicken dance. But...this competition was actually really cool. Each couple was dressed in typical clothes from their region and they all have very different ways of dancing. Plus there were all these other traditions wrapped into it, like the music and chicha and ponchos and...well, it was quite the show. And, to top it all off, my padre's group is really really good! His hermana sings lead and is absolutely un encanto! She has such stage presence. And they play and sing beautifully. It was so fun to watch. I can't wait for the 18th of September (Fiestas Patrias) to spend more time with my padre's talented family!

This last weekend, we had a trip with our director to San Pedro de Atacama. It is located up in northern Chile and is all desert. It was amazing. Probably the best weekend I've had in Chile so far, if not in my life! We did so many things in 3 days I can't even believe it! First we went to the salt flats and saw some flamingos. Then we went to Valle de la Muerte and Valle de la Luna. There we watched the sun set over a smaller mountain range as the full moon rose over the Andes. I don't think I've ever seen anything so gorgeous in my entire life. The next day we got up early (4 am!!) to go see the geysers. It is the 3rd largest geyser area in the world (Yellowstone is first). It was amazing and soo beautiful and sooo cold! But it warmed up quickly and we spent the afternoon driving through the mountains, looking at vicuñas (a llama-like animal) and eating llama meat. Then we went to some termas and spent the rest of the morning soaking up some sun.

That night, we went to a cafe with pretty much the entire town to watch the Chile-Venezuela soccer game. It should have been a great game, but it ended up as a tie. Fortunately, Chile is still in second place in the South America bracket and still has a good chance of getting into the World Cup. It was a blast to watch the game with all the crazy Chilean fans. And we spent the rest of the night dancing salsa and cueca (and pretending to eat when the police came because dancing/discotecs/bars are illegal in San Pedro!). Sunday morning we went sandboarding, which was way more fun than I'd even have thought, and spent the afternoon looking at archeological sites left behind by the indigenous people of the area. I felt like a real anthropologist!

Well, this weekend I go to Chiloé, so I'm sure there will be more to tell when I get back.

Antropología Aplicada

This is fantastic. I had a 3.5 hour anthropology class yesterday which began by discussing the current problem with the Mapuche population in Chile.

Basically, there is a lot of disconnect between the gobierno and the mapuche, while meanwhile there is also a lot of disconnect within the mapuche population itself. What I mean by this is that there are many mapuche who self-identify as being mapuche first, chileans second. There are others that think of themselves as solely chileans. There are others that think of themselves as solely mapuche. Thus, the problem is that there is a sovereign population living within another country feeling like they aren't getting the rights they deserve since it was their land first (mapuche literally means "hombres de la tierra").

The bigger problem is, the mapuche have never been a people with a centralized government. For this reason, it is incredible that they were able to control such a vast area of land and be largely successful economically. And for this same reason, the attempt to colonize the population was essentially a failure because the Spanish were unable to simply cut down their center of power (there wasn't one).

Anyway...the mapuche problem seems to be largely a solution-less problem because: 1) the mapuche have no consensus regarding what they want, 2) the mapuche have no centralized "government" to speak for them, and 3) the Chilean government doesn't know how or doesn't want to meet their "demands." After all, the mapuche are chilean citizens, right?

It's largely an identity issue.

Well, after my class, I saw this video and it really hit home how big of a deal this is. The video is comical, but it deals with a really huge issue. Essentially, the senator from the araucanian region (where many mapuche live) accuses the gobierno of stealing land from the mapuche:



Kind of makes you re-appreciate the value of anthropology, no? It's not just a study of where people come from, but where they're going.

Chile, chile lindo!

So...I don't really have any great stories as of late, but I do have some fun observations to share:

• Copyright laws mean nothing in Chile. Because books are so expensive, you don't buy any for your classes. Instead, you wait in line for an hour at the fotocopiadora to make a 450 page book into a pretty, bound photocopy :)
• Smoking is more or less a built-in part of life here. My teachers give us breaks in longer classes so they can go out in smoke. And alongside the highlighters at the fotocopiadora they sell cigarette lighters.
• They LOVE Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts here. Seriously, almost every movie has either one or the other, which I guess is good since I really like them both!
• The Simpsons and Family Guy (Padre de la Familia) are very popular here. Almost more than in the states! The funniest part is that a lot of the jokes don't quite translate from English to Spanish, so you start hearing some really strange things...
• Like the jokes, many of the movies have completely different titles in Spanish. Ex: Two Weeks Notice -> Amor a segunda vista. Closer -> Llevados por el deseo.
• Bus drivers are either really friendly or super mean. Mean ones don't stop for little old ladies trying to get to the stop in time. Or they just skip your stop entirely because they're in a hurry. But, if they're nice, they'll let you know when they get to your stop and call you "mi amor" when they speak to you.
• Doctor's notes (like copyright laws) mean nothing. If you miss a class, the profe probably didn't even notice. Unless they take attendence. And even then, they probably don't care.
• Leftovers last forever. You will eat for dinner what you didn't eat for lunch. And it will reappear a week later. Good thing I like the food...;)
• There's a futbol game on every hour of every day (or night).
• Everyone believes in horoscopes. And reincarnation. Quite strange coming from such a catholic society...
• The men (or should I say boys) are much more forward. The second question someone will ask you, after "Cómo te llamas?" is generally "Do you have a boyfriend?" And I've been asked for my number on the metro more than once.
  

Choices, choices.

Well, it has definitely been a week of choices.

First choice: right now. Every night before going to bed I turn on the TV to see if there's something that I might actually enjoy falling asleep to. Usually there isn't. But right now I can choose between: House, Scrubs, Must Love Dogs, Erin Brockovich, Brokeback Mountain (which in Spanish they translated into "Secret of the Mountain" hahaha), and Grease.

Now granted, these aren't on everybody's list of Top 10 things to watch on TV, but they are all solid options. Now, would it kill the channels to spread them out a little so I am entertained for more than one night?

Next choice: Do I go to Cajon del Maipu with my familia or sleep in? Normally, an easy choice for the former, but as I went to bed at 6:30am after returning from the birthday of my hermana's dentist friend, the choice was a little bit more difficult. I did, fortunately, choose the former.

More choices:... I have had more important choices to make this week. Such as, what classes to take. I believe I have finally decided. I'm taking two classes in the Anthropology department at La Chile. The first is about Mapuche Culture. It's a lot of reading and pretty hard, but I feel like I'll get a lot out of it so it will be worth it in the end. The second is called "Esthetics and Culture of North America." It sounds complicated, but really it's an anthropological look at American film. Que suerte! Especially since most of them are "classic" American movies that I haven't seen. Even better, the professors of both my classes are really nice. I think it helps that I'm the only gringa in the class. They probably feel bad for me. On the other hand, it's a great chance for me to meet some Chilean students.

My other two classes I don't find nearly as exciting. They are both literature, and more lecture than discussion. On the other hand, I think they'll be good. I even talked in one of them today. To analyze some poetry. I never realized how hard it was to catch hidden meanings in a different language...

Even more choices...ah yes! Which bus to take. A lot more complicated than you think when during rush hour some of the streets turn into one-ways. That means you have to go to a different stop to take the bus you normally get. And although you may only need 30 minutes to get from home to class (30 minutes!! it used to take me 5...) you never know if the bus will come right away or 20 minutes later. So it's best to leave at least 15 minutes earlier than you intended.

That being said, nothing starts on time in Chile. And they have recreos or breaks during the class, or at least during my Anthro classes because they are 3.5 hours long. It dawned on me today that the professors probably need these breaks as much as the students so they can smoke a cigarette.

Along with all these "important" choices, I've had some pretty fun cultural experiences of late.

1. Political "Assemblies" on Campus:
I walked into the Ciencias Sociales building on Tuesday to find out that there was some assembly going on. It's Anti-imperialism week at la Chile, so they were having an assembly about the "Cuban 5" arrested in 2001. I don't even remember hearing about this beforehand. But la Chile is a pretty liberal, leftist institution and is definitely anti-imperialist. And to think we have things like "Engineering Week" at Wash U... Anyway, it kind of turned in to a U.S.A.-bashing session, although I feel like really they're probably right and the U.S.A. wrongly imprisoned these five people. On the other hand, I had a gut-feeling of wanting to defend America. Or at least know ALL the facts, instead of just the "Viva Cuba" side.

2. Fútbol:
Today, one of Chile's 3 top professional fútbol teams, Colo-Colo, played against the non-professional Rapanui team in Easter Island. It was sooo fun to watch, albeit on TV. It's the first time a team has ever traveled there to play. Athough they lost 0-4, it was really cool to see all the Rapanui fans out supporting their team. And my padre thought it was so cool to see a team made up of "normal" people, meaning one was a teacher, one was an engineer, etc. Ah fútbol. Siempre uniting us.

Well, I think I have actually decided on Secreto de la Montaña (which I actually can't believe they're allowed to play in Chile considering the predominant and very negative sentiment toward homosexuals here).

Buenas noches!

It's snowing in July.

Well, you could really have Christmas in July here in Pucón. Not only is it snowing, but this quaint little pueblito would be the perfect place to spend a winter vacation. Which I guess is what we're doing...albeit the Chilean winter.

After a 10-hour bus ride with minimal heating (and a leaking ceiling tile which Carolyn was lucky enough to sit under), we spent our first four hours in Pucón trying to get warm. There's a fire and a wood-burning stove in our hostel, yet for some reason our room is at least 10 degrees colder than the rest of the building. Fortunately, we found a delicious café specializing in chocolate where we enjoyed the hot fire with our hot drinks. And we managed to stumble upon some cheap artesanias who sell some wonderfully warm hats and socks.

It was definitely a week full of adventures.

#1: Canopy
Think Tarzan. But with ropes. And helmets. I thought I was going to be terrified, and in reality I just had a blast! Although our guide book said safety didn't have the same standards here, our guides took good care of us and we quickly learned how to keep ourselves hooked into the trees. I think it was hard to be terrified once we did the actual zip-lining because the first part was so much scarier. The first thing we had to do was climb the trees and walk across ladders made of ropes. At least during the ziplining part we were supposed to be hanging. And we knew we were strapped in. The greatest part was going across the river. It was a long ride and just beautiful. Honestly, I can't imagine a prettier spot to fly through the air.

#2: Subiendo el Volcán Villarica
This was a bit on the hard side for me. Between the altitude and the fact that the only normal type of exercise I do is swimming, I was tired before we even started the real climb. But, I made it to the place we stopped for lunch and was pretty proud of that. Of course the fact that the guide had to hold my hand for the last 20 minutes was a bit on the embarrassing side, but the fact that I didn't fall down the mountain made it all worth it. By the time we were gonna start the second part of the climb, the guides told us there was so much wind that we probably wouldn't get much further. While about half our group decided to continue anyway, the rest of us decided we wanted to begin the decline...which was definitely a good idea! After harnessing ourselves into what you could essentially call butt-protecters, we pretty much slid down the mountain. I honestly think it was the most fun I've had in my entire life. Not to mention, I turned out to be pretty handy with the piolet, or ice pick, and managed to stop myself from sliding down the wrong side of the mountain. I would climb that volcano in a hearbeat just to slide down it again.

The funniest thing about Pucón, is that no one speaks Spanish. Ok, well not no one, but there are an awful lot of Europeans. I think I heard more German than English and more English than Spanish. The greatest thing about Pucón - at least in the winter - is that everyone is best friends. We saw our canopy guide in an internet café, then in our hostel, and in Cypress - the only place to go at night. And one of our mountain-climbing guides actually walked with us to Cypress that night after having dinner in our hostel. I even danced with the dueno of our hostel!

All in all, it was a relaxing yet adventurous journey. I'd like to go back during the summer, when I can feel my toes even when I'm not sitting in front of the fire.

Classes start this week, although apparently noone goes - including the professor. We'll see what happens.

More to come!