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!

Don't trust the guidebook.

I just got back from our first solo trip of the year. It was a success! Very relaxing after pretty intense first few days.

So...first we took a bus up to La Serena, a little beach town in the north of Chile. The bus itself was pretty entertaining. It was a double-decker and we had the front row on the top so we could see out. Of course it was nighttime so that didn't help too much. Actually it was kind of like being in a video game. Every time we turned, I was sure we were going to hit a sign. Or go off a cliff. But fortunately there were curtains so we slept peacefully. The most entertaining bit was the bathroom really. My friend Leigh went back to use it and came back saying she couldn't get the door open. We thought maybe someone was in there so we decided to wait awhile. An hour later we both needed to use it so we decided to go back and figure it out. The door would not open. We pulled and pulled, but didn't want to break it or something. Not to mention everyone was sleeping and we didn't want to disturb anyone. We stood back there for a few minutes, I guess just hoping the door would open itself when, finally, this sleepy man sitting next to us reached over and yanked the door open in one easy pull. Oops. Apparently we just hadn't been trying hard enough. And...I don't know if you've ever tried using the bathroom on a moving bus, but let's just say it's a heck of a lot harder than using one on a plane or a train...

We got to La Serena around 7 am and went straight to the hostel (after nearly witnessing a fistfight in the bus station). The dueño of the hostel was nice enough to have a room all ready for us to sleep in for a few hours. We'd found the hostel in our LonelyPlanet guide book which said it had the best breakfasts around. I guess if you consider cold bread and butter and instant coffee the best breakfast then they were right, but I'm gonna say we could've found better. That being said, we did get breakfast (although we didn't get the jar of homemade jam that the guidebook promised either). And a cold shower, especially the second day when the 9 Spanish girls showed up that all decided to shower right as we were about to do the same (there were only 3 bathrooms).

According to the guidebook, there was easy access to the beach, so we decided to walk. After going through a supermarket, a park, and past a circus tent where they were hosting "Russia on Ice" we decided it had to be close. 20 minutes later, our hunger had gotten the best of us so we took a taxi back into town. LonelyPlanet told us we could eat a cheap set lunch with the bomberos at the fire station, which sounded like great fun. Unfortunately, we didn't see anywhere to eat much less an entrance to the fire station so we had to settle for the empty restaurant next door. Afterward, we took a taxi back to the beach, only to realize we'd been about five minutes away when we'd turned around the first time.

The next day we took a bus to Vicuña, a little pueblo in the middle of the Elqui Valley and the birthplace of Chilean escritoraGabriela Mistral. While the bus cost twice as much as LonelyPlanet told us, it was still pretty cheap and the paisaje was BEAUTIFUL! We were tired and wanted to sleep, but every turn was a new, beautiful view and we didn't want to miss one second. Vicuña was nice, although not super lively. I think we saw about 3 jovenes during our entire time there. We ran into the same group of Asian men 4 times and saw the same couple at lunch and dinner (there are really only 2 restaurants and they have pretty much the same menu). Once again our guidebook led us astray describing a hopping bar full of 80's music that we decided to try out that night. Not only was the bar less than hopping, but it had a different name, played Chilean music, and was mainly a 40+ crowd. And when some random Chileno started trying to convince the Asian men to ask us to dance we decided it was time to leave.

The next day we enjoyed another beautiful paisaje to Pisco Elqui, home of the Destileria Mistral, probably the best pisco that Chile makes. Everyone commented that it was almost unfair how beautiful this country is. Especially after spending a few weeks in Santiago, which is by no means ugly, but a city none-the-less. The strangest thing was that the bus didn't seem to have stops, but rather stopped wherever anyone needed to get off and also stopped to pick up random people on the road. I guess it's the only means of transport for many so they have to be pretty flexible. We enjoyed walking around the town and even made a new friend on the distilery tour. He was a Harvard student who'd spent the last semester in Chile and was enjoying his last few days before returning to the states. As we were beginning to not trust our book, we asked for his commentary on all the Santiago suggestions so that we knew which ones were actually worthwhile. To finish off the trip, our return bus got pushed for about a block before the driver could get it to start. Oh, Chile...

The highlight of the trip was going to Cerro Mamalluca, an astronomy observatory about 10 minutes from Vicuña. We did an Andean Cosmovision tour, which was very interesting (from what we could understand - an astronomy lecture is not the easiest thing to hear in a different language). After a brief lecture and an introduction to the computer program Stellarium (which, like the nerd I am, I plan to download and play with), we got to go outside and look through the telescopes. Our fingers nearly fell off because it was so cold, but it was also one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. I felt so small and yet so filled with wonder at the same time. Ive never seen so many stars at once. Not to mention, you could see the Milky Way as well as two other galaxies (Magallanes) that are only visible in the Southern Hemisphere. It was a night of wishes as well - I saw about 5 shooting stars AND a meteor.

We spent our last day in Coquimbo which actually ended up being our favorite town. It's more of a port but had a lot of character and a lot of life. We stayed in a hostel that used to be the house of the French consulate members. It was beautiful, although run-down and very backpacker-y. Highlights included talking to a sweet young Chilena in the supermarket with her baby sister (or daughter, we weren't sure which because she was about 15). She couldn't stop staring at us and our "ojos preciosos." To top off the hilarity of our adventures, we almost accidentally went into a cafe con piernas but were stopped outside when a woman told us it was only for hombres. I guess the curtains and burlesque music should have tipped us off, but we were all really in need of a mocha.

We've got a few hours at home before an orientation at the Universidad de Chile and then tonight we're off on the next half of our adventure. Hopefully, the guidebook will be a little bit more spot-on regarding Pucón.

A few things you should know...

A few things you should know before...

Living with a Chilean family:
1. DON'T come downstairs without socks. It is cold. And even if you don't think it's cold, they will make you put on socks.
2. DON'T come downstairs with your hair wet. You will not be let out of the house. Because it is cold.
3. DO make sure they understand from the beginning if you don't eat a lot. Otherwise, they will give you twice as much food as anyone else and expect you to eat it all.

Riding the public transport:
1. DON'T be blonde.
2. DON'T speak English even with your English-speaking friends.
3. DO sit down quickly on the micro (bus) because the driver is not going to wait for you and you'll be on the floor two seconds after swiping your bip! card.
4. DON'T forget that there are certain hours when the green-light metro only stops at the green-light stops. You will have to go about 5 stops past your destination to get on a red-light metro.

Going to a Chilean house party:
1. DO make it clear that you want to practice your Spanish. Otherwise, someone is going to try to practice their English on you and chances are you'll have a much more successful conversation with your Spanish skills than with their English skills.
2. DO bring your own glass. Otherwise you will be drinking coke light out of a mug.
3. DO bring your own chair. Otherwise you will be sitting on the floor.
4. DO attempt to export some fun American words like "party foul." While Chileans have many fun chileanismos that you will never understand, there are a few choice phrases that their vocabulary is seriously lacking.

Talking with a Chilean:
1. DON'T ask how they feel about Pinochet. Chileans are widely divided on the issue and chances are they will ask your opinion and chances are you will not agree with theirs.
2. DON'T say you're in love with the movie Machuca. Even if, like me, you are. If they like Pinochet, they won't like you anymore.
3. DON'T say you think Bachelet is an awesome president. Even if, like me, you think she is. If they like Pinochet, they probably won't like you anymore.
4. DO show off your knowledge of chileanismos. They will be very entertained by your attempt be cool, and laugh when you accidentally tell them you have a really nice polera (t-shirt) at home instead of a really nice polola (girlfriend).

Un Día Largo

Well, today is the first day I've felt truly frustrated being here in Chile.

#1: Cédula de Identidad
So, this is what every Chilean has to identify them. Great. Isn't that what a passport is for? Also, I'm not Chilean. But still, I have to get one. You know...this all started back in the states when they told me I had to go to Chicago to get my visa. "Can't they just mail it?" "No, they need to see you in person. And they need your fingerprints." (Which we also had to send in for the visa application in the first place). So in Chicago they give me two papers along with my visa: "Take these with you when you enter the country." Upon arriving, they take the two (identical) papers, stamp them, and keep them. They then check your visa, stamp your passport, and let you in: "Take your passport and this receipt to the police station." Three days later, you have to register with the local police. What do they need? A photocopy of each page of your passport (picture, stamp, visa). What do you get? Another paper: "Take this to the central registry to get your cédula." Ok, really? What good is a cédula going to do me for 6 months? So, this morning, I went to the registry. This was the worst, cause you have to take a number. I had #79 and they were on 42. My madre and I went and got a cup of coffee down the street. 20 minutes later, they're on #48. Great. And what do they need this time? Photocopies of your passport pages (visa, picture, stamp), a photocopy of your police registry PLUS the actual police registry paper. And fingerprints. Chile has 4 sets of my fingerprints floating around somewhere between Santiago and Chicago. The best part is, I left the registry with...another paper! I come back on the 23rd to get my cédula.

2. Es muy tarde para hacer planes de vacaciones...
It's winter. We have 10 days to travel. There's nowhere to go. Peru: too much money, too little time. Argentina: la porcina. Bolivia: the embassy in Santiago doesn't have any visas available. I didn't know you could run out of Visas. We'd have to take a bus about 20 hours north to the nearest available city to solicitar a visa. And, it's not a city. It's a pueblito. So, I spent my afternoon going from place to place asking about tickets and tours. There is ONE student travel agency in Santiago. And the only thing they can help with is flights. And only outside of Chile. Well that's great since we can't leave the country. Every single place I went said: "You have picked the worst time to travel. You should have planned this months ago." Uh, thanks, I would have had I not found out the dates of my vacation days a week ago. LANChile is about the only place that goes anywhere in Chile. They have awesome promotions - except none of them actually exist. We're thinking of doing one trip to Northern Chile, which should work out well, and one down south to Pucón, which is supposed to be much nicer in the summer, but our options are limited. Of course, I'm looking into buses to Pucón and they don't run on Saturdays or Sundays. As we start classes on Monday, that could make things a little difficult. And, of course, the only time they have flights is in the summer. Why didn't anyone tell us this before we decided to do fall semester in Chile??

#3: Futbol y pirópos
Somehow, wearing team colors and hanging out with a bunch of drunk friends seems to make Chilean boys abnormally obnoxious. Today's the national final for Chilean soccer and the streets are going crazy. I was on the metro going home from school at 3pm, and a group of about 5 boys decked out in jerseys decided to whistle and catcall at me until the next stop. Of course, this group grew to about 20 by the time I got to my stop. They added a little singing to mix up the routine. I really wanted to beat some people over the head, but of course I'm a small white girl. So I just looked out the window. Not to mention some random stranger saw me come out of my house today, then proceded to ask me if I lived there and if I could do him a favor. I told him I had to go, but he could ring the bell. He could have been completely well-intentioned, but after the day I had I wasn't taking any chances. Now I'm sitting in my room contemplating all the malintentioned reasons he could have had for asking if this was really my house. And those thoughts make me never want to look out the window, much less leave the safety of my front gate.

On the positive side...
1. I managed to completely understand the hispanohablante in the Bolivia office -over the phone!- who told me there were no visas available.
2. I took a new bus route all by myself.
3. I had very sofisticated conversations in Spanish with all of the unhelpful travel agents and the woman at the registry.

Every cloud has a silver lining. While my clouds are pouring down unwanted pirópos and rain throughout Chile, I can now wish them away in a different language.

Paranoia

The whole world is in paranoia (spanish: paranoia). La porcina (swine flu) is infecting left and right. The funny thing is, I haven't given it a second thought. It's funny that the U.S.A. declared it a pandemic (epidemic? I don't know the difference), but I hardly heard more than a word about it when I was back in the State. Since coming to Chile, it's all I've heard about. Mi hermana is a doctor and she's had to work nights and weekend because there are so many people in the hospitals, thinking they have the porci. She's been treating more than a hundred patients a day. Not to mention Buenos Aires is freaking out and shutting everything down. Doesn't help that their government decided to hide the real numbers of infected people to protect their elections. Oh, Argentina...

Speaking of Argentina, the Chileans have an interesting perspective on them. Basically, they say: "The Argentineans are really fun. Everyone loves them. Unfortunately, they can't do anything right. Except party." Our profesora even told us that some people think they should have had a Pinochet, or a second dictatorship. Tough love.

The Pinochet issue is a touchy one here. What I can generally gather is that the cuicas (rich, upperclass folks) hesitate to bash him because he's the reason for a lot of their money. And a lot of people give him credit for the economy being so stable. Mi madre, who by the way is not the least bit cuica, said the military economy that he ran was actually really good for Chile, especially since the governments that followed his regime were able to keep it up. Nevertheless, the concentration of wealth in Chile is in a very small portion of the population. While the poverty level is relatively low (less than 7%), the lower-middle and lower class make up well over half the population. I guess that's pretty normal on a global scale, but there's definitely a feeling of tension between the different classes. Mi hermano has a cuica girlfriend and she moved out of her house because her parents didn't like him, which made spending time together really uncomfortable.

On a more personal note...I'm in class. And it's summer. No fun. We don't even get the winter break that the Chilean students get. The professor is good, but it's exhausting to sit through 3.5 hour of Spanish grammar every morning.

Also, RIP Michael Jackson. I went to a karaoke bar last night with my amigas and we sang "ABC" to raucous applause from the audience. Of course, that was after we attempted a horendous version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." It was the wrong version. 'Nough said.

We also spent the morning walking around the city with our Chilean tour guide, Lute. We saw the zoo which was actually rather fun and climbed up to the Virgin that overlooks the city. Beautiful view, despite the fog.

Well, that's it for now. I'm gonna go back to watching my Spanish-dubbed TV stations.

?Cachai?

?Cachai? Yes, that's probably the most commonly used phrase I've heard in Chile since my arrival.

You know, the hispanohablantes always make fun of us Americans for making up our own Spanish words and speaking Spanglish, but I think they're just as much at fault. ?Cachai? Meaning: "Do you get it?." It comes from the verb cachar, meaning "to catch on." catch -> cachar -> ?cachai?

Now do you cachai?

I think my favorite bit of Spanglish here is gallo. It's the chilean substitue for tipo which means "guy." And how do you pronounce gallo? "Guy-o." Sounds pretty Spanglish to me.

I've been in Chile for a week, as of 7:30 AM today. So far, it's been like a dream. Not that things haven't been difficult or strange, but if you're open enough to just let things happen, it's amazing what comes out of it.

I live in a small casa with a madre, padre, and hermana. They are wonderful! Mi madre, Ita, runs the house and she is there for everything I need. Upon arriving, she said I was her muñequita, meaning "little doll" and said I look like a Barbie. I'm assuming she got that from the blond hair because other than that I think I look about as much like a Barbie as I do like a Ken. Ita is hilarious, constantly telling stories of past gringos and their crazy lifestyles. I am also lucky enough to be following in the footsteps of Jeremy, el angelito de dios, who himself said that I would be a nice rest for my padres after his terremoto. So as long as I'm not knocking the house down, I think we'll all get along.

Mi padre plays the guitar beautifully and is in a group that performs música foclorica chilena. He has the sweetest, smoothest voice and I'm hoping he'll teach me some songs. He's started teaching me more guitar, starting with the Chilean names for all the chords (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si, instead of c-d-e-f-g-a-b). If we can get past the problem of my tiny hands, I might actually learn quite a bit. Besides that, he is the most cariñoso man who really loves his kids (myself included) and grandkids.

Sole, or Ule, mi hermana, is a doctor at the same school where I take classes and she is wonderful. Plays guitar and sings Alanis Morisette like nobody's business, although I'm not sure she understands all the lyrics... She is 28 and will keep living en casa until she gets married or decides she wants to live sola. And it's nice to have a doctor in the house, especially two nights ago when I almost passed out after falling down the stairs. Yeah, I know. Stupid. But that's what happens when it's soo cold you have to wear three pairs of socks on wood floors...

?Qué más?

The jovenes here are very interesting. They see a gringa and think singing "Happy Birthday" in English will get you to notice them. They call the catcalls pirópos, which actually means compliments. I'm not sure that getting whistled and kissed at in the calle is much of a compliment, but there's a cultural difference I guess. I've taken to putting my hood up, especially at night, when I walk down the street because my blonde hair is pretty much the equivalent of walking around with a neon sign flashing "gringa."

Beyond that, the strangest thing is all the young couples making out in public. Certain parts of society are pretty conservative here, like your pololo (boyfriend) generally stays in the main parts of the house with everyone else and such touching is not appropriate. So...I guess since the pololos have no alone time in the house, they take it out to the calle.

Bueno...that's enough for one day. Time to go eat. Ita will probably give me an entire plate of patatas fritas and then ask me if I didn't like them cause I only ate half...