1 Mes

1 month down, 3 to go. It’s crazy how fast this exchange is passing in comparison with Belgium. I will finish the weekend of Thanksgiving – seems soon.

I’m feeling more and more settled in here, but there is still so much I need to explore –there’s a lot to do in Valparaiso. I’ve been rather timid about it, as it’s seen as the big dangerous city around here, but I’m gonna grab some amigos and get serious about seeing the museums and hills and trying some local drinks and dishes. I’m also feeling more comfortable about being out at night here. Chile has lower violent crime rates than the US, so if anything you will get robbed or pickpocketed. That doesn’t scare me nearly as much as rape and murder, so I’m feeling more confident in the streets. One thing that I can’t seem to settle with is the dog population; I’m not the only gringa having nightmares. There’s something psychologically unsettling to see domestic animals everywhere as free agents possibly in bad shape or willing to rip up your shopping bags instead of belonging to someone and being safe friends. There are safe dogs as well, but the majority are loose and unwanted. Plus the creepy howling at night. That’s the stuff of Hound of the Baskervilles.

Saturday Emily and I went on our first Arcadia-organized trip, to Santiago. It felt a little awkward to be the only two students in a mini van with a driver and tour guide, but we had fun. We saw the Cathedral, the National Museum, Plaza de Armas, Cerro St. Cristobal (with a huge statue of Mary overlooking the city), Cerro St. Lucia, and the Mercado Central.

I really enjoyed the Cathedral, naturally, and the museum was a snapshot of Chilean history- we needed a lot more reading time in there to understand much of anything. There have been a lot of successive governments here. This year, Sept. 11, will be 40 years since the coup. My family is expecting big protests in Valpo.

Both of the cerros were beautiful, and we got a good view of the enormous city. Unfortunately the clouds were out so we couldn’t see the nearby Andes, but the skyscrapers were pretty extensive.

In Mercado Central we had salmon with mashed potatoes (good Chilean food). The guide told us that all salmon here is farmed. Oh dear. For dessert we had Mote con Huesillo, which is a dried peach soaked in sugar water with cooked  wheat in a glass. A little hard to eat politely, but quite good. Afterwards we went to a famous bar, La Piojera, just to look around. It was worth it – think old west saloon with crowds of young people holding terramotos, (earthquakes) another typical mixed drink that comes in all sorts of pastel colors.

A few bits of wisdom I have gathered:

Here novio/a = Fiancé and pololo/a = boy or girlfriend. An important difference.

I have found that I like the infamous Pisco Sour cocktail served here (Pisco, which is basically vodka made out of grapes, plus lemon juice and egg whites) but it is much too strong to drink quickly. Good thing I had friends with me to taste it and finish it off.

I was explaining to my host mom that Spokane has the poorest school district in the state, and that there’s a lot of poverty in Spokane. She worriedly asked how the people live, if they had land or something to farm on, or what…and then I realized that we were thinking about two very different kinds of poverty. I meant that poverty = working at WalMart your entire life, getting food stamps, and maybe living in the streets, while she meant poverty=starving to death, living in the streets, and receiving not a scrap of help from the government. The definition of poverty in the US is not the same as in the rest of the world.

My mom in Alaska just finished up her SLP degree and has had a couple job offers. My Chilean mom thinks it is cool, like most people, but for her it is even extraordinary – older people cannot get jobs here. Companies know that they will have to pay pensions and a higher salary to older people with more experience, so they will hire young people instead. There are no laws to stop this, or anything like that. So basically older people can’t work again if they stop.

Right now I’m researching La Quintrala, one of the worst women in Chile’s history, as a possible topic for a history paper. Catalina de los Rios y Lisperguer was a landowner in Santiago during the 1600’s who probably killed around 40 different people during her lifetime, including her father and many slaves. She never was condemned thanks to an influential family, but she’s quite the legend around here. She may have repented after an apparition of the Cristo de Mayo, but it’s not clear how she actually thought and bad women are still called quintralas after her. There’s been a movie and even an opera based on her, and I guess she shows up in Chilean literature a lot. I may have to get my Spanish up to snuff just so I can read about her.