The End?

I am home now. There wasn't much culture shock when I got to Chile so there has been minimal reverse culture shock. It's mostly little things, like the reflex to kiss people on the cheek when i say hello and goodbye and to throw toilet paper in the trash. I'm staying in touch with friends in Chile so hopefully I won't forget Spanish.

I had a fantastic semester and I was really sad to leave, but hopefully in the future I'll have the opportunity to return.

Me and my host family. From left: María, Nelson, Cote, Me, Ridicula, Francisco. Not pictured: Nelsito.

Thanks to everyone who has read this blog the entire semester. I hope it was entertaining and insightful. Or at least not boring. This is the end for now but who knows? I might have to have a few updates if I end up in Iceland or Portugal or the Dominican Republic in the future. Until then, chau! Besitos!

Impressions of Buenos Aires

I spent my last week abroad visiting my good friend Jenelle in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These are my impressions...

BsAs is called the “Paris of South America,” but reminds me of New York City. Of course, I haven’t been to Paris so I don’t really know. It’s much larger and more hectic than Santiago. It has something like 48 barrios, of which Jenelle and I only went to like 5. There are a lot of European immigrants, esp Italian, so the city is a lot more European than Santiago. There is a lot more of a café culture with people sitting outside and eating in plazas. The people are a lot more fair than the people in Chile so I didn't stand out as much.

However, the city is also much dirtier than Santiago. There are a lot of torn-up sidewalks and dog poop EVERYWHERE, which is weird because I saw fewer stray dogs.

The Argentines are a lot more fresh with women. I got a lot more piropos than I did in Chile.

Tango is fun but hard. Everyone is moving around the dance floor so much it can get dangerous, esp since all the women are in heels. While it is beautiful, I like salsa better. Tango is very elegant and austere, while salsa is more relaxed and warm. Having had many more salsa lessons than tango I may be a little biased.

Tango in the plaza

Me: Brr

Jenelle: Chilly?

Me: No, Argentina

Delicious food: pizza, pasta, alfajores, wine, steak, chocolate, ice cream :)

I didn’t realize how much of a Chilean accent I’d adopted until trying to speak to Argentineans. They use “vos” instead of “tu” (eww) and the “y” and “ll” are pronounced “zh.” Meanwhile, I’m dropping the “s” and keep talking about flaites and cuicos like they know what I’m talking about.

Porteños (residents of BsAs) have serious self-esteem issues. They are obsessed with being thin and many women are anorexic. It's kind of gross. In Jenelle's neighborhood there are a bunch of psychoanalysts and the nickname is Villa Freud.

Omg gauchooo!!!

We went to a gaucho fest! Unfortunately we only saw the gauchos on horseback ride by once, but it was still pretty cool. There was also a huuuuge feria where you could buy all kinds of leather. My favorite argentine was this old gaucho all dressed up and dancing a traditional dance while eating popcorn.

<3

Mate is the traditional drink of Argentina. It's a hot caffeine drink, kind of a really strong tea. It has very specific requirements. You drink it out of a cured gourd through a bombilla, a kind of strainer. It's very strong and bitter but I like it a lot. It's a shared drink so you pass it around to everyone. It's a very nice way to relax and get to know people.

Because the buses only take coins (monedas) there is a huge moneda shortage. Jenelle and her friends literally hoard them. If you don't have enough to take the bus you have to get change through what she calls the Moneda Game-- you go to a kiosk and buy little candies and try to get monedas back. Except sometimes they don't want to give you monedas and you have to go try somewhere else... it's a big hassle.

I'm actually back in the states now, and in a couple days when I have readjusted I will write one final post... thanks to all who are still reading this lol. Pictures of Buenos Aires here.

This is a video of the gauchos dancing at the gaucho fair. I didn't know how to make it regular, sorry.

CHI-CHI-CHI LE-LE-LE VIVA CHILEEEEE

I'll try not to make this sappy.

Today is my last day in Chile! Tomorrow I head to adventures in Buenos Aires. My goals for the week are:
1. Dance tango
2. Eat chocolate and steak
3. Drink mate
4. Go shopping
5. Not get dengue fever
6. Do all of the above with a gaucho

But Chile. Oh, Chile. This has been a fantastic semester and although my classes sucked and it's super cold right now I'm really glad I came. I didn't really know what to expect when I got here. I feel like not many people in the US know very much about Chile. It's certainly more developed than expected. Not that I thought it was really poor or anything, but I did not expect to be living walking distance from two giant malls. A number of people asked me how I saw Star Trek on opening weekend. It's simple: it opened here too. The country has issues for sure, every country does, but on the whole my experience has been very pleasant.

I must also say that things are much different in real life than in the classroom. I know this seems like an obvious statement, but a lot of times we forget. I took a class last semester on US-Latin American relations and, of course, we talked at length about the Pinochet period. In 1973 Gen. Augusto Pinochet overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende (with the help of the CIA) and instituted a military dictatorship that lasted until 1990. While his economic policies accelerated Chile into the developed country that it is today, he accomplished it with grotesque human rights abuses. Thousands of people were tortured, disappeared, or fled in exile. In the classroom we analyzed this history as another example of US Cold War foreign policy and discussed the political implications for the region, which is all well and good. It's a lot different when you can see the pain in the eyes of a Chilean remembering how his mother was afraid to vote the way she wanted for fear of being blacklisted (which was significantly worse than being blacklisted in the US).

Well that was a little heavy... but important. Now to preempt the questions every single person is going to ask me when I get back. And if anyone asks me I'm going to punch them in the face (just kidding... maybe).

"How was Chile?"
First of all, this question is ridiculous. There is no possible way to summarize my semester (or this country) in one simple phrase. Answer: Chile was great.

"What are you going to miss from Chile?"
Food: empanadas, cheap fruit and veggies, chirimoya alegre, pisco sour, great wine, pastel de choclo, Ramitas, Coca Light (better than Diet Coke!), papas fritas
Cheap Metro with pretty stations
Juan Pablo, my environment profe
Tuesday night salsa and merengue class
the informal economy/ferias
Staying out until 6am
the mountains
Excellent transnational bus system
And, of course, my wonderful host family and the friends I made, both Chilean and American

"What did you miss the most from the US?"
Food: PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY, normal cake, Mexican/Indian food, macaroni and cheese, things without mayonnaise or avocado
Normal clothes and hair (aka NO MULLETS) (oh wait I'm going back to the south)
Clean air
Central heating/cooling
Metro open until reasonable hours
Animal shelters
And, of course, my wonderful family and friends, most of whom I won't actually see for a while

"What have you learned/accomplished this semester?"
I am capable of, and in fact prefer, travelling by myself
Spanish
Also how to get by without speaking the language (aka point repeatedly or just smile and nod)
You don't have to go to every class to get an A
I accidentally named my host sister's new puppy (they went with Ridicula)
Salsa, merengue, cha cha, cueca, and hopefully tango
I understand why people like soccer
I am perfectly happy living in a foreign country and am willing to do it again

"What was your favorite place you went to?"
While Easter Island was pretty sweet, I have to go with the raw beauty of Patagonia and Torres del Paine.

One final story that I think perfectly sums up my life in Chile. Today I got the student discount pass for the metro that I applied for in the beginning of March. When I went to put money on it the cashier asked me something that I didn't understand so I said yes. A man got on the train carrying a car bumper. For dinner we had pizza and every single family member took one bite, said "it needs more salt," and dumped a ton of salt on it.

Viva Chile!

Adventures On (and with) Rapa Nui

Rapa Nui being the name for Easter Island, the people who live there, and the language they speak.

The Rapa Nui came to the island from Polynesia at some unknown date. Due to the usual disastrous combination of Europeans, disease, and the propensity for slavery most of them died and so little is known about their past. They are most famous, obviously, for the moai.

The moai represent clan chiefs who are buried underneath the platform. They were carved in a single quarry from volcanic rock and rolled to sites all over the island. Over 900 were made, although only 400 were erected (and only 3 were women--booo). They weigh, on average, 20-25 tons, with the biggest weighing it at over 80.

The thing on their heads is hair, not a hat, although I must say the Rapa Nui had odd hairstyles

However, the good moai times would not last. In a classic case of overpopulation, the Rapa Nui multiplied from a few explorers to 20,000 and quickly used up their natural resources. The island is devoid of its native vegetation, with only a small number of exotic species dotting the landscape. This led to a prolonged civil war between the clans in which all the moai were toppled. Most of them remain that way. So let that be a lesson to all of us....

During the war the king's clan was annihilated and the islanders needed a new way to choose a king. This is how I imagine the conversation went:
Drunk Rapa Nui #1: "Heyyyy, you know what? Why don't we have each clan send some guys over to that cliff, have them climb down, swim across the shark-infested waters and find a bird egg, then come all the way back! Whoever gets there first wins!"
Drunk Rapa Nui #2: "That's the best idea I've ever heard!"

That island

Along came the white man and the Rapa Nui were no longer isolated (or alive, most of them). Nowadays there are only 5,000 inhabitants concentrated in a single town, Hanga Roa. The men are super sketch. I guess they're used to getting a lot of action from the tourists so they were really aggressive. Latinos are nothing compared to these guys-- they just whistle, the Rapa Nui actually whooped at us. Men.

Hanga Roa

Only a few moai sites have been restored because it's expensive and also part of the heritage. Only about 35 have been re-erected, and of these, only a handful have the eyes intact.

The trip went well, although after traveling solo all semester being stuck in a group of 21 all the time was chafing. I was amused at the northeast city kids who flipped out every time we saw a horse/cow/chicken. It was also disappointly chilly for a tropical island. Everyone packed warm weather clothes but we ended up in jackets the whole time. It rained the first day there :(

Rainy day at the beach

The last night we went to a traditonal Rapa Nui dance show. It was super touristy but fun. They pulled a bunch of people from our group on stage to dance (not me, thankfully). For those of you with facebook there's a great video of it. The dancers were pretty hot (both sexes) but we posed for pics with them afterwards and, once again, the guys were really sketch. Oh well.

I also went snorkeling with a few friends. We went to that island where they had to get the bird egg (the sharks are all gone by now--sad) and saw a good number of fish. It was pretty exciting. Along with us were a couple men who had participated in the Easter Island annual triathlon that morning and were then scuba diving. I have no idea how they did it--they came in 2nd and 3rd places.

That's about it. Oh, and the plane was sweet. Even though EI is a part of Chile it was considered an international flight and we got really good food and tons of movies to pick from. Yayy Lan. More photos here.

My upcoming schedule:
June 12-go to Buenos Aires to see Jenelle
June 19-fly back to Santiago, fly a few hours later (I'm a rip-the-bandaid person)
June 20-arrive in Atlanta and connect to Memphis!!