Viva Chile!

Note the stairs in the background

Can't get all the pictures where I want them--sorry!





Example of Valpo graffiti art




This past week has been my most enjoyable in Chile. Although I didn’t go more than 2 hours outside of Vina, we had a lot of adventures…

Wednesday:
The history prof, Rodrigo Moreno, took us to Valparaiso, a port city right next to Vina. The city has a rather tragic history—it was a bustling port in the 1800s, but a huge earthquake in 1906 virtually destroyed the city, and it is still feeling the aftershocks today. We met in Plaza Sotomayor in front of the impressive Armada and monument to Arturo Prat (a marine who died rather than surrender in la Guerra del Pacifico: Chile versus Peru and Bolivia). Rodrigo told us that the Plaza is basically the dividing line between the poor and wealthier side of Valpo…the difference is really felt.




Monumento de Arturo Prat




Armada




One of Valpo’s most noticeable characteristics is the variety of color. Many of the houses up in the “little Europe” district are painted in brilliant tones of blue, green, yellow, and even purple or pink. Rodrigo explained that since many marines from other countries were stationed in Valpo, the colors allowed them to tell from a distance which house was theirs so they could see their wives waving from the balconies.
Almost all the walls in Valparaiso are covered in murals or graffiti—some are really impressive and others are disturbing to say the least (picture maniacal rabbit men). It is truly an experience to walk through the city. When Jess, Alex, Lori, and I went to Valpo to get inspiration for our art papers, we left our own mark. All we had was a pen, but we drew stick figures labeled with our names and USA. Normally I would feel bad drawing on a wall, but it was already covered with graffiti, the pen will wash off when it rains, and it is part of experiencing Valpo in all its fallen glory. (see picture second from top)

Overall, I love studying the history of Chile while I’m here—I can see it all around me. The streets I walk every day are named after people from Chilean history, and as I learn, I’m able to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. For instance, I live on Agua Santa, which means Holy Water, and a shortcut I take home is called Von Schroeder, who was a doctor who promoted the therapeutic baths in Vina—connections!

After the tour, a group of 8 of the girls rode the bus home together…but got off on the wrong stop…a very wrong stop. Everyone knew but the first girl who got off, and we were not about to abandon her. Instead of getting back on a bus, because we had time to kill, we decided to try to walk home. It was a long way and at some points we had no idea where we were, but it was so much fun and quite the adventure. A one-eyed dog followed us the entire way from Valpo to Vina. We ended up cutting through some neighborhoods and started a “Twilight Bark” from 101 Dalmatians. Seriously EVERY SINGLE house we walked by had a dog, and each one of these dogs felt impelled to bark at us, and even throw itself against the fence. As soon as we would pass one, we’d see another. It was ridiculous…seriously went on for 10 minutes. At this point, we were really lost and Katie asked for directions—we ended up taking some stairs behind a neighborhood (stairs that Sarah said reminded her of the Great Wall of China) that led to a little playground and finally to Lori’s house. (see picture at top)

From there, we walked to Entremasas (literally, between dough) for empanadas. Entremasas has amazing empanadas, and almost too many combinations to pick between…including manjar queso (dulce de leche and cheese). We stopped at a chocolateria after for the most amazing chocolate/frambuesa (raspberry) cake I have ever eaten. At that point, the futbol game between Chile and Brazil was about to start, so we walked to Hollywood, a local bar, to watch it. Chile’s chances were not very good because Brazil is the #2 (and, depending on who you talk to, arguably the #1) team in the world. Moreover, it was played on Brazil’s field, and Chile had never scored a goal on Brazil’s field in a regulation game…ever. Not unsurprisingly, Chile ended up losing the game…but scored 2 goals, making Chilean futbol history. After each goal, the bar went absolutely wild— “Chi chi chi le le le, viva Chile!” I LOVE watching futbol here, and cannot wait to go to the Chile versus Ecuador game in Santiago in October.

Thursday:
Pamela and her son Benjamin were visiting from the South, but between her and my busy schedules, we’d hardly gotten a chance to spend any time together. Thursday became our family day. We went to Pica de Martin to eat mariscos (seafood…notably shellfish). Normally, I am not a fan of mariscos, but I do not care how much you think you hate shellfish, you would love this restaurant. I had a huge bowl of chupe, which is a marisco-queso dish—mine had camarones and loco (still have no idea what is it other than some type of shellfish). Basically, you’ve got your mariscos absolutely doused in this delectably cheesy sauce. Absolutely incredible.
After lunch, Pamela and I walked along San Martin near the beach and then stopped at Bravissimo for ice cream sundaes. The rest of the day we just hung out with family because Pamela left that night. It was a laid-back day and definitely something I needed since I’d been spending so much time outside the house.

Friday:
Seeing as how we were going on a day trip to Pomaire and leaving at 10 in the morning on Saturday, a lot of us wanted to stay in. So, we had a Girls’ (plus Alex) Movie Night at Andria’s. Before meeting up at her house, we walked to Jumbo to buy food. Jumbo is an experience all its own. It is like Fred Meyer on steroids…it is not the size of a store, but is more on par with an airport.

After being awed by Jumbo, we ate massive quantities of food (including the universally-craved frozen pizza—we are all beginning to realize how much we LOVE the US of A) watched 27 Dresses and part of the Little Mermaid (including sing-a-long numbers) at Andria’s. We made our own little oasis of North American culture in the midst of Chile to celebrate our 4th week here.

Saturday:
Day trip to Pomaire, which is a little town a couple hours away, known exclusively for its pottery and traditional Chilean meals. We all love Vina, but were definitely ready to leave the city for a day. The bus ride took longer than anticipated (which is normal in Chile)…but also because the bus drivers did not seem to know where we were going…at each of the toll booths they had to ask for directions. Gotta love Chile.
We got a chance to walk through streets full of venders selling pottery for almost nothing—I spend less than $3 on a Pomaire mug, teapot, and salsa bowl. And it’s quality stuff, too. Everyone was ready to outfit their apartments next semester with cookware until it occurred to us that it’d be impossible to get it all back to the States.
While most of the day was just wandering through the town, we did have a few planned activities. We were served the most massive meal I have ever had the privilege to eat. First course was empanadas and chica (fermented fruit drink served only around the time of Fiestas Patrias). Second course, the servers brought out 6 huge tubs o’carne called parilladas. Each pot had over a dozen pieces of meat in it—steak (bistec), pork, chicken, sausage (chorizo)…I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that much meat in one day. Jess, Andria, Alex, and I were working on one together…by the end of the meal, we figured Alex ate about 8 pieces of meat.

After lunch, we went to a pottery studio where we got to work with greda (clay). There was an instructor, but he was really grumpy and no one really listened to him, but went about making our own sculptures with the enthusiasm of kindergarteners. We even got to try out the potter’s wheel!

That night, almost everyone met up to eat at a restaurant close to the sea and then we checked out the casino. It was really expensive, so we pulled some strings and got free passes to the discoteque Goose. Always a good time when the whole group gets together.

Sunday:
Another relaxing day with family. Mama and I went to Miriam’s for lunch and then watched a movie with her and her girls. It was called Heroes, but it was the movie Push. Maria Fernanda insisted on putting on the English subtitles “just in case.” Afterwards, Mama and I walked back home (a fairly long way) and had once together…good host mother/daughter bonding time for sure.

Had to take a break for lunch. I think I ate a bowl of raw fish with onions, lemon juice, and cilantro. Plus a salad with some type of shellfish that was most definitely NOT hiding in a sea of queso. Just kept telling myself “Don’t look, don’t think, it’s just meat like any other.” It’s not bad if you don’t think about it.

Monday:
Seeing as how history was canceled on Monday due to a conference the prof had to attend, Jess and I decided to explore Reñaca. It was basically all my favorite things in one day.
Reñaca is part of Viña and is where all the best beaches are found. The weather is still a little chilly (spring begins the 21st) but we wanted to go just the same. After walking through the town a little, we came upon Don Homero’s, a grocery store where we bought a couple manjar cookies and two types of fruit we had been curious about but had yet to try—pepino (which also means cucumber) and chirimoya. We walked down to the beach to eat the fruit and watch the waves. The pepino tasted like cantaloupe and the chirimoya was really sweet but the outside was prickly and it was full of seeds. Conclusion: Good experience, but we prefer what the US has to offer.
Word was out that the lobos del mar (literally, wolves of the sea aka sea lions) were in Reñaca, so Jess and I went in search of them. They were all chilling on a giant rock a little ways offshore, but we could still see and hear them. Spent a while sitting on a wall eating our manjar cookies (give me chocolate chip any day) and watching the lobos. Most of them were just lazing around on the rock and every once in awhile would raise their heads and speak lobo to each other, but we did see a few flop onto the rock (which was quite an incline for them—a particularly fat one gave up and plopped back into the sea). At the end of our time with the lobos, we felt very connected to them and became excellent translators of the lobo language.
Didn’t take much thinking to decide to stay to watch the sunset. We bought some empanadas de choclo y queso (corn and cheese) and sat on the beach, thoroughly taking in the sunset (which was a little cloudy but still gorgeous) and the waves. We even saw some of our lobo friends swimming in the distance.
Jess noticed some people with Bravissimo cups, so of course we had to go in search of that. We’d both been wanting to try Baño de Chocolate (two flavors dipped in a chocolate bath), and decided that Reñaca was the occasion to do so. I believe this was the point when we decided that heaven must be a lot like Reñaca. In fact, we saw Jesus there—a statue on a rock offshore. A seagull landed on His head as we were looked on (but WWJD? He’d let the seagull be).
Even the bus ride back from Reñaca was cool—a guy jumped on at one stop with his drum and started performing, and he was pretty talented. With the playa (beach), lobos, empanadas, Bravissimo, sunset, and una muy amiga (very close friend), it deserves a place in the running for the Best Day Ever.

I wanted to get all of this down because tomorrow evening begins Fiestas Patrias, Chile’s patriotic festival. It commemorates the establishment of the first junta, but is not the actual independence day. The following weekend the group goes to Santiago, and then begins October, my whirlwind travel month (Buenos Aires, South to visit Pamela, futbol game in Santiago, Chiloe, and Mendoza). Basically, I am going to have a ton to write about but not much time to do it in. Will keep you updated as much as possible, but life is going to be even busier than usual—can’t wait! Time is going by so quickly, but honestly I don’t mind because I feel like I’m taking advantage of everything, have no regrets, and am thoroughly enjoying many new experiences! Of course I miss everyone, but know that I’ll see you in what feels like no time at all.

Chao, un besito!