Rain is a Good Thing

Hola, mis amigos! Since we last caught up, some major improvements have been made! The first major development is in my diet, after I had a huge grocery shopping haul at Jumbo and found everything I needed to eat and more, including several delicious types of hummus that could give Sabra a run for its money. Also, I know I complained in my last entry about eating an overload of empanadas, but I want to take it all back. I love empanadas. Mainly because I found a place very near to where I live that sells healthy empanadas, made with integral, or whole wheat, dough and filled with delicious veggies and different savory types of cheeses not found in your normal, greasy empanaditas de queso. The other major change is in my allergies, since a storm helped to clear out the smog and improve the air quality in Santiago. Here, it seems to me that rain is a good thing. Not only did the rains decrease my sensitivity to the smog, the clearing of the air was also visible and allowed for some amazing views of the mountains. It was the first time that I was able to see the snow at the peaks of the Andes!

The view from Cerro Santa Lucía after a night of rain

I feel kind of bad that I am so happy about my personal benefits from the rain, because the same storm caused a lot of flooding and damage in the north of Chile. However, it was incredible to see FEN come together to collect donations of food, water, etc. to send to the north for its rescue and reconstruction operations.

I’ve also explored Santiago quite a bit more since we left off, and I’ve had the opportunity to see a little more of the country as well. In Santiago, I explored a few art exhibits and parks. In my own neighborhood, the GAM is a cultural center that offers performances and exhibits. One Wednesday between meetings at FEN, I decided to check it out by visiting a free art exhibit, Tuku Iho, which featured māori art from tribal New Zealand and was extremely interesting to see. While at the GAM, I explored one of the permanent features on Latin American art and culture and watched a video of traditions from the Chilean countryside. This was my first glimpse of the cueca, Chile’s national dance, which is a courtship dance imitating a rooster courting a hen. The following weekend at the wine festival, I was able to see a little of this in person, but I hope to experience more of it during Independence Day celebrations in September. A couple weekends ago, I also visited the Infinite Obsession exhibit of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s works at CORPARTES in Las Condes.

Infinite Obsession - room of mirrors

I was so happy when the final room of the exhibit was interactive. Polka dots

Contributing to art

are prominent in the artist’s work, and the final room was white and decorated with thousands of colorful polka dot stickers, and each visitor was given stickers to add to the décor. While in Las Condes, I went across the street to Parque Araucano, where I went inside a giant bird cage and found myself face-to-face with a peacock. I can honestly say that this was an experience I never imagined having in Santiago and that Chilean parks are apparently really cool. Another takeaway here is that Santiago is an extremely international city. There are so many times when I’m in Santiago, including when I’m enjoying art from New Zealand or Japan, that it is possible to forget I’m even in Chile. I don’t mean that in a good or bad way, but I do think that the international influences on Santiago are incredible, since I am drawn to all that is international anyway.

When I mentioned earlier having meetings at FEN, these were a meeting with a professor and a FEN buddy potluck. My Economía, Humanismo, y Valores professor met with his international students over coffee to see how we are settling in. This professor is extremely helpful—not just to us international students, but in general. For example, his other class is Political Economy, taught in English, and every Wednesday, he holds a session in Spanish for any Chilean students who did not understand the class in English. My class is taught in Spanish, but most of the readings are in English, and as an international student I am allowed to participate in class and turn in papers in English. This is really the best of both worlds, aside from being an extremely interesting class, as I get to challenge myself while learning the material and listening in class, but when it is time to prove myself, the stress of a foreign language is taken away. The other meeting, the FEN buddy potluck was also a great experience as I got to taste foods from other cultures (sopaipillas from Chile, thumbs up), meet my own FEN buddy, and hang out with a good mix of Chileans and internationals.

The cohort has spent a lot of time together recently, between a rooftop asado (BBQ) to celebrate one American’s 21^st birthday and our recent cohort trip to Colchagua wine valley. The cohort trip consisted of lots of beautiful views, a wine festival where I tried some delicious Chilean food (humitas, also thumbs up), and visits and tastings at two vineyards. For me, the obvious highlight of the weekend was riding next to the driver at the front of a horse-drawn wagon through a vineyard and taking in breathtaking views while simultaneously trying to focus on the commands for the horses (in Spanish?), as the rest of the group sat in the back of the wagon and learned about the vineyard itself.

Vineyard view

Proof that I was allowed to ride up front!

Since this is a long holiday weekend, I decided I must take one day to go to the beach. Yesterday, I visited Valparaíso to play tourist and returned to Viña del Mar via the Valparaíso metro to relax on the beach and repeatedly run in and out of the chilly waves.

Touring Valpo requires a good pair of sneakers and some pre-workout stretches, because the best views are on top of really high hills and require some hiking and a few hundred stairs. This is only a little bit of an exaggeration. Sure, you can just go up one set of stairs and have one solid view, but it is recommendable to climb up as many different ways as possible to have different views. Of course, there are funiculars, and though I did not take advantage of them yesterday, today I wish I had. Especially worth the climb is La Sebastiana, one of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s houses that has been turned into a museum. From the third and fourth floors of the house, the view is unmatched. Unfortunately it isn't allowed to take photos in the museum, so I’m forced to recommend that if you are ever in Chile, you should really go there and see it for yourself!

At least the steps in Valparaíso are cute!

Before I wrap up this post, I just want to write down a few random observations from my life in Chile so far.

#1) Everything is in a bag. Shampoo, conditioner, soap, ketchup, mayonnaise, yogurt, you name it. If it is possible to be bagged, you can bet that there is at least one option to buy it in a bag.

#2) You can buy pretty much anything on the street. The informal economy here seems to me to be quite large. It is common for me to see prepared foods, produce, candy, toys, SIM cards, electronics, jewelry, hand crafts, toilet paper, socks, and everything in between sold on the streets of Santiago. These past few days, I have seen a new most popular street sale item: Easter chocolates. Don’t worry, Mom, I bought my chocolate bunny from the grocery store, not from the street. But really, this informal economy interests me, and I plan to make an effort to learn more about it.

#3) Enrique Iglesias’ new music is quite popular here. I’m not even entirely sure why I consider this to be an interesting observation, but I guess I expected to come to Chile and hear a lot of Chilean music. There is plenty, sure, and I really enjoy Chilean reggae, but for some reason it stands out to me that you can’t go more than a few minutes listening to Chilean hit radio without hearing Spanish artist Enrique Iglesias’ newest few songs. It is really catchy, though! Listen to canciones “Bailando” and “El Perdón” for some good examples.

Those of you sticking with these posts, gracias! Nos vemos!