Patagonia and Despedida

I know I know, it's been now multiple weeks since my last entry, but with good reason. I was down south at the Strait of Magellan and its surrounding areas for the last two weeks, followed by my two final days and Chile, and then a hop over to Buenos Aires to meet my family. I have had such a great, relaxing time recently and things have just been getting better now that my family and I have reunited.

So my journey began way back on Saturday December 6th. That day I had had to say goodbye to my host mother Lucrecia since she was traveling to Switzerland to visit her daughter and new born grandson for 3 months. That was very sad to have to say goodbye so early, but I have her email address of course as well as her Skype account so we can easily keep in touch. Anyways, my program buddy Finn and I had bought our tickets the month or so before to Punta Arenas, which is the largest city in the southern tip of Chile that you can fly to essentially and access the surrounding areas. Before we got on the plane, Finn's host family had organized an asado (giant tasty BBQ) to fill us up nicely before heading into the wilderness. We left from the lunch directly to airport, where I had to say my goodbyes to another program buddy, Dan, since he was going to be out of town (Santiago) when I got back because his family was coming down to visit and tour Chile for the holidays. I will see him back in the states for sure since he is from San Francisco.

That afternoon, we got on a 3 hour plane ride to Punta Arenas, where we stayed the night in a hostel with the plan of touring the town and picking up supplies over the course of two days before taking a bus to the city of Puerto Natales, the 'base-camp' town to the National Park of Torres del Paine. Strangely, we were able to pick-up our food for camping, last minute supplies, and tour the entire city in less than one day, so we decided to change our bus tickets to that afternoon rather than stay another night in Punta Arenas and leave the next morning. In terms of exploring the town, we visited a museum on the history of the region that was conveniently located across the street from where we were staying, walked through town and visited the central Plaza with a giant statue of Ferdinand Magellan, and visited the Strait of Magellan.

After a 3 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales, we took refuge in one of the three hostels all under the same name of "Erratic Rock." This hostel is a well run ship, with a great system and awesome owners. They are two friends from Oregon who decided to move to Puetro Natales and open their own hostel after visiting the national park, and now they are part of a co'op under the same name which has 3 hostels in Puerto Natales and one in Punta Arenas, all with the same system and feel. One in particular in Puerto Natales is a multi-function hostel, rental equipment provider, and information source for any questions about the park and the surrounding area. Each day at 3 p.m. they have an info-session for all backpackers. So we stopped by the hostel to talk to the owners about our plan to do the "W" trail in the park and how to arrange for bus to take us to the park. The next morning we left at 7 a.m.

Each leg of our journey is marked in a different color, with START and END labeled.

The bus ride to the National Park of Torres del Paine is about 2 and half hours with multiple stops depending on where you want to be dropped off. Normally foreigners have to pay $30 to enter the park, but since my buddy and I had Chilean identity cards, we only had to pay 8 dollars. Too bad the $22 dollars we saved went directly to buying tickets to ride a boat across Lake Pehoe(yellow line). The boat dropped us off at the base of the left side of the "W" trail and upon arrival we embarked on our hike up to "Glacier Grey." (light blue line)

The entire trail is 70 km, so our hikes from campsite to campsite were anywhere between 12-22 km. The initial hikes up to Glacier Gray was rough since we had all of our food, meaning backpacks were their heaviest, and our hiking legs we not yet up to speed. We decided to walk about an hour past the "Refugio Grey," which is a pay-campsite with a view of the glacier from a distance, to go to a free CONAF campsite (Chilean National Forestry Association), "Las Guardas" which had a view overlooking the glacier from above.

After a night at "Las Guardas," we packed up our gear and headed to the middle section of the "W," to a campsite called "Italiano" (green line). Along the way we managed to run into a couple of friends from our Education Aboard Program since the trails are essentially fixed meaning your bound to run into people. At times, it becomes a big of a nuisance because there are so many people visiting the park (200,000 a year) with the park only open less than 6 months, so we saw a lot of people: many Germans, Brits, Americans, Israelis, French, and few Chileans. Once we arrived at camp Italiano, we setup our tent in the crowded campsite, only afterward discovering that there was a much better location right next to the river that flows by and with no views of other campers. So we moved our gear to this prime location and realized there was no rush to leave the next day, so we hung around for 3 days. You can drink water straight out of the rivers since it's all glacier melt, some of the best water in the world. It was definitely the best campsite we stayed at (below).

The next day we took a day hike up to a lookout of "Los Cuernos" mountains about 2 hours up "Valle Frances," which represents the middle part of the "W" (pink line) After lunch at the lookout with many of campers, we decided to follow a not-so-often-walked trail up to higher elevation for a better view of the valley and to get away from the other campers. We walked through snow which was fun and the view was spectacular.

The rest of the time at Camp Italiano, Finn and I just hung out, read, and explored the nearby parts. Now 1t day 6 into our trip, we hiked out to the right side of the "W" to see the famous Torres del Paine that the park is named after (dark blue line). They are three rock towers that have glaciers melting just below them, forming dozens of waterfalls that in turn form a aquamarine lake that feeds into a river down the valley. It was essentially observing the entire water cycle in one view.

We had camped less than 45 minutes below the Torres at another free campsite(Campamiento Torres), spent 2 nights there, and on the third day left down the right side of the "W" to leave the park (orange line). The "W" takes most people only 3-4 days to complete, but we decided to take our time since we had enough to food to stay longer and we wanted to enjoy our time in the park. The experience was incredible, breathtaking, probably some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life. We would have stayed longer had we brought more food, but there was just not enough space. So we left to park back to Puerto Natales.

We headed back to Erratic Rock to talk with the Oregon owners about another place nearby that we could camp since we had about 4 days until our flight back to Santiago from Punta Arenas. They recommended a Lake called Laguna Sofia, which is essentially a lake with the land surrounding it divided in half since it is owned by Cow ranchers. However, we were told it would not be a problem camping on private property and we would not see anybody while we were there, which seemed very appealing. So we got on the same bus that took us to the National Park, but told the driver to drop us off at an entrance to a private road about a half hour into the drive, where we would walk 7 km to the base of the lake, and then about another 5 km to the other side of the lake to camp.

During our walk, a 80's Mercedes drives up behind us and offers us a ride to the Lake. It turns out to be one of the two owners of the land, an Italian immigrant, who had no problem with us camping there and was very friendly. After being dropped off at the base of the lake, we walked to the other side and found a small bay with a bit of grass perfect for camping. We would stay there for two nights and leave on the third day.

The water of the lake was not too cold, so I decided to go for a swim.

On the walk back, we did not have any run-ins with any cars, so we had to walk to the entire trail back to the highway, where they we hitch-hiked with a truck driver back to Puerto Natales. We spent the afternoon to take a shower and have lunch in Puerto Natales, and then took an early evening bus to Punta Arenas. Once we got to Punta Arenas, we took refuge in the Erratic Rock for two days and planned to visit one of the Penguin Colonies and pickup souvenirs before leaving back to Santiago.

Seno Otway (Otway Sound), is a Penguin Colony of supposedly 8,000 Magellan Penguins, but it seemed like there were a bit less than that. Antarctic researchers who were on our small tour hypothesized that the tourist aspect of the colony might have scared away part of the population, but it was not clear since penguins always come back to the same place every year to breed before returning to the ocean once again. There were still plenty of penguins to see.

We also saw a couple Ñandús, which are the Chilean version of an ostrich. Weird creatures. They are endangered since they have been hunted for their feathers and their tasty meat.

We spent the night there, and had a flight the next morning around noon on the 19th. The entire 13 day experience in Patagonia, Chile was most certainly the most scenic trip I have ever taken. It is a unique part of the world with difficult weather (luckily there was hardly any rain during our entire trip), stunning views of nature and wildlife. Visiting the Strait of Magellan is probably to closest I'll get to Antarctica, and I hope one day I can come back and check out the Argentinian side of Patagonia as well.

It would be two quick days in Santiago to pack, pickup gifts, say goodbye to my friends, teachers, co-workers, and host dad, before I got on a plane for Buenos Aires. 6 months flew bye so fast, and if it were not for the fact that I have the graduate after this coming, I could have easily extended my stay another six months. I could also easily come back down to Latin America to work one day, but we'll have to wait and see. It was so tough saying goodbye to my host parents, they because part of my family and I became part of their's. We will keep in touch digitally, but I hope to one day see them again, either in the United States, Chile, or Europe where their daughters live.

So that ends my trip to Chile. I couldn't have expected a better experience, with all that learned in terms of the Spanish language(even though Chilean Spanish is full of so much slang and their owns words it is sometimes hard to talk with other Spanish speakers, but at the very least it is very easy for me to listen and understand others because Chilean talk to fast), all the history of Chile and Latin America that have given me a fuller perspective of the region and my own family history, the experience of being so culturally immersed in a new country while going to school working a job. There are so many similarities Chile has with California, but obviously very different in many ways as well. It is going to be a bit crazy coming back and adjusting to life in the United States, especially since I only have 3 months left of school before I hit to the real world. Pretty crazy. One thing I know for certain, I will definitely be coming back one day.

PS: I will continue this blog until I leave South America on the 4th of January. After that, I think I will create a new blog on my life going forward. It will have a new address and I will post a link here when I create site. But until then, I will have one or two most entries here on this blog. Cheers.

"El niño que no juega no es niño, pero el hombre que no juega perdió para siempre al niño que vivía en él y que le hará mucha falta."
English: “A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who doesn't play has lost forever the child who lived in him and who he will miss terribly.”
-Pablo Neruda

Chi-Chi-Chi...Le-Le-Le...Viva Chile.

Mendoza

So it looks like this will be my second to last blog entry from Santiago Chile. I have only one more week left, two tests, before I travel down south to Punta Arenas between the 6th-19th of December, then just barely two days in Santiago and then off to Buenos Aires.

Last Thursday I had my final exam for Social History of Latin America, which went surprisingly well. I also turned in a final essay for my contemporary history of Chile class. All that is left is my two Economics tests this week and I am free. After class, I went to pickup some gifts for my host parents since it was my host-father's birthday and my host-mother is leaving for Switzerland for 3 months the day after I go to Punta Arenas. Along the way I realized that I had misplaced my ATM card (probably left it in a ATM machine earlier in the week, forgetting to respond 'NO' at the end of my transaction if I wanted to make another transaction or have the machine spit out the card). That was a slight damper for my Thanksgiving, but the disappointment didn't last long since I was leaving for Mendoza that afternoon to visit family friends who live there for the weekend.

Thanksgiving lunch was very nice. My family and I shared the the things we were thankful for and discussed the final days of my stay in Chile. Very emotional, but a great holiday considering that no country outside of the United States celebrates Thanksgiving, obviously, and the day exceeded my expectations.

After lunch, I headed off the the airport. While waiting in line to check in, I noticed a familiar person in line, but wasn't sure of his identity until a airport worker came up to him asking for an autograph for his kids. Then my thoughts were confirmed that it was the Argentinian futbol player, Lucas Barrios (first photo below), striker for the Chilean club futbol team Colo-Colo. He was traveling to Buenos Aires for the weekend with a fellow player, Daud Gazela(second photo below), and after he finished checking in, I went up and asked them both for autographs. Not having any paper available, I had them sign my passport on the day that I arrived to Chile. It felt a bit strange since Colo-Colo is the rival club to my team, University of Chile, but Lucas Barrios can probably be considered the best player in the Chilean league and has recently been offered multimillion dollar contracts by various
European club teams. Not sure if he will leave.


After chatting with the futbol players, I checked into my flight, only to realize that my Visa had expired a week before. After 15 minutes of complete panic thinking that I was not going to be able to leave, I realized that all I needed to do was show them my Chilean identification card and I was on my way. The flight was less than 45 minutes long.

I arrived in Mendoza and met up with Carlos Rodriguez, who went to engineering school with my grandfather in the city of La Plata in Argentina. We sat down for a cup of coffee in the airport to introduce ourselves, share our stories, and then left for his house where I met his wife Teresa. Carlos was once the Minister of Economy as well as the Minister of the 'Hacienda,' for Argentina during the presidency of Carlos Menem, while Teresa was a doctor for many years with a specialization in blood and related diseases, and later was a social worker for the youth. They are such wonderful people, intelligent, very hospitable, and showed me a great time in Mendoza. That night we went out to dinner at a restaurant in which they knew the owners and had eaten there before with my grandparents years earlier.

My entire weekend was completely programmed. Carlos set me up with excursions to various parts of Mendoza and it's exterior. He had initially planned to join me on the trips, but he suffered an accident on a construction site a week before I arrived, breaking a couple ribs and lacerating his hand. Nevertheless, we had a great time.

The first excursion was to nearby vineyards and bodegas, as well as a olive oil producing farm. Mendoza is primarily known for its wine since about 90% of the wine produced in Argentina comes out of Mendoza. The temperature, climate, and available land for cultivation make it a perfect environment. I returned to the house for dinner and went to bed early since the following morning my excursion left at 7:30 a.m. Below La Bodega Baurdon, one that we visited.

Excursion #2 took a group of people to the northern part of Mendoza along the International highway that connects Chile with Argentina. Our stops consisted of the original bridge that San Martin used crossing the cordillera to Chile to aide in the Chilean independence with Bernanrdo O'Higgins(Puente Picheuta),

the town of Penitentes which is were I went skiing earlier in the year with my buddy Finn but this time there was no snow,

the Bridge of the Inca which is a natural bridge formed from water erosion of a nearby river with leftover sediment from retreated glaciers, and iron found in spring water. A Spa Hotel was created in 1925 for famous individuals that provided each room with a natural bath from the river, which apparently contained many cleansing and anti-stress elements. Following an avalanche in 1965, the entire community was destroyed except for a small chapel.

The last stop we made was the entrance to the Park of the Aconcagua mountain. We couldn't enter the park because you need to buy a permit, but the view was spectacular. After traveling all the way to the border, our excursion turned around and headed back to Mendoza.

Excursion #3: San Rafael. This city is about 3 hour south of Mendoza, and is considered the 3rd most important city in Argentina after Buenos Aires and Mendoza. It is famous for it's Canyon, Atuel, which is the Argentinian version of the Grand Canyon essentially. There is a river that flows in between, as well as a road that allows you to drive all the way up to Lake Nihuil. The river has a series of hydroelectric dams that are used to supply a significant amount of energy to Argentina's citizens. The excursion took the entire day, from 7 in the morning until about 10 in the evening.





On my final day in Mendoza, I traveled with Teresa to take a tour of downtown Mendoza and visit the Fundational Museum, which unfortunately was closed due to construction. It's plaza is gorgeous, and beneath there is a series of tunnels that explore the archeological discoveries from the time of the foundation of the city.

We returned to have lunch at the house, and then afterward Carlos and I took a tour of the Park of San Martin, absolutely amazing.

The park is much larger than Central Park in New York, or even Palermo Park in Buenos Aires. There is an artificial lake, dozens of giants lawns, restaurants, a Rotary club, sporting facilities, an amphitheater that holds an annual festival that 100,000 people attend as well as some concerts, one of the World Cup stadiums that was used in 1978 (the year which Argentina won. Carlos helped in the construction of the stadium from 1975-1978), and el Cerro de La Gloria which has an amazing statue dedicated to South American liberator San Martin and his Andean army.



After completing a driving tour of the entire park, it was time for me to catch my flight. I bid farewell to Teresa and Carlos for their warmth and hospitality. They made my short stay in Mendoza amazing. I was so happy to meet and spend time with them. I even met one of their daughters and her family, who were incredibly nice and whose kids loved to ask me questions about the life in the United States and my stay down here in Latin America. They also at times could not understand me because they said I spoke like a Chilean. What a compliment...I guess.

Only a week remains for me in Santiago essentially, and I can't wait to visit Patagonia. My next entry should be around the 19th/20th of December after I get back from the south. Ciao.

Chile offers striking workers a 9.5 percent raise

The government of Chile has offered nearly half a million striking municipal workers a 9.5 percent wage increase and the Congress is expected to vote on it Thursday, officials said.

The 450,000 workers, who have been on strike since Monday, are asking for a 14.5 percent pay increase. The government had initially offered a 6.5 percent increase.

A 9.5 percent increase would be the highest since the 9.9 percent accorded in 1997, El Mercurio newspaper reported.

Striking workers have taken to the streets this week, marching in most of the nation's major cities.

The nation was paralyzed for two days last week when the workers went on strike. The public employees have not set an end date for the strike.

Because of the strike, garbage is piling up on streets, tax and fee collection has stopped and public health and education are practically paralyzed. Even weddings and autopsies are not being performed.

source
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There is a lot to say about the current strike. This article does not state that the reason for the demand for a raise in salary is because of the cost of living has gone up 10% from last year, nor that their first offer was a measly 4.5%. People are going to be very disappointed if the raise is not at least double-digits and it's not like the government does not have the fund. Also, the government is stubborn to make a quick, drastic decision because of the fear that if they grant the 14.5% request, soon the private sector will be asking for a similar changes, and many members of the government obviously have ties to these companies that will be affected. Also, the discussion is difficult because a simple raise to every public worker doesn't make sense...should executives of these public companies receive the same salary increase as a lower-class, less specialized worker? The same thinking applies to those who aren't very good workers, why should they be rewarded for their bad performance? I had a class canceled for a day because of this strike, and there is so much horrible stress placed on the country of Chile economically and socially. The host mother of my buddy Finn had a heart attack (thankfully she is o.k.) because she is one of the few working in her sector of the government and is a workaholic, so while others are striking she is working twice as hard and the extra stress was the cause.

Update: Thankfully the Congress approved a 10% raise in municipal salaries late Thursday afternoon and the strikes will stop. The readjustment also includes two bonds: one of $200,000 mil and one of $100,000 according to the salary tranche.

Two weeks...

These last few weeks are going to be a grind, but there are so many things I am looking forward to doing both here in Chile as well as obviously afterward. I have been unfaithful to my blog as of late, and will do my best to stay dedicated for these finals days because their going to be jam-packed. I have my final exams coming the final week of November as well as the first week of December. I also have only three more days of work at Basic Bar (22nd, 23rd, 24th of Nov).

I saw James Bond a week back with my host parents. Chile received an early screening of the film (before the United States, but obviously after the initial release in England), since about 40 minutes of the film is in the Northern deserts of Chile. Funny however, the scenes are supposed to be from Bolivia according the the story of the film and apparently the government of Bolivia and it's citizens were not to pleased about it due to the delicate history between Chile and Bolivia. The area in which the crew filmed used to be Bolivia, as well as their only access to the ocean, but after the War of the Pacific, Chile took this land from them as well as some territory from Peru. Also, according to the film's plot, a dictator is in control in Bolivia making shady environmental deals with the villain, which obviously didn't go over well either.



Last week I also went with my host parents to the 28nd annual international book fair, Feria Internacional del Libro de Santiago. My goal was to find two cheap books, one on Francisco de Miranda after hearing a bit about him in my social history class and a recommendation to research deeper on his life from my host dad, as well as a copy of the Argentine epic poem, Martín Fierro, and I succeeded in doing both. Coincidentally while I was looking for one of the books I came across a book, Las Catilinarias, that was written by one of the Ecuadorian ancestors, Juan Montalvo, a famous political writer. It was a joy to show that to my parents and the man selling the book. The price was a bit high and the book quiet large, so instead I took note of the title and one day will try and pick-up a copy.

I received word from the grandmother that I need to obtain a visa for Brazil, so this was a multi-day process to organize all the materials necessary for applying and eventually receiving one. The cost was $200 dollars, which apparently is a response by the government of Brazil for all the strict requirements and equally steep price that a Brazilian has to pay if one wants a tourist visa for the United States. I should be able to pick it up on the 24th.

I successfully bought two plane tickets for my travels in the coming weeks. The first is one to Mendoza do visit a family friend of mine for the weekend. I had been trying to get in contact with him since the moment I arrived, but there was a series of delays and before I knew it, it was two weeks until I was done with my program so I decided I needed to take advantage of being so close to his home and visit him.

I also bought my ticket to Punta Arenas with my friend Finn from Santa Cruz to spend 13 days in Patagonia, Chile. We will be roughing it up down there while visiting the national park Torres del Paine and Tierra del Fuego. The experience is going to be amazing and I can't wait. It will probably be the closest I get to Antarctica and if I find a way to technically set foot there, I will have been to all seven continents! I am so lucky to have the opportunities to travel and seeing the world gives me a great perspective and keeps me well grounded. I leave on the 6th of December and come back on the 19th, a day before I leave for Buenos Aires to meet up with my family.

So those are my recent and upcoming events that I have planned for the final weeks. Today I setup a meeting with an American economics professor from the Universidad de Chile, who studied at Columbia University and gave a lecture during my Chilean Culture and Politics class. I hope to use this time to ask him all my questions that I have regarding the current state of affairs and the future.

Yesterday the Chilean National futbol team played against Spain, currently #1 in the world, in Spain and lost 3-0. Though the entire team was not participating in the match, it was still rough, especially since the women's under-20 world cup started last night as well with Chile as the host country of the tournament they fell as well to England 2-0. Argentina played its first game with new head coach Diego Maradona and defeated Scotland in an ugly match 1-0. At least Lionel Messi wasn't playing, but they still look like a struggling squad.

That is all. Check out the story above on the current National Public Workers Strike going on Chile. I will try and write a post before I take off for Mendoza next Thursday.

Home stretch

Well it's now November and I can't believe it. Time flew by so fast, and now I am just trying to rush in the last bits and pieces to my trip and my experience down here. Hopefully I will have enough time. I am been so overloaded with school and work lately. I am know just trying to make sure my calender is all lined up before I jettison.

Tuesday the 28th of October was an interesting evening for me because I went to the Clasico Universitario futbol match between Universidad de Chile and Universidad de Catholica. The national stadium was totally packed and the match excellent. For some strange reason they decided to switch the usual entrances for fans and I headed to the Catholica entrance with jersey, hat and face-paint on, and was randomly martial-arts, high-kicked to the face by an opposing fan in front of a cop, who then escorted me to the appropriate entrance. Stupid. Luckily I got the last laugh since La Chile won 2-1 and essentially clinched the regular season #1 position.

That Wednesday was a sad day because my neighbor and her two kids moved down the Pucon. It was really sad to see them go, but I was able to spend a good deal of time with them before they left. So sad that such a random tragedy can instantly change the life of the entire family so drastically. Luckily I set the older son up with a skype account with a webcam so I can keep in touch with them as long as there is an internet connection (which they probably won;t have in house, but there are tons of cyber cafes)

It is interesting to be able to see my three classes beginning to converge. Granted they are two history classes and an economy class as related to Chile, but the same topics are starting to come up, and it allows me to draws parallels between subjects as well as discover more marco themes.

Friday was Halloween, which is not too heavily celebrated in Chile but this year the government declared the 31st a religious holiday (no school, optional work) and in turn the younger crowd is starting to practice the goofy American tradition of trick-or-treating and partying. Basic Bar threw a party with a DJ, which was pretty fun except for that fact that I was working rather than enjoying myself. It was entertaining though cause it gives you a different perspective when working behind the bar. Staying 'till 4:30 a.m., not as much fun. I worked on Sunday and Monday was well.

Tuesday was the big election night, with practically every eye on the planet focused on the outcome. I personal takeaways from the night: 1. I wasn't surprised by the outcome except for how close the popular vote was 2. Expectations are high, but Mr. Obama deliver. From the sounds of it, results are only going to take place in the long term, and it might take multiple terms. Not good. Hope he is the next reincarnation of Lincoln/Roosevelt for the sake of of the overly optimistic American public.

I had two tests this past week, one for Social History on Latin America on the industrialization period of Latin America, and one for Economics on Friday on Monetary policy and the current financial/global economic crisis. Both went well, but it took a lot of energy out of me with all the studying and stress that I had this past week.

Saturday I took ym host parents to see the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I thought it would be a good idea considering that 40 minutes of the film is from northern Chile. Unfortunately credit was only given to the country and the end of the credits since in the plot, the area is considered Bolivia since they have to incorporate a fictional dictator and I am not sure that would work so well with Chile. I had work that evening and the following day (today).

I have a final essay to turn in for my Gringo 101 class on Tuesday and then I am essentially work free until the last week of November in which I have another Social History of Latin America test and an essay for Contemporary History of Chile. I am trying to visit a family friend of mine who lives in Mendoza the last weekend of November, then take some final exams that week, head down to Patagonia for two weeks, coming back on the 20th to spend one final day in Santiago before going to Buenos Aires. Flight prices are dropping everyday, so there is no big rush. My last day of work at Bar Basic on the 24th. It's going to be a tough final month, but I am always up for the challenge.

Chile's right-wing gains electoral ground

link
By Gideon Long
BBC News, Santiago

The last time the political right won a general election in Chile, the country's current president Michelle Bachelet was six years old.

Bachelet (r) is constitutionally barred from seeking another term

The year was 1958. Since then, the only right-wing leader Chile has known is General Augusto Pinochet, who seized power by force in 1973 and ruled for 17 years.

But now the right appears to be gaining ground again.

It made advances in local elections here on Sunday, and hopes to translate them into success in next year's presidential poll.

For the first time, the right now has more mayors in office than Ms Bachelet's ruling coalition. It also closed the gap slightly in terms of its overall percentage of votes.

If it does win next year, it will mark the end of an era for Chile - the end of nearly two decades of moderate left-wing rule in which the country has emerged from the Pinochet years, healed some of the wounds of its dark past and re-established its democratic credentials.

"There is a feeling of political change in the country, without a doubt," says Guillermo Holzmann, professor of political science at the University of Chile in Santiago.

"There's a feeling that the ruling coalition has been in power for a long time and that maybe inefficiency and corruption is increasing as a result."

When Gen Pinochet stepped down in 1990, the leftist coalition known as the Concertacion took power in Chile and has served four successive terms under four different presidents. But its seeming invincibility is under threat.

Leadership battle

Sunday's local polls were a major test of the changing sentiment. The right wing Alianza (Alliance for Chile) won mayoral contests in a number of key cities while the Concertacion's overall share of the vote fell by around two percentage points.


Sebastian Pinera (left), Santiago's mayor-elect Pablo Zalaquett (centre) and Joaquin Lavin (right) celebrate election success. Sebastian Pinera (left) will be hoping to build on Sunday's success

The Concertacion remains the largest bloc in Chilean politics, but it has no obvious candidate to stand as president.

Under the constitution, President Bachelet is barred from seeking a second successive term, and her coalition faces a potentially damaging leadership battle over the coming year.

In contrast, the right-wing opposition has largely united behind billionaire businessman Sebastian Pinera, who narrowly lost to Ms Bachelet in 2006.

The 58-year-old, who has been likened to Italy's Silvio Berlusconi for his wealth and media interests, is now widely viewed as the front-runner to be Chile's next president.

As they went to the municipal polls on Sunday, Chileans were divided about the Bachelet government's record.

"I think it's been good for Chile to have a woman in charge. It's changed the culture of the country," shop worker Lorena Villalon said as she cast her vote in a suburb of Santiago.

"But her government hasn't achieved as much as I'd hoped it would. There's been too much squabbling between the parties in government, too much politics."

Part of the problem is that the Concertacion was put together to challenge Gen Pinochet in the late 1980s. Now that he is dead and democracy is re-established, the Concertacion has slightly lost its raison d'etre.

Ms Bachelet's personal approval ratings have remained fairly high - 42% according to the most recent survey published by Adimark, a leading Chilean polling company.

She has a warm, easy touch with ordinary people and has worked hard on social issues like schooling and childcare.

But the same Adimark poll put her government's approval rating at just 26.4%, with a disapproval rating of 59.1%.

Boom no more

Crime and corruption have emerged as major issues, and in the capital Santiago - home to over one-third of the electorate - voters are still fuming over the disastrous implementation of a new transport system, which made life miserable for thousands of commuters.

Economically, Chile has enjoyed two and a half years of brisk growth under President Bachelet, thanks largely to a boom in the price of its chief export, copper, which accounts for over half of its export revenue.

But the price of copper has halved in the space of four months amid the global financial crisis. Banks are cutting back on credit and the value of Chilean pensions has been hit hard by the fall in world stock markets.

Ironically though, an economic downturn could help Ms Bachelet's coalition cling to power next year, persuading voters to stick with what they know rather than opting for change.

"This is an extremely conservative country and I'm not sure it will want a handover of political power in the middle of a major crisis," said Marta Lagos, managing director of pollsters Mori in Chile.

In assessing the results of Sunday's municipal polls, President Bachelet acknowledged the need for her coalition to rejuvenate itself before next year's polls, and to end the bickering between its constituent parties.

"It has to renew itself, listen to the voice from the street, to update its message and bring new dynamism to its policies … It's clear that what it needs is more unity, more unity, more unity," she said.

For his part, Mr Pinera hailed the local results as a "great triumph" for his coalition and evidence that Chileans are ready for a change.

Only when Chileans go to the polls again in December 2009 will it become clear if he is right or not.

Elections in Chile Complete. Coming Up Next, the United States

Another week in the books, with tons of stuff to talk about. None of that too mind boggling, but still worth noting. Not sure if I will remember each item in chronological order or what day it took place, but I'll do my best.

Last week marked the final week of my Gringo 101 class with the rest of the program. Nothing incredibly exciting about the class other than the fact that it is over. Now I don't have to head out to downtown Santiago 30 minutes before rush hour just so I can get to class on time and have to stay until 9 p.m. at night. I still do have a final paper that is 5 pages and do sometime in the middle of November, but it's a free topic and not a problem.

The family whom tragedy struck a couple months back with the horrible auto accident that resulted in the death of the father are moving today to Pucón down south. It's such an unfortunate situation and I hate to see them go. To make sure I can stay in touch with them, I went out to buy a web-cam, microphone, and setup a Skype account for one of the sons. I explained how the program, essentially a free telephone for him as long as he has internet access. I also gave him my email address. Hopefully he will have time to bring his laptop over a to cyber-cafe every once in a while because it doesn't look like he'll have in-house internet, but he will at his parent's house that is supposedly close by. Regardless, I just want to be able to keep in touch with the family after all that has happened since my arrival.

Speaking of Southern Chile, I have been working with a couple of my buddies on organizing a rough itinerary for traveling to extreme southern portion of Chile, Patagonia, for the two week I have in between in the end of school and when I fly out to Buenos Aires in mid December. I probably won't have another chance in my life to visit this part of the world, so I figure I should take advantage of the fact that I am currently just a plane ride away. Flights aren't incredibly expensive and I have heard the sites and activities are simply amazing: glaciers that won't exist in less than 10 years, stunning landscapes, even a potential access of Antarctica (not the main part, but an island that is considered part of the continent). I can't wait.

Working at Bar Basic has been a good time. I enjoy practicing my Spanish with co-workers and customers, while essentially doing the same thing that I would normally doing if I wasn't working: watching football, eating, and drinking. Last Thursday was one of the owners' birthdays, so he hired a live band to play Chilean covers and invited a bunch of his buddies. I wasn't supposed to work that night, but I volunteered considering it was his birthday and they could use the help. Fun times either way.

Last Friday I went to a symphony performance at the University of Chile theater downtown. The show was a George Gershwin tribute, playing Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris as well as many others. Symphonies are an amazing network of musicans working together on one piece, with solos and necessary harmonies while under the control of one man, the conductor. I am not a classical music critic, and Gershwin's music is difficult to perform, sometimes it felt that some of the musicians were having trouble with some of the songs. I enjoyed it very much nonetheless.

Saturday was an interesting day for a silly reason. I headed over to the local grocery store to try and buy some medicine for a wart that I have on my pinkie toe as a result of the rubbing against the inside of my shoe. I left for the in-store pharmacy without knowing the Spanish work for wart, assuming I could just show them my toe as well former medication (in English). Solo attempt, fail. Aid from three Chilean women also in line who also did not understand what is was but thought they knew, fail. European woman randomly walks up to offer help, whips out her cellphone and types the word in English into her phone and with her simply Nokia she manages to looks up the term using her Spanish-English dictionary. She found a website that has a bunch of programs that can be stored to the on-board memory of her simple cellphone, any cellphone. What a technological world this is becoming? I thought about the incident all during my walk back, while thinking about the future. Imagine when everyone has internet-connected cellphones with key pads. Language barriers will be essentially non-existent; voice translators? The possibilities are endless. There is a part of me that is anti-technology when it comes to interacting, so I feel a bit uneasy about the extensive connectedness to 'the network.' I'd rather be without my computer, PDA, cell phone, a connection and be spending time in person with people than being attached to a network in which information is sent constantly, instantaneously, endlessly. Too bad it is becoming more and more popular by the day with the newer generations and there is almost not feasible to give it up.

On Sunday, Chile had their municipal elections and the entire country was rumbling with political enthusiasm, so much so that no one was allowed to sell alcohol. This made work for me on particularly boring that day since all we could sell was food and sodas, water, juice. Sunday is usually a busy day with all the gringos coming in to watch American football, but it was obviously quite slow. While many municipalities, including Valparaiso, de mi amor, changed from 'left' municipalities to 'right' ones with the election of 'right' mayors, overall the country of Chile say more people voting for the 'left.' This was unusually surprising considering that Sebastián Piñera was the current favorite for President with the election over a year away. Thing are now much more unclear, with the 'right' parties securing only 35% of the population based on municipal elections, with the 'left' parties won over 46%. There was also a small portion of the populace that voted for Communist and other extreme 'leftist' candidates, who when the time comes for presidential elections, they are obviously more likely to put their support behind a 'leftist' candidate than one from the 'right.'The only problem with this scenario is that the Concertación, or the group of 'leftist' political parties, currently does not have a presidential candidate in place. For a while Ricardo Lagos, former President, was the favorite to represent the left, but that has since changed since he insists that he does not want to have to go through the inner-party political process of electing a candidate. If he ran for president, he would want to be able to be the outright candidate since he has so much experience rather than take part in the process. We'll see how things shape up in the next few months. It is not far from the date in which parties are required to have their candidate selected.

Speaking of elections, the United States presidential elections are coming up in less than a week. I already was able to cast in my vote since a member of the U.S. embassy was in Bar Basic all last week handing out forms that will be sent in via the embassy to whichever county one represents. Earlier this week, I came across an interesting article in this week's Economist about U.S. elections and Latin America. I didn't know John McCain was born in Panama? But I guess it doesn't surprise me because he was probably born in a military base down there. Here is a snippet from the article...

"Preliminary data from the latest Latinobarómetro poll, taken in 18 countries over the past month and published exclusively by The Economist, show that 29% of respondents think an Obama victory would be better for their country, against only 8% favouring Mr McCain. Perhaps surprisingly, 30% say that it makes no difference who wins, while 31% claim ignorance. Enthusiasm for Mr Obama is particularly high in the Dominican Republic (52%), Costa Rica, Uruguay and Brazil (41%). In Brazil, six candidates in this month’s municipal elections changed their names to include “Barack Obama” in them.

The poll suggests that support for Mr Obama is greater among better-educated Latin Americans. Marta Lagos, Latinobarómetro’s director, says the relatively widespread indifference shows the extent to which the United States has lost influence in the region in recent years."

I would tend to agree.

La Serena, Valle de Elqui, Pisco de Elqui Photos

La Serena and the ensuing week

I took off on a four and half hour drive to La Serena. My buddy Finn and his parents had already arrived the night before to get a lay of the land. Upon arriving, we all got together for a quality seafood dinner on the beach-front and went to bed early to prepare for the following day.

After a solid breakfast of bread, fruit, and coffee, our two-car crew headed inland for the day. On the way we stopped at a beautiful reservoir, Embalse Puclaro, for a photo op, then continued on to the town of Vicuña. Once in town, we took a tour of the Gabriela Mistral museum, which inside was relatively boring, but it had an amazing garden in it's back lot that was incredibly peaceful. Following a slow walk through the town, we got back in the cars and continued our drive out to the Valle de Elqui.

This valley has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It is covered with miles upon miles of grape vines, sadly not dedicated to the production of wine, but of pisco. While it is tough to find pisco in the United States, and even if you do it is quite expensive, it is certainly the liquor of choice in Chile. There are numerous brands and strengths...I think of it as the Chilean equivalent of Mexican tequila, but you can mix it with coke (piscola) or combine with sweet and sour (pisco sour) or papaya juice as we discovered later in the day to make a "Serena Sour." The vistas were simply incredibly as we drove along the windy road through the valley.

We eventually got deep into the valley to the town of Pisco Elqui, where we stopped to have a classic Chilean lunch followed by a tour of the Mistral pisco factory. The tour guide did not have the best voice for tours, but the factory had amazing architecture and it was interesting to learn about the whole process. Following the tour, we drove back out the valley which was twice as pretty as when we entered, with the sun going down, shining on the hillsides.

On our way back to La Serena, we stopped at a family friend's house of the host brother of Finn, Alejandro Ramirez, whose cousin is Norma Ramirez, an incredibly talented artist. She is married to a Mexican artist, Luis Gastélum, and we were very lucky to stop by their place for drinks, snacks, and a chat. Their house is amazing, walls and floors made of mosaic, and their located right next to a river that you can hear from the inside of the house. Norma helped a group of artists design many of the projects that are in the Parque de Paz in Villa Grimaldi and is currently doing various exhibitions here in Chile.

The following morning, I left early with Finn and his parents on a drive back to Santiago. This drive was gorgeous as well. It reminded me a lot of Southern California with the coastal vegetation, but also very different since there are views of the Andes mountains in site as well. The area is also much less populated, but every so often there are small resort resort communities near the beach. At one point on the way back, Finn's mother decided that she wanted to show Finn and I this town that her and her and her husband had discovered earlier in the week while looking for a place they could play tennis. The town, Zapallar.

This place was remarkable. Green and lush, Zapallar is a small bay inhabited by upper-class Chileans and used as a weekend getaway destination. With very little roads, the town is made of mostly of walking trails. On one end of the bay, there is a rock mountain with a single tree situated on top, quite picturesque. We walked through the entire town in fifteen minutes, and then sat down for seafood appetizers as a quick break in between our ride home. Too bad Zapallar isn't enjoyed by everyone in Chile, only the privileged, but I guess I can understand why with it's size and limited housing. Still, quite a magical place.

Once back in Santiago, I stopped by Bar Basic to find out the situation with my new job. The owners said they wanted me to come in the next day for some training. What I did not realize was that this training was as a bartender; I thought I was going to be a server. Well, turns out I am happier as a bartender since it is something I haven't done before and I get to practice my Spanish with the Chilean servers as they request drinks. I'll be working there 2 days a week, Sundays and Mondays, which works out great cause I am usually in there every Sunday anyways and now I get to get paid. The salary is 2 dollars an hour, but I get all the tips from people who sit at the bar, as well as 30% of the tips from the regular tables. Comes out to a decent rate, especially by Chilean standards.

Wednesday was the date of the big game, Argentina v Chile. Since two of Argentina's best players, Juan Román Riquelme, Carlos Tevez, were both suspended after receiving red cards in their previous match against Uruguay, the match up was more favorable than it could have been, but most Chileans still figured Argentina and their infinite supply of futbol talent would be able to pull off the win. This is especially true since Chile has not beaten Argentina in any sort of futbol match in 30 years, and never in a FIFA-official match. This all changed on Wednesday night, as Chile won 1-0, with a fantastic goal by a 22 year old striker, Fabian Orellana with only 7 national game appearances. After the match was over, 3,000 people got together in celebration downtown. In addition, Argentina's coach, Alfio Basile, quit following the loss. Chile is now tied with Argentina for 3rd in the South America group in qualifying for World Cup 2010 in South Africa, and does not play another qualifying match until March of 2009.


On Thursday of this past week, I turned in an essay for my Gringo 101 class, the second of three essays and once again it had a free topic based on what we had learned over the past couple weeks. I chose to write mine on how a social democracy is the best system for Chile when compared to the political-economic systems of the past 30 years. Eh.

Not too much else is going on in my world down here. I got work tonight and tomorrow, and municipal elections are coming up here in Chile. These are a big deal for the country since depending how each municipality votes, it will determine which candidate "La Concertacion" or the group of leftists parties, will select to run against conservative Sebastián Piñera. There are posters covering every street corner, while political aides hand out flyers to passer-byers.

I am currently looking up some options for a weekend fishing trip somewhere down south for the second week of November, but prices are looking a bit steep at the moment. It is so strange to think that it is practically the end of October already. The countdown till the end of the program has begun, but I don't want it to end. Wish I had the time to do so much more, but I also understand I am here to study. I don't need to lament, I am sure I'll be back.

->I'll be posting more pictures from the weekend within the next couple days. I am waiting on my buddies to give me copies.

Too long without a post

I know, I know. Haven't been faithful recently to my blog, my diary to let people know what's going on down here in the land of Chile. Lot has been going on is what the problem is, and just haven't had enough free time to sit down and handle it. But now I have some time before I take off for the weekend to the beach. I am going to a beach town down south about 4-5 hours by car to a city called La Serena. The parents of my buddy Finn are already there, including Finn, and his host family has a house down there that we are going to stay at. Should be a nice relaxing weekend. But, as for what's been going on in the past two weeks practically.

The Saturday before last I had a mandatory field trip from my contemporary history of Chile class to head out to the former mining town, Cajón del Maipo. The purpose of our trip was to visually comprehend and experience the effects that the former industry has had on this rural area. Mining is a very dirty process, especially back in the day, and as a result of the intensive exploration of the valley, the environment, water supply, society has been negatively effected to the point that there are only 30 people living in the town (used to be around 2,000), the water supply is tainted from the harsh chemicals used for copper, and the hillside forest and thick vegetation looks now more like a desert. It was a fun day long trip with a hike to the top of a mountain where we entered a closed down mine shaft and spent almost 2 hours in pure darkness discussing the history of the place.



Last Tuesday I had my first test in a Chilean University, Economia II. The test, first of three for the course, was on macroeconomics and had a strange structure. Since the grading scale down here is out of seven instead of letter grades, the tests was 5 medium answer questions, the first three worth one point each and the last two worth two points, adding to seven. It was pretty difficult, but I felt everybody was feeling the same way. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a curve in this country, but I'll be alright.

I heard a good joke from President Michelle Bachelet last week. She asked during a speech, "Why is it that there are no golpe de estado (coup) in the Unites States? Because there is no such thing as a U.S. embassy."

Last Friday I did my last ski trip for the season here is Chile. I headed up with Finn and his parents and got some good last runs in. The season ended that Sunday, so we felt lucky we had decided to put the trip together since we didn't know when the season ended. Luckily, when I come back the ski season will just be starting in California, so I'll get two ski seasons this year. At point during the trip, my ski's simply popped off while speeding over some flat snow because the bindings were too large for my boots (which I had a feeling were before I started, but I figured I would wing it). I learned from that mistake; I took a nasty fall injuring my shoulder pretty bad, but didn't really feel the extent of it until the next day. As of right now, the should is fine, just a little sore if I move it in specific ways. Thought for a second I might have broken my collar bone just like my dad. That would not have been good.

Last Saturday the Education Abroad program had a mandatory trip to Villa Grimaldi (the torture camp now turned into a Park of Peace and memory), as well as the national cemetery. Our guide was a victim in the torture camps of Villa Grimaldi and very informative. He cried probably 5 times during the day, but it was totally understandable. Those were the worst times in the history of this country and he was a direct victim. Some of the things he described simply took my breath away. The national cemetery was interesting, especially since I had not been there before, but we saw the graves of Orlando Letelier, Salvador Allende, and Victor Jara, as well as all the unidentified graves of bodies fond during the coup and a large memorial with the names of those known to have died as a result.

Sunday I went to the Super Clasico for arguably the most anticipated fuitbol match of the year between the rivals Universidad de Chile (Chi-Chi-Chi..le-le-le, Universidad dde Chile!), and the team of the pueblo and most all-time championships, Colo-Colo. The match took palace n Colo-Colo's stadium, the Monumental, and because of this I had to wear neutral colors to avoid getting stabbed. My seat was in a non-rowdy section and actually very close to the fenced-off La Chile fans who walked in mass (probably 2,000) from my house 15 blocks down the Colo-Colo stadium that day. La Chile had not won in the Monumental in 7 years, and now the streak is 8 after a 2-0 loss. It was a great experience.

This past week I had an in class essay, the first of three, for my Social History of Latin America class. The test could have been a lot worse, but we had a choice between two general questions that related to the colonial conquest and independence of Latin America so it was relatively painless. I really enjoy this class since the teacher is incredibly knowledgeable and with Latin America, you also get an indirect history of Europe and a lot of the reason why things today are as they are can be tied back to this time period.

That night I had what we call Gringo 101, the 7-9 p.m. class for all the exchange student in my program, which is normally pretty painful, but to my luck the speaker was an American economics professor from Colombia who is now teaching at the University of Chile. I could barely keep up with all the information he gave and enjoyed every second of the lecture. After class I had a quick chat with him and got his business card for future reference. I am going to try and setup a sit-down with him just to see more about what economics is about here in Chile and what he thinks of what is going on in the world.

Wednesday I had an interesting experience. I was heading to an ATM to take the rest of the rent money for this month when I got on a bus with two musicians about my age. These two guys were 'bus musicians' who rode the bus 3-9 p.m. 5 days a week to make some money and were incredibly talented. They said they made around 30 dollars a day from their abilities. They played two instrumentals and the third song was a famous tune of a clandestine band during the coup called Sol Y Lluvia, and the track "Para Que en Chile Nunca Mas;" a revolutionary song suggesting that time like during the coup should never happen again. I have to say, they sang/played so well, with most of the people on the bus either mouthing the words or tapping their fingers to the song. Quite surreal. I got their names and hopefully we'll be able to hang out with them some point in the future.

That night was the birthday of my good friend Dan Nemiroff. We hung out at his new apartment that is now much closer to me and then went out to our favorite club for Wednesday nights, Grand Central, for the rest of the evening.

Well, I am packing a weekend bag for my trip to La Serena for the weekend. Once last thing of note, I got a job at the American Sports Bar. They have been getting more and more packed every week due to recent reviews in local newspapers and magazines. I jokingly went up the the owner one busy night saying that it looked like they needed another server. He wanted my number by the end of the night, and now I will work every Sunday from now until December. I can take a week off as long as I let them know in advance, and I am usually in there every Sunday anyways. Sounds like a good deal to me. I am also looking to doing some free-lance-esque writing for this new online nightlife magazine targeted towards foreigners called the Revolver. I have a buddy already working there, and it sounds like they could use some more help and the position is very low-stress and low-key. We shall see.