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.
