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.

Another Break

I can't get enough of how loose studies have been here in Chile this semester. Just as I am getting accustomed to my schedule and routine, essentially all my classes take a two week break for 11th of Sept (The Anniversary of the first day of Pinochet's coup), and then the 18th is the beginning of the Independence weekend that essentially last an entire week. Not that I have any problems with any of this, especially since my Grandmother is coming for 5 days next week. I just feel like total number of classes is quite limited by the political fervor...

Speaking of, last Thursday I had my full day's schedule until about 3:30 p.m. (right in the middle of my last class at the University of Chile campus), when class was canceled due to an on campus riot brewing right outside the classroom door. The teacher refused to halt class after two recommendations from passer-byres outside the classroom, but once the tear gas started seeping in creating tremendous discomfort to half the class, it was time to leave. Apparently is was 'Combatant Day' because a few years back a student was killed by police during a protest. In turn, a couple dozen students on campus covered their faces with cloth to protect themselves from the gas as well as their identities while constructing Molotov cocktails and throwing rocks at riot police just outside the campus walls. After fifteen minutes or so, large riot vehicles with water cannons mounted on top rolled in to blast anyone in range. Police also launched tear gas capsules over a good portion of the campus. Definitely one of the most horrible feelings of my life after breathing that stuff in. A couple students were able to get direct shots with their Molotovs on the vehicles, but eventually I assumed they were subdued; I didn't stick around to find out.


On Friday I went out to lunch with my host-father; always entertaining. He loves to talk about anything (sports and politics are most common between us) and always has interesting stories and great jokes. Afterward, I went to a part supply store to pickup some face-paint for the Chile futbol match that coming Sunday. That evening I went to go see a Chilean documentary about the most prestigious futbol club in Chile (Colo-Colo), which explained the reasoning behind the devout passion for the team while following the head of a faction who had recently been paralyzed after a fight between fellow fans. I found it amusing that before the film started, a person representing the film stood up to warn the audience not to riot in the theater or brak anything since the night before two movie theaters had just that happen. the film was obviously a bit biased, but did hint at the gang-like structure of these groups of fans (drugs, mob-like hits on opposing fans or even fellow fans).

All day Saturday was spent at a mining town called Sewell, the mine: el Teniente. This high altitude mine is the deepest in the world in terms of below the surface depth rather than true elevation, and was once a massive community of Chilean workers run by primarily by American industrialists. Now it is controlled by the Chilean company Codelco and remains an important part of the national economy. We got a thorough underground tour as well as a guide-led walk through the snow-covered city.


Sunday I went with my host-father and two buddies to the enormous Bio Bio market in the Franklin barrio. This part of the town is the oldest in the city of Santiago, and is packed with street vendors for blocks. My host-father joked that if you were looking for an elephant, I am sure you could find someone who was selling it. I was in search of a Chilean national team futbol jersey, but ended up buying a Universidad de Chile jersey instead. I'll have more chances to get a jersey, and with more selection. Surprisingly there weren't many jerseys, but then again most of the stuff for sale is second hand or stolen so I can't complain. The afternoon I spent at a Gringo bar called Bar Basico to watch the opening weekend of American football. The owner of the bar is from Bakersfield and started the restaurant since there is no place in the city where you can get a quality burrito nor Cheeseburger. They also have a premium satellite package to get all the football games. I'll be back many a weekends for sure.

That evening was the Chile vs. Brazil futbol match that I had long been awaiting. Too bad Brazil took care of business winning 3-0. Chile played sloppily, took no advantage of their scoring opportunities, and lost one of their best players for the next two games because of red card (cleats up tackle). The stadium was totally packed and the game was such a disappointment. Not that I expected Chile to win, but certainly a better showing for the home crowd. The experience was unlike any sporting event I had been to and hopefully I can see a win on Wednesday when they take on Colombia. This match is the deciding game whether Chile or Brazil qualify for the World Cup in 2010. Each have the same number of point in the South American group, and the loser will almost certainly be out of contention. Below my very quick and rough Photoshop job of the field.

Monday was a light day of reading for class, watching the tennis finals of the U.S. open, and the late Monday Night football games. It's fun to watch sports in Spanish since the positions, rules, plays all have different names/words that you would expect and the primarily Argentinian announcer commentary is priceless. Trying to clearly explain all of the American football facets to my host father is even more difficult.

With a partial day of class today, there wasn't too much news from today other than a couple of my class test dates have been decided and that there is essentially no school for the next two weeks other than a single class next Tuesday. I am getting more and more anxious for my Grandmother to come: we are going to have so much fun. I had one of the program director's email me a list of holiday activities going on throughout the city that I will combine with my own personal itinerary of stuff to do as well. Hopefully the weather picks up a little bit; it's been overcast.smoggy the past few days following some excellent early-spring sun and warm weather.

Chile has got to win tomorrow...Chi, chi, chi...le, le, le...viva Chile! Vamos...vamos Chilenos...esta noche...tenemos que ganar!!!!

Above myself, Daniel Nemrioff and Finn Telles