Last free week

Countdown to class...finally. I start Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m. with an economics class in the social sciences department (my backdoor strategy for taking an economics class since they won't let me through the actual department due to extreme difficulty). I have another class at 10 a.m. on the social history of Latin America, and then a third class with the entire abroad program on Chilean politics and culture at 7 p.m. I also have a class titled 'la nueva ruralidad' - the new rurality, which meets once a week on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. I am so excited that school is finally starting, that's why I came down here right? I was also able to select classes that all take place at the campus 15 minutes away from my house, which is very convenient.

So I did my best to try and take advantage of this final free week the best I could. Monday I attempted to pickup my Chilean identification card, only to be denied once again and told to come back in a week. I also had to head over to the college campus to make sure that my desired classes still existed and the meeting times stayed the same. This was not the case and had to rework my schedule a bit. It's all taken care of now.

On Tuesday I spent the afternoon at the oldest bar (circa 1916) in Santiago, La Piojera. The strange names comes from a story that a former Chilean president Arturo Alessandri was invited by the leader of a workers syndicate to this bar and upon entering he exclaimed, "Have you brought me to a lice-house (piojas->lice...piojera) or what?" Since then the place has taken on the name. They are famous for their chicha (fermented corn, apples, or other fruits) and their 'terremotos(earthquake),' a mix of fermented white wine, pisco (part of the brandy family, made from distilled grapes) and ice cream. The place has a real Chilean atmosphere.


Thursday I went out with some buddies to have a traditional Chilean dish called a Lomito, essentially a gigantic pork sandwich with guacamole and tomato. Solid. Afterward we went next door to a cafe that also doubles as a social group for people who want to practice their English as well as for others, like me, to practice speaking Chilean. The place is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, and sadly attending will begin to conflict with my school schedule. Hopefully I can just scoot over after class from here on out.

Friday, few girls in our program hosted a EAP beer pong tournament at their new apartment on the 11th story of a downtown complex. It turned out being very fun despite being entirely gringo since my fellow Santa Cruz slug friend and I were declared technical champs. I saw technical because the landlords cut the power to the apartment after one warning. Pretty strange, Friday also a Chilean holiday and the electricity is cut to the place before 8 p.m. That's some gringo hate right there.

On Saturday, a couple of friends and I went out to take a visit to a famous concentration/torture camp during the coup called Villa Grimaldi. My friend's host-brother has a relative who redesigned the site as a place of reflection and was able to give us the inside scoop about all the architecture, murals, history, etc. Current president Michelle Bachelet and her mother were even tortured here. It was a powerful experience and I could draw many similarities to my trip to Cambodia. Dictatorships from what I have seen/read are almost have a formula. I can draw so many parallels between Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Stalin's Russia, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Peron's Arentina, and Pinochet's Chile. Sickening.










I would like to end this entry with a shout out to Michael Phelps. what an Olympian. An inspiration to all athletes and Americans. Too bad for Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. He was the last hope for Chile to get a gold medal this year and got crushed this morning by Rafael Nadal in the tennis finals. I woke up at 5 a.m. to watch the match and had to head back to sleep following the second set. The Chilean have still been able to recognize the success and joke, he is the master of the metals...being the only living tennis player to win a gold, silver, and bronze medal. The American Basketball team (no longer the Dream team but the Redeem team), should be able to bring the gold back to the U.S. They are looking absolutely dominant. There is a big Olympic soccer match on Tuesday: semifinals between Brazil and Argentina. I'll be up at watching at 6 a.m. EST cheering on the baby blue and white.

I just received the travel plans of my grandmother who is due to visit during the national independence weekend. I am so excited and can't wait to see her. It's going to be a lot of fun.

That's all for now, I'm out.

Back from Buenos

Wow an amazing place. The rest of my trip felt like a whirlwind, constantly cruising throughout the various barrios and other parts of the city. I'll do my best to include all the highlights...so many...

Last I left off we had just finished touring the botanical gardens in Palermo. After popping into an internet cafe so my buddy could chat with his parents and I could put in an on-the-go blog entry, we marched to the MALBA (Museo de Art Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires).

Filled with countless works of art in all forms of media, the free experience (yes, free on Wednesdays) was unforgetable. Works by Frida Kahlo, Tarsila do Amaral, Diego Rivera, Roberto Matta, Jorge de la Vega, and Xul Solar are just some of the many artists portrayed. Afterward we toured the massive parks around the barrio and ended up at the Evita Museum, which exists in the original Transition Home built by the former Vice President nominee and social worker. Inside holds many of Eva Perón's clothes, portraits, and artistic renderings of her life. It seemed to be very one-sided and girlish exhibit, but its hard to say anything bad about Eva in Argentina after all that she did for the lower class and women, but her legacy is certainly controversial. No need to get into a political debate...

At the end of the day, we returned to our hostel to meet up with two more friend who had agreed to join in on our trip. The following morning we started the day off with some glasses of yerba mate from a cafe like true Argentines...I'm quite fond of the drink, like it even more than coffee to be honest. We then set forth to barrio La Boca to checkout of the futbol stadium of the historic squad Boca Juniors and this unique part of town.
"La Bombanera" is quite a site. We explored the museum on the team's history under the stadium, then went on a full stadium tour (press room, locker rooms) and even sneaked up into the top section to the highest point in the stadium for a view.

We continued on to another part of Buenos Aires called San Telmo for an excursion of touristy areas called El Caminito (below) and Plaza Dorrego that has a lot of artesanal history, but now is just overrun with tourists. We didn't stay long.

That night it was my buddy's 22nd birthday, so we went out to uptown Palermo to a nice meat restaurant, La Cabrera, and I must say it was probably one of the best meals I have ever had and cheap too. Good stuff.

The next day we left our hostel for a tour of other parts of the city, and just outside the front door to our place, a massive walking protest was taking place. The march probably had about 10,000+ people from different political groups and spoke out against the current government of Argentina for their lack of concern regarding inflation levels and standard of living.

We asked a man on the street about the protest, and learned that the majority of these people were unemployed and we actually being paid by the government about once a month to participate in this march. They want legal recognition for their unions and walk down the widest street in the world (17 lanes) in Avenida de Julio towards the government buildings to fight their cause. Very interesting.

After following around the protest for a while, we got back on track and proceeded to barrio Recoleta where the Cementerio Nacional exists. Inside, mausoleums of previous presidents, politicians, and important figures are all held inside this place. We saw the final resting place of Evita Peron in addition to many others. Seems pretty wild that the majority of the well-known figures in Argentinian history are kept in one cemetary. Very different from the U.S. I could not vet over what a perfect place it would be for tag, paint-ball, etc. Bad thoughts...

Practically across the street was the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. What a treat. This 3 story landmark holds paintings from countless artists, and dedicates entire sections to Argentinian art as well as pre-columbian works. Van Gough, Monet, Picasso, Diego Rivera, Kadinsky, Miro, La Trec, Matisse...amazing. You could spend 5 hours in this place.

That night we headed out to a bar to watch some Olympic coverage. I love this time of year and there is a reason only comes every four years (well two if you count the winter Olympics which are awesome too). I hope China can keep a lock down on its country like it normally does, but all eyes are on them and the pressure is intense. They already dropped the ball with the murder of an American tourist related to the coach of the U.S. Men's volleyball team. I just have a bad feeling this type of stuff is not over yet. There is still a week and half left.

Our final day we headed back to Palermo to enjoy our final afternoon in the giant parks. We ran into an spot that rented our sports equipment for free (skates, ping pong, basketball, soccer, etc.). We were told that it was paid for by the government and it seemed as though a good number of people were taking advantage of the service. What a great concept. We also had a couple of classic Choripans (chorizo+pan(bread)) for lunch and our pre-bus ride meal.

Excellent.

Bus ride took quite a while with a one hour stop in Mendoza. But that was perfect because I got to watch the second half of the Olympic futbol match between Argentina and Australia. Argentina barely pulled it out with about 15 minutes left and basically played keep away until the final whistle. The trip was one of the best I have taken and I am once again so glad that I get to return with my entire family. It is going to be a blast. Upon returning hope I discovered that my classes have been delayed yet another week which is just ridiculous. I am heading to campus to talk with my potential professors about the schedule because many of the dates and times of classes aren't official yet and are subject to change. I need exact times. Bah. Hopefully I get this all straightened out by the end of today. I am also going to pickup my Chilean identification card (carnet), which officially makes me a temporary Chilean citizens. Sweet. Should be able to muster up a post near the end of the week. Cheers...Go U.S.A!!

Argentina

Well since I have another week of until classes started, a buddy of mine decided to take off to Argentina for a weak. Great decision. Exchange rate awesome, country spectacular.

We left for a small ski town called Penitentes just ten minutes beyond the border of Chile/Argentina. We were stuck at border patrol for about 6 horus which was horrible. Its a great place except for the fact there is no bank, atm, and no place takes credit card. We stayed there one night, ski'd all the next day, and then took a collectivo bus to Mendoza in the early evening.

The drive through the Andes is amazing. We spent only an hour at the bus station in Mendoza, and then boarded another bus to Buenos Aires (12 hrs). We are currently staying at a cool Hostel called Millhouse that´s full of Brits, but the atmosphere is nice and its very cheap.

We only have another 3 days in this city so we are cruising around like mad to see as many sites as we can. Museums, botanical gardens, barrios, widest stret in the world, dykes, natural reserves, sreakhouses. We attended a futbol match betweeen two argentinian clubs last night (Estudiantes vs. Independiente). What a great experience. The Argentine soccer fans are the most passionate on the planet hands down. Independiente scored the go ahead goal with a minute left in the match. Great game. Currently we are cruising around a barrio called Palermo which is such a beautiful part of town. Below is the Carlos Thays Botanical Garden, amazing.

We are hoping to stay a couple nights in the house of a cousin of my buddy´s host brother, but our cellphones do not work here so the setup process is currently a bit slow. I must asy, I loev this city so much and I could definitely see myself living here. I can´t wait to come back with my entire family in Deecmber. Sadly, we will have head back to Santiago on Saturday and i´ll post an update of the end of our trip sometime this weekend. Cheers.

Time for School...not

The beginning of this week has been nice and busy for me so far. I like it. Monday morning was orientation for Universidad de Chile. My program group has now been cut virtually in half since other students are attending La Catholica. However, the entire program has a mandatory class from 7-9 Tuesday/Thursday on Chilean culture with a number of guests speakers and field trips. Should be very interesting, I get 5 UC credits for it, and it satisfies an area studies requirement I need for my major. Excellent.

I arrived at the Business and Economics campus in downtown, one of the many campuses situated all over the city of Santiago that makeup the university, and did not realize that there would be many other Students from around the world attending this orientation through other programs. Tufts, Stanford, France, etc...there were a lot of gringos and foreigners in the house. We all sat through a series of PowerPoint presentations explaining the history of the university, library system, how to register for classes and afterwords were chartered on buses over to the Macul campus which holds a good portion of the faculties...it is TEN MINUTES from my house. Score.

The campus seemed pretty interesting. Rugged, large, lots of classrooms and space, graffiti, diverse student population...I even got offered a swig of some boxed wine being shared amongst some Chilean students as our group passed by (of course I took up the offer). At the end of the tour, we returned to the Econ campus downtown to pickup a book of the courses being offered this semester. I then proceeded to give myself my own tour of the Architecture campus next door, beautiful and active since their classes had started that day. There was a large book sale taking place on the campus; picked up Teddy Roosevelt's "The Rough Riders)" (english) about his 6 month participation in military campaign in Santiago in 1898 as well as Gabirle garcia Marquez's "Relato de un náufrago" ('The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor', obviously in Spanish). After, I headed to a downtown cafe to look through the course catalog, and on the way to downtown I was strangely offered a position to be a model by a Chilean company. I kindly turned them down, lol.

I headed back to the same building the next day to have a one-on-one meeting with a professor of La Chile who has been helping exchange students with class selections for a number of years as well as to pick-up my university I.D. card which is ironically my only form of identification other than passport since I lost my Santa Cruz Id and driver's license. I decided to take a Geography class with an economic emphasis, one on the Chilean copper industry, one themed around middle eastern conflicts with the west, as well as a Chilean history class centered around the indigenous population during the conquest. Classes have been delayed another week and a half because of the strikes, but I received the excellent news that the director of the undergraduate program at La Chile has emailed all professors to request that the international students be allowed to finished the term as scheduled (Dec 6) rather than having to wait out the rest of the semester depending on the specific department. I was worried I would have to be in class potentially all the way up until Dec 20th. Phew. My class schedule is subject to change if I see other classes I like, but for right now I am happy with it. Later that day I tried to pick-up my National Chilean I.D. card, but there was a mix up with my name on an important form. For some reason the registration office put III as my maternal last name. I went back to the office to have that fixed, and the process had a 2 hour wait. I'll head back to the ID card office tomorrow to request my card again, but I will most likely have to wait another week for it to be printed. Drag.

Well that's all for now. I am getting excited for my ski trip this Friday with the program, especially since it is only $24 dollars for lift ticket and transportation to the mountain (group discount). I am thinking about taking a bus to Mendoza, Argentina this weekend to go skiing, but it depends on the whether, price, and my motivation. We shall see. Take care, cheers.

Winding down...

Phew, what a nice week off. After having school everyday with field trips and meetings and such, it was so nice to be able to relax. But tomorrow the real deal starts. I have my orientation at Universidad de Chile at 10 a.m. to get a tour of the campus, ground rules, etc and then a private meeting with a faculty member from the university as well as a faculty member of the EAP program to receive advice on potential classes to take. I am a bit disappointed that I cannot take economic-intensive classes because the standards for economics department are much higher here in Chile. The EAP staff highly recommends other classes that will not be as difficult. Despite being a 4th-year Global Economics student, my experience level with economics classes does not even compare to the economics students down here. I can however take economics-themed classes in other departments that are accepted towards my final major requirements I have left such as globalization and Chilean specific economy classes. The only problem is that each department starts and ends at different times. Classes in the economics department start tomorrow and finish up Nov 28th, whereas the majority of the other departments have been delayed due to the strikes over the General Education Law and some don't finish up until as late as Dec 20th. I only need to take 3 classes, and a majority of them meet only 2 times a week (Tues/Thurs), which could potentially mean 4 day weekends every week. However, I will not mandate that my schedule is setup so nicely. After browsing through some of the class catalog, I am looking to take classes in history, social sciences, general education, and potentially literature. I want to take a class on the successful mining industry down here as well as a rare opportunity to take a literature class solely on Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral. I can't wait to have a real schedule lined up for the next 5 months and start living the true Chilean college student life.

Last Wednesday I headed back to Valparaiso with a friend of mine who hadn't visited yet, and also checked out the neighboring town of Viña del Mar. The best way to compare the two cities is that Valparaiso is Chile's San Francisco with an artsy-rougher vibe whereas Viña next-door is more like San Diego with cleaner streets and buildings and much more wealth. They even have a lavish Casino!, but I wasn't gusty enough to test my luck playing blackjack in Spanish though I regret not playing at least a couple hands. The trip in total was 3 days, and very fun because this time instead of taking a bus, we rented a car which opened up many new possibilities for exploring. We also got lucky with the weather which makes the whole beach-side experience much better. Below, a Viña sunset...





After returning on Friday absolutely exhausted, I mustered up the energy to go to Santiago's Club de Jazz, the best jazz club in the city(Louis Armstrong once performed there). Friday night they had an interesting jazz-funk trio, but the experience wasn't satisfying enough for me so I came back the following evening, after the Muse show of course.


My long awaited Muse concert at Teatro Caupolican was great. The Brit rock group's first visit was amazing, with the venue entirely packed and fans singing the lyrics in unison despite probably not knowing what any of the words mean. The band members used a bit of Spanish in between songs to address the crowd while waving a Chilean flag about. The crowd loved it, I loved it. Yes that's Galaga in the background below.

Only down side was the venue isn't stellar. The floor seats were 65 dollars and sold out before I even got to Santiago, and the venue's construction made it impossible to sneak about. I paid 30 for upper level, but judging by how packed the entire place was, I was happy with having a good view and 'some' space.

Obviously as a result of the consecutive long days, I have comedown with a bit of the sniffles, but I'm getting better by the minute. I spent the majority of today completing an online traffic school from a silly speeding ticket I received just before leaving. Felt pretty strange taking the course in international waters. But the process was painless considering the circumstances. That's all the news for now from the Southern hemisphere. I have the EAP program ski trip this coming Friday, but not too much else coming up other than initial university stuff. I'll shoot for a next entry Saturday. Cheers and nos vemos.

Video I took during the show below.

Start to Break

What a coincidence, break began on Friday and Saturday afternoon there was a Chilean futbol match between La Chile (Universidad, but not affiliated with the school, just holds the name), and Union Española. I went to get some tickets on Saturday at the national stadium accompanied by my host father. Interestingly when I asked him to come with me to buy tickets, he misinterpreted that I wanted him to come to the game. He responded by saying that he couldn't go inside the national stadium because of the bad memories is brings him. During the Coup of Pinochet, troops used the national stadium as a torture and mass slaughter site. Famous Chilean musician Victor Jara was killed there, many believing troops chopped off his hands before execution. Shivers...

Anyways, we attended the match and it was a lot of fun. A passionate crowd nothing like anything in the states, and this is just the club league. Offensive songs, fireworks launched from the crowd, flares, the whole nine yards. Thank god La Chile won the match, 4-1 (almost 5-1). Afterward I was able to walk home since my house is less than 2 blocks away.

On Sunday, I went to go buy tickets for the National team futbol matches that will take place later this year. What a steal, Chile vs. Brazil, Colombia, Argentina for $50 US. Can't wait to see how those games play out. The two again Brazil and Colombia are World Cup Qualifiers and they mean a lot since in the Latin American group for the world cup, only the top 4 teams qualify with the 5th place team having to play a wild-card match against the 3 place team from the North American group. Currently Colombia leads the South American group, followed by Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and then BRAZIL. I am sure most of these teams will qualify but there is still a lot on the line.

On Monday night, one of my buddies in the program has a Spanish teacher from UC Davis who has dedicated his life's work to Chile and is an American. Michael Lazzara, PH.D. from Pricneton, is the real deal and recently published his 6th book. "Luz Arce: Después Del Infierno" his most current work is the story of a woman who worked close under Allende during the glory years, and then switched sides and turned on the party. He had a book publishing event last night at the National Library where in the audience was the widow of a former Allende supporter who was killed as a result of the side-switching by this woman.

Following excerpt readings from the book, the event turned into an open forum in which tough questions were posed as well as individuals making tense statements (one 15 minutes long). Chile is such an interesting country considering it was not long ago that the entire state was under a dictatorship and now it is currently seen as a model nation for the rest of Latin America. However, the polarized conditions of the masses cause a lot of angst and emotion when politics are brought up. The rapid transition from out of the horrors under Pinochet to general prosperity is unprecedented and makes discussing the past difficult. Too many people see the situation as black and white, whereas the goal of Mr. Lazzara is to try and change that mindset. A very powerful event, I was very lucky to be able to attend and then have dinner afterward. What an night.

I am going to try and head back to Valparaiso for the next couple days to show some friends around the city who haven't had a chance to visit it. Be back in a few days, cheers.

Chi-Chi-Ch-Le-Le-Le, Universidad de Chile!

Free!

ahhh yes, Intensive Language Program completed. Friday was our last day, which for me consisted of a walk-in-the-park final exam followed by a PowerPoint presentation about my groups adventures to Valparaiso, specifically the problems that exist in the fishing industry between commercial and artisan. We rocked it and in return received many a'compliments afterward. Now begins a 10 day vacation and then student's attending La Chile University have a registration day on July 28th to discuss what classes we plan on taking. I was planning on using this time to travel outside Santiago, and I still might, but I have the Muse concert on the 26th and that in turn hampered my plans. It is alright since I would like to explore more of Santiago and the immediate surroundings before bolting to Machu Pichu, Beunos Aires, etc. I will have plenty of time in the coming months to take care of those trips. A buddy of mine and potentially a few others would like to rent a car and drive an hour of two outside the city, but we have not established firm plans. Seems better to keep stuff flexible.


As for the last week in recap, Tuesday afternoon, half the group got the opportunity to tour the inside of La Moneda (a.k.a Chilean White House) and see many things that normal visitors do not. In addition, President Bachelette was coincidentally in walking through during our tour and I got to see the back of her head...woohoo...as well as the Minister of the Interior. Strange culture down here considering that no tour group would ever be able to be within 50 feet of the president in the U.S., especially these days. I am not even sure if they still do complete tours of the White House anymore, but it wouldn't surprise me.


That evening, a good portion of the program went out to celebrate my birthday, especially since it was a national holiday the next day: Carlos Olin Montalvo III day, j/k. Two holidays, one religious and the other a northern South America deal. Anyways, we had a lot of fun, watched a bit of the all-star game and went late into then night. Too bad that it took so much out of me that I slept through my alarm the next day to go skiing at Valle Nevado, the highest altitude, best skiing around. Shewt. That's alright though, once again I will have many a chances to ski and since it was a holiday, ticket prices were raised to around 60 bucks and it was more crowded than usual. Heard the fellas still had a lot of fun.

Friday evening I was able to see the new Batman film, The Dark Night or El Caballero de la Noche. It was kind of like a learning exercise since the film had Spanish subtitles and I could learn some new vocab like El Guasón or the Joker. I really enjoyed the film from start to finish and Heath Ledger matched Jack Nicholson in his portrayal of the Guasón. Hope he gets the posthumous Oscar he deserves.


That's all for now folks, be back in a couple of days. Cheers.