San Pedro de Atacama

Last week, I went to the driest desert in the world. It was breathtaking, sometimes literally, being that we were at a high elevation and I found myself climbing sand dunes several times throughout the trip.
This trip was a perfect final experience with my gringo group, and it included bits of beauty (sunset at Valle de la Luna), relaxation (sitting with Allison eating thin crust pizza with cold beer), studying (apparently the days until finals still keep counting down when you're on vacation), and even pushing myself to extremes (after panicking on top of a large sand dune, I boarded down it).
The only downside: I messed up my Dad's camera while sandboarding, when I wiped out and sand got in the lens.

Valle de la Muerte

Apparently, there are flamingos in the desert.

Also, a shit ton of salt.

The hat club

Getting our gear for sandboarding

Guess what I have to say...

MORE PROTESTS! But this time they are peaceful and slightly comical to me, the gringa. I promise you that more has been going on in Santiago, sorry I'm bad at updating.

I think Allison's blog (odas.tumblr.com) describes the current protests well:

70,000 students
took to the streets on thursday, continuing the protest about the Chilean education system. 70,000! more and more universities and colegios are going on strike everyday.
also, the tomas (takeovers) that i mentioned in the last post are even more absurd and wonderful and organized than i previously realized. these are generally happening in colegios, the grade schools, and the students took over the schools for at least the duration of this week, and have been staying over inside the buildings overnight to prevent the administration from taking the buildings back over. all day long, they run workshops and educational sessions inside for their own classmates. they take the desks and chairs out of the buildings, and stick their legs through the schools’ fences or put them on the roof of the building. only students who present a valid student id card to the student guard corps at the gate can go in and out.
we walked by several tomas on the way home thursday night around 11:30, and the student guards were still at the ready, and pitching their message to everyone walking by.
there’s also supposedly a team of students who have been running around La Moneda, the government center, carrying a flag, with the goal of running constantly with the flag for some thousands of hours. the idea is: while some might say it’s impossible to reform the Ministry of Education, some might also say it’s impossible to run for 12,000 straight hours around the palace. but that we can work together to achieve the impossible.

 

 A few additions on my part:
-I have not been going to Ingles Abre Puertas...but my students aren't in toma, they're just on your average ol' strike. While I think that the tomas show a level of sophistication and commitment that make it apparent the kids care about their education, the strike at Liceo 7 strikes me (haha, get it?) as the girls just being lazy and not caring whether they have school or not.

-My friend works at a different school, that is in toma. She didn't get the message. So she goes to the school, where a 10 year old boy stops her at the gate and says she can't go in the school. She doesn't understand, and argues. "Hold on," the boy says (though in Spanish, obvio), "I'll go get my supervisor." Much to my friend's surprise, his "supervisor" is a 13 year old girl who has taped a silver security badge to her colegio uniform.

I would love to get an inside peek of a toma, but alas, I am not a Chilean high school student.
Instead I'm stuck with a sinus infection and several exams coming up. Don't worry though--I'm on the mend after a visit to a Chilean clinic (which is a really a huge private hospital, apparently) where I was prescribed antibiotics.

NEXT WEEK: San Pedro de Atacama =)

More protests, and this time shit gets real.

This morning I left my university to use the metro to get to work, to find that a huge (peaceful) march was taking over the entire Alameda (Santiago's main avenue), and thus the entrance to metro was closed. Buses were obviously not passing by since the protesters took up the whole street. I went back to school and studied for an hour, after calling work and explaining the situation.

The march, which the news says was somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 people (depending on what report you're looking at), was mainly university students. From my limited understanding, they are protesting against public universities becoming privatized, and fear that this causes the cost of education to go up. Students are also complaining about having to take out loans for college which take years to repay. I know you all are probably rolling your eyes, since we face this at a much higher cost in the United States. But, I think it's great that the people value their education so much and see it as a right.

Anyway, on to where my story gets intense: An hour after my first try, I reasoned that the march had probably passed and went back to use the metro. The streets appeared empty of people (and oddly empty of cars), and I was confused why the metro still was not open. As I stood there staring, trying to figure out why they wouldn't just open the gates, I heard screaming and looked up to see people running down the Alameda, toward me, ducking in to the bus stops and side streets as a tank with a water cannon came down the road spewing water on the protesters. I quickly ducked down a couple stairs of the metro (if only I could have just gone in the metro!) as people ran. There were also some guys in black bandanas breaking glass at the bus stop beside me. When it seemed that people had stopped panicking, I left the stairs and quickly went to a bench on Ejercito, the street my university is on. From there I watched for about half an hour.

The water cannons were followed by an endless stream of cops: on horses, on foot, in vans, in tank-like-vehicles. Small groups of protesters continued but I didn't see any more violence. Then, however, a large group of cops on horses had on protective masks and so did the horses. I barely had time to guess what was happening next when it did happen: the carabineros (police) tear gassed the crowds. People began running down Ejercito coughing and crying. I was lucky that I did not feel the full effects--my eyes stung and for a moment I had trouble breathing but it was definitely not at the level that most of the protesters must have experienced.

Finally, the chaos moved on. It didn't end, but it continued down the Alameda and I was left free to use the metro and overwhelmed.

I wish I had had a video camera, because I don't think my explanation does the situation justice. It was bizarre, scary, and a bit saddening to see it happen. While I know that some protesters got violent, I saw water cannons and watched people get tear gassed without having done anything but march peacefully. It's one thing for the police to intervene amongst those that aren't protesting peacefully--but from what I saw the water cannons and tear gas seemed excessive and abusive.

On a related note, I just love that Chileans protest in the streets! They were the past couple weeks too about hydroelectric dams the government wants to put in Patagonia that are really destructive to the environment (that's the extraordinarily short version of that story). From what I hear, Chileans are the most mellow of the Latin American countries when it comes to speaking up for their rights, but I just wish that people in the United States could find even a fraction of the energy that these people have to participate in politics.

Familia, Comida, SOUR CREAM APPLE PIE!

Yesterday Al, Naty, and I made some homey USA food for Cecilia, Ines & Ramon (Al's host parents), and Pancho (Naty's boyfriend). Al and Naty had a lot of fun the night before and as a consequence lunch got pushed back and a little stressful. Allison was running around the kitchen like a maniac while Naty danced up a storm to Adele, and somehow it all got done and was a huge success. Allison's mac&cheese tasted like home, Naty's peas & mushrooms managed to make the meal at least seem healthier, and we even had a Caesar Salad (which is, in fact, American. I looked it up!). I also made my personal Camp Broadstone favorite, Sour Cream Apple Pie. Cecilia loved it so much, that since we had an extra pie crust, she made me write out the recipe in Spanish and she gave it a try today to serve at onces! It was super rico, as always. It was nice to cook something for a change, and now that Ceec isn't terrified of me using her kitchen I think I'll cook more frequently. Next on the menu: American pancakes with real maple syrup (Cecilia has a bottle of it as a gift from a previous student).

Right now the whole family (well, minus Matias' family that lives in Peru) is over having a great time. Eugenio's daughters are brushing his hair (he doesn't seem very happy about it, but is being patient), Gabriela and I have been quizzing Cristobal for his anatomy test on bones and muscles in English (it's a little difficult to get him to say muscles without pronouncing the 'c'), and Cecilia is picking on her youngest son, Tomas, like always. It's nice to have them over here because it's a rarity and Cecilia is always so happy around her sons and grandchildren.

I have a cold, AGAIN. I also have more stress over school than I should. But overall, I can't help but be content. I have amazing friends here and a loving host mom. Everything here is perfect, and at the same time I'll be ready to get back to my other amazing friends and family in less than 2 months. All my experiences here have confirmed that I'm doing things right in my life. I love Spanish, I adore teaching high schoolers, and I pride myself on how open minded I have been to all these new encounters.

All I can say, really, is that I'm fooping. I'll have to explain that one later.

I don't have to work because of a few mice?

Well, I arrived to work today to find the school surrounded by police and news stations' vans. Turns out that the students and parents are protesting because some students claim to have seen mice in the school (not sure if it's true or not...) and now they are saying the school is "unclean." They're running around outside the school with whiskers painted on their faces. Technically classes are still going on but the school is practically empty, and the exasperated English teachers said I could go home and hopefully things will be back to normal on Wednesday.

When I got home and explained to Cecilia, she wasn't surprised. Protests like this are very common in Chilean schools. In Chile in general, I suppose. I think it's great that the kids are allowed to protest...but in this particular instance I think it's ridiculous and it's really a shame that they are depriving themselves of their education for a free day (well 2 so far, the protest started on Friday) to complain about some mice that may or may not exist. If only they could see the size of the rats at American, they would be picketing in the streets there too...

Rapa Nui/Isla de Pascua/Easter Island

On Friday, after a 5 hour plane ride from Santiago, I arrived at one of the most remote islands in the world, Rapa Nui. I had read about the rich history and myths, and was excited to see the moai (bigheads-pictured below) and learn more about the theories of where the indigenous groups came from and how they made and transported the amazing works of stone. In this excitement, it didn’t strike me until we got there that I was on a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!!!!! For lack of a better description, I felt like I was in LOST.

The island was peaceful and perfect. I had a lot of alone time and a lot of friend time, the perfect mix. On Saturday we went to the most beautiful beach and I was in so much awe I forgot to put sunscreen on my back! I don’t think I’ll bore you all in this blog about everything I enjoyed and learned on the island—so let’s just talk if you want to know more. For now, here are a few pictures:

Comida de Chile (FOOD!)

You all know my feelings on food. I take a basic necessity and turn it in to an all out addiction. It may not always be healthy, but my openness to eat CONSTANTLY has provided me with awesome cultural experiences in Chile! This food obsession of mine means that this post is probably just part one in a series about food, food, food.

So for now I'll spare you from details of my host mom's homemade spaghetti sauce or the local bar's delicious burger and just tell you about some basic comida chilena.

1. Empanadas. Delicious, savory, stuffed pastries. The typical Chilean stuffing is called "pino" and consists of ground beef, onions, 1 hard boiled egg, and 1 olive (which I always pick out and give to a friend). Here's a picture of my half eaten favorite in Pomaire:

2. Completos/Italianos. Hot dogs. Doesn't sound too cultural, does it? The Chilean part is the excessive amount of condiments--palta, tomatoes, mayonnaise, ketchup, salt, etc etc. The best are gigantes (meaning 2 hots dogs long!) near my school, where you can find them for a mere 500 pesos (about a dollar).

I'll post more pictures as I take them (but it's so hard to pause for a picture when the food is right there!), but beyond my 2 favorite staples listed above, I have also tried humitas-some kind of corn mixture (very filling) that is good with sugar on top, cazuela- a traditional Chilean soup in which you may encounter an entire corn cob, chunk of meat, and whole potato, porotos- white bean soup, and charquican-I don't even know what is in it completely but I can say there are corn and potatoes and this dish of what appears to be mush is delicious!

Oh I almost forgot....Any kind of meat you want--A LO POBRE!

This happens to be congrio (king clip fish) a lo pobre. More common is lomo a lo pobre or pollo a lo pobre. As you can see, the meat is served on a bed of cooked onions, with fries, and a fried egg to top it all off. It's ridiculously disgusting, and ridiculously yummy. I like to break the yolk over it all and add some ketchup to the fries. Mmmm.