Well hopefully you've all been reading your daily newspaper and know about the wonderful news in Chile; a mine caved in, trapping 33 miners inside about 3 weeks ago, and it was unknown whether or not they were alive. A few
days ago the rescue workers pulled up a drill (they were trying to get to where they thought the miners were) and a note was attached from the miners, saying that everyone is fine! This happened on Sunday, and as I walked down Alameda, the main street running through Santiago, cars everywhere honked their horns in celebration. People leaned out of car windows, flying their Chilean flags and shouting in celebration. There was a real sense of euphoria in the entire city, which was extremely powerful to feel. In all the plazas around Chile people gathered to sing, cheer, and show their happiness and support for the miners. It's going to take a long time to get them out, but it had been a hard few weeks not knowing whether or not they were alive. (Here's an article from today's NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/world/americas/25chile.html?_r=1&ref=world). This picture is of Presidente Piñera with the miners' note ("We're fine en the refuge, the 33").Another noteworthy piece of news is that a thermoelectic plant has been approved to be built in Punto de Choros, a beautiful area in the south of Chile known for its diverse ecology. People have been really upset about this, as a) it's basically going to destroy the environment in punto de choros if built, and b) Piñera promised to oppose the construction of just such a plant. Yesterday there were peaceful protests that turned a bit crazy when the carabineros (police) brought out fire hoses and tear gas (!!!). Here's an article about the construction of the plant: http://www.santiagotimes.cl/news/environmental/19641-regional-environmental-board-approves-thermoelectric-plant-near-chilean-marine-reserve. I don't know what the reaction of everyone in Chile is, but a lot of students that I've talked to have been really upset about it. (Another link: this is in spanish, but there's a video that shows some of the protesting/scenes here http://tele13.13.cl/noticias/nacional/20399.htm).
Let's see...This past week was full of visiting and enjoying time with people. The weekend was a mixture of saying goodbye/hello. On friday Allie had an "anti-despedida" (despedida=farewell) on Friday, and we all got together to say goodbye, but mostly just to celebrate in the here and now. Simultaneously the Valpo CIEE kids came to visit for the weekend so I got to see Anna and Maddie!! It was so so wonderful to see them and show them around the city; also extremely surreal to meet up with K kids in the middle of Santiago, but lots of fun! Anna came over for once on Saturday and got to meet my family. Renato basically couldn't stop showing off for her/staring at her. It was really freaking cute. (My parents joked that I should bring my blond gringa friends over more often so that Renato will behave that superbly all the time.) The valpo kids stayed at an awesome hostel really close to my house in Barrio Brasil, which was super convenient, and also cool to meet other random people traveling from all over the world. Anna and I decided that hanging out in hostels is definitely something that has to happen more often. The entire weekend was so warm--the most beautiful that it's been since I've been here! On Sunday I showed, Maddie, Anna, and their friends Emporio de la Rosa--it got a great review from everyone (new flavor to try: ginger-orange).
Once again, some quick snapshots:
- Continuing my daily walk home tradition (I cannot express how happy this makes me at the end of everyday, no matter how tired I am), yesterday I zigzagged across downtown Santiago, starting at a bookstore and ending up at a random church (I saw some awesome steeples from far away...what can I say, I had to check it out!). From there I pushed through the rush hour swarm of people, stopping at a sopaipilla stand to get two delicious fried disks of dough with the secret salsa. There is nothing like ducking through crowds of people with a steaming hot sopaipilla in hand, heading towards sunset over the screaching traffic of downtown santiago.
- Metro fail. I left late today and got to San Joaquin (one of the la catolica campuses) right as my class was starting, but I still had to print my homework. However, the printint system here is so convoluted: basically you log into a computer, press print, wait in a line in another room, give your paper to a person at another computer (they put it into a printer), you go to ANOTHER computer, sign in, press print, and wait for your papers, hoping that it worked. In other words, I wound up 20 minutes late to class. However, this is a pretty standard thing for a lot of chileans, so not a problem. Excellent. (I already show up an hour late to most things here...aka meeting up with friends...I just want to let you all know that I'm never going to be on time to anything ever again.)
- I TOOK A NAP IN THE LIBRARY TODAY IT WAS SO GREAT. They literally have a section of arm chairs FOR NAPPING. New favorite place at San Joaquin.
- A few weeks ago Allie, Ale, and I went to a concert to see wonderful folk/traditional/chilean indie artist Pascuala Ilbaca perform. So cheap, so great. Definitely not enough people take advantage of the concerts (thank you Allie for pointing this out to me). Anyway, here's the link to her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/pascualailabaca. My favorite songs are "Diablo Rojo Diablo Verde" and "Ay mamita mamita". Basically, she's just awesome and has this super impressive, powerful voice.
- I HAVE A NAME!! And by that I clearly mean that Renato has finally given me a name, although it's still used pretty infrequently. I'm called Allie but pronounced cute baby chilean style aka "Ahgee" ("ll" turns into a "j" sound en espanol). Name name, I have a name!
- It sounds like two dogs are killing each other outside my window. Just normal.
So I appologize--I sort of fail at taking pictures here, but I'm going to try to take more (aka pester my friends to bring their cameras out and then steal their pics...but of course). Here are some for now!
With Alice and Allison one of the first weeks here, trying delicios pasteles! Side note: basically ever gringa is named something like Alice/Allyson/Alexandra/Alejandra. If you yell "Allie" into a crowd of gringas, I bet you at least half of them would respond to you.
Some pics with mi familia:
Renato playing before lunch.
La Leo! So adorable. (The papelito on her forehead is a secret trick to get rid of hiccups.)
Hector teaching me to make panqueques--what we'd think of as crepes.
Today was beautiful! Enjoying the sun in one of the quad/plazas at san joaquin (la cato)
We like to play with my camera a lot. (...It's better than coloring on my homework with pen. Slash also lots and lots of fun.)
One of my favorite streets in Santiago near Baquedano/Santa Lucía--It's got lots of fun cafes, bookstores, is close to el parque forestal (awesome huge park), and the heladería of course!Much love to all! Cuídense y besitoss.
No comments:
Post a Comment