September in Santiago: Iquique, fietas patrias, y amigosss

Hello world, sorry I fail at writing blog posts. Ready to read a novel? Ok great.

Just for some context, here's what i've been up to the past few weeks:

• September 3-5th: Trip to Northern Chile with CIEE
• September 10-12th: Anna visits Santiago!
• September 15-20th: Chile celebrates its bicentenario; 200 years of independence!

(I'll leave you with another song, so you can dance while reading! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfoc4S1cFGs)

See Iquique waaaay at the Northern end of Chile? Almost in Peru!

Part 1: Into the desert!
I'll start with the trip that I took a few weeks ago to northern Chile. My program, CIEE, took us to Iquique and Pica the weekend of the 3rd-5th. We started by getting to the airport at 6am (heyyyy 4am wake up call), and promptly ended up on the plane at 7am. Oh yeah, except for that tiny little snafu, when our program director and two students missed the flight. So, instead of setting off on our scheduled tour we had coffee/nap time. It helped a lot that this took place in a gorgeous hotel overlooking the Pacific ocean; crashing waves on one side, the driest desert in the world on the other. It doesn't get much more incredible than that. We spent Friday touring around Iquique (I'm sure I could tell you much more about the history of the city if I had been paying better attention to the tour guide. But hey, three hours of sleep plus quiet spanish speaking guide=seriously hard para prestar atencion.) I really enjoyed visiting Iquique though--it's a beautiful little town, with really interesting architecture (huge influence from the English, who were really involved in the economy....seeee I did listen a little). There were awesome murals painted all over the buildings, and as we were walking at one point we ran into a huuuge group of kids dancing la cueca (Chile's national dance). That evening we went out to dinner and ate the most delicious seafood; of course only after pestering the waiter to explain/translate every single fish for us...we left a good tip.

Iquique

The next day we got up bright and early (this was not a trip to catch up on sleep) and drove over the cordillera on the coast, and arrived in the heart of the desert. It was absolutely like nothing I've ever seen before. Everywhere you looked it was brown and dusty, with the sun beating down on everything. In some places the most rain they get is mist in the morning every now and then. While driving through the desert, we stopped to tour an old salitrera, or saltpetre/nitrate mine. Next we went to a ghost town nearby, where the miners lived before abandoning it in the 70s. The best part of this for me was the strong dessert sun and temperatures in the 90s! After going through Santiago's coldest winter in 98 years, we were all ready for some warmth. From there, we drove off of the main highway, onto a twisty bumpy road, to go see ancient painted rocks on the side of a mountain. These are remains from long ago, preserved in the dry desert climate.

The group! (apparently we fail at centering ourselves...)

After visiting these areas, we drove further into the desert to Pica, which is a little town nestled into an oasis. We drove across a salt flat; the bus tires spun over dry, cracked earth, and mirages of water arose in the distance. As we drove off of the salt flat, all of a sudden the landscape changed. We rose up a little, and saw that orange trees began to pop up out of the dusty, brown earth. We went swiftly from sun scorching desert, to a small, quaint town, sustained by the underground water keeping it alive and thriving. In Pica we visited a small, natural hotspring, and wandered around through a small art fair, the sun slowly setting behind groves of orange, lemon, and grapefruit trees. Once back to our gorgeous hotel (props to CIEE, we dined and lived in style) we managed to catch the tail end of the desert sunset, which was made especially spectacular by the purple and red glow that appeared on the mountains to the east.



Hungry after a long day, we walked 40 minutes back into "downtown" Pica (oh heyyy one main road), in search of some dinner. Everything seemed to be either closed, or just a small hole in the wall restaurant serving completos or empanadas. Our large group of about 16 gringos walked around, until a car pulled up to us; the man inside explained that he owned a restaurant and was out looking for people to come eat there, that we should go! So of course, we decided to see what it was like. Wandering into a back alley, we entered into a dimly lit hallway, which opened up into the most adorable restaurant. One side was full of tables and a small bar; the other side had a big fire pit with lots of benches surrounding the pit, the cieling open to the starry sky. We ordered food, and then spent a lovely long evening eating, sitting at the table talking, and every now and then heading to the fire to warm up and enjoy the crackle of the flames. Heading home that night, I spent more time looking up than in front of me; the desert stars are incredibly clear and bright, and just absolutely breathtaking.

Part 2: Anna visits and we do some Santiago exploring
The next weekend Anna came to visit me from Valpo! I met up with her on Friday night, and after some searching for her friend (failsauce) we ended up right outside of La Catolica for a nice dinner. (Haha and by nice dinner I mean "grilled cheese" with tomato and avocado...but seriously delicious). We adventured off to the other side of town to go to Alexandra's house. When we got there the table was full of delicious food made by her wonderful mom; guacamole, chips, mini choripanes, olives, and locos (Chilean shellfish). We spent a long time there, hanging out and meeting her friends (a lot of them I have class with at La Chile!) and then headed out to a club. The next day, we went off on a long transportation adventure (metro to metro to micro aaah!) and met up with my friend for an asado--basically a barbecue with sausages in bread, piscola, reggaeton, and friends. Very fun to get to know more chileans and visit Las Condes, a part of Santiago that I never go to, and therefore don't know very well.

That night Anna and I stayed in because a) we were exhausted, and b) it was September 11th, which meant some potential unrest in the streets. In the U.S. September 11th has its own significance obviously, but it is extremely significant in Chile as well, as it was the day of the coup that overthrew Allende and placed Pinochet in power for the next 17 years. We watched the news that night, and there were many violent protests and rioting in the streets in reaction to what happened during the dictatorship. It was really interesting to get to talk to my host family about la dictadura and get a better understanding of the still very polemic divide of politics in Chile.



The next morning Anna and I got up bright and early to go trekking! Unbeknownest to us, while weather.com bragged about temperatures in the mid 70s and sunny skies, we walked out into a cold, rainy day. And unfortunately for us, we both decided to wear shorts and no raincoats. Hahhhh. Either way, we met up with my friends and spent a fun albeit cold morning hiking up a cerro in the foothills of the Andes. It was actually quite beautiful to see the cordillera covered with clouds, and then to climb up into those clouds (wet, but awesome).



To wrap up the wonderful weekend, Anna and I decided to go get a cafecito before she headed out of town. Of course since it was Sunday everyyything was closed, but we stumbled upon some weird restaurant/pub/biker hangout. Kind of the perfect way to end a great weekend: drinking a mediocre cup of coffee, listening to a medley of 80s rock, ocassionally having to ignore the jotes attempting to speak to us in english from the next table, and planning future South America adventures with a good friend.

To wrap up a wonderful weekend, we celebrated mi abuela's birthday on Sunday! For lunch she made tons of delicious homemade empanadas, and then for once we had homemade bread and alfajores. Some family and friends came over, and we spent a relaxed evening chatting and eating. At the end, once almost everyone had left, we had the great chance to talk with Daniel, the student who lived here last semester! He called via Skype and we all got to talk to him--like he was back at the table with us all again. All in all, a very special birthday.

Part 3: Chi-Chi-Chi Le-Le-Le Viva Chile!!
How to describe the bicentenario? First of all scratch any ideas you've ever had of a typical 4th of July Independence day. Not nearly the same at all. (When I describe our Independence day to chileans they just laugh really hard and reply, "que fome!"...how boring!) Here the party starts Wednesday night...most people don't go to school on Thursday or Friday, and generally professors cancel classes anyway. Saturday was the actual bicentenario, and then today, Monday is a national holiday. My host parents explained to me how some people save money for months in preperation for el 18 de septiembre, while others make the most money they will all year over these four or five days.

To start off the celebrations, CIEE had a workshop to teach us all cueca, the national dance. It's kind of a mix between morris dancing and some latin dance. Lots of stomping and dancing in circles (that makes it sound really unattractive, it's actually really pretty). It's supposed to look sort of like a flirtatious dance between a chicken and a rooster, and when you dance you wave around a pañuelo, or handkerchief. We all looked pretty silly doing it, but it was a lot of fun to learn (and came in useful to know how to do).

On Thursday night the official bicentenario celebrations really got kicked off. Christine and I met up to go watch a lights show in front of La Moneda. I walked from my house to meet her, and when I passed by La Moneda 2 hours before it started, the lawn was already packed. When we walked back to go to the show, essentially every single resident of Santiago seemed to be on la calle Alameda with us. We tried to get close enough to see, but spent about a half hour squashed between hundreds of people, almost falling, being shoved violently from side to side. There was so little room that at one point a bunch of guys started pushing and about 50 of us swayed in unison, panic and shouts arising from where we were. We decided that living was better than being able to see (hahhh, but really), so we peaced out of there as fast as we could (which wasn't very quickly) to go to a less crowded area. Couldn't see very well, but at least we weren't afraid of falling and being trampled by todos los santiaguinos. Here's a video of the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtRCjtw46To. Fortunately I had seen the "ensayo" (preview) two nights before, so I didn't mind not being able to see.



Friday I went out in the afternoon to the fonda in Parque Ohiggins with a handful of friends. Fondas are where basically everyone goes to celebrate el 18; basically they take place in all of the big parks all over Santiago and are FULL of people eating, dancing, and drinking. Sort of like a state fair, but minus all the animals and rides. And then on some serious steroids. There are people everywhere eating anticucho (kebabs with meat/onions), choripanes (sausage sandwich), mote de huesillo (google that one, it'll take too long to explain), and drinking chicha (a type of wine). Smoke from all of the grills fills the air, and from all over there is a dull roar of voices and music. The different fondas are huge tents that have been constructed, where you can buy and eat all the aforementioned food/drink (plus pisco and cerveza and the famous terremoto...pineapple ice cream, white wine, and maybe rum). The fondas are packed, and inside people dance to cumbia, cueca, and reggaeton all night long...and then come back the next 3 days to do it again. Such a fun/sensory overload experience. Yet again, I'd just like to reiterate how much I love where I live. Not only do I have the best family in the world, but we live super close to everything. Parque Ohiggins is a 10 minute walk from our house, and is one of the most famous fondas in Santiago (mostly because it is so crazy--there's no cover charge to get into the park--but also there's a tradition that some of the politicians go there to dance the cueca to start off the celebrations).

Anticucho!

Saturday, the 18th was the actual Independence Day. After waking up my abuela taught me how to make empanadas from scratch! (I wrote down the recipe and will be having an empanada and pisco party when I come home.) We made 40 empanadas (yeah baby) and have been eating them ever since. Renatito and Leo dressed up in adorable little outfits to celebrate the day. That evening Hector and I wandered back to the fondas at Parque Ohiggins to buy chicha and eat an anticucho; to say the least, the fonda was completely more llena than before. As we walked around we looked at all of the people who had already passed out on the ground from a long day (perhaps weekend) of partying. From there I went to meet friends (of course showing up an hour late, chilean style) and we spent a wonderful night talking en español and dancing, closing the club down at ungodly o'clock.

Making empanadas:

Sunday after sleeping in late (and getting teased about carreteando harto) we had a late lunch and then went to mass at mi abuela's church. I'm not generally one for Catholic services, but I had a really good time with them. We got there late (so seems to be the way with two small children) and stayed for about an hour. Since it was a special bicentenario mass, everyone in the chorus was dressed in traditional cueca/huaso clothes, and they played/danced the cueca. I had a really good time because hanging out with my family is always great: my parents and abuela just have such good senses of humor and are always laughing and joking. When we walked back from the metro we ran right into the military parade that was going through downtown Santiago (once again, such a prime place to live). I didn't notice, but apparently when one of the soldiers on horseback was going by he stared at me the entire time (I'm blond in a country where approximately 8 blondes live...what can I say). My parents thought it was the most hilarious thing, and as we walked back to the house they made plans about how I need to marry him (I think I'll pass). As we continued our walk back, just one block after passing through the parada militar we ran into a brigade of cars, which was apparently all of the politicians, including President Piñera, leaving Parque Ohiggins. Pretty cool!

Woooo, so that is my life at the moment! I'm a bit beat, we got back from a relative's birthday party; apparently small chat is harder in spanish--I should have known this before going. Tomorrow I have class for the first time in forever, and then tomorrow night is another relative's birthday party; mas carrrrrete ayy. Loving life in Chile, hope you are all doing well! Suerte to those who have just started back up in school and those who are now off on study abroad. Sending love to K as the year starts up again! And happy birthday, Dad!

Chau y besitosss