Not Your Typical Tourist Trap

I've been a little behind on posting this week. To be honest, it's been a rough week for me here, as I know it has been for everyone from my area in the midst of the surreal tragedy of the death at UVA. Although on the one hand I'm grateful I'm here, somewhat removed from the news, the talk, and the heavy sadness, at the same time I'm wishing I could be home to support the people I care about who have been even more deeply affected than I. But, of course, I can't, and there really is nothing that any of us can do to better the situation except pray for the families of both involved.

But, before all of this, I was fully intending on writing about a couple of things that I did this past weekend. On Saturday I took the somewhat unusual excursion to the Cementerio General (General Cemetery) of Santiago. It was a quick ride on the metro out to the north of the city.

I have never visited a cemetery as a tourist activity; I haven't even been to Arlington cemetery. In fact, it's kind of a strange concept to me, but it's listed, right there in our guidebook, as a sight to see. And, as it turns out, it was just that.

It was different than any cemetery I've ever seen in the U.S. in that there were large cement structures, with graves built into them, stacked up, one on top of each other, almost like blocks. (Sounds strange right?). The person's name is then carved into the side. There were some graves that were more similar to what we have in the U.S., but it seems the Chileans have a different way of paying their respects to the dead. They go way beyond flowers, leaving all sorts of things--from sports jerseys, to soda bottles, to plastic windmills--on the graves of their loved ones. Although to my eye it was a little cluttered, at the same time it was refreshing to see the personal touches. To me it seemed decidedly more genuine than our custom of putting any old flowers on someone's grave.

We saw the graves of some famous Chileans, like Salvador Allende, and also visited the monument built to honor those who died or disappeared during the military dictatorship. Perhaps what I liked most about the cemetary was how quiet and tranquil it was. It was like a mini escape from the city. And you can't say that about many tourist destinations.