Pop Music

One of the things I've found most interesting in Chile so far is how much, and in what forms, American culture reaches and manifests itself here. Most apparent is the incredible reach of pop music.

The tunes of American pop, hip hop, and rap stars play in the majority of the bars and clubs, though perhaps last month's hits instead of the most current.

I've chatted with teenage girls about their favorite music, and for the most part, all of the artists they named were American--Hannah Montana, Beyonce, some alternative rock bands, to name a few--and they couldn't get enough of the music videos on Chile's version of MTV.

When I visited the home of the family of a friend from the states this past weekend, the four young girls performed a dance they choreographed to none other than the queen of pop, Madonna. Even though Madonna was way before their time, and living and performing thousands of miles away, they knew all the words.

When we were traveling in the north, we passed through a tiny one street town, and I saw a boy, maybe 8 years old, riding a bike and wearing a shirt with Michael Jackson's face on it.

I was in a club this past weekend and the Chileans were just as excited to hear "Hey Mickey" and the medley from Grease as they were to hear Akon and Ke$ha. And the seriousness with which they danced to the former (no interpretive dancing or jokey moves here) made me question my notion that these songs were really more suited to a sock hop than a discoteque.

Aftershocks

I wrote in an earlier post about my experience of the huge earthquake in Chile a couple of weeks ago, and about how my group and I were extremely lucky to be totally unharmed except for a little scare. Ten days later though, I'm realizing that even though I wasn't physically affected in any way, and even though on the surface Santiago seems relatively unscathed, this earthquake is going to have deep ramifications for my life here and for the country as a whole.

First, and on the most practical level, the start date of classes at the university where I'm teaching has been pushed back once again. It's strange to think that by the time I start working, I will have been here for almost a whole month. I'm sure that the rest of the semester, and the work that my students and I do will reflect this shaky beginning. It's definitely going to be an important lesson for all of us in flexibility, which our coordinators have already stressed is essential both in this country and this job.

The happiness and excitement of finally finding an apartment was tempered by the news that one of my future roommates lost family members in the earthquake. She has been in Conception for the past two weeks, and the other two girls I'll be living with have yet to speak with her. All they know is that both her sister and cousin died in the quake, and that another of her relatives is still missing.

Even in the north of Chile, where I was this weekend, and where there was no damage, there was an air of solemnity. Every Chilean we met asked us, within minutes, whether we were here for the earthquake and how it was for us. And everyone seemed to know someone who suffered from it in one way or another, and their concern and sadness was really apparent. One of the most striking things we saw while in the north was actually a huge group of high school students collecting any and all types of goods--food, furniture, toiletries, etc--to be sent to the south. We were walking back to our hostel when we came upon them, loading up a tractor trailer with what they had collected. One of my friends went to take a picture of them, and they all immediately broke into a song/chant and excitedly posed for the camera. (Unfortunately I couldn't make out exactly what they were singing, but the closest thing I can relate it to is a sports fight song. Hopefully it wasn't a taunt to the gringos trying to take their picture. It didn't seem that way at least...)

It has been a surreal experience being here in the midst of this national crisis. On the one hand we are right in the middle of it, but on the other we are in many ways separate from the real catastrophe. But, as resident of this country, no matter how new, I feel really connected to Chile at this time of need. My group is exploring opportunities to help out with the relief effort, and we'll probably try to head down there once things settle down and they start to need more volunteers. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to share them with me, and if you feel inclined to give in any way, trust me, Chile really needs it.

La Serena

With the start of classes pushed back a week, some new friends and I decided to take advantage of the last long weekend we'll have in a while, not to mention to tail end of the summer season, by heading to the beach. Since we had received word that Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, the two closest beaches to Santiago, were still recovering from the earthquake, we thought we'd venture a little farther north, where there hadn't been much impact at all.

We took the six hour busride to beautiful La Serena, the second oldest city in Chile. (As a side note, a six hour bus ride may sound pretty miserable, but I must say, Chileans have the bus system down. The bus we took, which wasn't even the most luxurious, was by far the most comfortable vehicle I've ever traveled in. I got some great snoozes in sitting in my full reclining seat, and enjoyed the view of the countryside, all for around $20 round trip.)

Our hostel in La Serena, Maria's Casa, is an adorable little complex of tiny bright yellow buildings, lovingly run by Maria and her husband Pancho. Maria greeted us each day with fresh fruit for breakfast, straight from her own kitchen, and I was lucky enough to get a bracelet making lesson from Pancho, who specializes in leatherwork.

We had a fun-filled weekend of beach-going (though the weather wasn't exactly cooperative), a visit to the beautiful Elqui Valley, and two celebratory nights (my friend's birthday) at a oceanfront discoteque and our own private beach bonfire.

Pisco, the unknown aperitif

One of the first things that was recommended to me when I got to Chile was a cocktail--a pisco sour. I've tried other "sour" drinks before, but I had never heard of the liquour used in Chile's national aperitif of choice. This weekend, in the Elqui Valley of northern Chile, I got a first hand look at just about everything I'd ever want to know about pisco.

The Elqui Valley is the only area of Chile where the pisco grape can be grown, not only horticulturally, but also by law. The liquor has been described as similar to a brandy, though to my untrained palate, a pisco sour (pisco + lime juice + a whipped egg white) tastes a little like a margarita. On Saturday we visited the piscoteca Capel, which is where that particular brand of pisco is manufactured and bottled. We were taken on a quick tour of the piscoteca, while our delightful Chilean guide explained the process. It's quite labor intensive to make pisco, with a lot of distilling, fermenting, etc, but for a drink with this much clout, that's to be expected.

The final stop on our tour was the cellar, where we could each sample one of the various varieties of pre-mixed pisco cocktails. Salud!

Photos

In case you're interested, I'll be posting all the photos that I take on Snapfish. You can access my photostream here. Hope you like them!

Visit to San Cristobal Hill

Yesterday some of us decided to venture up to the highest point in Santiago, el Cerro de San Cristobal. The hill is visible from all points in the city, particularly the HUGE statue of the Virgin that sits atop it. Though we had a little trouble finding the entrance to the park, we finally got to the point at the foot of the hill where you can catch the funicular (sort of like a train that takes you straight up the side of the hill) to the top. It's also hikeable, but lacking the proper gear, we decided we'd save that for another day. Here are some photos from the summit--definitely the best view of the city I've seen so far. Apparently it's really spectacular right after it rains because it's much clearer. Nevertheless, it was pretty breathtaking. The walk down was pretty fun too, even if it was a little treacherous trying to avoid the bikers, cars, and vans on the winding road.

 

The view from inside the funicular. Actually pretty scary...

 

Un almuerzo chileno (A Chilean Lunch)

Yesterday I got to visit the home of a Chilean friend for a delicious lunch. I'm lucky enough to have some wonderful Chilean friends in DC, and I was invited by their family, Ximena, Miguel, and their two twin daughters, Mery and Valentina. I'm happy to have the chance to share my experience of true Chilean generosity, especially at a time when many foreigners might be getting a bad impression of what is really an incredibly considerate, friendly people.

I met Ximena at the metro station closest to my hostel, but because of the earthquake, we were not able to take the metro back to her home in Puente Alto in the southeastern section of Santiago. We arrived by bus to their charming neighborhood set right at the foot of the Andes mountains. The view was spectacular, even on a somewhat hazy day, and I could only imagine how breathtaking it would be when the mountains are covered in snow.

We spent the afternoon chatting and eating delicious pastel de choclo, which is a traditional Chilean dish made in a ceramic bowl of ground corn (choclo), meat, olives, onion, and egg. It's kind of reminds me of a pot pie, not in flavor, but in how it looks and is put together. Here's a photo of one (unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of Ximena's). I have to admit, it was a little tough for me to understand my new friends' speech at times--there are just so many unique words in the Chilean dialect, and their manner of speaking is so distinct. I found myself constantly begging "perdon?" and I'm quite sure that I missed a big chunk of what was said. I didn't need to understand every word though, to understand that this family is one of the kindest of any I've met, and I am so happy to have them as friends here in Chile.

The daughters amused me endlessly, with their questions about America (What is Broadway like? What are the most popular zoos in the United States?) and their interest in American music (they knew more popular artists than I do). It's one of my favorite things to see how people outside the United States view our culture, especially our pop culture, and these girls were experts in it. Miguel also, is very familiar with United States culture, and we had a great time sharing experiences of Chicago (where he lived several times). We discussed differences in work culture, food, and social customs and taught each other new words in our respective languages.

Today we continue to have setbacks in our schedule due to the earthquake. We were supposed to register for Chilean ID cards (so official!) but until further notice (that seems to be the dominant theme with respect to the earthquake) they are unable to serve foreigners, only Chileans. So for now, we wait, not only on ID cards, but on news of whether classes will start on time, and whether we'll be able to do the necessary orientation with DUOC. Only time will tell.