for those loyal fans, i am here to post my final goodbyes and reflections on my life in chile. at this moment i am sitting in the library at UCSD, pondering the speed with which a transition can be made. just seconds ago--or so it seems--i was sitting in a van being pulled away from my 6 1/2 month home. as i watched the city disappear, i knew that this transition would be a fast one, but not this fast.

my time in chile is something that i hope to never forget. i hope to keep it vivid in my mind, avoiding the "dreamlike status" that somehow overtook the memories of my summer in germany. i find it difficult to think about life continuing there without me...but i know that i can always go back.

i have learned so much about chilean culture over the past months. i have learned about their prejudices and racism, their beauty and culture, their style and politics. i have come to incorporate "po" into my lexicon. i have come to appreciate the cheap and delicious empanada and humitas. i have grown to love "jote" (red wine and coke) and "fanschop" (orange soda and beer) and--yes--even pisco. as i throw out the occasional chilean reference in my new life back in the states, i only hope that you all will bare with me and understand that these things will take a while to shed from memory and practice.

in the midst of "wrapping up" my chilean experience, i cannot overlook my most recent expedition to peru. i spent 10 days taking buses to different areas, making stops in arequipa (an adorable little town...host to a frozen incan corpse named Juanita!), cuzco (to see machu picchu), and puno (to see lago titicaca). it was an incredible trip in which i discovered that peruvians are incredibly friendly, incredibly attractive, and incredibly good cooks. the three of those combined made for great friends, great "sight-seeing," and yes...incredible food.

i made it back to chile...after struggling to find a means for transportation home due to a transport strike (classic!)...and was welcomed by the kindness of my former host family. it was nice to come full circle, being able to start and finish my life in chile with them by my side. they were so amazing to me--it was truly difficult to say goodbye. as i left i said, "until next time..." and hopefully that is the truth.

thanks to you all for your support throughout this experience. sometimes traveling is too glamourized--in no way was it easy. however, i could not have asked for a more perfect experience, nor more perfect friends and family to welcome me home.

que les vayan superbien....

beth. o.

la hermana y el paro

what a week it has been.

last thursday i made my way to the airport after days of countdown in order to pick up my sis. she flew in from ecuador and spent all of this past week with me. we had such an amazing time, doing lots of day trips and just enjoying each others company. she is so amazing and i love her so much. it was sad to see her leave, but it will only be two months before i see her again. time will surely continue to fly.

this week has been quite extraordinary, however, not because of my sister's visit, but because of the tension felt throughout the city of santiago. it is pretty incredible, really; not in an, "ooo, this is so dangerous" kind of way, but rather a, "wow, students really CARE" kind of way. let me explain a few of the occurrences of the past week, just to give you a little idea of what it feels like to be in an incredibly politically charged environment...

on monday my sister and i went to valporaiso and were kind of out of the loop from the real world. i had heard talks about possible student strikes, and a few weeks prior there was an incident with tear gas on my street, but i thought that everything was pretty much standard protocol...the same old student protests that occurred once a year for few extra school lunches or something. i was wrong.

on tuesday i decided not to go to class so that my sister and i could do some shopping in downtown. as it turns out, i didnt miss class because class had been completely canceled. my roommate called me to tell me that our tests had been canceled for the week and to stay posted on the status of our class. i didnt quite understand until i left my house...

walking down the street, my sister and i were soon greeted with the all too familiar tickling in the throat that happens right after been hit with tear gas. poor sister wasn't quite ready for it after coming from ecua. anyway, we made it onto a bus and out to the safety of my university, only to see that my entire school was on strike---the music department, philosophy, political science, education, history, geography--all on strike. incredible. no school. this wasnt supposed to happen at my university.

the week passed---wednesday, thursday, friday---no class. nothing. i went to class on thursday just to talk to my professor and he told me to stay in contact with him regarding tests etc. he gave all of the chilean students a pep talk, encouraging their participation in the marches and demonstrations. he was in full support of the law change that backed the movement and encouraged the conservative private school students of my university to break loose and demand their rights as opposed to worrying so much about the grades and schedules of tests. pretty great.

basically, what they are fighting for is more than the government can provide. clearly there is a need for a compromise, but so far the students haven't given in to the idea. the students are demanding free public transportation passes (which would cost the gov't enough money to build 7 new hospitals) as well as the abolition of an exam entrance fee (similar to the SAT fee) that hinders the possibility for many students from low income families to enter schools. while i do not agree necessarily with the demands, i do agree with their biggest demand: the change of the organic teaching law, or LOCE. this is a law that establishes the curriculum for students that was set during the dictatorship and that has not been changed since. it establishes what students are to be taught---and what they are not to be taught---as well as makes schools under the control and funding of seperate municipalities. this causes a huge disparity in school quality between rich and poor communities. it is clear that this must be reformed, and i believe it will be...but with time...and perhaps a large cost.

what is amazing to me is to see the students so active. students from the poorest schools are joining with the students of the richest schools...and vice versa...for the purpose of changing the entire system. around midnight last tuesday i heard noises outside my window, only to realize that the school across the street was being "taken." students moved into the school, locking out teachers. they have been there ever since, being brought food by friends, insisting on change before they leave. it is incredible. they sit there day and night, waiting.

today i walked by casa central of the Universidad de Chile. there were students in the windows, a reggae band playing music outside on the sidewalk. complete chaos. incredible.

the city is alive, alert, aware of every move "la presidenta" michelle bachelet is making. it is a huge test for her---one that she has not yet passed. the students are unhappy with her response, although i thought her proposal made on thursday was a pleasant compromise. unfortunately, i think it will be another few days before any concessions are made on either side. we shall see.

as for me, i am avoiding the madness. there hasn't been a ton of action the last few days...and thank goodness it did not hinder my visit with my sister. while some of the students from the program pose for pictures in front of riot police, i feel as though the right to protest is a right that i simply do not have in this country. i am not about to pretend that i am chilena. this isn't my fight. it is moving to see the action and excitement of the students, but thats about it. if we are caught protesting, our visas are taken from us immediately and we are sent home. im not about to mess with that possibility.

a lot of people are trying to "play up" the situation like it is total madness here, but it isn't at all. everything is under control and i am sure that this will all be over soon. there is an overall vibe in the air---a vibe of anticipation and change---but that is about it.

i miss you all so much. i only have a little over a month now. it will flyyyyyy...so i am just trying to live it up for now. a few more tests....a few papers....a few snowboarding trips...a little macchu pichu...and then i will be back in the sun. love you all.


beth o.

where has the time gone? the weeks have flown by and i dont even know where to begin.

i find myself in a panic to do absolutely everything before i leave in july, and yet at the same time a part of me just wants to sit in santiago on the weekends, hanging out with friends and enjoying the little things that i love so much about my life here. while i love to travel, i have grown attached to this city and the backdrop of the (newly) snow-covered andes. it will, without a doubt, be a tough goodbye.

tonight i had my last session for my chilean culture and politics class. our guest lecturer was a woman named tita parra. she is the niece of violeta parra who is a famous chilean singer/artist that has become a symbol of chilean culture. the whole parra family is very musical and we were priveleged to have her come to our class to sing with her son. as she sang of her love for her country and the simple observations that brought her joy every day, i felt a sense of content. while this trip has been a challenge, i have learned so much about this culture and about myself. i am so happy.

today--like every wednesday--i went to the bus station to get on my bus for the hour and a half bus ride to chinigue el cristo in order to teach english. when i arrived, the bus driver recognized me, led me to the bus, and started bragging about me to his co-workers and the other people on the bus. so great. there is one point in the drive where we cross over a bridge and there are horses and cows drinking from the river where it forms an estuary with a bunch of white cranes---it is spectacular and it takes my breath away every time. while i arrived at the town only to discover that classes had been canceled for the day, that one scene made the whole trip worth it.

when i think about leaving here, a part of me gets extremely excited and the other part of me is terrified. i cannot wait to see my family and relax at home, but i truly love my life here. i love walking to the metro every day, finding my way home on the complicated bus system, looking up randomly at the statue of mary on the top of cerro san cristobal, walking to the theatre to watch ballet, deciding randomly after class to grab a beer with friends, having interesting coversations with cab drivers, all of the things that i never really did in the states and that have really made me grow as a person. i know it sounds so cheesy, pero no se que decir.

my sister comes to visit from ecuador tomorrow. im so stoked---i cannot wait to show her around. im not sure how she will react, seeing as santiago is extremely different from her life in manta. we shall see--im just so excited to spend time with mi nana!!

i know this was kind of a lame attempt at a blog entry, but better than nothing. i will try to be better as this experience comes to a close. i'll have a lot of "deep thoughts" to share im sure. i hope all is well with you...

....beth o!

mountains, books, yarn, friends, pictures, classes, sleep, copper, spanish, argentina

it has been a whirlwind of a month, but i am finally back here, on the 28th of april, to share a little taste of my adventures, or to at least try.

on the 25th of april i reached my three month mark. pretty incredible. its funny how time works...sometimes moving so slowly, sometimes so quickly, and sometimes i feel like my mindset is constantly stuck at the same moment. the other day i wrote "january 22nd" on my paper. am i stuck in january? is this all a dream? i hope not. and so i am here to write it down, forever my proof that i was, in fact, here.

it seems that the trees have begun to drop their leaves here in santiago. its amazing how drastic the season change is here. i went to bed feeling as though we were in the middle of summer and woke up with a cold breeze storming through my window. it was time to go to the yarn store.

yarn in chile is incredibly cheap, so i made it my goal to begin a project. that's not to say that i dont have so many other things i should be doing, but i find knitting to be the perfect activity for the hour or so i spend on public transportation everyday. needless to say, i am starting project number two and have become the envy of many of the girls on the program who didn't have mothers (or grandmothers) quite as cool as mine that taught them how to knit.

since i last chatted with you all, i made a trek across the andes and back. two weeks ago, i decided to go for a little adventure on my own. i emailed my friend soledad in buenos aires, bought a bus ticket, and i was on my way. twenty hours later i pulled into the retiro station in buenos aires, looked out my window, and was greeted with a yelping soledad. we had an amazing visit. our friend adam came down from brazil and we had such a great time exploring the city of buenos aires. i even got to meet soledad's family--her little sisters are so adorable, and her dad and step mom were so sweet to accept me into their home. we had a such a good evening, even though the chicken took two hours on the bbq and eventually was brought into the house to be finished in the oven. kind of funny that little scenarios as simple as that can happen anywhere in the world. it was perfect.

upon my return to santiago i felt a sense of panic as the realities of being a student hit me and i buckled down for a tough few weeks. tests, papers, reading--whoever said school here wasn't difficult was a complete liar! i guess there is a reason why the international students take the classes designed for foreigners instead of being crazy and enrolling in the regular department classes. oh well---i am learning a lot and a little challenge never hurt anybody.

along with school, i have started my routine of going to the village of el monte to volunteer. while i originally sign up to do interviews in the campamentos and help out with health care in the poor parts of town, i am now being placed where my help is more drastically needed--the school. the past two wednesdays, i have taken an hour and a half busride to this little town called chinigue el cristo in order to help teach english at a school for K-8 graders. every time we set foot in the school, we are treated like movie stars. i am working there with two other girls. last wednesday, i received more "besitos" than i can ever count, getting sick of bending down to these tiny children to do the standard chilean "little kiss on the right cheek greeting." it was definitely a workout for my immune system, and for my back.

the first wednesday was simply an introduction to the school. the principle--a middle-aged man--was kind of a downer. he's pretty much a sleaze-ball that was put in charge of a staff of women that are so amazing and dedicated. he sits at a big desk, signs papers, and has his eyes closed to the many problems that face his community. we sat with him for an hour on the first day at his school, only to be asked about what we thought of chilean men and how much english he knew and where he had traveled in the united states. lets just say i was happy to get out of his office and into the classroom. and yet, once in the classroom i was greeted with new issues.

classroom discipline, or rather discipline of children in general, is non-existent in this country. once in the classroom, a classroom of second graders, i was shocked to see the pure chaos. the kids could not, WOULD not, stay in their seats. and the teacher would not tell them to sit down. needless to say, that was one of the first phrases they learned "sientense = sit DOWN." at lunch time, these two boys were fully engaged in a fist fight while the "supervisors" pretended like nothing was happening. i stepped in to break it up--i mean, what was i supposed to do?? aside from those subtle frustrations, my trek out to the campo every wednesday has proven to be a refreshing midweek break to the chaos of city life.

there is something odd in the air these days and it has me holding my purse a little tighter than normal. last week four of the girls in my program had experiences with theft/sexual harassment (aside from the constant piropo). i think we are begining to feel like we truly live in this city and have begun to let down our guard. i am hoping to take their experiences and make sure that they do not become my own. it is nothing serious--no need to get worried--its just that i am finally realizing that crime actually does exist in this city. the many warnings we received upon arrival were more than just casual advice.

this weekend is a nice little breather for me. i am hoping to relax a bit and get myself ready for a busy month of may. tomorrow a few of us are headed to pomaire--a small town that is known for its crafts and traditional chilean food. its only about an hour away from santiago, so it should be a nice way to get out of the smog and perhaps buy some fun hand-crafted goodies.

i miss you all so much and i hope to keep you more updated in the upcoming months. i have been thinking about home a lot lately, realizing just how great i have it made with so many amazing people in my life, and thinking about just how great it will be to get back there and give you all big hugs again. dont get me wrong, i love it here. there is just something about that sense of home that comes with the people you love that can never disappear...even in the presence of a city/country with so much to offer.

chaochao
beth

i love sundays. walking back from my new gym, listening to the song "i am infinity," admiring the huge trees that line my street, i was filled with a sense of peaceful contentment. this is such a huge city, but there is still that one day each week where you can actually hear yourself think. everyone is resting or going to church. even taxi drivers seem to spend more time parked on the side of the road than actually driving. sunday is a day of rest--that breath that we all need to take when we realize that things are starting to move just a little too fast. it helps us keep our sanity.

i know it has been a while since i put anything down here for you all to read. i have made many attempts, but always find myself getting distracted or frustrated or both. more and more i feel like there are so many little things to relate to you all--little realities about the people and the city that i discover every day, but that i forget by the time i get home. i have started keeping a notebook and pen in my purse to jot down things so that i can share them with you, but i feel like they lose their sense of importance or irony when taken out of context. we'll see--i'll try to share some with you sometime.

classes have begun to pick up, so i feel as though the weeks are just slipping away. i had an awesome, but short, visit with my parents last week. i think they were both impressed with the history of santiago and the generosity of the people here. i am so glad that they were able to see my home and take in, first hand, some of what i have come to love so much about this city. i believe tonight their boat is leaving ecuador (where they visited with katie) and heading up toward panama. for those of you who havent already heard, their boat was the one all over the news about the death of 12 passengers. everything is fine now, though, and mom told me that the cruise has carried on without being overshadowed too strongly by such a tragedy. i only hope for a safe trip for them through the panama canal, to florida, and back to arizona. such an adventure!

i guess i will leave it at that for now. i will have more for you soon regarding my venture into getting an internship. i have decided to devote five hours a week to going to a small pueblo on the outskirts of santiago that is plagued by poverty in order to help in an organization that provides assistance to the community. i think it will enrich my experience here, as well as show me the stark reality of many people in chile that don't live with the luxuries and opportunities provided by the city of santiago.

more to follow...i need to get to sleep.

chao...y que les duermen con los angelitos...
beth o.

woah

If I can pull this off it will be amazing. I have so much to say that I am overwhelmed with this task of recreating my emotions and my experiences in order to give you all the slightest taste of what it is to be behind my eyes.

Let me start by saying hello to all of you new listeners. For those of you who are yet to hear the news, my blog was featured in the newspaper here in Chile. I got home from my backpacking trip through Torres del Paine to have my chilean host mom open the paper and point at my picture. Apparently a newspaper writer was searching through blogs, found mine, liked it, and wrote a column on it. Talk about no privacy on the internet! Regardless, it was pretty cool to hear someone admire my writing--especially in the newspaper! So...now that the curtain has been drawn, I will try to catch you up on the last two weeks of my Chilean life.

Two nights ago I got back from a trip through Patagonia. For those of you who are geographically challenged, Patagonia is the Southernmost part of South America. We started our trip by flying down to Punta Arenas, took a bus to Puerto Notales, and then embarked on a five day hike through Torres del Paine National Park. It was a whirlwind adventure, one that can be depicted much better through the use of pictures due to my lack of synonyms for the words beautiful and spectacular. Regardless, I will relay to you an entry from my journal that I wrote while sitting on the top of a rock watching Glacier Grey:

"Everyone is staring at a block of ice. We are all waiting, wondering, pondering the meaning, the significance, of this huge mass, a timeless entity, older than we can imagine, bigger than we can behold, like the God of this park, the LocNess of this natural wonderland. Each step I take closer, the colder I become, first feeling a chill on my fingertips, then enveloped in pure, bitter cold. It stands perfectly still, frozen in time, suggesting a desire to move, to be set free from the mountain. But each day it sits, stuck for eternity, slowly letting go bits and pieces of ice which float freely through the water like elegant swans, each with its own identity, its own story. I am overcome by the scene. Amused, hypnotized almost, by the stillness of each block of ice. They sit in the lake, staring back at the giant from which they came and mock the ice that has not yet found its freedom. I admire the shapes. One takes the form of an hourglass, ticking away its own existence. As they float closer to the shore they become smaller, smaller, until they are the size of my hand and become clear, glasslike works of art. I pick one up and realize that I am about to view the last few seconds of its beauty as it melts in my hand, becoming but a pool of bitter cold....This place is absolutely spectacular. I have never been somewhere where I felt so small and yet so alive. Every day we hike a little further, seeing things more spectacular than the day before. Ever day the beauty of nature is reinvented in my mind and the contestant from the day prior is wiped off my radar, only to be reinvisioned by glancing back at photos. I assume that most of you won't be given the opportunity to come to this park, and I don't believe that a visit to this park is necessary to have the profound experience I have had. It is just amazing to go somewhere and look around you and not see a single thing manmade. It is amazing to stare at something and to realize that it has been there for ages. It is amazing to feel the sensation that you have to take a picture of something--even though you have already taken twenty of the same thing--just because at that exact moment it seems slightly more magestic than the twenty times prior. It is amazing to feel so exhausted and yet be struck with this drive to keep moving, just to reach the top of the next summit--and upon arrival, you are rewarded with a view even more profound and beautiful than the one before..."

I could keep going, but I think you get the point. Among other realizations and thoughts that passed through my mind, I gave a shout of thanks for my health while hiking. I will go ahead and say that I was probably the healthiest hiker of the crew. To be honest, at the start of the trip I thought I might be pulling up the rear as the least experienced backpacker. On the contrary, when it came to day 5, I hauled ass down the mountain, the only one in our crew to finish without an achy knee or ankle. I can't tell you how many times I have sat in a dressing room and cried of frustration or looked at cute outfits in magazines only to realize that they would make me look like a whale. I have always cursed my body--my damn thighs, calves, and (of course) my ass! But this trip made me realize that I should be thankful for my healthy body! I went so far, worked so hard, climbed so much---more than any stick thin model could ever do. So...thank you body...thighs, calves, and (i guess) ass.

This trip really was amazing. After our voyage through Torres del Paine, we stopped off in Chiloe, a small island off the coast of Chile known for its folkloric culture. I wont go into a ton of detail because I really dont think it will do much good. Chiloe is a great area, but I will have to go back when I have more energy to truly explore. All in all, for the three days we were there we accomplished quite a bit. I rode a horse along th beach (for free!), shook my ass and was laughed at by hundreds of people, ate mariscos (clams/mussels) that had been cooked for hours in the sand, saw penguins, and hitched a free ride home in the back of a truck with a bunch of other Chilenos. I rode on a ferry, had a conversation with a (sketchy) pharmaceutical rep for alternative medicine (weird), stayed in a mansion with an ocean view for less than 10 bucks a night, drank Peruvian hot chocolate, and watched break dancers while sitting in the center of town at eleven oclock at night. Really, it was a awesome.

By the end, though, I was ready to come (home) to Santiago. Getting on the metro again felt like a gift, and the streets filled with people all moving in their own direction brought back that rush of energy that I lost while away. Classes start on Monday, so until then I am just taking it easy. Possibly headed to a Reggae bar tonight--we shall see.

I hope you are all doing well. Sorry for the length of this post. I just had a lot to say...and Im still not sure if I was successful in capturing it all. I moved out of my host family's house yesterday. Thank you to all the random Santiaguinos that helped me on my way---making it through the metro and across the city with all my stuff and no car was a huge challenge. Everyday I am more and more impressed by the kindness of the people here.

Chao for now...

beth o.

Vina Concha y Toro

TGIF

What a long week! Its official, we are done with two out of three weeks of our intensive language program. Tomorrow morning we take off for another excursion to the beach, this time to smaller villages called Santo Domingo and Cartagena. It should be interesting to compare/contrast them with our experiences in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar last weekend.

Thursday we went to the "WORLD RENOWNED" vineyard Concha y Toro. It was absolutely gorgeous, but almost felt a bit like Disneyland in its perfection. The wine was pretty good, although Im not a huge Cabernet fan. It was nice to get out of the crowded city and escape the constant noise of traffic. Its amazing that just twenty minutes away lies such beautiful terrain and refreshing silence.

After more than two weeks, I have come to love some things about Santiago. Firstly, the empanadas...or rather the food in general. In the U.S., there doesnt exist a good meal in the 1-2 dollar range. Here, its standard practice. And whats GREAT is that the food is not sketchy (knock on wood). Walking down the street, there are little tiendas with signs for empanadas and humitas (like tamales, but no meat filling, just choclo--corn). For 900 mil pesos, which is about $1.50, you can buy an empanada, humitas, AND a drink. Que Pulento (cool!)!

Secondly, I love the history, and the fact that walking down the street there are signs of it EVERYWHERE. Santiago was founded by an indigenous group called the Mapuches. It was an ideal location for a settlement--there was a river that provided substantial water and there were two hills that could be used as "look-outs" for intruders. These two hills, now called Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal, have been fully incorporated into the city and are constant reminders that this huge city used to be but a small pueblo of Mapuches.

What is increasingly interesting is that lack of anyone wanting to claim their indigenous heritage. The apellido (last name) can generally indicate any ties to the Mapuche, Aymara, or Rapanui peoples, and because of this some people have changed their names. There is this constant desire to be as European as possible--you can see it not only in the desire to change names, but also in the fashion trends here. The architecture, as well, screams with trends of Victorian England. As a whole, this country is undergoing (in my opinion) an identity crisis that is so interesting to observe after having studied a bit of the political history.

Along these lines, any of you interested in a really good movie or if you just want to practice your spanish listening skills (or caption reading skills), check out the movie Machuca. Its actually about the military coup in September of 1973 from the perspective of two youngs boys. From what I have studied, it is very comprehensive and accurate, and gives a little glimpse of humanity that is more interesting than reading a history book (and a glimpse of my campus, where it was filmed!).

I hope this finds you all well, and that you found my comments slightly interesting. I'm sure at the end of these six months I will have even more viewpoints to share and history lessons to give.

Take care and Happy Friday!

chau chau,
Beth O.

P.S. Highlight of today: Im on the bus with two girls headed to the bank when, from behind me, a man starts whistling. What song was he whistling, you might ask? "Take myyyy hand...take my whole heart tooooo...cause I...cannnt....helpp....falling in love...with...you"---hilarious.