Problemas con la Comunicación

Communication Issues


Here are some of my most memorable errors of the past few days:


1. "How was pilates?" my Chilean mom asks me. "It was great," I say, "except my men hurt a little bit." For the record, the words for shoulders (HOMBROS) y men (HOMBRES) are deceptively similar.  To clarify, it was my shoulders that were hurting a little bit after pilates. 


2. I am trying to coordinate the purchasing of concert tickets with a friend. I say, "Ugh, I don't have any change because I went to the ATM the other day and when I tried to take out money the machine spoke to me..." My poor, dear Chilean friend looks terribly confused. I have to explain to him that what I meant to say was that the machine gave me (ME DIO), not that it spoke to me (ME DIJO). The machine gave me only 20s, and that is why I have no change.  


3.  Leaving the library, I accidentally scream at my friend, "Be careful!!!" when I try to use the Chilean equivalent of the phrase "Take care." He looks to the left and right and then goes, completely straight-faced, "Of what?"


Such is the life of a gringa. 

The Miners

According to the lead story on the news today, everything will be in place to save the Chilean miners trapped underground in just 15 days! Not that the miners will actually be rescued in 15 days, but all of the construction on the rescue tunnels will be finished then-- which is pretty awesome considering that the project was predicted to finish up around Christmastime. I know I'm not ACTUALLY Chilean, but I can't help feeling super proud right now. Chile was basically considered a third world country just a few decades ago, but today the country is so efficient, and its infrastructure so solid, that it has been able to deal with two major crisis within the past year-- the February 2010 earthquake, and now the mine fiasco. I don't want to get all political in this blog, but I can't help but compare how Chile has handled their most recent national emergencies with how the U.S. handles national emergencies. Here in Chile, the first question was, "What needs to be done fix this?" In the U.S., I think the first question would have been, "Whose fault is this?" I don't presume to be an expert on Chilean politics, but the news is on everyday during almuerzo and I haven't heard one person use the mine incident as an excuse to cast blame, spew accusations, and/or badmouth political opponents. I know Chile's not perfect, but I'm just sayin'... Viva Chile!

In case anyone has no clue what I am talking about, here are some links. :)

NYTimes: Chileans Will Work to Sustain Miners

NYTimes: Facing Long Mine Rescue, Chile Spares No Expense

Backtracking: Fiestas Patrias

As I mentioned briefly in a previous post September 18 is Chilean Independence Day, or "Las Fiestas Patrias." While Las Fiestas Patrias are a big deal every year, this year happened to be extra special because we were celebrating Chile's bicentennial! In 1810 Chile gained independence from Spain and all the people rejoiced and stopped speaking with a lisp. Today, we spent four days eating and drinking red wine and dancing! Specifically, we dance La Cueca, which is Chile's national dance, and which, I have to admit, I loathe. Compared with other latin dances it is just so... unsexy. Why not make Salsa the national dance? Or Rumba? Or Pachanga? Sadly, no one asked for my opinion on the matter, and so the last day of classes before the long weekend, our Spanish teachers insisted that we learn La Cueca. There is a short video below of Spanish class, followed by a longer video of my Chilean family dancing La Cueca at our Fiestas Patrias party, or "carrete". The last video is also from the carrete at our house. Check out abuelo in the green sweater in the back!

Back in Arica

Hello, and thank you for your patience!


What I failed to mention in my last post about Putre is that it is located at 3500 meters. For those of you who, like myself, have no point of reference when it comes to altitude, that's high up! Naturally, our director Rossana wanted to make sure that none of us experienced altitude sickness during the drive up, so rather than go directly from point A to point B, we stretched the 2 1/2 hour trip from Arica to Putre over the course of 5 hours. We also chewed "hoja de coca," which happens to be same plant that cocaine comes from. I was a little skeptical at first that chewing on a leaf would actually help the pressure in my head, but it did-- and almost instantaneously. So we may have dabbled in illicit drugs, but on the bright side, no one threw up! 


The altitude does have it's advantages, and one of them is a sky so clear and blue and beautiful that you don't even care that tilting your head back to look at it makes you a little dizzy. I tried to take pictures of the sky, but my pictures don't do justice to the real thing. If Elisa were here, I'm sure she could've done something way more artistic. Instead, here are a few of my amateurish shots.

Most of these pictures are from the last day of our trip, when we visited
the highest lake in the word, Lago Chungara.

To be honest, I don't know the name of this mountain. But I will find out!

How gorgeous is this!

That would be a llama and alpaca crossing sign

Just one of the many beautiful sunsets

A dip in the "piscina" (pool)  before getting into the hot springs

I am on the left wearing sunglasses

While we were "bathing" Rossana, Veronica, and Leo were preparing lunch for us--
they even brought peanut butter and whole wheat bread because they know how we
gringos love that stuff (of course they can't understand why!)

Putre sin Internet

Putre Without Internet


Dear gentle readers, 
Please accept my deepest apologies for being out of touch for so long. I am alive! My group is currently on an excursion to the city of Putre, where Internet is apparently difficult to come by. Llamas, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen. Alpacas, too.


Over the past four days, we have been visiting rural health outposts and meeting with members of the indigenous Aymara community, including the medicine man and the midwife. The population of Putre is just over 1,000 people, 90% of whom are Aymara, so the medicine here is strongly influenced by traditional Aymaran practices. Still, traditional Aymaran practices are slowly becoming less and less prevalent, as evidenced by the fact that the Señora Fausta (the midwife) has no apprentice. 


So much more to write, but today is our last day in Putre and we are visiting the hot springs so I have to get going! I will be back in touch this weekend with more details about the excursion and about the Fiestas Patrias. Promise!

¡Fiestas Patrias!

This weekend we are celebrating las Fiestas Patrias, or Chilean Independence Day!!! It also happens to be the bicentennial! Pictures forthcoming. 


Also, I killed a giant spider last night with a sandal. My first and dear God I hope last. Eww. 

¡Que rico!

How rich?

How flavorful?

I don't even know... 

I am not sure exactly how the phrase translates, but every time my family members try a new food they all say, "¡Que rico!" At first I thought it meant a very hearty, filling food (like a meat and potatoes type dish), and then I went through a phase where I thought it meant sweet (like a dessert), but now I've come to the conclusion that is just a blanket expression used to convey one's satisfaction with a particular dish. 


Anyway, the food here is excellent, but the eating schedule is very different than what I am used to at home. Thee first meal of the day is a breakfast that consists of "pancito" and tea. 

Pancito. Clearly Dr. Atkins never made it big in Chile...

Lunch, or "almuerzo," is the biggest meal of the day, and it is very much like the American dinner. The whole family come home from work or school midday to have lunch together. I think the high schools have a slightly different schedule because I don't cross paths with my siblings when I come home for lunch, but Iván comes home from work every day for almuerzo.  He also sometimes takes a siesta before going back to work-- makes my day every time I hear him snoring! 


Then there is Las Once eaten at about 6pm, which is very similar to breakfast, and finally La Cena, eaten at around 10pm, which I have not really been able to figure out yet. I have heard that some families treat the La Cena as if it were a mini-almuerzo, but in my house La Cena is more of a glorified snack-- fruit, yogurt, etc. 


Overall the system works for me. The only thing I have modified to suit my American tastes is breakfast. Rather than pancito and tea, I have Cheerios and tea, and save the pancito for Las Once. My Chilean family was fascinated when I brought Cheerios into the house. ("So you eat it with milk? Hot or cold milk? Plain milk or strawberry milk?") The first time I actually ate the Cheerios Jessica was there, Abuela was there, and even Cote came in to see what was going on. I was able to cajole them into giving it a try, but I don't think anyone will be partaking with me. I didn't hear any exclamations of "¡Que rico!