After a long and rather tedious night of flying and negotiating with golden retriever drug sniffing dogs and airline attendants who wouldn't let me use the bathroom, I arrived in balmy Santiago de Chile (yes there is more than one in Latin America). With my gringa "speak like a Chilean" book, I attracted interested Chileans on the flight from Miami to Bogota and quickly made friends. Long story short, they graciously offered me a free place to stay (and free fun- all written on a little note) in their city of Vina del Mar.
Meeting them was only a tiny introduction to how wonderfully helpful and nice Chileans seem to be. I'm here teaching English with a large university system that has locations in major areas in Chile and have been impressed with reactions I have received after pulling Chileans aside (perdon?) and asking random questions. One lady went so far as to wrap her arm entirely around me in order to point out where things were on a map I had been holding in front of me.
Here's one of the most interesting tidbits I have been able to uncover rather quickly... There are many Chileans who actually LOVE Pinochet. Did you think I meant Allende (the inarguably Democratic-ly elected president), no I meant the forcefully installed dictator who came to power in 1973. Forgive me if you are Chilean reading this thinking I am ignorant... I JUST HAD NO IDEA! It's fascinating really.
1) Apparently you either love him or hate him, there's not much in between (makes sense).
2) Killing like a whole bunch of other Chileans must be forgiveable in some major way.
3) People must feel like a whole lot changed for the better when he was in power.
4) Sept. 11th (represents the day he came to power) brings about a major protest every year that always ends in some degree of human tragedy.
Enough politics for now... My first few days were spent meeting people from my program and hostel. I have been to the infamous Plaza de Armas in Centro and climbed San Cristobal. Imagine- a pool at the top of a small mountain, where the city and base of the Andes set the backdrop-
I know, trust me it WAS amazing. More pictures and stories to share when my partner in crime (Scott) gets here....
2 comments:
Looks like I'm the first one to post....oh yeah!!! Sounds like you are already diving right into it all. Good luck to you and Scott in all your endeavors down there. Keep the stories comin!
nice blog! but no pics :(
the political climate down there sounds similar to cuba where people either love or hate castro and there's not much in between...
i'm spending the weekend at the coast with your partner in crime and then he is all yours!
besos y abrazos, melissa
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