reason number 1

here's a pretty good reason not to learn chilenismos if you are planning on returning to north america any time soon...

you may ending up calling someone's child an asshole without realizing. in asking what i can say instead of "guapo" or "guapito" for a cute child (which moreso has the translation associated with potential partners and mates in chile- that's someone's attractive), someone said, oh "here we call them pendehos." being cynical, i thought this could be a joke. alas, it was not.

chile is just that unique, oh chile!

* i don't recommend trying to strike up a discussion about babies being like little aliens and whatnot (even as a light joke); it has never been good conversation fodder in santiago. this kind of behavior will surely identify you as American, if your sarcastic, somewhat bitter sense of humor hasn't already. probably because of the close-knit family society, everyone just loves kids (even when young adults are in their most "selfish" years).... and wants one of their own one day...

Jimmy Carter: The Words of God Do Not Justify Cruelty to Women

Jimmy Carter takes modern/organized religion to task for its responsibility for and role in the subjugation of women around the world. He is speaking as a member of the The Elders and is apparently firing the first salvo of this group's focus on this issue. He not only nails the fundamentals of the issue itself, but also acknowledges the political realities and difficulties facing all leaders of our world. My favorite part of this op-ed is that it lays out facts that have been known for years, and places them in the light of our modern society. He isn't calling for the removal of organized religion or the elevation of atheism. He merely wants us to be better. In many ways, he is only asking for the fulfillment of religion's ultimate goal.

I recently caught Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness" and felt that warmth and inspiration as his character listened to the Glide gospel choir in San Francisco perform, "God, Don't Move That Mountain". Faith and religion have a place and it's an important one.

While the message about women's unfair and lesser status in our societies is an important one, it's not the chord that is struck the loudest for me. The cynicism that says we can't change the way religion acts, that says we can't change the way we produce our energy, that we can't change our politics... all suffers from the same basic fault. It's the same cynicism that your mother combated when she told you to eat your vegetables and brush your teeth. If you'd just try it, and give it an honest shot... you might find yourself down the road -of your own volition- brushing your teeth after eating some vegetables!

The link above for "change our politics" is for a piece by Glenn Greenwald. He uses the example of NBC's Chuck Todd to make the case that our government could be closer to the way we'd like it, if they weren't in bed with the establishment press. The long entry by Greenwald ends with this follow up interview with Chuck Todd...at Todd's request.

As I've noted many times before -- though it still never ceases to amaze me -- the most revealing fact about our political culture is that the group most opposed to investigations of high-level political officials happens to be the very same group that was supposed to lead the way in investigating: our journalist class. Thomas Jefferson said:

Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues of truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is freedom of the press. It is therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.

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The video below is what we could do today to change the way our power is generated and our dependence on an internal combustion engine. It is both fascinating and breathtaking simply because of how far from science fiction it is. What's clear is that we just have to try the vegetables...and if we did that...we might just like them

coñaripe

it was great to be back in the south again. after the pucón trip, i realized i was really craving the fresh, clean area of the lakes region. it did rain, like really rain, pretty much the entire time. stupidly, i forgot my rain jacket and had to rely on my winter shell to keep me dry. we were staying with a very nice man native to the area. he was a musical performer as well so i enjoyed a little pancho/leo/mia/scott sing-along. highlights of the weekend included seeing a real house in a tree, trying rosa mosqueta jam and absolutely loving it and spending an afternoon in hot springs underneath a shelter next to a raging river, all while it was storming... raining really hard. the picture above on the right is from the inside of the tree house, complete with windows! the one on the left is an amazing che painting that we saw inside the tree house.



this video was taken after one of our water-logged expeditions when pancho couldn't get his boots off.

* notice pancho clinging to the doorframe as his foot is being pulled in the opposite direction. classic pancho move.



from l to r, pancho trying to brave the flood without shoes, lentils dinner and below- the view from the termas.