salsa

we went salsa dancing several weekends ago. it was totally fun and now i want to take lessons. arturo and cristian spun me around the floor for a couple of songs and patiently worked with me on the steps as i moved just like a gringa would. no, just kidding, i've got rhythm in there somewhere.

these salsa joints come alive at 12:30/1am. the floors are packed and it was certainly intimidating to walk out onto them knowing i was no pro. my feet were completely stepped on. but it's not like what you might think. in a salsa situation, if your feet are getting stepped on, you are the one who's messing up.

it was comforting to know that even chileans take salsa lessons. now i won't feel as ashamed the next time i step into a dance studio, ready to learn from the pros.

hitchhiking love

scott and my first experience hitchhiking couldn't have been more rewarding.

the morning leading up to said experience started with getting up at 5am to leave the house at 6. we were told by several individuals that there was only one bus (that left one time a day) and headed in the direction we were going (baños morales). the problem was no one could tell us when that was. so, we did what any sensible person might do... we left really early to ensure we would make it in time.

upon arriving at the side of road where the bus was to pick us up (at 7am), we were told by a taxi driver that said bus to b. morales would leave at 9am. that left us almost two hours to chill in front a santa isabel supermarket. scott was not happy to say the least, his water had leaked inside his backpack making him and his sleeping bag quite wet (needless to say, the morning wasn't particularly warm either).

we arrived back at the bus stop at 8:50. now you have to keep in mind... there are about 10 buses (some truncated, some green, purple and blue, some colectivos, others not) that arrive within a 10 minute period of time. some buses don't even stop, you have to know ahead of time when to flag them down. generally there are signs on these buses that indicate the various destinations available. well! we did not see one bus with the sign we needed to see. the taxi driver returned and tried to assist us by asking a bus driver about the 9am bus. his response was that that bus only runs during the summer, the current season being fall. what to do? some hippy looking chilean stuck his head out of the bus and yelled to us that we should get on the bus anyway, at least it would take us in the direction we wanted to head in.

cajón de maipo is the name for a series of towns (pueblos) that head in an easterly direction towards argentina. some towns are not particularly safe for gringos like us to wander in. it was suggested to us that we head to a town called san gabriel and stay there, there are still trees and greenery our chilean friend says. (the further east, closer to the andes and volcanoes the less green stuff there is). disappointed i wasn't making it directly to the baños, scott and i discussed the possibility of hitchhiking. meanwhile, the bus driver (who could only bring us as far as san josé) said we should get off there (the last stop), stand right where we got off his bus and wait for the next one. this bus was 10 minutes behind, traveling (of course) in the same direction.
*side note- without being critical i have to say that logic here in chile can be quite interesting. for example, you sometimes need to buy 5 packages of hamburger meat (all the same size because they are not sold any other way) to get the amount you need. in my mind, why not make bigger-sized meat cartons so people buy and consume less packaging? along the same vein in this little vignette here, why didn't this bus run through to the next town? was there somewhere this bus just needed to be?

anyway, we got off the bus and deciding that this whole thing was quite worth the adventure, we boarded the next one with a final destination of san gabriel. we knew nothing of the return bus schedule and thought we might need to hitchhike home the next day... when we arrived in san gabriel we had the expectation (through yet another conversation with a nice chilean) that some other bus might leave from there and take us to baños morales an hour later. sweet! this is how being spontaneous pays off. well we waited that hour, only to then find out from the carabineros that just kidding, that bus comes in 3 and a half hours. so we said screw it, let's hitchhike. only 100 feet down the road we "hacimos los dedos" and the first car stopped.

scott and cait: ¿adondé van?
truck filled with 4 twenty-somethings: arriba
scott and cait: ¿podemos....?
truck with people: sí

and we jumped in the back of their truck, quickly turning off the dirt road and heading just as they said, up. having no idea what could possibly be "up" especially considering that everything i had read and heard about was east and straight, i was excited at what possibilities this new direction contained.

after several minutes we started to see this...

feminism update

i was speaking with someone a while ago who felt quite strongly about domestic violence in chile. his argument was that only low-class chileans actually go so far as to kill women. it was hard to convince him that factors such as financial, emotional and verbal abuse existed in relationships alone (where no physical abuse was present). it was further suggested that only serious physical physical abuse existed in low-class relationships.

this echoes a pretty entrenched belief in social/economic class in chile. class is something you can never escape here. owning land, cars, multiple homes does not change your status. good or upper class in chile means good blood line and that's all there is to it.

there are many of the same beliefs in the united states as well. ideas that only black or poor people are violent (domestically and otherwise) are historically racist as well as very pervasive. even progressive minded-thinkers catch themselves asking "wait, is it really true? are poor people more violent that rich? blacks more than whites?" we have to remember where our attention is focused, whose lives are controlled and monitored more readily by the government. if it is true that low-class are people are the ones committing the femicides in chile, what are rich people doing?

here is another one of those posters from int'l women's day just hanging around valparaíso...

Huevónantica

Bringing the Bromance to South America in a big way! Chile has a word for dude and it has so many wonderful uses. It's becoming a great base word for fun word-play, which is something I miss(having the ability) in Spanish. The word is Huevón(alt spelling guevón) and is pronounced (way-ohn). Pancho is a great guy that we've met here and has become a fast friend. He runs a long-term stay hostel called Nativo Homestay and took us with him this weekend to the south of Chile to visit a small town called Coñaripe. It reminded Cait and I of both our home towns as well as some of the small towns up in Northern NY.

Market Based Chilean Recycling

Over the years, politicians in the US have been reluctant to institute new taxes on drink containers for the purpose of encouraging their recycling. Now this is a fine argument but it isn't solving the problem. Sometimes markets need help being created...and that job can only be done by government. There are numerous examples of this working well for business, re-refined motor oil being one of the best. Here in Chile, there are three main ways that materials get recycled:

1) Return of beer bottles in exchange for a new one full of new beer at reduced cost
2) The return of empty soda bottles for the same reason
3) My favorite....the most market based solution possible

This guy is one of many Chileans who you may find rifling through your garbage in the evening. He's not looking for your credit card number... he's looking for your valuable cardboard and other treasures. I love that there is a market for the materials that is strong enough to encourage this behavior. My question though is...why is there so much trash everywhere? Why aren't there opportunities for ME to recycle? How is this related to whether government plays a role? I love seeing these guys and they really work their asses off hauling their catch all over the city. And yes, he is pulling his cart uphill in the left lane...slower traffic to the right!

Food I've Been Making

While there are legitimate "bones" to pick with the food here in Santiago, the fresh produce, amazing bread and good meat mean that, if you cook it yourself... it's going to be hard to go wrong. Now there are some flavors and spices to be missed for sure, but with a little imagination...dinner at the house can be really, very good. Here are some of my favorites so far.

That picture on the left is a good example of the weird way food is packaged here. That's cream cheese that you squeeze out of a pate tube rather than scraping it out of a tub.

Political Correctness

I feel like there is a fine line that runs in between the political correctness that promotes cultural exclusivity and the mind numbing flavor that serves to get in the way of informed debate and discussion. Finding a way to respect cultural differences and the fact that some language can be damaging to the way that minority populations get ahead...well it seems like the worst job in the world sometimes. Here in Chile; the combination of a language with fewer words and a culture that came of age in geographic isolation makes for an environment where there isn't much pussyfooting around the truth. Cait and I have come across this in the way people talk with each other..."this is my black friend" or "my fat friend". There just aren't delicate words and so people just say it the way they see it. The other thing that is different is the acceptance of the human body. Sometimes I wonder if the lingual limitations actually lead to an acceptance of what we are, rather than a sensitivity about what we should be. This frankness has even showed itself in job interviews that I've had. In one particularly memorable one, Caitlin and I were interviewing together for some teaching work on the side. The man hiring us is a career educator and in the discussion about what types of classes we might each excel in, he laid out on the table in very plain language what he thought about our strengths, weaknesses, and styles. He garnered this all from our conversations and presented it without any varnish at all. He was spot on and there was a lot of 'holy shit he just nailed me/you/us" looks being exchanged back and forth. At the end of the day though, it's more refreshing than not and it makes you wonder what would be the better system?

Rise of a New City

Walking around Santiago, you can feel that the city is growing and moving forward. There's an optimism in the air that comes with continued work and growth during what is certainly one of the most intense financial busts in the last 100 years. Chile has always, like many Latin American countries, been reliant on the economic swings in the commodity markets. Demand for raw materials is often a back and forth game, and these countries have entire economies built on their country's natural resources. Chile stored away it's acorns in these last boom years and has been able to crack open the piggie bank in the last 8 months to continue supporting their population and drive their economic infrastructure. While copper was trading at ridiculous highs, the Chilean government spent about 3 years building up a 'rainy day' fund. That fund is what is driving the continued growth here in Chile as well as the drop that Caitlin and I have seen in the dollar's strength against the peso. Recently, at the summit of the Americas, Chile held center stage with their economic strength and infrastructure plans putting them ahead of the pack. Prosperity has risen at such meteoric speeds here that Chileans are eager to shed the tired label of a developing, and peripheral nation. Part of the reason that conservation seems such a long way off here(we routinely have to beg off a store clerk who wants to double bag our purchase of butter) is that Chileans are proud of their prosperity and want to show the world that they're not in the minor leagues. Along with this optimism are the everyday reminders that this city is marching on and becoming a booming, modern metropolis. Reminders that times are good can be seen not only in the cranes that dot the cities skyline as crews work 12 hour shifts to change the cities skyline. City workers can be seen everywhere manually raking leaves, sweeping sidewalks, and collecting trash. Viva Santiago!

Bio Bio of Food and Bikes

By now you've heard stories about the really interesting markets here in Chile. They range from weekly neighborhood markets that happen on local streets to more permanent markets that take place over the space of city blocks. These markets are famous here in Chile and throughout the world for their size and the eclectic nature of what you can find. The area isn't always the best for getting snap happy with a camera, but if you can imagine it, you can buy it at these markets. The one for which that is most true is Bio Bio. I'm not sure that with the ten months that we will be here that we'll be able to figure this place out. It has more stuff, more buildings, and more mazes that you lose yourself in than I can describe. Here is as best a representative sample as I could give you in one blog post. Feel free to throw out questions and I'll happily tell you if I've seen it there. Preserved insects as art, kitchen fixtures, construction materials and tools, electronics, books, car parts, old industrial machinery, fine art, great restaurants, bicycle shops....the list goes on.

Religious Capitalism

As a bit of a follow up to my last post, the relationship here between the church and state is worthy of it's own post. Chile has been a catholic nation for as long as there has been Spanish influence here. The cozy relationship between the church and state has become less of a codified norm and more of a reality held over from an earlier time. As Chile has embraced capitalism and opened it's government to pro-business and progressive socialist stances, the church has been officially relegated to similar standing as other faith organizations.

A 1999 law, "Norms for the Legal Establishment of Churches and Religious Organizations," commonly known as the "Ley de Cultos," gives other religious entities the same legal status that the Roman Catholic Church enjoys; however, the Catholic Church unofficially retains a privileged position

The idea that there are other faiths that practice as openly here in Chile is true, but Catholicism still shapes national holidays, hiring practices, public morality, and education. Many public schools here are partially controlled by the church and the education that most children receive is a catholic one when compared to the secular education that most US kids receive. The church also still plays a heavy role in other government institutions such as the military. Perhaps a proselytizing scandal wouldn't be as out of place here as the recent one in the states has felt. But then again, as I was being interviewed for my job...I was asked what my faith affiliation was. Taken aback at this question as well as some others, I replied that I had been raised christian but wasn't practicing. The interviewer went on to discuss the church's influence in education and people's sense of morality. He wanted to warn me particularly that people here in Chile don't really go to church as a rule, don't practice their faith as a rule...but generally would report on any survey that they were a faithful catholic.

The country has an area of 292,260 square miles, and its population is just over 15 million. Seventy percent of the population age 14 or older was identified as Roman Catholic by the 2002 census (down from 76.8 percent in 1992) In the census, the term evangelical refers to all non-Catholic Christian churches with the exception of the Orthodox Church (Greek, Persian, Serbian, Ukrainian, and Armenian), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Seventh-day Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Approximately 90 percent of evangelicals were Pentecostal. According to the 2002 census, evangelicals totaled 1,699,725 persons, or 15.1 percent of the population over the age of 14 (up from 12.4 percent in 1992).

Military recruits, whatever their religion, are required at times to attend Catholic events involving their unit. Membership in the Catholic Church is considered beneficial to a military career, and in the navy, it is said to be almost a requirement for advancement to the highest posts. In 2001, an ecumenical chapel was opened in the Investigative Police Academy, and an evangelical Christian chaplain was appointed. Two ethics instructors at the Academy were evangelical Christians. In 2004, the Ministry of Defense named Catholic and evangelical Christian chaplains and offered regular religious services in a chapel in the ministry.

Religious instruction in public schools is almost exclusively Roman Catholic. Schools are required to offer religious education, on an optional basis, twice a week through middle school. Teaching the creed requested by parents is mandatory; however, enforcement is sometimes lax, and religious education in faiths other than Roman Catholicism is often provided privately through Sunday schools and at other venues. Local school administrations decide how funds are spent on religious instruction. Although curricula are approved for 14 other denominations, 92 percent of public schools and 81 percent of private schools offer instruction based only on the Roman Catholic faith. Evangelical church leaders reported continued resistance by school administrators, based on economic considerations, to appointing evangelical religion teachers in the Santiago suburbs of Quinta Normal and Puente Alto.

The marriage of this Catholic state with the fundamentals of capitalism has produced an interesting relationship. One of the most entertaining of this is the marriage of unlikely bedfellows along the streets here in Santiago. While many of the streets here are in fact grouped by business type, the churches are spread out more randomly. So much so that while I haven't been able to get a good picture of this, I can promise you that just a few blocks away sits a storefront church right next to a strip club. They hold evening services and just sitting and watching the doors of these two establishments open and close next to each other was fascinating.

"I think the catholic church in Chile is more of political party, then a religious organization really."
~ anonymous expat living in Chile

While hiking this last weekend, we found this when we arrived at the hot springs

Quoted sections taken from this 2005 US government report on religious freedom.