Simple Pleasures Take 2

Little tiny window dogs

The dogs of Santiago give me more joy than can really be explained. They were one of the first things that stood out to me about the city. The street dogs are generally well cared for, well mannered, and so friendly. Tina and I knew our routs by the dogs that lived on them, a fact that my Spanish tutor couldn’t really get her head around. Of course there was Juliano who we finally got on speaking terms with, and sometimes even when a guard was around we would stop to pet him. There is Mitten Dog who is putting in more appeareances now that the weather is nicer and coming out of the cave that is his little mall to sun himself on the front steps.

Giant Dog and Friend

Now there is also BearDog, the biggest creature I have ever laid eyes on. There is Stoic Dog and Stoic Dog’s Brother. Giant Dog we finally re-encountered on the other side of La Moneda- he was looking a little rough and we hope he’s doing ok. A new favorite is Big-Headed-Leaping-Dog who lives by Santa Lucia and the first few times we patted his head, he surprised us by jumping over the fence when we started to walk away in order to follow us for a bit.

Big Headed Leaping Dog

Bear Dog!

Fat White Dog lives across the Alameda from us and is friends with a vendor. It has the terrible affliction of taxi chasing, which is the most popular dog sport in the city. Dogs will stand in the gutter with a gleam in their eye when the light is red, and as soon as it turns green and traffic starts to move they bark and chase and bite at the tires of taxis. We can’t figure out why it is not usually normal cars, though Tina’s theory is the black and yellow taxis might look like a herd. And I suppose any bus chasing genes have been selected against naturally…

Juliano getting some belly rubs

Stoic Dog´s Brother

There is a pet beagle who wears a pink harness and seems to get walked a dozen times a day, always by a different person. There is a fat bulldog who wore a “cone of shame” for a few weeks and we would see everywhere. There is a young guy who also hangs out at La Rosa and has a pug that he will pick up, throw over his shoulder, and carry through the park. Other times the pug very smugly sits on his lap at the table. I imagine it would eat off his plate if it felt like it.

Small dogs with short legs!

Simple Pleasures Take 1

I am not entirely sure where the last month (!!!) has gone, but here are a couple of updates I wrote in my last week in Santiago and never got around to posting...

Degu trapping has finished, Tina has returned to the States, I have moved out of our apartment- our home for the last almost 5 months- and am now in a hostel in Bellas Artes. I have 2 fellowship applications, and 7 graduate programs to get out and 4.5 more days. I’m a frenzy of typing essays, requesting transcripts and GRE scores, and trying to organize a few more phone interviews before I leave the very civilized city of Santiago for the unknowns of Arequipa, Perú.

Even though I’m feeling the time crunch, I haven’t been able to kick that habit of luxurious multi-course lunches, one of my favorite things about this city. I have been getting a lot of questions in the hostel- what is there to see in Santiago? What do you do all day? Do you really like this city? Don’t you get bored here? I’m still at a loss of what to tell someone to do who has a week in the city. There are the hills of Santa Lucia and San Cristobal, the museums and parks to walk around, a day or weekend trip to Valparaíso and any of the 3 houses of Pablo Neruda… and beyond that, I don’t know what I would do as a tourist here.

But I can, without a doubt, say that I have loved my time here. I am well aware of what a luxury it has been. Sure I was doing work- though to many the idea of watching cute little animals for a few hours a day doesn’t sound like bad work, and I have to agree with that. I suppose it is the data analysis and writing up that I will eventually get around to that will be more taxing. But the rest of my day really was broken up into what café we should go to and work on dissertation and publications (for Tina) and applications and degu data (for me). It is the kind of thing we would normally do in the office, and did spend some time in the lab here, but really… why not mix it up?

I haven’t been to a Starbucks in 5 months and certainly don’t miss it. I think it makes it more fun to know that Café de la Pausa has a good cappuccino, De Las Artes has a ridiculously rich mocha, at the Flower Shop Café you get a cortado AND slice of cake with lunch, Emporio La Rosa has great coffee (because it must be made with heavy cream) but only for days when it is too cold to get ice cream! SNS is the only place with 100% reliable internet, and of course the nicest people in town. Café Soho has great asthetics and friendly servers, and Tomodachi is the only place to get iced drinks. I love pondering the decision of where to go at what time and on which day. Even more than a coffee addiction, I have developed a café addiction!

Disfrutar!

I know everyone was worried we were starving... aka all we do is take pictures of foodVietnamese food!

Emporio La Rosa
Cafe Soho
Avocado, tomato, basil, and cheese toast after a trip to the veggie market

Look- we even eat healthy food sometimes too!
... but mostly we just eat ice cream
French bread sandwiches
Cafe de Las Artes

The Countdown

October 16, 2010

Cuddling a baby degu!

I'm not sure when I started measuring the time I had left in Santiago in terms of weeks instead of months. And I fear that it will quickly slip into days, then hours, then poof! The five months that seemed like an eternity at the beginning will have passed and all that will be left will be memories. Plus a zillion photos, a handful of new but solid friendships, a much better grasp of the Spanish language (including some very unique vocabulary), and an urgent need for a gym membership as the result of a cafe/gelateria filled existence here.

Mitten Dog was out in all his glory!

At first Santiago seemed like an impersonal, busy city that was somewhat less than inspiring. To be fair, coming from the very charismatic San Francisco has left me with high expectations. But the longer I have spent here, the more immersed I have become in an actual life here, the more I want to stay here. Tina and I have lamented that 5 months is just enough time to establish ourselves but leaves us wanting a lot more- another week, another month... another year.

Recovering from my almost-mullet haircut experience

The turning point was really the Spanish lessons I have been taking with a tutor. As many mistakes as I still make, as many holes as there are in my vocabulary, as impossible as it still is for me to use the subjunctive tense, I can hold a passable conversation and have the confidence to talk to people who don't speak perfect English- or sometimes any English at all.

The days have sped by with degu field work in the morning- early morning- 4:30 in the morning, followed by afternoons in the lab or cafes working on my project and the all-consuming task of applying to PhD programs. Tina and I have indulged our gelato obsession with alarming frequency at our favorite place, maybe on earth, Emporio La Rosa. We have become conosouirs of the cortado- espresso with layers of milk and foam- which has become a staple in my diet and a blessing/curse that allows me to have time for something resembling a social life; dinner or drinks out with my roommates or friends, even the occasional Chilean date! Sleep has become more of a luxury than ice cream.

Juan with a baby degu in his pocket

I'm confident I got what I came here for- international fieldwork experience, an opportunity to do (and hopefully publish) independent research, a network of colleagues and collaborators, a better understanding of Spanish, and a stronger grad school application. But my experience has exceeded my expectations as to how wonderful life can be here, how little victories in daily life can be totally satisfying, and how even with a language barrier we can still find enough in common to build legitimate friendships.

I don't think that Chile is the "bland" Latin American country- I think you just have to give it a chance to warm up to you.
Santiago Gay Pride Parade

¿España Gano?

Saturday was horse fonda day!! We went to a big park on the edge of the city in one of the wealthiest parts of Santiago for the fonda La Semana de la Chileanidad. There was a big area of make-shift restaurants, mostly grills for chorripan (a chorizo type sausage in a frech roll), anticucho (steak, chicken, and chorizo kababs), and empanadas baked or fried. Typical drinks include the ever popular terremoto, which means earthquake, probably for the way it makes your stomach feel after a few too many (not that we have any experience in that department…) It consists of white wine, pisco which is the local version of a brandy, and pineapple ice cream. The other popular offering is chicha, a thick pink drink that is apparently wine that hasn’t been fermenting for very long and is unfiltered. What it lacks in alcohol it makes up for in sugar content.

There was also a stage for the various bands that played, and 2 dance floors for plenty of cueca action!

In the main arena we thought we were going to see some Chilean rodeo, but the schedule online seemed to be incorrect... Instead we saw some cool skydiving and parachuting skills, followed by a lengthy battle re-enactment, presumably between Spain and the soon-to-be independent Chile. It was put on by some military group and was complete with period uniforms, guns, canons, and a plywood set of a village. Before the show started the roof fell off the church, which was pretty entertaining.

It was hard to understand the commentary because the speaker system was a little garbled, so Tina and I made up our own, very historically accurate, version of what was going on. At one point it seemed like Spain had killed everyone on the other side and taken over all the territory. I turned to Tina and asked- “did Spain just win??” which she repeated “España gano?” which the woman in front of us thought was hilarious. Luckily for Chile, Mother Russia (or France, I can never remember which flag is which) came to the rescue, and after another 10 minutes of pretend fighting, the presumably Chilean side was victorious and the Virgin Mary was paraded out… or something like that.

After checking out some of the tents set up in the park, mostly of the military craft nature, crawling through an old tank and being helped down by some very cute men in uniform, we went to watch the horse show!

(I was taking a picture of this crazy meat being grilled, and the man working the station thought it would be a great idea to take pictures of ME with the meat. So he put his apron on me, had someone hand me a giant knife, and took my camera!)

It was a fantastic mix of beautiful horses, outstanding riding, and some interesting dancing combos. There were Paso Finos from Peru, Chilean cowboy ponies, and some great bareback trick riding. Tina, Monica and I loved it and thought all in all, it was a pretty perfect day.

A beautiful setting right under the Andes!

La Bandera Gigante

Awoken to the sounds of bugles, Friday morning we ran downstairs to find the best parade waiting in our street- the horseback marching band! Who knew?! The bandera gigante (giant flag) was getting raised that morning, and true to form the parade started on our street. Naturally, we followed them down to La Moneda and got pretty prime spots (standing on benches so we could see over heads) to watch the mornings’ festivities.

The flag really is gigantic- the size of a basketball court! They hoisted it up and had the military planes at the ready to fly over. We watched Presidente Piñera make a speech- about 40ft away!! It was pretty cool to be that close to the president of, well, anything really! He’s a controversial figure in Chile- a conservative millionaire who generally seems to be a little out of touch with reality. The giant flag seems to be somewhat typical of his style- very showy, expensive, and kind of pointless. And, to add insult to injury, the flag was made in the USA! That seemed to be a little offensive for a symbol of national identity.

I, however, claim to be no expert in Chilean politics and don’t have strong feelings for or against Piñera, the government, or the military here, so I thought it was pretty cool to see the president and a crazy big flag- and of course a military band on horseback

In the afternoon Tina, Monica and I went to a fonda- an outdoor party/BBQ that is typical here. This one was hosted by our favorite bar, The Clinic, at the castle on the hill right in the center of the city, Santa Lucía. There were entertainers that did skits, walked on stilts, juggled, and put on a slightly macabre puppet show for the kids. There was a band and people dance the cueca. And of course there was BBQ and jugs of wine-fruit-ice cream drinks. The weather was gorgeous, and it was a perfect way to spend a spring afternoon!

Walking home by Plaza de Armas

Happy Birthday Chile!!

Thursday September 16

Chile celebrates Independence Day on September 18^th, and this year marks the 200^th anniversary of independence from Spain. I’ve been told by a number of sources that this date is somewhat incorrect, as September 18^th is the day that the first declaration was signed that started the move towards independence, which didn’t actually take place for many more months, but… hey, any reason to celebrate is good enough for me, and in Chile they seriously celebrate!!

Living 2 blocks from La Moneda, the presidential palace, is like living 2 blocks from the White House in DC. Especially for this national holiday, we found ourselves in the middle of things. To start the (4 day!!) weekend off, we went to a light show at La Moneda with Raúl and Diana. We had seen them setting up for a week and practicing the last few nights, so we knew it was going to be very cool. They projected different moving images and scenes onto the building itself, and created a big misty fountain on the front lawn that they projected photos or videos of dances and all sorts of other cool things onto. Additionally there were videos, strobe lights, and fireworks! Who wouldn’t want to see that?

Every one did, apparently, because the first night we were caught up in the crowd of between 20-60,000 eager Chileans. We were somewhere in the first third of the crowd, but I could just barely see the top of the building. The people in the back of the crowd must have gotten nothing but the fireworks. It ended up being a bit overwhelming, so we beat the crowds out of there and went back to our apartment to watch the last few minutes on our very fuzzy TV. At least we had the wine…

A quick sample of what we got to see here

The full version for anyone who has an hour to spare here

We went back on Monday night and braved the somewhat-less-massive crowds (and staked out spots over an hour before it started) and actually got to see about 85% of things! The show was absolutely amazing- hands down the best public celebration I’ve seen!