The Micro

Sometimes I feel like the bus driver´s here think they´re fighter pilots. The bus system here is called the "Micro" and it´s the heart of the transportation system here in Santiago, although it´s slowly being replaced by the ever expanding subway system they´re building. The buses are big and yellow and they go flying through Santiago´s streets at sound breaking speeds. Sometimes, when I´m waiting for the bus I wonder if people have lost limbs from sticking out too far on the street. They always seem to take corners really tight and they´re dangerously close to the sidewalks.

There are tons of buses that pass by at every given moment. It´s kind of a chore to signal the one you want. I don´t know how people do it. But if you signal one and it´s wrong, usually the one you want just blows by. They drive like maniacs. One time I was in a bus on a field trup, a private tour bus, we were in the turning lane. The city bus was two lanes over. Our bus driver was about to turn when this city bus takes the sharpest turn I´ve ever seen a bus take. It went across two lanes of traffic and cut us off. Our bus driver was forced to stop in mid-turn in order to let the bus pass. He shook is head and literally clapped in admiration of the ambitious bus driver.

Inside the bus is interesting. Each driver usually personalizes his driving area. Usually they´ll have a flag or some Santa Maria whatever shrine (better than insurance) along for the ride. One guy had written on his bus ¿Si Dios es por nosotros, quines contra nosotros? "If god is for us, who is against us?" The bus is pretty bumpy and I hear it´s packed when the summer ends and everyone returns from vacation. It´s a crazy ride as ice cream and drink vendors hop on, touting their wares to trapped bus riders. I´ve even seen people offer bags and decorated socks, along with stickers and other stuff.

Getting off is an experience, some buses have a cord you pull, others don´t. I usually tell the driver I want to make a hasty escape and they let me out, but I´ve also jumped off (and on at times) of moving buses.

It´s definitely a good idea to keep your wits while you're riding. In the end, the best advice I can give after living here for a month is definitely that it´s safer to be on the bus then off it.

PS. I´ll stay out as long as I want to, and mom promised to pay for my trip to Machu Picchu as a birthday present! So there! And I expect a bank account report shortly. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Taxi Driver

On Friday, I went to a bar in Ñuñoa. We had a great time. I tried Austral which was a German type of beer. My host Mom told me she likes Lemon Stone, so I ordered it to see if I would like it. Instead of being a beer with a little bit of lemon juice (kind of the Carona thing with lime) it was lemon juice with a little bit of beer in it, not too good.

I went back around 2AM. Since the buses stoped running to Las Condes I had to take a cab. I shared it with Natalie. After she left I had this really great conversation with the taxi driver. When I first got in the cab, I thought he was a little crazy, extreme gestures with the head, and he used phrases I wasn´t familiar with, but after talking with him he turned out to be really cool.

He told me how the department of tourism was providing free year long English classes for taxi drivers and others so that they could communicate with English speaking tourists. I guess it`s a policy in line with the government's determination to teach every Chilean child English. We talked about the US and we talked about our families. It was interesting when he dropped me off. I tried to give him a big tip but he gave me a 1000 pesos back. Really nice guy. As he was driving away he stuck his head out the window and honked the horn shouting --¡Adios Amigo!

Classes have begun

Christina, I finally got a hug from Mark...you're right is was very nice...

Adam, I'm glad to hear you and Marina are going to have a such a great time in Orlando. Don´t sweat it buddy I´m sure you´ll get into graduate school. Those Ivy league twerps don´t stand a chance against your supercharged, gigantic brain...

In other news, I just started classes today. I went to IR of the Americas and Literature. I already took Spanish Lit so it should be a breeze. IR of the Americas looks interesting but that's not a surprised since IR is my major, so hopefully I´d be excited to take it.

I went to the mall and bought the CD anthology of the 100 greatest Chilean folksongs. After going to the pena the first week I was really impressed by the music.

This weekend I´m going to go to the country with my host family so I should be back in time for classes on monday.

Dusting off the Sand

I have returned from my desert adventure up north. The day before was an exciting day of chilling out by the pool and sand surfing. It was totally awesome! Climbing up the sand dune was no picnic but flying down was a really cool experience. I tried to go off the jump but all I managed to do was land on my face. In fact, my greatest feat was hitting the jump and getting flinged off like a catapult ten feet beyond and rolling down the hill. Of course, while I was being reckless with my life and limbs, Julie popped her knee cap on the first run, go figure.

I would say that sandsurfing was the highlight of the trip but I was also impressed by the Valley of the Moon. It is covered in salt which makes it appear as if there is snow in the ground. What was really amazing was traversing the old water channels that flowed through the desert, millions of years ago. We walked through the cave system and saw some amazing rock formations. At the end,of the day, we walked up a gigantic sand dune and sat on top of the mountain next to it in order to watch the sun go down. Quite beautiful.

Also interesting was El Tatio which were the geysers that were 4300m above sea level. I never realized before how thin the air is at such heights. At first, I did not feel anything but after 4 hours I started to get a headache. One of the girls on the trip actually needed to have oxygen. It was cool to watch the water bubble and steam that blew everywhere. It gave the mountain top a movie feel. I have heard that many a frenchmen has met their end by falling into the geysers. I cannot imagine how, but they manage. Before we left I managed to embarass myself in front of some Brazilians. Apparently, they were warming milk on one of the smaller geysers. The milk down here comes in a box so when I saw it on the geyser I thought it was trash so I removed it. They then came over and started arguing with me in Portuguese. I turned three shades of red and proceeded to do my best to apologize in Spanish. Hopefully, they thought I was Canadian.

After El Tatio, we went down to refresh ourselves in the natural hot springs below which was a nice way to end the day.

While in San Pedro we visited the museum, the Atacamen ruins, and the Incan ruins. The Atacamen ruins were interesting because they were mostly intact. The Incan ones were just rocks in the ground.

In Iquique, we hung out around on the beach mostly.

Humberstone and Santa Lucas were interesting. They were the old mining towns up North that flourished on the saltrite fields won by Chile after winning the war against the Bolivian-Peru Federation. The fields enriched Chile and turned it into the ´Éngland of Latin America´ as called by the American Ambassador in the late 1800´s. Actually Chile´s success stems from this point as the riches from saltrite mining fed the economy and encouraged massive migration from England, Germany, and the rest of Europe which gives Chile the unique culture it has today.

Today, Chile´s economy is powered by copper mining. Copper as you are aware goes into every penny but besides US currency, copper wiring allows us to access the interne, and is used in constructing houses. Consequently, the price of copper has skyrocketed further powering the Chilean economy as developing countries like China and India demand this critical resource. We saw the largest copper mine in the world which was amazing. It took the trucks 40 minutes to drive down to the bottom of the hole, it was so deep.

Well, that was basically the trip. Besides Ben falling in the stream outside our hotel and Geneva falling in right after him (that'll teach them not to drink excessively), that's all that happened.

Iqueque--No updates for a week+cell phone

No, I don´t think anyone knows what Will Mount is talking about, but I´m sure he means well. As far as the letter goes either open it and tell me what it says etc...or send it to my house in New York. Thanks.

And by the way, I don´t have to Americanize these people because McDonald´s is doing a good enough job on it´s own without my help!

Right now, I´m in Iqueque which is the desert in the north of Chile. I´m probably not going to be able to update the blog while I'm here because it´s undeveloped up here and we´ll be traveling for awhile. We´re going to see a few mining towns, the geysers, a strip mine, and a couple museums, as well as the beach, hot springs, and the nightlife...hehehe...it all sounds very good.

For the first three days of the trip we´ll be staying in a 5 star hotel. Sorry my writing iss deterioting but there´s only one computer with internet in the hotel (this is a four star place) and I´ve got a line of non-english speakers breathing down my neck...in Spanish...so I need to be quick.

Interesting note, the people at the US embassy we talked to said they estimate that Chile will be a developed nation by 2011, I think that´s a good estimate, although I´d give them a few more years, 6 isn´t a long time. But it's food for thought. Chile may play an important role in the world of the future. An economy the size of a European nation is nothing to sneeze at...(unless your the US fo course! HAHA!!!) Although the folks at the embassy called Chile the ¨good guy¨ of Latin America.

Anyway if the Latinos don´t kill me, I´m sure the salt in the food will. Chileans love salt, (equipping everyone with dinner with their own personal salt shaker!) It´s like they know of no other spice. I try and grab the food before it gets salted but I´m sure they sneak it in somehow. Anyway, I'm bouncing...Adios! I'll try and post when I can.

BTW, those of you trying to reach my cell phone try 569 09 before the number or just 09...It's hard to figure out how to use the cell phones because the instructions are in Spanish and seem to depend on you knowing something that I don´t know.

Ven aquí/Ven acá

Just a shout out to Adam P. Apparently, they don´t use ven aquí here. It´s ven acá. So thanks for the heads up. Additionally, it was interesting to note that my spanish book was also wrong. Sunglasses are not gafas del sol but rather lentes del sol, ó anteojos del sol. People in the stores kept sending me to the audio section. I don´t know what they think gafas are...

Also, apparently sniffling is considered rude in this country, as well as not wearing shoes. Go figure.

Dearest Father

I hope you let Mom see the blog too and maybe tell her how to access it to. Better yet, why don't you just show her so she knows how to leave comments and all that jazz.

I just had one beer Dad, it´s not a good idea to be a gringo and drunk in this city late at night. The police here are very serious and the law says your not allowed to be drunk on the streets, drink on public transportation, or drink alcohol on the streets. That's probably depressing for those looking to party but if is going to say anything about the police here is that they are very straight laced. People I have spoken to have told me that they are the most respectable and honest in Latin America.

In regards to food Dad, it is pretty good, as I mentioned previously I had a lox and bacon sandwich before, washed down with a glass of freshly squeezed rasberry juice. Also, the other day I had a hot dog with diced tomatoe, avocado, and cheese (vieniesa italiana, go figure...it sounded fancy).

Finally, speaking of the National Bank of Dad, I´m probably going to need an infusion of cash because I have to pay for public transportation and lunch everyday. It's all going to add up. Hehehe...

Love Jon,

p.s. send money...HAHAHA!!! Interest rates are low at the First National Bank of Dad!!!
Just kidding, I hope things are going well at home, and I´´ll give you guys a call as soon as I can. MAKE SURE MOM CAN ACCESS MY BLOG TOO!!

FYI

Yeah Christina you should send me your website link. And that goes for everybody else too. If you want me to see your website just leave the link in the comment area. That would be really helpful.

Out and About

Today we went on a bus tour of Santiago. We drove buy the Plaza de Armas and where the colonial viceroy lived in Santiago during the 15th and 16th centuries. Also, we went to the cemetary to look at the tomb of Allende and see some of the art and architecture there. I really liked the cemetary because there was a lot of variety in the art. Chile has had a lot of different influences over the past 500 years including Spanish (duh), English, German, Indigenous, and French cultural influences. Many tombs were in Greco-Roman style but there were also plenty in the Spanish and Indigenous styles.

Here´s a picture of the epitaph at Allende´s tomb--
http://www.bcpl.net/~jnlstrss/chile/ultpalb.jpg

It reads in English

--Workers of my fatherland, have faith in Chile and her destiny. Others will overcome this grey, sad moment when treason strains to conquer.Go forward knowing that much more sooner than later,the great avenues will open anew to let pass free people to build a better society.
La Moneda, 11 September, 1973

A very sad note in Chilean history...which will come up again when I take my chilean history course. Viewing Allende's tomb was an interesting experience. It kind of made me uncomftorable being an American in Chile knowing that the US exerted a considerable amount of effort in destabilizing a fellow democracy. I know I wasn't the one whispering in Kissinger's ear but it does make me feel a little guilty.

After the cemetary we zipped over to the house of Pablo Neruda, whose architecture was based on the design of a ship.

I´ve also met some really cool people while I´ve been here. Yes, Christina, quien no sabe que yo existo, I met Mark and he´s truly adorable. Cool guy who is in fact typing away at his computer right next to me at this moment as I type this. I haven´t gotten around to giving him a "Mark and Christina Hug" as of yet, but I´ll get on it. I´ve also met Natalie, Jackie´s next door neighbor as well, really cool person too. Of course, if you want to know the dirt on people just e-mail and I´ll tell you (hehehe) but it´s not polite to talk about people, especially on a public forum like this one...so ask and you shall receive.

Last night I went to the bar in Bellavista and had some schop and some vino but not too much because I had class the next day. On friday we´re taking a class trip to Valparaiso, but we´re going to spend the weekend there and party/study. So, things are going great and I hope to hear from all of you.

Santiago Music Scene

Mad props to Will Mount and Jackie I. for comments. At least I know someone is reading this religiously. I would say Santiago is more like LA than DC or NYC. It´s got palm trees, heat, urban sprawl and smog, all signs of LA to me. The mountains are really nice though, it´s just really wonderful to be walking down the street and seeing these majestic mountains in the horizon. It´s quite scenic. Of course, once the smog sets in you´ll never see them.

Here´s a photo http://images.www.studiesabroad.com/jpg/3d2e7cf234f3c87bf508c4a96e898f777688ddb0/exCL06010320.jpg

On another note, the music here is interesting. Their sixties and seventies were like ours, they even had a hippy movement (although way more socialist than ours). Everyone knows the songs and sings along with them in the bars etc...What's neat about the music is that it's filled with political themes. Apparently, the US wasn't and still isn't very popular around these parts.

We went to a karoake bar last night, although my host sister said they´re not very prevalent in the country. People sang a mix of Latin American songs from the 80´s and many popular American songs. People down here seem very acquainted with American artists. I think Coldplay or cold something had a concert in Santiago before, with Duran Duran as the opening act.

In the end, it's all very confusing, they hate our government but love our culture. go Figure

Milestone

Quick update here. Yesterday was a milestone. I ordered my first alcoholic beverage. Legally! YAYY! I ordered schop which is chilean for draft beer. It was a frothy glass of Kuntsman, whose motto is das guet beir. Apparently Chile had a large flux of German immigration in the past and now happily churns out beer in European quality. Schop tends to be darker then it´s budweiser and heinekein brothers. Which means its more like Guinness, so P. LaVee I expect you to get on it and get yourself some schop. However, there are a plentitude of others. Cristal and Escudo seem to be the popular beers here, along with heinekein and budweiser in a distant fourth. You can buy a liter of beer here for about a dollar, so Cheers!