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.