Helado, Bebida, Chirimoya...Helado...

Today I finally had the question that was burning in my mind for the past two months answered. I always wondered what the people who sell cold drinks and ice cream on the buses do during the winter. It´s been kind of cold this week and I think the majority of the guys selling ice cream have moved on to candy.

It seems like the bus drivers have a good relationship with the people who sell things. They don´t make them pay when they get on the bus. Probably because they only go one block. In my opinion, it´s odd because the bus drivers get paid a percentage of the money they make on their bus, but I guess they don´t care about the couple of blocks.

What they sell is only 100 pesos which is about 20 cents I´d say (582 pesos to the dollar). They always hop on and shout ¨helado, bebida, chirimoya, naranja, manzana...!¨ And then if no one is interested they stop and leave, but before they leave they turn back and give one more try ¨helado...bebida...chirimoya?¨I can do a great imitation of it which I´ll be doing a lot when I get back. I wonder how´d they do at Yankee Stadium selling beer and hot dogs?

What Would Hobbes Say?

For starters he would probably say it in English, not in Spanish. I´m finally really starting my Teoria de Politca Moderna class which is totally composed of Chilean students. It´s definitely different then an American class. For one, I think it´s a 100 level class so it´s pretty basic although I think some of the people in it are older then me or at least the same age. I noticed that they talk more in class then Americans would in a college class making it feel kind of like a high school class. Although the students didn´t go as far as being outright disrespectful.

Everyday there is a quiz on the reading which is different too. Usually profesors in the US don´t care if you do the reading and don´t feel the need to test people to see if they are doing the reading, so that´s different. What´s good about the class is that there are no papers and I´ll only be here for one test. I´m taking the class pass/fail so all I need is a C to get the credit for the class.

I missed the classes on Machiavelli (Machiavelo here) but it looks like I´ll get through Hobbes, Locke, Gramsci, and maybe Kant althought the class goes up to Marx. Today we learned about the the historical context of Hobbes, how England was divided between the catholics, protestants, and the anglicans and how that affected the politics and fueled the divide between the King and Parliament.

Hobbes believed that the division of political power created civil war and other problems. Essentially, he was a monarchist who believed in the divine right to rule. Political power according to Hobbes, came from god, channeled through the church to the monarch. Which is contrary to Locke who believed that political power was derived through the people.

Hobbes believed that man was selfish and only worked for himself. Without laws man would be in a constant state of war. Due to man´s selfish nature he needs a strong civil society to control him, hence monarchy.

So what is Hobbes opinion on steriod use in baseball? Well besides that all the players are pursuing their self interests, he´d say that baseball was a dumb game and cricket is a lot better. But he´s English so he can be forgiven if he´s a little biased.

I also talked to a girl in my class named Jasmine. She was really nice and we talked about the wines of the region. Like a good nationalist she was adamant that Chilean wines are better than Argentinean wines.

The Dogs of Santiago

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before but there are a lot of dogs in Santiago. There are always dogs wandering in the streets and everytime I go jogging there's a dog in every person's yard. The number of stray dogs though is amazing. They are all over the place and in every part of the city.

I can't even tell what breed they are. They are so intermixed and shaggy it's hard to tell how many different types of dogs are actually in them. I think people have dogs for protection, to keep burglers out of their homes, but they don't neuter them which just lets them breed like crazy.

The dogs seem pretty used to people though. I have only had one dog scare me. I was walking to class and a dog that was lying on the sidewalk started snapping at me. I moved to the other side the street at a brisk pace. But other then that they seem pretty nice and people here ignore them as they run around.

Funny story, Makiko, one of the girls in the program was going to class and one of her dogs that live at her host house (the family has 6) followed her on the bus. The bus driver refused to go and the dog ran up and down the aisle of the bus. Ben, another guy in the program who was with her, took the dog and threw it out the door.

Needless to say, I don't think Mom would want to live here.

Easter Sunday

It's Easter Sunday here in Chile, jsut like it's Easter Sunday in other parts of the world. It doesn't seem like a big deal here. The mall is open and everything so I'm here in Starbucks taking advantage of their free wireless access.

I have a feeling Thursday was more imporant because the whole country was closed. I guess on Thursday Jesus got a Barros Jarpa (the Chilean name for a steak and cheese sandwhich, named after a president in the early part of 20th century who was really fat and liked to eat the sandwhich all the time.) None of the Chileans seem interested in going to church today though. My host parents are staying at home but perhaps because they are protestant.

Last night we went to the pub and saw the Chile-Uruguay world cup qualifier. The bar had a huge screen up but nobody showed up, I have feeling because of the holidays. Chile tied with Uruguay 1-1.

After talking with Spanish teacher I found out that Chile's football team is apparently really bad. They're one big dissapointment so I'm told.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom. I wanted to call today but I can´t figure out how to get the pay phone in the airport to make an international phone call.

I am about to get on the plane back to Santiago in a few minutes and hit the road. Today we went to see the penguins which were few, about six only, but the boat ride was nice.

Yesterday, we went to the museum in Ancud and saw original Chiloen art and then we cooked dinner for ourselves and went to the pub.

I wish I could show you all pictures but I lost my camera which I´m bummed about at the moment. I don´t think it`s ever turning up again but my pictures from the North of Chile are online so at least I have those. Hopefully, when the trip is over I can save other people´s photos from the internet and then have them developed with my own.

Ciao. I´ll call home tomorrow when I can figure out how to make an international call.

Chiloe

I´m in an Internet Cafe in Chiloe right now. We arrived Saturday at about 2PM, the flight took about 2 hours from Santiago. Chiloe is down south so it was about 60 degrees out when we got off the plane and plenty rainy. It`s been raining on and off the last two days so I`ve gotten a lot of use out of my rain jacket. Even though it`s chilly and rainy I don`t mind the weather that much because it`s such a nice change from the weather in Santiago which is always the same, hot, dry, and sunny. It`s a lot cooler at night but our hostel is comftorable so it isn`t too bad.

Yesterday, we went on a tour of one of the smaller islands around Chiloe. We saw like eighty thousand churches. They`re all recognized by UNESCO as Patrimonio de Humanidad. They are all pretty much the same though. The natives had a special building process that gives them their unique shape and colors. After seeing the 60,000th church I've started to wonder if there is anything else to do on the island?

PS. They also grow a million and one types of potatoes here too...

More interesting was taking the ferry around the islands, walking around some of the smaller towns, and looking at the scenery. I liked today a lot, even though the van broke down at the end and we had to get it towed. We went around the big island and explored the national park which had a lot of interesting foliage.

Chiloe is an interesting place because it has a strong and very unique indigenous culture. The natives have a lot of interesting mythology, and they way they constructed their houses is interesting. They have very unique paneling on the houses, and odd shapes that give Chiloe an interesting feel. Even cooler are the houses on the water that are held up by poles.

The seafood is nice too. I had clams and oysters the other day.

It`s a nice place, cows and sheep wandering around, a bull even crossed the path of our van. However, I think it`s pretty miserable in the winter.

Valpo Traveler´s Disease

Well it looks like Altahualpa, the last Incan King, had his way with me. I was sick the other night, headache, and other nasty stuff. I talked with Mark and he had the same exact symptoms as me. I've never been so sick in my life. Obviously we picked it up from Valparaiso since it's the only place we shared a meal. I´m feeling better today so I think I´ll still be able to go on Spring Break, what luck...

My Dad the Comedian, Here´s The Answer to Your Question

DAD said...
What's their position on the war in Vietnam?

WILL said...
We supported the war before we opposed it.

There ya go dad.

Valparaiso

I hopped on a bus and two hours later I was in Valparaiso, maybe one of the most interesting cities in South America. Valparaiso is one of the few cities in Latin America not planned by the Spanish. The Spanish when they came, made all of their cities the same. In the center, you have your Plaza de Armas with a cathedral, a post office, barracks, govorner´s mansion, and then a grid like pattern extending from the center, very organized.

Nevertheless, Valparaiso started as a fishing village. As saltrite, the main ingredient in gunpowder was mined in the north and built up the Chilean economy, the city grew. The British, Germans, and Italians all came to Valparaiso and what happened was that they built their different parts of town haphazardly which gives Valparaiso it´s myriad maze of winding streets that go up and down the hills with no particular rhyme or reason.

Another neat feature about the city is that in the 19th century they built a series of elevators, now a UNESCO world heritage site, that go up and down the hills so you don´t have to walk. The elevators are really old, and only cost 120 pesos for a ride which is like 30 cents in dollars, or 17 euro cents (the dollar keeps falling which is making me depressed)...

While in Valparaiso we went to La Sabastiana, Neruda´s house that he didn´t spend much time in and the Naval history museum.

Also, during the weekend Chile the time fell back an hour for daylight savings time so when the US springs ahead for their's Chile and the US will match as far as timezones go...word to the wise...

I´m Really Glad I Go To School In The US

I am so happy I don´t go to college in Chile. Apparently, the University´s have just opened and its hazing time here. And they take their hazing seriously!

All the first year students get their clothes torn to shreds. Then they throw paint and flour on them and write nasty things on their body. After that, they cover them in vinager and either put signs on them or put some sort of dead animal around their neck. I thought the fish head was the most creative. So after all that they send the first year students out into the city to beg for money...and they smell and look horrible!

So I guess we have it easy in the US.

Hard at Work, Hardly Working

Another easy day in Santiago, went to class, went to lunch, and now I´m home. Yay!

GOT AN A+

I got an A+ in the literature part of the seminar, A+ on the final and a A for participation. So there! I have proof that I´m being productive.

Everyone came back!

Well, I woke up today and went outside. Besides the gloom and rain that was unusual was the fact that the streets and buses were filled with people and the traffic was backed up all the way down Tómas Moro. This week a ton of people came back from summer vacation and everything was hustle and bustle, although I did get a seat on the metro because Escuela Militar is the first stop. Although people tell me more people are going to show up as it gets later into the month, it seems hard to believe.

Today, the first year students showed up at Diego Portales so I got my first glimpse of Chilean students, Paola said more students should show up as the month went on, some people do not come to class until well later in the school year.

What was also nice was that all the other levels of school had opened. Since the country is like 98% catholic all the kids had the same blue catholic school uniform on.

This weekend I went to see The Aviator at the mall movie theater which was a really good movie. Also we went bowling too, at the only bowling alley in Santiago, only 2.500 pesos for an hour and shoes. I scored a 152 with 5 strikes and 2 spares so I was pretty happy.

Recipes

Here are some Chilean recipes if anyone is interested

Chilean Tomato Salad
2 - 3 large ripe tomatoes1 medium onion, thinly sliced 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 tbsp. lemon juice 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped 1 tbsp. chopped parsley 1 tbsp. chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)salt freshly ground pepper Slice the tomatoes and arrange them on a serving platter. Place the onion slices in a colander and rinse them, first under hot tap water, then under cold water. Pat dry and arrange on the tomatoes. Drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkle with the remaining ingredients. Allow the flavors to combine for 15 minutes and serve at room temperature. Makes 4 - 6 servings.

And here´s a link for a chilean sea bass recipe that you might like Dad
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=19808

Elections

Quick spot. My best buds in all the land Will Mount and Adam Poloumenous, along with Michelle (whose cool too, and a friend but not a bud...buds more of a guy thing) are running for office in the RHA at AU. I hope they win, so when the time comes I hope people get out and vote for them and so the forces of evil can be defeated (or at least their opposition).

Check out their blog...
http://willwin.org/

School Stuff

Well it´s Thursday and I´m just chilling out until Tom calls so we can go and study for our test tomorrow in literature. I started my history class yesterday, the professor was really animated so it seems like a really great class. It goes over Chilean history from 1940 to the present. My literature class ends tomorrow and my Development and Poverty Class will start on Monday I believe. I haven´t decided whether or not I wan´t to volunteer and help teach english at a Chilean School. I think it´ll depend on how hard my classes are at Diego Portales.

Yesterday night I went to a bar called Vicious for Catherine´s birthday. We met some Americans in another program that had just started and they came along too. We were going to go to a discoteque too but it got so late that the one nearby had closed. I ended up sharing a taxi with Julie, Tom, and Makiko. I was the last one dropped off. I noticed when I was giving directions to the cab driver that I had a really strong accent, not American accent, but some type of Spanish accent I think, which I hope is some type of Spanish one because it´s better then a gringo accent which sounds retarded. I think I can pull off a decent accent when I speak in short bursts rather then long periods of time just because I have to keep thinking about tense, syntax, and diction. After awhile it just wears you down. Hopefully as I go along I can develop a nice accent of some sort. Hopefully, a Columbian, Venezuelan, Chilean mix...

Photos Up

Here is the link to my photos that I have taken while I have been here. They are mostly of the North. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jonb229/my_photos. If you have problems just shoot me and e-mail and I´ll see what I can do.