Game Plan

Money: $470 (290 in the bank, 100 in US, 80 in Chilean pesos)
Start day: Saturday, 1 in the morning
End day: Saturday morning at the latest

Saturday: La Serena and Parque Nacional Fray Jorge
Sunday: Las Ramadas, Tongoy and a Pisco production plant that the travel book said was worth visiting and there are free walk-in tours
Monday: Bus to Copaipo
Tuesday: Visit Bahia Inglesa, supposedly the best Southamerican beach on the Pacific side.
Tuesday night: Bus to San Pedro de Atacama
Wednesday: San Pedro and Salar de Atacama and Valle de la Luna
Thursday at 4 AM: Visit El Tatio to see 100 geysers go off at once
Thursday midday: Catch a bus back home, should be back in Santiago by midday Friday. The Inostrozas said I could reside with them.

Another translated article...

Well, for lack of anything better, I will translate another article recently published. It's quite boring, actually. I don't know why I'm doing this other than for practice. Tomorrow I will post my game plan for visiting the northern half of Chile. The reason for the extensive delay is that I cannot decide on visiting La Serena in northern Chile or Mendoza in Argentina first.

Chile is a Leader in Informational Technologies, but...

...That's not saying much. In terms of information within society, Chile is the respected leader within the Latino American countries.

Just after Mexico, we are the nation that has most extensively incorporated essential technologies, such as the net, computer networks and cell phones. Mostly in businesses, academic establishments, health centers and State departments, to mention a few.

According to results obtained from the Societal Informations Indicator, or Indicador de la Sociedad de la Información (ISI), and backed up by DMR Consulting and the Postgraduate University for Business Administration of Navarra (IESE-CELA):

Between October and December of 2005, ISI gave an average of 4.86 points to the sum of all Latino American countries - the highest average obtained to date - with an annual growth rate of 2.6%.

Chile (6.28) and Mexico (5) scored as the only two countries with a grade Superior within Latin America.

ISI compared the statistics of Latin American countries with some of the best, those countries that recieved the rank of Optimum; like the US or northwestern European nations - those countries averaged 9.5. And ISI also compared themselves with countries marked Sub-Optimum, for example South Korea, Portugal and Greece, which recieved an average 6.77.

Even though our country continues to stay as the leader in the region, the gap between well developed countries of Europe or the US and semi-developed countries like Chile is far wider than the chasm between Chile and third-world countries,^ said DMR Counsulting representative, Juan Francisco Yáñez.

¨Analysis has permited us at ISI to conclude that there exists a infrastructural hole in basic technologies (TI), that is pertinent to sustain Chilean markets. In part, this is due to medium and small businesses unwilling to make the switch to the internet,¨ said Yàñez.

¨We don't do the first point and leave without finishing the second point (NOTE: This is hard to translate, basically he's saying that Chile can't be satisfied with large businness going digital). There is an arduous job to do. We need to penetrate the markets with newer technology,¨ continued Yáñez.

On Music

I decided to assemble a short list of music that seems to be conjured whenever I think of Chile. Call it a soundtrack to the country, if you will. The criteria for this list is two-fold. First, it has to be popular. Popular enough that you might hear it walking down the street. The more popular a song is the higher I'll place it. Second, I have to enjoy it. That part is important too.

Of course, with that sort of criteria you'd expect the mayoría of this list to be reggaeton. Firstly, cause reggaeton is the lingua franca of music down here, and secondly cause I happen to like it. So your expectations would be fulfilled - I'm not dando jugo when I say that.

1. Las Dalmatas - Fotogenica (Reggaeton)
Yeah, I happen to like this song a lot and Chile seems to as well. The Mexican group gets plenty of airplay down here.



2. Babasónicos - Pijamas (Indie)
If you hate reggaeton maybe you'll like Indie-Postrock: enter Babasónicos, the Argentinian rock group.



3. Los Bunkers - Y Volveré (Rock)

Los Bunkers is pretty darn good, but this song is only marginal at best. Well, it's best I could do in this short amount of time. Perhaps I'll edit this and put a better Los Bunkers song on.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pH4m0Hv9DXM

Sick... again

Ugh, I have the cold again and I know exactly how I got it. So a friend was over last week and we had some drinks. She had a cold and I knew about it. Only, I wasn't thinking when I poured her a re-fill and she said right after that she had to go home. So I poured the drink back in the bottle. Stupid, Patrick. About five days later I decided I wanted to warm up to some homework and took a glass of Irish Cream to the dry. And here I am, two days after that with the beginnings of a cold. Ugh.

Because there is little else to do, I am going to translate a recent article in El Mercurio, a Chilean paper.

Chile Top South American country to live in
by María de los Ángeles Naudon D.

Once again, we are the top ranked in the region. According to an recent ranking published in the magazine, 'The Economist', our country is the best place to live inside Latin America.

Just underneath us is Mexico, Argentina and the rest of the continent.

The magazien surveyed 111 nations, placing Ireland, Switzerland and Norway in the top three. Chile took 31st. Not bad.

The Best and the Worst

1. Ireland
2. Switzerland
3. Norway
4. Luxembourg
5. Sweden
6. Australia
7. Iceland
8. Italy
9. Denmark
10. Spain

13. United States

25. France

31. Chile

105. Russia

111. Zimbabwe

Another day, another coffee

I know I am still learning language. Well, in theory. But it feels like I'm not learning anything anymore. Dan Erb told me that he heard some languages like French start hard and get easier, Spanish starts easy and gets harder. I believe it. This language is really tough to come even close to mastering. Here's a reason (I might have given this example in an older post, I can't remember), while English combines words to make new ones, Spanish invents totally new words. For instance, say we have this new type of potato that is sweet rather than the typical bland taste, what do we call it? How about sweet potatoes? But in Spanish, it's a completely new word - batatas - which is never found in any other case other than for sweet potatoes. Or how about homework (Home + Work) = tarea. Anyways, vocabulary is one thing, but the grammar is very rigid; so even though I might be able to understand everything, expressing myself correctly is quite a challenge.

Well, well, well...

Not much to talk about here. I just finished another level of Spanish in my private lessons - now I am a week ahead of my class. There is a small party at the school at 6 PM tonight, I think I will stop by. I haven't played chess in a while here cause the subway trip is getting on my nerves - Plaza de Armas, where the chess club is, is simply too far away. Last night I sat down with the older of my two host brothers, Jorge, and my host dad and planned out what I think is going to be a real winner of a trip. The trip will include Northern Chile's Atacama desert, the lagoon of San Pedro, Icuique, southern portion of Peru for its beaches and the Salar salt flats of Bolivia. Plus, I believe I will go with Jorge, a married 28 year old math teacher, who has been there before. With a native South American with me who has made this trip in the past, I think it's probably safer than my weekly trip into downtown Santiago. Plus, some friends of mine have made a similar trip recently and gave glowing reviews.

I really, really, really want to see the salt lakes of Bolivia. I knew about them long before my Chilean excursion and I know they are one of the most highly prized destinations in the world.

One thing I want to mention is I believe the guidebooks were way off in their description of Plaza de Armas. Plaza de Armas is one of the safer areas in all of Santiago. Yes, it's more dangerous at night, obviously, because what place isn't? Oh, and when there are student protests it can be dangerous. Not dangerous in that you are a target, but dangerous in that you might grouped with the students by the police, who have a nasty habit of overreacting with fire truck hoses, batons flying and beatings. I really have to say that the police here are way stricter on protests than in the States, and it takes much much less to provoke a cop here. Personally I don't really care either way, I'm just saying.
Anways, I have nothing new to report. Tengas una buena noche.

A lazy afternoon.

I am trying to fit in a trip to a faraway destination while I am here. The only question is where. I could catch a flight to Buenas Aires for only 50.000 pesos with some friends. Or I could take a bus ride to Mendoza, Argentina for 10.000 pesos. Buenas Aires has around 18,000,000 people, and is around three times the size of New York City. Everything there is extremely cheap as well. Plus, one of my favorite postmodern authors - Jorge Luis Borges - lived nearby and a pilgramage to his place would certainly be in order. Buenas Aires, like any city, has it's dangerous sections, but really the city is quite safe if you stick around the touristy, the rich and the well-traveled sections. Of course I won't be going to La Boca or any ghetto while I am there.

Or I could go to La Serena (where penguins be), and catch a one hour busride to a remote Mapuche village in the mountains. It's a secret little area that tourists don't know about - a teacher of mine told me about it - and supposedly rocks La Serena's world. The village is in the highest parts of the mountains, but it has a lake that should not be missed.

Right now, people are flocking to the currently erupting volcano near Púcon and I would not want to miss it. It's about five hours south and bus services are created a special trip down there. Not to mention that Púcon hosts some incredibly beautiful hot springs you can bathe in. That's another option.

Far south is Puntos Arenas, 100 miles away from Antartica. While the cost of a bus trip there is about the same as lunch in Santiago (cause no one wants to go), I would definitely need my ski jacket as well as iron skin.

San Pedro is another option. But it's touristy and does not have that much to offer. Plus, it's full of hippies and hippies annoy me. I have been told there is a town inside the Atacama Desert that boasts everything Pedro has without the tourists. I'm gonna look into that. Only catch is that both trips take a full 24 hours. So we'll see, dear reader. We'll see.

Food, pt. 3

Here is yet another installment on Chilean food. My goodness.

palta - Don't make the mistake of calling this guacamole, it's not. Instead it's crushed, smushed avocadoes. Guacamole without the extras. Palta is everywhere, on completos, churrascoes, etc...

merquen - A Mapuchen spice. Mapuches are the natives of Chile, they are about 5% of the population. I have yet to have merquen.

pastel de choclo - Corn on the cob. The corn is tougher back home and never sweet.

frambuesa - Gotta hand it to the Chileans, they know their juices and jugo de frambuesa is the stuff. It's a raspberry juice and it's the best of the natural juices here. Too bad it's not in season. No matter, you can still find it in some resteraunts.

Say Yes to Elliot

I am chilling on a bed with a friend's laptop in the beautiful and rich port, Vina del Mar (with a ~ tilde over the 'n', it's impossible on this computer). My Spanish is good, but it needs improvement - something I constantly work at. And I have definitely learned a lot of Spanish while I've been here. It all depends on who is your "teacher" - in other words, your friends. And if your friends are gringos from gringolandia then you're not likely to learn a lot. Fortunately, I have made an effort to make Chileno friends and not give in to temptation to associate heavily with English speakers.

Then again, it's about taking aprovechar (to take advantage) of the situations presented to you. For instance, last night I decided to go with ten friends of mine to a club - Exfabrica - and after loosening up with some pisco and with my friend's encouragement, I asked a gorgeous girl to dance and she said yes. She turned out to be a model. For some reason, however, I lied to her and said I was from Ireland and not the United States. The lie kinda slipped out and I am disturbed that I did it, but once it was said there was no real turning back. The girl and I really hit it off and her and her friends went to her apartment in Santiago Centro to chill (this was 6 in the morning). Since I was the only gringo there, believe you me, I was definitely practicing the Spanish. Anyways, she said in the middle of the trip that if I was from America she would not have invited me back. Haha! I also learned really strange fashion slang words. All of us shared music that we love using the magic of the internet and amazing speakers. At around 10 AM I was ready to crash so her friend drove me home (the trek in this area of Santiago is very dangerous even during the day, so it was necessary to drive).

In totale, it's doubtful I'll ever see her again. But it was definitely a crazy night.

Things that show you're a foreigner.

I suppose the following aren't necessarily bad to do in Chile, but these are a few of the things my host family has told me while I am here that make it painfully obvious I have little conception of Chilean etiquette. In other words, it screams European or American; which I suppose isn't that bad, but a little undesirable. When in Rome, if you know what I mean.

Don't eat that sandwich with your hands. Chileans think eating sandwiches with your hands an act of unkemptness, bad manners and social sloth. Don't be the one guy at the party grossing everyone out by accident - use the fork and knife they gave you. This goes for pizza too.

When you get your food, start eating. Maybe in higher, richer circles Chileans have a conception of waiting for everyone to be served, but I have seen none of it. Of the three families I have sat down with at the dinner table, and the countless times I've gone to a resteraunt with Chilean friends, at no point did anyone wait for the rest to be served. What are you waiting for? The food's getting cold. Plow in.

Wear dark colors. I wore my light blue sweater the other day and I think I was the only one without black, dark brown or navy on. Chileans certainly have good fashion sense, but their senses have gone way darker in shade than ours. A good way for a white guy like me to stick out is to wear something light colored in a crowd (which I have done). Nothing screams foreigner quite like that. Then again, if you happen to be like me and don't care what other Chileans think about your fashion sense as long as it's not commiting a crime, go ahead and wear what you want.

Alright, I'm peacing out. Bye.

On Chilean Customs

I have found there are a few social oddities in Chile that would do any traveler well to learn:

Make Eye Contact during Salud. Salud means health in Spanish, and is what you say when you cheers over drinks or a toast or what have you. The important thing here is to always look the other person in the eyes when you say Salud or you have ten years of bad luck.

Greet and say goodbye to everyone in the room. You can commit a serious social offense by leaving a party without saying goodbye with a handshake or a kiss with someone. I personally have never commited the grievance yet, but I have heard horror stories.

Spicy Food is Rare. There is a saying here that when loosely translated reads 'Chileans are the British of the Southern Hemisphere'. They mean that in more ways than one. The weather is temperate and the food is downright tame. I think the food I eat here is more like the food back home than what I've eaten in the Dominican Republic, Spain, Mexico, etc... Oh, and like the title suggests, don't even bother trying to find spicy food. It's non-existent.

On Food, pt. 2

Yesterday I stayed home sick with the cold. I wasn't terribly ill or anything, but I remained in bed because having bronchitis or pneumonia in a foreign country can be pretty dangerous and I didn't want anything to progress to that. Today I awoke refreshed and fine - just a little runny nose.

Anyways, I am dedicating another post to Chilean food. This is now updated and revised to fit the most recent taste bud information. The number next to each item is a ranking on a scale of 1 - 10.

Completos (hotdogs) (2). I have changed my mind, I do not like Chilean hotdogs. They are very messy and overall quite tasteless.

Pizza (8). The pizzas here do not claim to immitate US standards. No, these pizzas are Chilean through and through. And delicious. They go light with the cheese, even lighter with the sauce, and heavy with the extra indgredients. ¡Bakan!

Choripan (7). Delicious sausage links inside bread that resemble (though not entirely) hot dogs in sight, but in taste they are completely unique. Highly recommended to go to your grocery store and buy a pack of Choripan if you're ever down here.

Chocolate (10). The chocolate down here is amazing. Except chocolate syrup, that's awful. But you won't believe how good it gets.

Pisco (4). I am sick of Pisco, which is, if you remember, the native beverage for Chileans. It's dirt cheap and used with nearly every meal, but I was tired of it after meal number 4. There are a wide variety of Pisco recipes, but the one my family prefers is vodka, egg white and distilled mangos that make a soury concoction that I loved at first, and now loathe.

Churrascos (sandwiches) (8). The sandwiches are just as tastey as ever. And there are many different kinds. An absolute requirement to sample at least three of four times. My personal favorite is the Churrasco Italiano, but they're all good. Be careful, though, if you don't like mayonaise. Usually around one to two CUPS of mayonaise is applied to make it a fork and knife meal. Hands off.

Carne Asada (steaks) (3). They have zero conception of how to cook a steak. I have had it a few times, always dissapointed.

Jugos de las Frutas (fruit beverages) (10). Amazing varieties, and very different. Each and every one of them.

Okay, gotta go. Bye

Busy procrastinating.

I thought I devote a little segment to Chilean slang words.

I have always thought it interesting the little turn-of-phrases a Mexican or a Spaniard might use that has become completely irrecognizable to a Chilean, and vice-versa. Here is a small list I compiled of Chilean street slang. Most of which is essential in ordinary conversation, yet cannot be found in your dictionary.

¡Bakan! bah * KAHN : Cool!
Fleite FLY * tay : (insult) When used as a noun for places, Cheap or Run-down. For people, Dangerous.
¿Como e(s)tai? KOH * moh ehs * TAI or KOH * moh eh * TAI : How are you?
Weon way * ON : Dude.
Po : Dude. (Often used after Weon)
Yapo : Yes, dude.
Pokémone po KAY moh NE : Comes from, obviously, pokémon. Used for emo and scenesters, which run amok in Chilean cities. They do not like emo music, surprisingly, Pokémones listen to reggaeton.
Hardcorito ARD KOR EE to : Little hardcore boy.
Pelolais PAY lo LIE ss or Pelolisa PAY lo LEE sa : Dumb blonde. (Not an insult).

Indy Day in Santiago.

A lot happened yesterday. As class drew to a close, I headed off to the Plaza de Armas to spend the afternoon playing chess. I won 15 and lost once. To Jesse Adams, Steve or anyone else interested, the Santiago ajedress scene is pathetic here. Not in terms of lack of interest - ther5e's plenty of that - but the players are simply not good. Which is either awesome or awful, depending on if you feel like being a gringo chess god, sent, in their eyes, to rock their world. It's interesting how much worse the Santiago players are than what I've experienced in Harvard Square or in NYC. I would probably lose to 3/4 of the Harvard players; here there are only five or six players definitively better than I.

However high I felt while playing, I managed to leave on a low note. During a very a very important game with a crowd standing around (I was in the crowd watching), white had checkmate four moves ahead. Blindly, however, white moved in an opposite direction. Out of shock I shouted, ´¡No puede!´Meaning, basically, you must be an idiot. White, who had not taken his hand off the piece when I shouted, returned the piece to it's original position, relooked at the board, smiled, and moved to what would eventually be checkmate. The crowd erupted in anger and I had to walk out in utter embarrassment. I am glad I played well yesterday because I wonder how much smaller their patience would be if I had not.

After chess I went to a party at a teacher's house. A party of about 30 people. The fourth of July is not only EEUU's independance day, but also the day of a minor victory of Chile over Bolivia, which Chile uses as an excuse to party. Think Cinco de Mayo for us. The party was meh. I met a few interesting people; there was also three other students, but they were in their mid-30's and hardly interested me.

I managed to escape that pit of a party to go to Oxygen O2, a bar with a dance floor that was populated by nearly every expatriate American there. I recognized a lot of gringos there. Because white people are so rare here, when you see one on the street you definitely remember it. But I had a good time for sure. I am also glad I didn't drink anything more than a roncola and water, because I managed to meet a really cool girl and got her number. We'll see if I follow it up.
I talked with some British people who moved to Chile a few years ago about places to see in Chile. I certainly want to take at least one trip to somewhere in Chile, but talking to them didn't make the decision of where to go any easier. In the north of Chile is San Pedro, a city of perfect weather all the time and the amazing desert I saw from the plane. The mid-to-north end of Chile boasts La Serena, which has warm weather and a to-die-for natural reserve, but also penguins start to live (penguins have long left the area of Santiago so there's no way to see them without venturing a little far). As attractive as warmer weather is to me, everyone who has ventured both North and South tell me the South of Chile is a unique experience that cannot be duplicated anywhere else on earth. The wildlife is absolutley individual to the area, nowhere else on earth, and while it may be cold, a unique experience is... well... you know... not to be missed.

So that's my perdicament, we'll see what I decide. Anyways, gotta go.

Yesterday.

After class ended yesterday, I took the train into downtown Santiago and played old men in the park at chess. I won two of three against some guy. Don't worry, I took plenty of photographs. White people in Santiago are rare, so there was a tiny crowd around me simply to see how good a gringo is at hedress. After a few chess matches, I headed to a salsa bar for some free lessons. All I learned was that I am terrible at salsa dancing. I then rounded out the night for drinks at Cabo Frio with one of my host brothers and his two friends Fernando and Gino.

A very good night. Chau, xiao, caio!

A slow Tuesday.

Today was the hottest Santiago has been since I arrived. Excellent weather. With that in mind, I took to camindando the streets with my camera in hand.