Chueca, trufas y "el colectivo".

I went back to Pucón! This time with all the gringos.  We drove the big ol’ bus out to a bridge and took a very picturesque walk along the river to a Mapuche community.   There we had the fantastic volcano as a backdrop and lots and lots of sunshine.   We played an extreme game of “chueca” or “palín”… basically field hockey with sticks and a wooden ball.  I learned that being goalie is alternately super boring and super stressful.   We ate some delicious things (and some weird things).  There was some horseback riding, some lasso practice, some dancing.  I met some cute Mapuche kids, Nacho and Kevin.  Back in Pucón I went out for ice cream with the ladies and bought a Frisbee, since they don’t seem to exist in Valdivia.

That night we went to Los Pozones (nearby hot springs).  It was a super clear night and we just laid around for a few hours, playing with the sand under our toes and considering the southern constellations above us.  In the morning we went to El Cañi, a beautiful hike near Pucón.  It really was gorgeous and actually kind of strenuous.  We started out by leisurely passing pastures of baby animals playing in the sunshine, but pretty soon found a fierce incline and ultimately met up with some snow close to the top.  At our destination we found a big pond, mostly frozen over.  (The boys, of course, went swimming in it.) Coming back down was a heck of lot faster.  On the bus ride home Anna and I got a lesson on Chilean slang.  Really, the whole Pucón trip was perfect.

So, back to Valdivia.  Lots of sunshine and flowers lately.  I live on Isla Teja, which is part of the city that happens to be completely surrounded by rivers.  That means the only access is a big bridge, which sometimes produces a bit of “taco” at rush hour.  Here on “the island” we have two principal points of interest: the university campus and my recent discovery:  trufas.   Oh golly, trufas.   They’re like balls of mellow, approachable, chocolate dough covered in more chocolate.  I just learned about them and there’s this cute little place called Café Donde La Negra that has been my dealer.

In other news, I tried to take a colectivo.  They’re like taxis except that they have a flat fee and they have this little colored wedge on the top that says the name of some place (for instance “Isla Teja”).  You flag one down that’s headed the right direction, get in with all the people, and the driver just drops you all off in order of convenience.  I was out buying the ingredients to make smores for my family (they’d never heard of them), it got late, I was pretty far away and I decided to try my luck with a colectivo.   

First off, it took a long time to find one with a yellow Isla Teja wedge on top.  I finally got one, got in, said my holas and away we went.  The old man to my left was silent, the younger guy in the passenger seat was silent, and the driver drove on.  Soon we picked up another lady and we were now three in the back.  About this time I noticed he had not taken the right road.  I thought to myself, “maybe it’s because of all these crazy one-ways, I’ll just wait it out.”  A few minutes later—and a few minutes gets you pretty far in Valdivia—I was positive we were headed in the opposite direction of Isla Teja.  Into the solemn, crowded silence I said, “I have a secret.”  (I think I can safely say I had complete attention at this point.)  “I… have never taken a colectivo before, and I don’t really understand what’s happening, but are we going to Isla Teja?  Because I think it’s the other direction.”  My backseat friends burst out laughing, the passenger seat guy was shaking his head and the driver said, “Out.”  I ended up taking a regular taxi with some guy just in from Santiago for a dental convention, and we all lived happily ever after.

As for my Spanish.  Well, now.  I have had small victories.  The other day I was writing an e-mail to my parents and three of four times I noticed I had written a few sentences in Spanish.  (Which they do not speak so well.)  I still don’t think that I’m actually thinking in Spanish but every now and then I’ll be speaking English and a little exclamation or quick question will pop out in Spanish.  It’s frustrating for me how slow I feel like it’s going, but I can’t deny progress.  It’s all kind of exciting.  I'm struggling along through the Spanish version of Pride & Prejudice right now.  Classes are going just fine. I'm still always pretty lost in Literature, but otherwise I honestly look forward to going to classes. Some of the teachers are kind of quirky, and I like it.

But folks, now I’m off to go watch some "cortos"…  that is, short films.  There’s a big international film festival that started yesterday!  I bought a pass and there are some documentaries and artsy films that I’m looking forward to, I’ll report back next time.

May the force be with you,
Jac



Meet Nacho and Kevin.



Pretty walk along the river.  Yes, that's a volcano.

a

I can't remember what this thing is called.

This is also something traditional, but I'm not quite sure what.

A ruca... traditional Mapuche home.

The lake in Pucón.



(It was a pretty lake.)



There's good ol' Villarrica.

El Cañi view.



The end of a long, gorgeous hike.



Las vacaciones.

Oh boy.  I did a lot.

So, first order of business:  the Fiestas Patrias, which I will translate as “homeland parties.”   It’s not really celebrating independence day but more like the day when Chile really started getting the ball rolling towards independence.  It’s kind of a big deal around here and this year is the 200^th anniversary.   The stores are filled with red, white and blue.  There are cueca performances galore.  I went to one at my sister’s school, and those dancers were good.  Then there are these things called “ramadas.”  The closest thing I can equate them to is the county fair: sketchy carnival games, delicious deep-fried things for sale (empanadas, sopaipillas…), carnival rides, music, more cueca performances and cute booths selling their hand-crafted wares.  At the ramadas (and everywhere else in town) you’ll also find “fondas,” which are festive little temporary venues that have your standard Fiestas Patrias food, drink and dance.

The whole month of September is kind of a party, but the 18^th (Dieciocho) is “the big day.”  I think it’s like Thanksgiving for us; it’s a big deal and there’s lots of traditional food, lots of hanging out and lots of laughing. I was staying with my host family in a cabaña on a lake near Pucón (a ski town a few hours from Valdivia) with some of their friends.   It was mellow and perfect, with lots and lots of eating and minimal doing.  Cool town, too; I saw some volcanoes and lakes and stuff.

I had the week off from school so from Pucón I took a bus to Santiago (12 hours, yo) where I met up with friends and caught another bus to Viña del Mar, where a few of us rented an apartment.  Our days were unscheduled and wonderful.   I spent my mornings in trendy coffeeshops drinking hot chocolate and reading magazines in Spanish… so posh.  One day we went to the dunes: big city on one side, giant ocean on the other.  I tried a little sandboarding and I’m still finding sand in strange places.  We spent some time on the beach and the purse of a friend got stolen (now I feel like I’m truly traveling).  My friend Anna went out to play bingo with me one night.  It’s not the same here, by the way, and also it's kind of chaotic in a different language but now I can check South American bingo off the ol’ bucket list.  We all made dinner together every night (6 people in a baby apartment = cozy) and watched the sunset on the city from 19 stories up.

Valparaíso is the exciting port town next door, and I took a micro (bus) over there a few days to just wander around.  It is super artsy, and a really fun place to take pictures.   It’s made up of a million hills which are filled with all these curious, bright-colored houses.  There are tons of funiculars you can ride to get up to different neighborhoods.  There is also TONS of sincerely incredible street art.  I went to one of Pablo Neruda’s houses.  I also found this crazy flea market thing.  I stumbled across a giant art project in progress—they’re covering a park in tile mosaic hearts—and I spent a couple hours making my contribution.  Honestly, I was 100% content to just walk around the city and look without a destination, which is pretty good news because I was usually really lost.

I made friends with a couple shop owners, also some guy name Esteban, and a few local dogs and cats.  A few times while I was talking to people I was mistaken for a native speaker.  That would last for all of 3 sentences, but the surprise on their faces when I made my first grave grammatical error was about the most rewarding thing I have ever experienced.  I still am so lost so often, but things are getting better and I can actually tell.

Guys, I fell in love on this trip.  We had met in Valdivia, but after spending time together on this trip I just stopped fighting it and realized we are perfect for each other.  :-)  So sweet!  They’re called berlins, and they’re these big, deep-fried doughnut things dusted with powdered sugar and filled with manjar.  Manjar = this extremely popular dulce de leche/caramelly business.  (One might ask, “what ISN’T filled with manjar here?”) We’ll just say that on our trip I had “more than one” berlin.  A day.

Now I’m back to business here in Valdivia.  It turned into spring while I was gone.  There are flowers all over the place!   I experienced my first earthquake.  This is kind of anti-climactic, but I just thought my chair was moving.  Also the Mapuche hunger strike is approaching 80 days.  The other day I was downtown and looked up to find an enormous Mapuche flag being hung from the bridge. The Mapuche (“people of the land”) are an indigenous group of folks here in Chile, and to make a very long story very short, as I understand it they’re trying to bring attention to the way the Chilean government is criminalizing their efforts (which I believe, to be fair, has included burning down houses and cars) to reclaim ancestral land. These things are always complicated, no?  So that’s going on. Never a dull moment.  In conclusion, I imagine you’re all dying to know about the popcorn balls. In short, we had to improvise a lot but Vale and I were victorious and now my family knows of popcorn balls.  El fin.

Peace out.
JacLyn

Dancing, folclórico style.

The lake where I spent el Dieciocho, near Pucón.

Another [basically] Pucón sky.

Jahni in the dunes. 

Also in the dunes (Jeff getting ready to do something extreme, I imagine).



Viña del Mar beach day.



Our apartment view of Viña (19th floor).



View from inside my first ascensor!




Valparaíso view.



More Valpo.

Streets of Valpo...

Street art was everywhere.

Really, all over the place.

We met some guy named Esteban (yellow shirt), and he showed us around.

Some castle in Viña.

Back for some more Valpo.

Another streetside work of art.

Valpo cityscape.

Supermarkets, jungles and jazz.

One month in and the update is that I love it here.  Also that sometimes I think I haven’t learned a darned thing.  I guess I thought I would magically absorb Spanish. (I didn’t.) I usually have to concentrate pretty hard to understand what's happening around me and I’m still scared of answering that formidable telephone.  I’m sure I’m learning something and I’m not super discouraged.  If nothing else, I know I’m learning how to make marshmallows.

That’s right, I looked up a marshmallow recipe and made them with my host sister Vale. We had success.  I learned a powerful lesson when buying the ingredients, though: the express lane isn’t the place to try out your debit card for the first time.  (Gosh, they looked grumpy, all those people backed up behind me.)  Also, you can take it from me, you're supposed to have your produce weighed before you go the register. 

In other news, the whole group of study abroad students went to Curiñanco (a beach town about an hour from here) for the day.  We played in the sand; hiked through an incredible rainforest jungle of super old, super tall trees; saw some rare snail... it was black; saw some sheep... they had long tails; ate some salmon.  We even had our own personal—albeit slightly informal—cueca (the national dance) performance.  

What else?  I went to bits and pieces of a jazz festival in town and one of the nights I think I almost died for lack of swing dancers; the band was super good.  There was a documentary festival, too (I’m getting very wild and crazy here in Chile) and another night there was a concert by a Mapuche woman, also really cool.  Also went to the orchestra. Oh! There was a giant birthday party at our house for my abuela this week. 81 years old!  Imagine attending a family reunion full of strangers and now imagine that they all speak Spanish. Ha.  They’re a pretty high-spirited, welcoming family and it was lots of fun.

Speaking of birthdays, mine was perfect.   I was attacked by Vale with kisses and a lovely card at midnight and when I headed to bed I found a pretty journal and chocolate from my brother.  The next morning he took me downtown so I could take pictures.  It was beautiful out and I was happier than a tick on a fat hog.  I also got a grocery store trip in, always a favorite pastime of mine.   Before lunch there were fancy appetizers and a present (a book on Chilean slang or “Chilenismos,” ¿cachai?), followed by the cake and candles bit.  The fam took me out to dinner that night, and I then I ended the day eating said chocolate cake with amigos.  ¡Qué suerte!

It hasn’t been raining as much.  I have yet to be bored here.  Classes are going just fine.  I bought the ingredients for popcorn balls (my family’s never heard of them) and so I’ll report back about that saga next time.

Over and out.
JacLyn

This is how we roll.

A Curiñanco beach.



And that's the ocean.



Jeff, in the Curiñanco jungle...

Bus window photography.

Jazz festival (they played Minor Swing and I loved them forever).



Watching Beatriz Pichi Malen (a Mapuche singer) from the balcony.

Pretty Valdivian waterfront.

Felipe took me on a picture-taking adventure on my birthday.

Perfect birthday.

That elusive black snail.

A little lunchtime cueca (the national dance).

Bésame. Bésame mucho.

So the flights were long, just like my itinerary claimed they would be.  Lacey and I made it to the bus terminal in Santiago in time to buy the last two tickets for the final morning bus.  (Departure time: 10 minutes.)  Every now and then I would remember that those mountains we were passing were the Andes.  The Andes.  Super weird.

We got into Valdivia 11 hours later—30 hours of straight travel time, yo—and found our respective strangers.   Strangers that kiss you and claim to be your new mom and sister.  (Having no alternative, you believe them and get into their car.) Turns out they really were and at my new house I met my dad and brother—more kisses—and was ushered into the dining room where they left me alone with my dinner for a few minutes.  Um, so there weren’t any chairs.  It’s cool; new country, new customs.   I’m trying not to make assumptions, but I will say I was happy when I found out that they just forget to put the chairs there and that people sit down to eat in Chile, too.

Then the first day of school.  It’s funny because you just flat out don’t know ANYthing.   I got up at 7:30 and everyone was gone.  I was thinking, “can I eat whatever, or how does this work?”  Then there's a house alarm and stuff, so I wasn't really sure what to do about that.  (I’m sure they’d told me but there is this slight language barrier.) And then I didn't really understand if I was supposed to come back at lunchtime and when lunchtime was, for that matter.   Anyway, I pulled through.  Also, classes are completely in Spanish, which is going to be quite the thing.

Two weeks in now, and I’m feeling good.  Valdivia is beautiful; all sorts of rivers and blooming trees and funny-looking birds.   It rains a lot here and I think it’s about as cozy as can be.  I wonder if the novelty might wear off, but it hasn't yet. Wikipedia claims Seattle gets 37.1 inches a year.  Valdivia?  23 inches in the month of June alone.  (I bought an umbrella.)

My host family is fantastic.  They’re super funny and really warm.  We come back to the house to eat lunch together every day, and it’s kind of an event.  It’s like the major meal of the day and we just hang out and eat wonderful things and talk.  Truthfully, I don't have a clue what's going on a lot of the time.  (I really am happy here, just way out of the loop.)  I understand Spanish about as well as I expected.  That means I generally know what topic we’re talking about and generally don’t know what we’re saying about it.  My family speaks slowly for me, though, and I’m bumbling along.

Quick summary of other cool things: There is an abundance of lobos marinos (sea “wolves”) down by the bridge. I saw a Beatles cover band comprised of Chileans, super fun[ny].  There are lots of cute cafés where I can sit and read my dictionary. There’s a giant botanical garden on campus which is mind-boggling and fantastic.  My brother Felipe took me on lovely hike, basically in our backyard, and the verdict is that Valdivia is just plain beautiful. There’s a lively fish market on the waterfront. Avocado! We eat lots and lots of avocado, called “palta” here (not “aguacuate” like I learned in Washington).

This is long and I still have tons to say but in conclusion I will say that one semi-shocking thing is the number of words you learn in class that evidently aren’t really used in real life.  The aforementioned palta/aguacate mix-up is one, another major one is “adios.”  You think you at least know that one.  Guess what?  No. Everyone says “chao.”  I literally have not heard adios. I think I’m going to get educated.

Chao y besos (always lots and lots of besos)

JacLyn

Flying into Santiago...

The eternal bus ride (at this point we're at 20+ hours of travel, 10 to go).



Fish market, rain or shine. (So, rain.)




Man in a slicker?




Blooming trees and umbrellas all over the place.



Valdivian street gossips.

Campus, plus some water.



Flowers from the [Chilean] Beatles.




There IS sunshine.



Telma, official cat of the house.