Don't cry for me, Argentina

Okay, obviously I had to title this entry as such...sorry for the cliché but it was bound to happen. Yes, after plane and two bus rides, I arrived safe and sound in Viña after 9 active days in Argentina. I started out in Buenos Aires, sharing a Palermo apartment with Emily and her host hermano, André, before switching over to Kyra and Brooke's apartment that was a three-minute walk away on Sunday (that would be the 14^th). Then I took an all-night bus (15 hours, baby!) to on Wednesday to Mendoza where I spent Thursday, Thursday night, and most of Friday before heading to the airport. I was supposed to return to Chile via bus, but then inclement weather inspired them (whoever they are...) to close the border and I had a choice between waiting indefinitely and buying a last-minute plane ticket. Obviously, I chose the latter. It made for a stressful end of the trip but, as my dad pointed out, it was a classic solo travel challenge that can happen and knowing how to handle the situation will undoubtedly serve me in future travel endeavors.

Argentina is a big country and requires way more than 9 days to get to know, but I'm glad I did this trip. I didn't realize how utterly exhausted I would be after the program ended, so I kind of felt like I was wandering around in a daze much of the time, but I'm still happy to have My fascination with Eva Perón was obviously a key reason why I was so excited to hit up Buenos Aires. Emily and I went to the cemetery in Buenos Aires where she and many other famous Argentine figures are buried. Evita had a complicated post-mortem life (Wikipedia's got the lowdown if you're interested, it's a crazy tale) but has been buried with her family in the cemetery since the 70s. I also went to the official Evita museum, founded and run by the Fundación Eva Perón that she originally created, where I learned more about her brief but incredible life and saw some of her clothes and personal belongings. The first room of the museum was a total trip—the walls and floor were all mirrors and the room was totally dark except for a screen playing a clip reel of her life and a single spotlight on a bronze death mask. The clip reel was accompanied by extremely dramatic music, so I was thoroughly weirded out after that first room. The rest of the museum was not scary and totally cool, though, so I definitely recommend it to future Buenos Aires visitors.

L-R: Cemetery en La Recoleta, Evita's family tomb (2 photos), me/another tomb in the cemetery.

Emily, André and I also went to Señor Tango, a flashy (read: touristy) tango show that gave us an excuse to dress up and attempt to feel like true Buenos Aires-ites (they dress so elegantly there—I always felt ridiculously out of place just for not being totally put together and accessorized). The show involved a great deal of glitter, sequins, and double-sided tape, but it was fun and seeing the dancers inspired me to renew my gym membership for this summer!

L-R: With Emily in our apartment building pre-tango show, having a completely unposed and totally real conversation. Me with Sr. Tango, or at least the sign.

After switching apartments, I had the chance to go to El Ateneo, a world-famous bookstore that is housed in a former theater. Suffice to say, it was absolutely beautiful. I embrace my utter nerdiness and admit that a theater filled with books is the dream I never knew I had. We enjoyed delicious desserts in the café (located on the former stage, so fantastic) and then browsed like crazy. I was on the hunt for engrossing books in both languages to keep me occupied on my upcoming bus viaje to Mendoza (and to Viña, as was planned at the time). I achieved this goal (John Grisham's The Firm did the trick—and then some, seeing as I spent my solo night in Mendoza blocking the door and being totally paranoid that my room was bugged, but that's another story) and got to see this fabulous BA sight.

The amazingness of El Ateneo...and then the amazingness of a brownie with dulce de leche ice cream at the cafe in El Ateneo.
Mendoza is all about General San Martín. An impressive monument of him on his horse stands in the center of Plaza San Martín, as well as the official San Martín museum and library. I also passed where he and his wife lived for a few years—otherwise not very notable, except it's where his only child was born on August 24^th (a.k.a. my birthday, a.k.a. worth noting to me so please humor me), 1816.

All hail General San Martin in his own Plaza; fountain in Plaza Independencia.
I went to several museums in my two days in Mendoza, my favorite being the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno. They had an exhibit of paintings by an up-and-coming "Mendocino" (someone from Mendoza) that I absolutely loved. His name is Mauro Cano and his paintings were wonderful. Check it out:

I spent my first day back in Viña sleeping, almorzar-ing with the familia, and walking around Viña having a cone from one of my two favorite heladerias and stocking up on all the gifts that I've not bought all semester long. It's incredibly hard to believe that I leave for the states on Thursday night...time to go aprovechar (take advantage of) the time I have left!

Aquí estamos

It's June 5, 2008, i.e. the day after we handed in our ISP reports and the day before we take off for Algarrobo to do our ISP presentations this weekend. Last night was the end-of-the-semester dinner with all of the families and then on Monday the semester officially ends with the group flight (even though very few people will actually be on it!). For me, the near future includes a flight to Buenos Aires on the 11^th, getting to know what is known as the "Paris of South America," a bus trip to Mendoza to check out that cool city, and then another bus ride through the Cordillera to return to Viña around the 20^th. Then I have a little more time in my beloved Viña and Valpo before leaving on the 26^th of the US of A! Yikes.

It's really happening—the end of this incredible, life-changing experience in Chile. Words cannot explain my overwhelming mix of emotions and thoughts right now...I've had my moments of pure joy at the realization that I've had an experience that's even better than what I imagined. On Tuesday I finished my ISP and had it printed and bound, per SIT regulations, and went back to the printing place in the evening to pick it up. As soon as I got back home I just sat down on my bed and started sobbing—holding my project in my hands and seeing my name on the title page was incredibly surreal. In our applications to the program we had to discuss our ISP idea/topic and even though mine (and many others') completely changed, it still means that the ISP has been on my mind since I started my application in Professor Mills' English Writing class a year ago. Then we got here and started reading previous students' ISPs in the Casa SIT library. Then we worked on proposals and plans throughout the semester, ultimately culminating in a crazy month of May saturated with interviews, running around Valpo (and the rest of the country since people were everywhere from the tippy-top of Chile to Patagonia in the Sur), freaking out in Danko's office, and ultimately spending many an hora on the computer doing a lit review of previous authors' work and then writing up my own project.

But I digress a little—my real point was that seeing my finished project all pretty and bound (and we're NOT going to discuss the Occidental College à Occidental Collage debacle...let's just say I'm really glad that white-out does indeed exist in Chile) brought up the crazy mass of emotions that I'd been keeping at bay while focusing on my ISP. Now when I light the manual heater in our apartment to take a shower, I get this little pang of sadness because it's one of the last times I'll do it. Cecilia showed me how to do it practically as soon as we walked in the door after they picked me up at the hotel, so I will always associate it with my first couple days adjusting to my life here. Hopping in micros and colectivos is suddenly a slightly-nostalgic, instead of slightly-nauseating, experience. I keep stopping on walks everywhere just because I'm realizing that it's close to the end and I'm not going to walk by Location X a million more times.

It may seem a little silly but I am realizing that people and pets are not the only things we mourn; on the contrary, experiences and places are very much living, breathing entities to which we have to say good-bye in the same way we would a loved one. True, I can come back to Chile someday (by someday, I actually mean ASAP...sigh) but it will never be the same. This is a good thing; obviously it would be bad if my love for this country depended on the program. But it is still overwhelmingly strange to realize that this chapter is closing and no matter how many times I come back to this wonderfully quirky and culturally rich country, the precise feeling of these extraordinary past three+ months will never be the same. It's good, it's hard, it's a challenge for us all in many kinds of contextualized experiences like this one—I went through it with Governor's School, I'm going through it now, and I'll probably go through it next year when I graduate from college (don'tevengetmestartedholycow). Danko likes to talk about the dialectic discourse (he is, after all, my favorite Communist) and it is very true that this experience is one of many that we will have in our lives. Right now it is very difficult to realize that, after a couple years, I probably won't be in super-steady contact with my host family even though right now I'm already planning their Christmas package and photo-packed update letters. It's just the way life is and, honestly, the way it's supposed to be. We deserve to be happy wherever we are in life, geographically and otherwise. For me and many people I know, part of this happiness includes keeping in touch with people and places that we don't get to see all the time, and that's okay. But if there's one thing I've learned this semester (and there's not, it's more like 40879184 things) it's that every experience can only be as good as you make it—sure, external factors can make it worse, but the goodness factor is totally dependent on your willingness to give it your all and try to appreciate each day.

Okay, I actually meant to write about things other than my existential ramblings on the life, so instead I will show via photos. The parental visit was a smashing success; it was super fun to show the Donna and the Neal around my adopted país (country) and they are now BFFs with Cecilia and Hector. Awesome. We discovered that my real dad and Chilean dad like the same kind of music and the same kinds of copetes (drinks—namely, dark beers and Drambuie) and Cecilia was excited that she and my mother both love the color purple—then she knitted her a lavender poncho! All in all, a very successful trip and the source of a lot of my Dawson's Creek-style pensiveness since it is always interesting to view your own life through the eyes and ears of someone visiting it. Especially when those visitors are your parents ; )

We close with some photos...as excited as I am for Argentina and my last little bit of chillin' in Chile, I truly ache at times for Wayne amigas (a.k.a. my heart and soul) and Oxy life (a.k.a. mi corazón e alma because Oxy's in Los Angeles so we say it en español). I have high hopes for this summer and am trying not to freak out about being a senior in college in the fall. Speaking of seniors, I really wish I could be in Los Angeles shortly for the high school graduation of a certain Caroline Alexis Crane, my baby cousin who grew up all too fast. Felicidades, mi prima linda! I am there in spirit and expect ample photo documentation afterwards!

Como siempre, un abrazo a todos...

Photos from top left corner: General cemetery in Santiago when I went to get mis padres; ALL FOUR OF MY FABULOUS PARENTS together in front of the President's vacation pad in Cerro Castillo, which was open for the annual patromonial day; with Cecilia and Hector with the view of the ocean outside the Palacio Presidental; view from the coast with the familia.

Viva Chile! And also Elizabeth, in case you were wondering!

I'm still here, I swear! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted—I thought time was moving before, but now it's really flying. Quick updates:

Temuco Excursion

In reality, we didn't spend much time in Temuco—we lived with Mapuche families in Makewe (rural pueblo outside of Temuco) for about 8 days, did village studies in other pueblos (along with 2 of my compañeros, I was in Lautaro), and then had the last couple of days in Temuco. The excursion was definitely a memorable and enriching experience, but I was ready to come back to Viña/Valpo. The first week was stuffed with lecture after lecture and when you add the bitter cold that develops in the South this time of year, I was not the happiest of campers. But the second week was better, with our jaunt in the national park (SO BEAUTIFUL) and time to do more stuff with our families, and then the village study. With the drought that's currently going on, the families we lived with don't have running water in the house (if their house is even equipped for it all, ours was), so we learned how to shower with a tea kettle and bucket...definitely a perspective-creator. Water is seriously like gold there—they don't even think of just drinking a glass of water because they need it for cooking and washing and it's very scarce. Our host sister, Mariela, is a freshman at the university in Temuco studying the equivalent of business management. She was awarded a scholarship and also qualifies for the state to pay for food during the day (since it's a good half-hour in micro back and forth from where she lives), but the actual money has yet to appear. So she frequently skips lunch when she's at the university all day and they're just hoping the government gets it together sometime soon. Yeesh.

Okay, I could spend 10 pages on the Temuco excursion, so I'll include a couple photos and leave it at that...

Sunset...wow. Our home in Makewe. With Jenny and Maia (amigas del programa) and our host sister (Mariela, 18) and brother (Ricardo, 7) at home in Makewe.

Singing every song we know during a fogata (bonfire) in a ruka (traditional Mapuche edifice). Mark is playing guitar and I am trying not to laugh at Don Carlos (Pepe?), our driver who always fell asleep (when not driving).

Independent Research Project (ISP)

This is where we get into "where did the time go?!?" mode! I am researching the political participation of university students in the Valpo area with regard to traditional and non-traditional participation, what this means for democracy, etc etc. This is a totally awesome time to study such a topic because May is a big protest time for universities. In fact, many are or have been "en toma," which is when students literally take over ("tomar") the university buildings in protest. They've also been "en paro" (parar is "to stop"), which is a notch below toma when the students basically go on strike and don't go to class. They're protesting the issue of their mandatory student micro pass, for which the government keeps changing the price and rules. They're also working to bring attention to bigger issues in higher education that have to do with longstanding laws that affect the cost of tuition. It's interesting because, truthfully, university students have been protesting these exact issues for years. They make small strides but never seem to get to the top of what they seek, yet continue fighting and turning out new student leaders for these activities every year. It's fascinating on so many levels and again, I could spend forever on this, so I'll leave it at a couple photos of some posters at the universities.
Two universities that are currently en toma.

Life in general

¡La vida chilena es super bacán (Chilean life is super cool)! Coming back from 2 weeks in the sur, I really did feel like I was coming home—I adore my family, love Viña and Valpo, and I just thoroughly disfrutar (enjoy) my life in this long and skinny country. Although I miss things like big nonfat vanilla lattes in my hand (don't even get me started on the Nescafe fetish here...NO ES CAFÉ/IT IS NOT COFFEE!) and obviously my fabulous friends in the U.S., I am very into the comfortable-yet-still-exciting rhythm that my life here has. I'm also discovering new words, new places, and new challenges every day, but I always have my people (Cecilia, Hector, Mami Luz, Patricio, Danko, and many more) and places (our apartment, Casa SIT, Plaza Viña, the amazing panaderia near Casa SIT) to return to at the literal and metaphorical end of the day. Sigh.

1) Cecilia and Octavio at our Mother's Day get-together at Teresa's (Cecilia's hermana) apartment.
2) Amigas Angela and Emily enjoying our findings at Sausalito, a fancy chocolate shop in town. Mmm.
3) View of Valpo from way up high abova Plaza Anibal Pinto.

A big shout-out to my fabulous Oxy senior amigos, who I cannot believe are graduating TODAY! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you in person, but I am thinking of y'all today and always and send my love and congratulations all the way to the Greek Bowl (and other places that you go, duh). ¡Felicidades!

Last but certainly not least: THE PADRES ARRIVE IN SANTIAGO TOMORROW!!! Wooohooo! I am seriously pumped to a) see my parents, duh and b) get to show them some of the fabulous country. They're arriving in Santiago tomorrow evening and then on Thursday I will go up to get them and bring them to Viña! Photo documentation will seguramente (surely) be ample and subsequently represented here.

As always, saludos and cariño a todos--¡nos vemos!

Almost alliterative: Comida, Concierto y Quintay

Okay, it is finally time to discuss food in Chile. Prior to arriving, I was a little concerned because the majority of what I'd heard about food in Chile was meat, fried stuff, sweet stuff, more meat, and sugary juice. I also heard about the abundance of bread and avocado (palta en español) which didn't concern me so much...hehe. Anyway, I have been totally pleased to discover a wealth of fresh fruits and vegetables and I am lucky to live with a family that both cooks a lot and cooks healthfully. Yes, Chileans love their mayonnaise and oil and there are definitely a lot of extremely unhealthy (but muy sabrosos) options, but I feel like I eat more fruits and vegetables here than I normally do (i.e. at school) because they're just so fresh and commonplace. The classic Chilean salad is tomato (tomate) and onion (cebolla) tossed with a little oil and salt (big on salt here too) and we also have lettuce (lechuga), often with palta, too.

Cecilia and Hector (my host parents) go to a local feria (fair) every Saturday to stock up on produce and I finally went with them last week. It's this insane block of land with people selling melons, grapes, beans, palta, bananas, apples, citrus fruits, spices, all types of vegetables, etc. The apartment is always stocked with plenty of fresh fruit and I usually have a banana or apple with breakfast (which is always toast with marmalade and hot tea) or bring something with me on my way. Like in a lot of my classmates' homes, dessert is almost always fruit or some sort of fruit-based dish. My favorite so far has been the pears that Cecilia soaks in a caramel made of wine, sugar, and water. ¡Que rico!

Almuerzo (lunch) is the main meal of the day and, traditionally, people go home to almorzar even though more and more contemporary work schedules do not allow this. Cecilia is an amazing cook and is always in the kitchen preparing things for later, including various bean-based dishes (porteros granados are a basic white bean that go with basically everything), cazuela, arroz (rice, but when Cecilia says she's making rice she means she's making it with diced red bell pepper and chopped carrots), a dish made of pureed zucchini (zapallo italiano) and cheese which is the only time I've ever loved zucchini, and seasoned chicken or meat. So on a typical day we have breakfast, almuerzo, and then usually some sort of tea-time around 6 with tea and something small like pan con palta (bread with avocado, love it), and then the "once" (ohn-say, as in Spanish for eleven) around 9 or whenever Hector gets home from work. Once is usually a smaller amount of what we had for almuerzo or maybe a little sandwich or more pan con palta if I'm not that hungry. Yes, I eat avocado pretty much every day and that very well maybe a big reason why I'm so happy here. Me encanta comer palta (I love to eat avocado) and that's not changing anytime soon!

Left: Toasting pan in our tostador, which heats on a burner. This was one of the first times I did it by myself, which is why the bread is more charbroiled than toasted. Right: My true love, the lovely palta, getting ready to go on my toast. Mmm.

Empanadas are also traditional Chilean comida and you can find them pretty much everywhere...the ones from the panaderia near Casa SIT are extremely delish (queso? Check. Pino? Check. Pino, btw, means that the filling is meat, onion, and usually egg and an olive) and I am planning to hit up Empanadas Famosas in Valpo which actually is famous for its, well, empanadas. Helado (ice cream) is also bountiful here and I take advantage pretty much every time I can...my main Spanish prof, Arturo, eventually noticed that all of my examples in class (as in, "Elizabeth, give an example that uses subjunctive/conditional/preterite) involved ice cream. The best helado that I've had so far is at a cafe/restaurant in central Vina that is a little pricey but the "small" scoop is the size of a triple at any normal Baskin-Robbins, so I'm not complaining! Here's a photo of my helado experience before the concert that I will explain later:

What I simply must describe, however, are completos. A completo italiano (allegedly named so for the colors)—which is the basic complete—is a hot dog with a load of palta, diced tomatoes (a.k.a. salsa Americana) and mayonnaise. Told you they liked their mayonnaise here. A completo completo (this is not a typo) has all of the above and what I believe was described to be sauerkraut but I'm not totally sure because I've never actually seen anyone order it. At first I thought that I would hate the completos, but OH MY GOODNESS they can be amazing. I usually order mine without mayo or with just "un poquito" but the Chilean definitition of "very little" is what we'd consider "a sizeable amount" so I usually skip it altogether. Here's a photo of a recent completo experience:

No, I did not eat the whole thing...halfway through I was defeated but satisfied. Oh completos.

Finally, today I got to observe/help Cecilia and Mami Luz (my host grandmother) cook Sunday almuerzo for the family (including Cecilia and Hector's son Christián, his wife Prisilla, their baby Julieta, Cecilia's sister Teresa and Teresa's teenage son Sebastián). We made a very traditional Chilean dish, pastel de choclo (corn cake, but not really cake like we'd think of it). It was a lengthy but worthwhile process. Check it out:

Left to right: The choclo (corn) goes from what Jimmy cracked to a sort of cornmeal-esque food that we put onthe bottom of individual dishes. In the middle of the third photo is the pino, which is the ground beef sauteed with onion and garlic.

Then we put a layer of the pino on top of the choclo, then a piece of cooked chicken, hardboiled egg, and olives, and then covered it all with more choclo and a sprinkle of table sugar. Then they were baked for about 20 minutes and came out deliciously golden brown. Naturally, I was too mesmerized by the glistening goodness to take an "after" photo," but it was basically the same as the third photo above except cooked. As every Chilean and his/her madre would say,¡ que rico!
In addition to food, I must share two fabulous experiences that I had this weekend: a free concert in Valpo that featured crucial Chilean groups like Inti-Illimani and Sol y Lluvia and then a day trip to Quintay with two friends.

The concert was called "La Democracia: Fin a la Exclusión" and turned out to be some sort of activism-based event with some speakers and a lot of chanting of "¡legalización! ¡legalización!" (legalization, i.e. of marijuana). Very interesting. It's also a memorable experience to be surrounded by tons of people, mostly around my age, who jump up and down like (inebriated) pogo sticks during specific songs and shout political phrases that have to do with the former dictatorship during others. Some of the most famous songs played by these groups (like "Adios General" by Sol y Lluvia) were written during and about the dictatorship, so I guess it's tradition to still shout the relevant phrases now. Even though the lyrics are about a specific point in time, the mobilizing effect is still very strong when it comes to new issues that interest Chilean youth. All in all, a concierto y experiencia to remember!

Concierto para la democracia; fist-pumping and political passion; a typical taken-by-Elizabeth shot of me with Celeste @ the concert.
Thanks to the recommendation of one fabulous Michelle Stoler (I hope we actually meet someday!), I set off for the nearby beach area/former port of Quintay with mis amigos Adam and Celeste. We arrived not really knowing what to expect, but what we got were absolutely breathtaking views and some delicious seafood (eaten in a restaurant with aforementioned breathtaking view...¡que bacán!). Words can't even express how beautiful this place is, so I'll let some photos do the talking.

View of the water in Quintay when we arrived; Celeste and Adam; view of gorgeous water!

A completely candid, unposed shot of me on the rocks; beautiful water (duh); more beautiful water

The sign said not to ascend the stairs up to the peak with the lighthouse, so naturally we did and got a totally different vista of the water. I have about 239812875 (give or take) of this day so it's hard to select just a few...:)
One week from today we all leave for the North/South excursions (I'm in the South group, to Temuco) so I hope to really soak up this next week with a lot of free time in Viña and Valpo. Right now it's almost 5:30 and I'm avoiding doing my last bit of tarea, working on my ISP stuff, and walking to a pharmacy to buy more minutes for my cell phone. Prisilla and Julieta are still here though, so it's legit if I'd rather hang out with them, right? Right. ¡Hasta pronto!