Chiloé. Not as creepy as it was supposed to be.

Vacation Rewind Part 5 of 6

We'd read and heard quite a bit about Chiloé and it's one-of-a-kind scenery and vibe. Based in hundreds of years of folklore, some believe in the legends of ghost ships filled with witches, evil forest dwarves that take young girls' virginity and a bull with a single golden horn which can cure various ailments. The region in which it exists is characterized by hundreds of islands with the big island of Chiloé being the main attraction. As seems to happen all over the world, when you leave people isolated on islands, strange things seem to invade their thoughts.

I do have a news flash for anyone that's striken with the image of some kind of tropical paradise when they hear the world island. This place is anything but tropical, although some might consider it a kind of paradise. The scenery was amazingly lush and vibrant. The greenery isn't a miracle though as the area's weather can be characterized as rainy with a chance of more rain. The locals said experiencing at least 3 days without some sort of moderate to heavy rainfall was an anomaly most hadn't seen in their lifetimes. Fortunately for us, the weather held up relatively well during our stay. There were even moments when it was down right lovely.



While driving around the island and seeing the sights was pretty impressive, I wasn't picking up on the special vibe I'd read about the area being famous for. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales where we call 'home'. The people were nice, the weather was grey, there were lots of fishing boats that didn't seem too concerned with fishing... what am I missing? Well upon further research, I discovered that most of the people that now live in our region had ancestors that came from Chiloé, thereby bringing their special brand of being right to my doorstep every day. Now if I could only get the rolling hills, forests and beautiful beaches too, we'd really be in business. I've never been to Ireland or Scotland but I feel like the scenery we saw would resemble something one might find in those countries.



The food was certainly one of the more noteworthy aspects of Chiloé and I must admit, it didn't disappoint. Their staple dish is curanto which is a feast unlike any other I've ever heard of. I'm lucky enough to live in a house where curanto is made somewhat regularly and, although it's not made in the traditional way, I can attest to it's deliciousness. The ingredients consist of various kind of shellfish like mussels and oysters as well as others that don't have English names, chicken, chorizo, potatoes, cabbage and a potato pancake-ish thing called chapalele. Traditionally, all these things are placed in a hole in the ground with hot rocks and left alone for a few hours until ready to eat. At my house, it's made in a huge pot as a sort of stew with a little bit of water and a whole bunch of white wine. Drinking the broth has become my favorite part.



I have to send special credit to some street vendors outside the bus station in Castro, the large capital city of Chiloé, for making the most delicious empanada and milcao, which is just like chapalele but fried instead, I've ever had. The empanada I had was filled with apples and tasted like everything a McDonald's baked apple pie should. It was probably about the size of my face and it only cost a dollar. We also got to find 'Mapuche viagra', also known as piure, on a beach outside the city of Ancud. Our tour guide told us that it's supposed to be very healthy to eat raw and described it as not an animal and not a plant but just a thing because it somehow feeds on it's own itself in order to grow. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I couldn't bring myself to eat it because it looked like an old soggy, worn basketball on the outside yet had a tapioca-esque pink and orange inside. I did lick it though. There's a picture to prove it somewhere.

I'm definitely glad we made it to Chiloé and felt it's famous rains dot our foreheads for a few days. The relaxed, kind nature of the people really make it a great place to enjoy life at a slower pace. I loved it for all the reasons I love Punta Arenas and then some.

Good times, mediocre empanadas.

¡Felices Fiestas Patrias!

As mentioned in the previous post, this past 'weekend' (which lasted 6 days) was a time of celebration throughout Chile to mark their 200th anniversary. I wasn't totally sure what to expect but I knew a few important things: my girlfriend was coming to town, there would be lots of bbq-ed meat, there would be various kermesses and fondas to keep everyone busy. With that in mind, it was almost impossible not to have a good time.

The various presentations and contests at school that kicked off the celebrations were truly impressive and I genuinely enjoyed learning about Chile and also seeing some of it's culture first hand. While I've heard some people comment that Chile doesn't have a tremendously rich culture, I have to disagree. While many South American countries can be compared and one can see more than a few similarities, I'm still envious of their traditional feelings and identities that are much more specific than anything we have in the US. Granted, the US doesn't have these specific ideas and traditions because we are a diverse people. I think many would agree that this diversity is the most celebrated part of our culture. While that's a great thing to have, it doesn't give us this specific sense of identity that I feel many of the people of Chile have. It's very cool to see so many people bound over coming from the same places and sharing the same ancestors. The grass is always greener, I suppose.

As I guessed, I danced cueca. Let me rephrase that, I tried to dance cueca. My school had a cueca contest on our last day of school before the break where girls of all ages, and males partners from neighboring schools, showed their skills in front of the whole school. There were three categories broken up by age and I have to say that some of the younger kids were nearly as good as some of the older ones. It's incredible that they've been able to learn so much so quickly... but again, when this dance is so closely related to their national identity, it's kind of a priority. I can't remember how many times I was asked if there was some kind of dance in the US that fills a similar role. For the life of me, I can't think of any one dance that Americans across the country know and identify as being a part of American history.



The fondas and kermesses were also a really interesting part of the celebrations. Kermesses, basically small scale fairs, had been set up all across town as a way to raise funds for the students of the school. Much like the one at my school, there was lots of cake, candy and empanadas being hocked by children of all ages. There were also some of the most ridiculous games I've ever seen. One included trying to extinguish the flame on a candle being held in the mouth of a boy standing 6-7 feet away with a water gun... all for the bargain price of about 15-20 cents. The fondas were fun but not quite what I expected. Roughly translated, fondas are supposed to be cheap, temporary restaurants set up to allow people to eat, drink and be merry. I say roughly translated because they weren't cheap and the food didn't reach any kind of restaurant quality that I've experienced. At any rate, there was lots of drinking and dancing so it was fun. I'd hoped to find something a bit more traditional but ultimately found them to be a way for different organizations in the city to throw parties, make money and give the people of the community a place to get together and dance to the historic, timeless beats of reggaeton and 80's pop music.

I do feel that we get a bit of the raw end of the deal down here in the extreme south when it comes to experiencing the Fiestas Patrias in it's truest sense. While the weather is getting slightly better, there was still no way that any of these events could be held outside. When I watched the news during the weekend, it showed all sorts of clips of people in other parts of the country enjoying sunny outdoor festivals. Don't get me wrong, I still had lots of fun indoors but who doesn't love drinking and eating while the sun does it's best to give you cancer? It's just another slight drawback of living so far from center but there's plenty of other things to be thankful for instead. For example, in just a couple short weeks tens of thousands of penguins will start arriving in the area to begin their mating season. Who needs 85 degree weather when you can cuddle a king penguin?

School?! Not this week...

This week marks the start of the Fiestas Patrias celebrations. Fiestas Patrias is Chile's independence day celebration and this year is guaranteed to be special as I'll be helping them ring in their 200th year of freedom from those Spanish bums. Much of the preparations and sights are similar to what you'd expect to see in the weeks leading up to the 4th of July. Lots of the commercials on TV have patriotic themes and there are lots of news stories about the different celebrations in the different parts of the country. I even saw a news story the other day about how to save money and where to buy certain food if you're planning to have an asado (aka BBQ). I think one of my most favorite things about Chile has been the asado so I can't wait for another reason to attend one.

Being that Chilean schools seem to look for every possible reason not to have class, this week's celebration has provided the perfect excuse to basically cancel classes for the entire week. Last Friday, the festivities kicked off with a special 'project' that all the students had a hand in. The medio students, high school, were assigned different periods of Chilean history while the basico students, elementary, were tasked with coming up with exhibitions for each of Chile's regions. The medio girls did an excellent job showing the struggles and issues present in each time period. I found the recent history involving ex-Presidents Allende (socialist) and Pinochet (right wing militarist) most interesting. By most accounts, Pinochet's era marked a dark time where political and social oppression were more common place than anyone would like to admit. You can still find his influence today in culture and law. For example, divorce only became legally possible in 2004. As you can imagine, it's still a hot topic that creates lots of gossip around the communities when it happens. Another example would be some Chilean teenagers obsession with 80's rock music. They don't seem to be very interested in much of the rock music from the 90's or even today but bands like Guns n' Roses, Metallica, Megadeth and the Ramones are very popular. I can't tell you how many times I've had to disappoint someone by saying I don't like Guns n' Roses very much. Anyway, it was interesting to hear Chilean's reflect on the tumultuous overthrow of their government (which was in part supported by the US) and the years that followed. In many cases, I found that they feel bad about the way things happened but they aren't sure their country would be in such a prosperous position today without those years of stabilization that allowed them to form a somewhat solid infrastructure.

There were plenty of tables where the cute factor outweighed the heaviness of some of the culture. The very little girls worked on projects about the native populations of Chile so they were all dressed up and playing games the Mapuche would have played. I also got to sample lots of food that were typical of the different regions in Chile. I don't have the heart to call them out on it but it really isn't all that terribly different from north to south.





Today brought a fair type event where each class brought food and had games for other students to play. They charge small amounts in order to raise money for activities and field trips the classes would like to do. It was a madhouse in every way imaginable. Some classes sold little sticks that had fruit or marshmallows covered with chocolate that tasted OK. Unfortunately, these palitos were not child safe as they had sharp points. I can't even begin to explain how nervous it made me to see 6 year olds literally running through the halls and around blind corners with sharp sticks. Equally dangerous was a game that many of you would be familiar with that involves popping a balloon with a dart from some arbitrary distance. The twist here was that there were three girls holding the board that the balloons were tied to. Giving a 7 year old a dart and telling her to throw it at the board you're holding in front of your chest takes more guts than I'll ever have. It's true miracle that no one was maimed in the name of fundraising. There was also karaoke... which is a must at any gathering of more than 6 people here in Chile. My ears are still ringing from the sounds of about a hundred girls screaming the words to every song for the last 30 mins of the event.

All in all, fun was had, money was raised and I was slightly overwhelmed. Still, I'm looking forward to the events that are yet to come. The school is having a special cueca competition tomorrow morning that's certain to entertain. Cueca is the national dance that's inspired by the mating rituals of roosters and hens. It's quite... well, I'm still searching for the words to describe it. With any luck (and some kind of mixture of wine, beer and pisco), I'll be attempting my own interpretation of it by sundown on Friday.

The Backpacker's Disneyland

Vacation Rewind Part 4 of 6

The city of Pucón lies quite a bit south of Santiago where our bus from Argentina dropped us off at about 8 pm. Having spent close to two weeks in Santiago when we first arrived in Chile, we knew we didn't want to stay there any longer than we had to. Fortunately, we were able to find a bus that would leave at 9:30 and take us on our way out of the city and into, quite literally, greener pastures. So after a bus station meal consisting of chicken and avocado sandwiches, we said our goodbyes to our friend Jeff who was planning to head north for a few days to wrap up his vacation and boarded our overnight bus to Pucón.

We sprung for the full-cama seats on this bus because our bus trip from Mendoza to Santiago took an entire 4 hours longer than it was supposed to (gotta love those border crossings!) which left us sore and irritable. The difference between semi-cama and full-cama seats in buses is comparable to the difference between first class and coach on an airplane. Being that we'd been on a bus for about 9 hours already and had an additional 14-15 hours ahead of us, we decided fully reclining seats were a must. After experiencing the joys of the full-cama, I'm having a hard time imagining an overnight bus without them.

When we arrived the next morning, we were greeted by a heavy rain storm that we knew we'd have to walk around in for at least a few minutes before we found a hostel to stay in. We'd researched the options a few days before but weren't sure which ones would have rooms available and what the prices might be. Luckily, one of the hostels was only a couple blocks from the bus station so we made our way there first. Because of the torrential downpour, we were soaked by the time we got there and immediately agreed to stay as soon as we stepped in the door. Despite our seemingly rash decision, the hostel was actually one of the best we stayed in during our entire trip. It looked a lot like a big cabin and even had a resident dog named "Negra" that kept us company while the rain poured. The only downside was the lack of heat. As with all places in Chile not named Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales, there isn't much in the way of gas heating. This means that the main source of heat is always log burning stoves and fireplaces. While some volunteers have become extremely adept at starting and maintaining fires for hours at a time in order to keep warm, I haven't been able to hone those skills since I'm spoiled with nice gas heaters in almost every room of the house. Our room was equipped with a small stove-type heater that we'd need to figure out how to use in order to keep from freezing at night. I gave it my best shot but we never got it to work quite the way it was supposed to. Nevertheless, it did the job and we came away from Pucón with all our fingers and toes.

We only planned to stay for a couple of days as we knew there were a couple more places further south that we'd need to visit before returning to the bottom of the planet so we immediately discussed what kinds of activities were available with the hostel owner. He told us about quite a few things, including scaling the nearby volcano and sledding down, but we decided on two of the more relaxing experiences. Our first night would be spent up on the side of the volcano enjoying the mineral pools that spring up along the river that takes the snow melt from the mountain to the lake. The day after would be spent riding horses around the countryside and the foothills outside town.

Before our night time excursion to the hot springs, we wandered around town to see what kinds of things it had to offer. Lonely Planet describes it as a backpacker's Disneyland and I couldn't agree more with the description. It was incredibly touristy (read: expensive). While this can be a drawback for certain aspects of the experience it certainly presents you with tons of benefits as well. For example, the type of food available there is unlike any other place I've been or heard of in Chile. There were Peruvian, Argentine, Mexican, Italian, American and even Middle Eastern restaurants all over the place. There was also a fantastic place that tripled as a hostel, bar and vegetarian restaurant that we visited twice to sample the delicious food they had on offer. One time for lunch, where we sampled the black bean nachos (just like home) and a thai curry dish and one time for breakfast where Marie finally got to enjoy her favorite thing in the world: fresh fruit with yogurt and granola. We were happy kids.

Traveling to the hot springs that night was pretty painless and the pools themselves were great. There must have been at least 7 different size pools to choose from and they were all relatively empty. It was great to be there at night because everything was very quiet and you could relax but I was disappointed about not being able to see the scenery that surrounded the pools because it looked like it'd be pretty incredible with a large river and tons of very tall trees all around. At any rate, you can never underestimate just how happy a bit of warm water can make you. It's the simple things, right?

The next day we were picked up by a very nice woman that would take us out to the ranch where we'd set out on horses for a few hours. Marie had never been horseback riding but had always wanted to so she was VERY excited and a bit nervous. I'd only been a few times but always enjoyed it so I was looking forward to an interesting experience. When we arrived, we found our two trusty steeds ready to take us away. Mine was named Esperanza and Marie had Polka. For reasons only known to cowboys, I had a great time. I noticed myself smiling ear to ear quite a few times and I wasn't totally sure why. The mixture of the greenery, the rivers, the volcanoes, the sheep watching us stroll by, the galloping and the fresh air just made me incredibly content.




We enjoyed our short time in Pucón and I'm sure it's even more impressive during the summer when the weather is warm and swimming in the lake is encouraged. We left a little disappointed that we couldn't be spending more time there but knew that our next destination, Chiloe, would have plenty to make us satisfied to be moving on.

August showers bring September flowers... and more wind.

The home stretch is here. It's hard to believe that we're entering our 6th month in Chile which has served as a signal that the end is near. At this point, there's a certain mix of emotions ranging from excitement to pure dread regarding our impending return to the places we used to call home. For many of us, including myself, the places we used to call home won't be there. It'll be time to start something new all over again.

I can't help but become a bit sentimental and reflective as I think about leaving this place. I think about all the things I've learned and experienced so far and find myself very satisfied about what I'll take away. I've gotten actual experience in teaching. I've learned a moderate amount of Spanish. I've met people that I'll never forget. I've done and seen things that I'd never dreamed I'd see. There are also some things that I'd hoped to figure out by the end of this experience that haven't happened. However, I've come to realize that those questions are ones that will never be truly answered for me. I'm much, much more comfortable with that thought than I've ever been in my life. I've learned a lot about my capacities to find happiness in things that seemed trivial or uninteresting. For this, I'm very excited about the prospects of returning to the good ol' US of A to waste more time with lots of trivial and uninteresting things... kidding, of course (I think).

It feels as though my daily routine and my feelings about it have become polarized. There are lots of things that are great about teaching at my school and living with my host family. The good things have only gotten better and really are the things that keep me going. For example, walking through the halls at school and seeing tons of kids smile and trying to say "Hello! How are you?" is always guaranteed to cheer me up. I can't be in a bad mood after receiving a hug from 10-15 3rd graders. It's more impossible than swallowing a spoonful of cinnamon or eating three packages of saltine crackers in 2 mins (you'll have to try those out to understand what I mean). I find my family, on the whole, to be very caring and kind. My host dad is a great guy that always looks out for me and always wants me to feel included. My host mom is very hard working and I don't quite understand how she's able to balance so many things at once while still remaining so sweet and calm.

At the same time, there are a few things that aren't as great that can test my patience. I've found that trying to teach a group of 11-12 year old girls anything is probably one of the most frustrating things I've ever done. They insist on talking, giggling and avoiding work at all times. They literally cannot be quiet for more than 30 seconds at a time. There are also a lot of challenges when it comes to school that have nothing to do with the students. Working within the framework of the school and with a group of teachers has been challenging as well. The nature of things seem to be constantly changing which can be incredibly frustrating. I've also rediscovered to joy of living with teenagers. Cold shoulders, loud screams of "Mamá" and hearing the same song on repeat for 3 hours at a time is something I've had to get used to.

All in all, traveling Chile has been everything I expected it to be and a whole lot more. I'm excited about the last 2.5 months of this experience and the warm weather and clear skies that lie ahead in spring. Vamos a ver...