Chapter 8 ~ The Change

In which I will explain a transformation of grand proportions that takes place after two months of surviving the Chilean culture. 


Something happens in Chile during the month of September, something that is almost impossible to describe and do it justice at the same time. It doesn't happen all at once, it takes a few weeks for it to really sink in, but after it hits you, you realize its a completely different country. These changes take place in every aspect of daily life, whether its the people who seem more friendly all of a sudden, the weather which used to be cold and unbearable and is now sunny and comfortable, the decorations and music that can be found at every corner in celebrations of independence, and the smell of bbq's mixed with spring that put the mind in a state of constant ease and hunger at the same time. The changes can also be found in my personal life. Whether I just recognized someone in a store a month ago I couldn't even find, understood the waitress at the bakery who was telling me I couldn't leave with their glass bottles, or just coming to the realization that everything I have learned about my host family and many of my friends over the past 2 months has been learned in spanish. It leaves a great sense of accomplishment with an aftertaste of belonging to the community and it all starts with the 31st of August, allow me to explain.

On the 31st of August this year, I learned a small but interesting cultural trait about Chile. I believe it was a Wednesday, it was around dinner time and Hilda and I were listening to the radio, preparing dinner (toast with some instant coffee or tea), and waiting for Jaime to get home from work when I heard something on the radio that made me question my translations. I asked Hilda to clarify what I thought I had heard and I don't know if she was just joking with me or not, but I have no reason not to believe her so this is what I'm sticking with. Apparently, on the last day of August, all of the 'elderly' people go out and celebrate the fact that they are still alive. According to what she said, more old people die in the month of August than any other month, and while I have no idea where she would even find such a statistic, or if it is even true, it makes a great excuse for older men and women to go out and pretend that they are 21 again. This got me thinking two things: 1) What a great idea for me when I'm older, only at the end of every month, because why not celebrate the fact that I'm old but still alive and able to go out with friends to enjoy a night of partying; and 2) this could be the theme for my next blog entry, partying in Chile! Clearly one of these is just a joke if you didn't catch on to it, there is no way I could write an entire blog on parties in Chile and keep the readers entertained, so now I just have to decide the proper age to begin my new ritual, I think 30 is old enough.

Then began the month of September, the month of celebrations. I just spent the last three days going to different bbq's with family and friends and celebrating the 18th, the Chilean Independence day. This independence day, and the bbq's that go along with it, is equivalent to the US's 4th of July celebrations, if those celebrations were on steroids and the 4th of July was really the month of July. I'm going to do my best to describe everything that happened in one of the bbq's, then just multiply that day by three and you'll be sitting right where I am at this moment. It starts in the afternoon, around 1, and it starts with terremotos. A terremoto (other than an earthquake) is the name of a typical chilean drink that consists of wine mixed with pisco (booze) and some type of frozen pineapple sorbet, I begin with 5 of them. Now it is 130 and other people start showing up for the bbq with more food and more wine/booze. If I have learned anything about bbq's here in Chile it is this, they are not about the food, but about the company. I know, I was disappointed too, for me everything is about the food, especially when it is amazing chilean bbq food. So then while the chefs prepare the bbq, the rest of the people sit around and drink wine, play typical chilean games, listen to typical chilean music, and dance typical chilean dances. The weather could not have been more perfect, sunny with a very slight breeze, and I had a bottle of wine to hold me off until the food was ready. If I haven't said it yet, Chilean wine is one of their most prized possessions, they are very proud of it and for very good reasons. They claim that it is the best wine in the world and while I can't say whether that claim is true or false, I can say that their wine is very good, and very cheap. An average bottle of wine costs about 8-10 dollars if there are no promotions going on, and while you may be thinking a bottle of wine that cheap in the US is bound to taste like fermented sewer water, just remember that it is comparable to a bottle of 20-25 dollar wine in the US, aka average. So there I was drinking my wine and playing a chilean game that I'll call 'frog' because I don't really know what the name is I just know it consists of throwing discs (resembling thick quarters) at this table with holes and a frog. Each of the holes you make it in have different points corresponding to them and if you are lucky enough to make it in the frogs mouth its 2000 points, I was lucky enough to accomplish this once. After a few glasses of wine and one or two games of 'frog' the first round of food was ready, choripan. Choripan is an amazing chilean dish that is chorizo on a bun with ahi (a chilean spicy sauce) and mayo. Simple yet effective, I ate four of them. Afterwards, we all go back to our chit chat while the main course is prepared. The main course consists of every type of meat found in Chile; chicken, pork, cow, and varies from steak, to ribs, to chops. While some people are preparing the meat, others are preparing the salads, also varying greatly and most I couldn't tell you what was in them but they were all delicious. After dinner, the drinks switch to pisco sours, piscolas, beer, whiskey, and rum. I had a 'little' of everything. That isn't the interesting part, what is interesting is what the Chileans do with these drinks. For instance, they have something called 'fanchop' and I'm guessing on the spelling, but it is fanta (that orange soda that everyone loves) mixed with beer. I did drink one just to try it and it didn't turn out to be too bad, one of the other people at the bbq was mixing their beer with coke, which I just tried a sip of theirs, and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. They also have something called 'jote' which is wine mixed with coke. I had a few of these and was pleasantly surprised at the flavor, its definitely something I could drink from time to time; and just for those that were wondering we were using a Cabernet Sauvignon. After a little clean up and people have had a few more cocktails, the dancing begins. The main dance, known as the cueca, is the national dance of Chile and a tradition of the 5th region (where I live), and practically everyone knows it, or at least parts of it. Now don't worry, I got my chance, several chances actually, to dance the cueca and I assure everyone, regardless of what my host mother and the other Chileans were saying, I am not that good at it. There was also an extremely nice Peruvian couple that were celebrating with us and taught us a little bit of their traditional dances, which are more fast paced but really entertaining. SideNote: I really got along with the Peruvian couple, and I'm not sure if its because Peruvians are known for their amazing food, or if its because they are also known for their clear, enunciated speaking, which was a nice change from the rapid fire, short, made up words the chileans are known for. It showed me how far my spanish has really come when I was talking with them... Now all of these festivities end around 1 in the morning, after most of the people have left and there are just a few of us sitting around the fire and finishing up the remaining bottles. Now do this three days in a row and you'll be sitting right where I am... It was in those bbq's however, that I finally saw what made people fall in love with Chile, they have a great sense of hospitality about them, and they sure know how to have a bbq. Its enough to make anyone want to pack up and move here and it helps remind me why I'm here in the first  place.

On a completely separate topic now, I finally felt my first ever earthquake about a week ago. Now when I say 'major earthquake' it was a 5.9 on the richter scale so for me it was an earthquake, for the Chileans who are way to comfortable with them, it was just a little tremble. Now I'm not saying I was scared, but I will explain the reasons as to why I wasn't. The earthquake took place at about 4 in the morning, and I was sound asleep dreaming about random crap that isn't really important to this story. What is important is the vividness of my dreams. For those of you who do not know this about me, I have extremely vivid dreams, so vivid that if I dream that someone is standing in my bedroom with knife, when I wake up I can still see the person in my bedroom. This kind of thing has been happening to me for years and I am used to it now, but when it first started happening it scared the living hell out of me. So on this particular instance, when my bed started to shake and I started to come too, I could see the outline of a person trying to wake me up. Well I wasn't ready to wake up yet so I started to tell the person to leave me alone and let me sleep when I realized that some of the books on my shelves were falling on the floor. Finally I realized what was actually going on and fumbled around for the light so I could see the extent of damage but by the time I finally found the light, the earthquake had ended. Hilda, worried about how I would react to my first earthquake in Chile came strolling down the stairs to check on me only to find that I had already shut off my light and had gone back to bed. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep after that because the after shocks continued throughout the rest of the morning. It was definitely a great experience and I'm glad that I was in Chile to witness an earthquake, but one is plenty. It is interesting to hear the Chileans talk about them though. They are so used to them that they have different words for them. A temblor is a little earthquake while a terremoto is an 'actual' earthquake. Now before last week I would have thought that a 5.9 was an actual earthquake, but for them it was nothing more significant than someone stomping through the house making some noise. Why anyone would want to be that accustomed to earthquakes is completely beyond me, but I guess there are two choices; adapt or move, they chose to adapt.

Other than that not much has been going on. I am currently on 'spring break' and while most of the students took off to other parts of South America (Argentina, Peru, Bolivia) I have decided to stay in Chile and explore this area more. I have visited 'La Sebastiana' (One of the three houses of the late poet Pablo Neruda) and plan on taking a day trip to 'La Isla Negra' at some point this week to visit another of them, and according to locals, the best of the three. I am also taking this week to go around getting to know the city more and getting a lot of great pictures, of the bbqs, the city, and the sites. And while I don't have them downloaded on my computer yet, hopefully on the next chapter I will have a few good pictures posted. Still no volunteer job which is proving to be more difficult than I'd expected, but it is really nice to not have anything but school for a change. I am really starting to understand why the Chileans are known for relaxing, it is great! I also have my trip to Machu Picchu planned; I will be going alone unfortunately, but will be flying and then taking the train for the first time in my life so it should be a really great time. I also got the Peruvian couple I mentioned earlier to help me out because they know of some real money savers when visiting Peru, so that turned out to be another advantage to meeting them! My host sister, Silvana, is back in town for about a week and it has been a lot of fun seeing her and getting to spend more time with her, and I will still be going down to Chiloe to visit in the first week of November. My spanish is improving daily but I still encounter a ton of obstacles and have daily struggles with understanding certain people. Having said that, I also have days where my spanish is good enough for Chileans to ask me why I am so much more advanced than the other foreign students so that is always a self-esteem booster.

I am always appreciative to my readers and I really enjoy the comments I'm getting on here and on facebook. Thank you all for your support and I can't wait until I see you all again in December! Stay happy, stay healthy, and thats all until the next chapter...
No Vemo Pronto
S.R.