So Much to Say
I have done so much in the past five days that I don´t know where to start. As of right now, I am in Arica, the border city in the north of Chile right next to Peru and very close to Bolivia. I´m staying the house of a Rotary couple and last night I went out with some Rotaract kids here.
Sandboarding the other night was cool- its a lot different that snowboarding because you have to crouch down more, put most of your weight on your back foot, and drag your hand behind you in the sand. It was fun but I definitely went to bed that night beat and FULL of sand EVERYWHERE.
The view while sandboarding at midnight
On Saturday I went on a tour of the region and visited several lakes as well as a salt lake and a few small towns.
Lake Chaxa
Flamingos in the Salt Lakes of San Pedro
Tomorrow I leave for Iquique but will only be there for the day. I am hoping to paraglide over the city since I won´t really have time to go exploring in depth.
Arica- Hitting the Bullseye and Finding Independence
Arica lies on the northern border of Chile, right next to Peru and is also about an hour away from Bolivia by paved road. I arrived here at 7am by bus on Saturday morning and a local Rotarian picked me up and brought me to her house. I took a quick shower and ate half of my breakfast before we hurried out to the final activity of the Rotary-Lions Club Olympics at the military base. The final game? Target shooting!
At the shooting range
Now I´m no pro with rifles (given that I´ve shot twice in my life with my dad, a life long member of the NRA)- but I´m not too bad either... It must run in the blood though because after the clubs finished up the competition, the "ladies" got to "try"- and boy did my marks surpirise everyone there! Each of us got three shots-I marked a 10, a 9, and an 8. Not bad for a lady, huh? If I would have had the full 10 shots that the participants got, I am sure I would have placed in the top 3. Thanks for the training dad!
Rotarians, Military, me with my 10, 9, and 8
Finding Imdependence
Historically, relations between Chile, Peru, and Bolivia have been pretty rocky. About 125 years ago, Chile won the War of Independence and received the ceded land that now strectches between Antofogasta and Arica. The most important- Bolivia ended up without access to the sea and, accordingly, without a port to import and export products. To this day, Bolivia is trying to get back what they gave away.
Arica has two "ports"- one is occupied by Chile and the other actually is "loaned" to Peru. (I don´t know about the conditions of this loan). But the Peruvians don´t use it. They have never used it in the past 125 years. It seems to me that a simple solution to the Bolivian problem would be for Peru to "sub-let" the port to Bolivia. This would save Bolivian, a country in which the poverty rate is at 80%, from the high taxes that they currently pay while using Chile´s port. But that´s just my idea.
While speaking with the locals, there doesn´t really exist any racial problems or prejudiceness (I doubt that is spelled right) between the three converging cultures. However, predominantly Bolivian, Peruvian, and Chilean neighborhoods do exist in the city, but it doesn´t really seem to be a dividng factor. They say that it is interesting how three different independence days are celebrated throughout the year. And interstingly enough, the Rotaract club from Arica participates in more activities with a Peruvian Rotaract club than other Chilean clubs because of geographical proximity.
Chile border city of Arica- to the left of the flag is Peru and to the right is Bolivia
I heard more than once that Ariqueños have been intersted in declaring and independent state from Chile because they feel quite ignored by the Santiaguen government in general. But in the mean time, the Chilean military presence remains strong and when importante decisions must be made, Santiago mandates. For example- Mexico sent Arica a statue of Christ- city members wanted it to face the city, but Santiaguien officials decided that it would be better that it face the ocean. The statue waited ten years in the port before it was finally installed on the hill next to the city- facing the sea.
Dry
I arrived in San Pedro de Atacama today- its in one of the driest deserts of the world. I am going sandboarding in a half an hour and tomorrow I have a full day tour to several lakes that are around here. I should be pretty tired tomorrow night when I take a ten hour bus ride to Arica (the northernmost city of Chile)
Close to Calama
I spent Thursday with a Ricardo, a Rotaract member in Calama. He took me sightseeing in the area.
Chile´s oldest church- from the 16th century. Made from adobe and leather
Me with Rodrigo, another Rotaracter and safety inspector, at the copper mine Chiquiquamata. It´s the biggest open mine pit in the world.
Protesting the Cooperation
Despite the images you may have seen on CNN, the protest in Santiago was very peaceful. There were approximately 45,000 people who marched, all for various causes- supporters of women and gay rights, plabor laws, preservation of the environment,
not 4 sale
and of course anti-APEC and especially anti-Bush....
It came to a close with a concert in the park right by my house and things stayed peaceful for a good hour.
The crowd enjoying the concert.
But of course, things had to get nasty. I don't know how it started but tear gas was thrown- man that stuff BURNS!!!! (Did you know that eating lemons helps the pain go away?) After that there was no hope- kids had to get stupid. Windows were broken, cars burned, blah blah blah.
I left with Adrien right away and passed by the store where I always buy vegetables as well as the Internet place right around the corner- the owners were closing up shop. Just in time. The stupidity moved from the park to Seminario (thats the street name) and then from there I don't know because by then I was safe and sound at home. What a pity- out of the 30,000 that were there, a handful of people had to ruin all the fun.
"Get out Bush- enough with your pacts against the people!"
On another note- I am in the same city as 21 leaders of the world. It will be interesting to see what acords they come to, although they are not obligated to sign anything, nor are they regulated by anyone, nor hold accountable to anything. That is exactly what people don't like about about this Asia Pacific Economic COOPERATION-they don't cooperate with anyone but themselves and their friends with money! What about us, our culture, our land, our resources? Those are the questions that protestors want answered. We want a say too.
PS- I participated in the march because I think that the people should have a bigger piece of the pie when it comes to economic decision making, especially considering that they are the power to the machines.
Spaghetti Fundraiser
Friday night I went to a fundraiser for a missionary group on campus. Although idealogically I personally don´t support their projects, I went because I am a fundamental supporter of volunteer projects, especially ones that help unite communities, like this one does.
Victor, Pía, Me, Andrés
What excitement?
Besides a few protesting incidents downtown and tear gas thrown by the police, there haven´t been too many APEC troubles. Of course, the conference hasn´t even started yet...
It is kind of funny because my friend Adrien is quite radical and hung signs saying "Fuera Bush" and "Gringos Against Bush" outside of her apartment window- which faces directly into the police station where protestors are being brought in handcuffs. What a way to fuel the fire.
Tomorrow is the scheduled march and yours truly will be there to experience it first hand- I need accounts and picture for a few news article that I will be writing. Good thing I live close enough so I can flee the scene if things get out of hand. I don´t really feel like being deported for contributing to civil disobedience.
That´s a Bomb
Where am I? I´m not in Iraq, not in Gaza, nor South Africa....so why are there BOMBS going off? I´m not joking.
This morning, an abandoned package was found inside one of the metro stations very close to my apartment. The police evacuated the building and then detonated the sucker. I saw on tv the news media reporting that the loud noise and slight tremors that were felt had something to do with water pressure and tests or some bologna like that, but an hour later (after the coast was clear) I had to go to that very same station and one of the guards told me on the DL (down low) that it really was a bomb.
Now- why are there bombs in metro stations in Santiago, Chile, South America you might ask? The answers are found in one acronym and a bad four letter word- APEC and BUSH. Both of these are bringing great unrest to Santiago, where popular uprising, protests, and yes, unfortunately violence as well, will be taking place during the next five days.
All around the city there are signs posted declaring "Go home Bush", "Bush is a terrorist", "No a APEC", and inviting everyone to "take to the streets to take back the power". The APEC Economic Leaders Summit (which includes the presidents of all 21 members of APEC) doesn´t even start until Saturday, but the big universities located downtown are already closed for the week and bombs are already going off.
Great.
Personally, I´m not convinced that resorting to violence will help take back the power in any way, but it is definitely a way to be seen and NOT heard.
I hope that the scheduled march goes well and ends peacefully on Friday, especially considering that I live about five blocks from where it is supposed to end. I´ll keep you posted....
Just Another Manic Monday...
...I wish it were Sunday.
Oh, nostalgia...yesterday was absolutely amazing. I spent the day walking around downtown, visiting museums, talking with random people, buying cheap vegetables and going to church....Wait, what?! I went to church? Yes, mom and dad, I went. Don´t croak, ok?
It had been a good ten months since I had actually gone to mass (I am not religious-although I have been to several churches...but as a tourist) and since I had nothing better to do, I decided to drop in for a few minutes.
Besides the fact that the acoustic system was echoing like the Grand Canyon and the priest had a thick Spanish accent (the lisp from Spain was drenching his "z"s and "s"s), when I could actually make out some of what he was talking about, I liked what he was saying.
He mentioned that no matter if you are a housewife, teacher, nurse, or student, we are all responsible for the events that are taking place in the world, and it is in our daily actions that allow real changes to take place. Yeah, we know that...now we just need to practice what he preached.
He said a lot of other things too (some of which I did not agree with) but I am not going to dictate it all to you (besides, if I actually were to dictate it, it would be in Spanish and I doubt you would understand). Instead, I will just share one of his prayers- that the world economic and political leaders who will be joining together in the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit this weekend here in Santiago (yes, that does include President BUSH)
will take into consideration the repercussions of their actions on all of the world`s citizens and work together to find a common ground for achieving a common good for all.
Well put. But you don´t have to be a priest to have a prayer like that.
A Sunny Santiaguen Sunday
Today will be an uncharacteristically beautiful day in Santiago given that it rained for the past two days. Here are a few pictures for you to see for yourself.
The view of Santiago from Adrien´s apartment
Yes, those are snow-capped mountains (Don´t forget- we are in the middle of spring here)
la banda de los carabineros de chile
la iglesia en la plaza de armas
KITTY
Last night I partied WAY too hard- I stayed up until 2am playing KITTY- a poker style game imported to Chile from the US. :-) It was fun- I was with my friend Claudio (one of the Chileans I met in Reno), his wife and little boy, his brother, and their aunt, uncle, and cousin. I had never played it before but I imagine that it is a big game amongst the retired or circles of women back home in the south. I won 940 pesos- roughly a $1.50. Hey- with that little a person could buy three metro tickets, or a liter of beer, or four alfajors (Chilean chocolate filled with caramel-like manjar), or two liters of bottled water, or a hot dog with french fries, or two empanadas (like a Hot Pocket- typical Chilean fare), or a kilo and a half of cherries, or an hour and a half of Internet in a café, or pack of cigarrettes, or two pairs of socks...well, you get the picture.
KITTY
LINK Chile
Hey all- I am on my lunch break from LINK Chile, an e-education conference, and found ths nifty connection, conviniently placed in the foyer of UTEM, the physical campus of the virtual university that is sponsoring this whole deal. I`m learning a lot (of course) and meeting some great people with a lot of interesting points of view on distance learning and everything that applies to it. Of course this is making it much harder for me to find a focus on the paper that I need to churn out pretty quickly here...
Tonight I am looking forward to enjoying another type of digital education- at an electronik festival! I figured that I deserved a bit of fun since the last two weeks I have been running aound like a chicken with my head cut off. So this 16 hour festival might help me relieve some stress...there are some big name DJs (Paul Oakenfold, Fat Boy Slim for any of you who care) and I am thinking that I should have a pretty good time...that is if the rain decides to let up. I am not digging this spring shower considering that part of the festival is outside....
Projects
We`re just finishing up our finance project. Not that it matters much since the deadline was extended until tomorrow due to the death (from cancer) of one of the director`s of the school. At least we are finishing... My test in business ethics was postponed as well, so I have a lot of stress lifted off of my shoulders. I never met the woman that died, but I am sure that we are both in better places right now....
Yesterday I was a translator between Chilean and American Rotarians- we were trying to work out some problems that have arisen with what seems to be a huge difference in the management of funds from what the grant proposal spelled out in a micro-credit program that the two clubs established. So it seems that this is going to be my new project of the week...
Me with my group in International Political Ethics after our presentation on international organizations (We presented Rotary as an NGO- we examined its ethics, transparency, viability, challenges for the future, reach, etc.)
Happy Happy Joy Joy
I don´t know what is wrong with me- I have so much to do, so little time, yet I still notice the small things and don´t think I have ever been happier in Santiago. Every day, great things seem to be falling in my lap- I can´t help but be very grateful.
This week, besides all of my projects and test that my friend just reminded me about, I will be going to another e-learning conferece. On Wednesday, I will meet 20 northern Californians who are coming to my Rotary club and need to have finished the translation of the proposal to make the last week in October a worldwide Rotary Week of the Child.
Well, group work is calling me. We are puttin the finishing touches on our presentation for international political ethics class- we are presenting Rotary International as an NGO and supporting why it functions so well on an international ethical basis.
Quote for the day- Smile. It increases your face value.
Brain Overload
This morning I went to meet with the director of USAC, the exchange program that my university (University of Nevada Reno) has with another university here in Santiago, the University of Andres Bello. While there, I happened to mention to the secretary that I was planning on writing a research paper on e-learning in Latin America and she informed me of an e-learning conference that was to take place- today! So she hooked me up with the information and I went...
Now I am on brain overload- I think that I learned more today than I did during the entire last week (which is pretty hard to do considering that I am learning a lot every day). It was great- the only problem is that this conference gave me a million more ideas on the possible topics for my paper that I am going to have an even harder time finding a focus for it. As of right now it will be centered on e-learning in Latin America with Chile as a specific case- but farther than that I am not sure. I have one week to come up with an abstract (on top of the million other things that I have to do) so I can´t burn much more time writing this blog. Sorry. Until next time....
Oh yeah- we made 289.000 pesos at our Halloween benefit, or about $400.00, which will go towards buying a special protein formula for Chilean children who cannot digest animal protein of any form.
Foreign Friends
I´m going to introduce you to a friend of mine- her name is Deyanira and she is from Sinaloa, Mexico. She is a self-professed flirt who likes to have a good time, laugh a lot, and practice her English with me. (If you want to see what she looks like, I posted a picture a few posts ago of me, her, and my roomate at a gala- scroll down to see us.) We have suffered through Finance together, consoled each other when we failed the exam, and written notes to each other in Business Ethics. Now, we are tying to concentrate on doing our Finance project together, but at the present moment it is more enjoyable for me to write this blog and her to chat on MSN than for us to really get anything accomplished.
I write about her because she is like me- a foreign student who finds it easier in general to make friends with other foreign students. We are in the same situation- we come to a different country for a limited amount of time and it is just much easier to identify with others who find themselves in the same situation- without family, with urges to travel and get to know the things about a city that natives don´t really care about, and a lot of free time to burn (well, I lack that one, but it is very common among exchange students).
And we have definitely found it difficult to make friends with Chilean boys- because we all know what boys want (well, unless he is gay- I have a very good Chilean friend who is gay). I have had to make it VERY clear several times that I wasn´t interested in anything more than a friendship. Of course, they wanted everything but that. Some of them couldn´t take that and we haven´t talked since. But I don´t think that that has anything to do with being Chilean or foreign- more with hormones. :-)
Anyways, it is definitely more probable to actually make friends with a non-Chilean than a Chilean, even though I meet way more Chileans than foreigners. But I am not friendless- don´t worry. I actually have a Chilean friend who told me today that he is going to go to the airport with me when I leave the country. Awww- I don´t want to think about that! That will be all too soon...
I had a dream....
I went to sleep last night after watching CNN until 3am and had a really good dream...only to wake up today and find that it hasn´t come true. Back to reality. Back to Chile, Santiago, school, Rotary, and all the amazing things things that I am able to enjoy here. Wait? Am I still dreaming? Apparently not. I am incredibly lucky to be here and although things didn´t "swing" the way I had hoped- that doesn´t mean that there isn´t
any hope.
Things I hope for-
That in four years, even more young Americans will turn out to vote.
That the situation in Iraq will eventually result with the conservation of beautiful culture and opportunity for those that right now have none.
That I get a good grade on my finance project because I really need it!
That through open communication and a bit more understanding the world and common person will understand a bit more about why leaders choose to fight, yet still have the drive to find peace.
And so many more things- but it would take me a million years to write all my hopes down. And I have to go- I am on my way to my weekly Rotary meeting. I hope I get there on time. :-)
Eyelashes
You know that scary looking contraption that women use in order to curl their eyelashes before putting on mascara (known commonly as an eyelash curler)? Well it doesn´t exist here in Chile. Women use spoons. They use their thumb and rub their eyelashes on the edge of the spoon in order to curl them up. I lost my eyelash curler when I went home for my sister´s wedding so I have tried this technique several times but without much success. But I only wear makeup occasionally so I probably just need practice...
LONG Weekend
I am dead tired. I think that I have slept about ten hours in the past three days. If I could keep my eyes open, I would write more but I am going to summarize quickly so I can go home and go to sleep.
Friday- Halloween party and fundraiser for children with metabolic disorders. It was fun but since Chileans don´t like to dress up the foreigners were the only ones with costumes. I don´t know how much money we made. Not too much is my bet because we didn´t have that great of a turnout. A lot of people promised to come and then 1/3 of them actually showed up- I think we sold like 60 tickets or something. Oh well- some is better than none.
Me showing off the Rotary symbol on cook Ivan`s apron (that was his costume)
Saturday- Adrien and I tried to go to help paint a school but couldn´t find it after searching for half an hour without the ability to get into contact with the other volunteers. So we went to her friends house and helped him celebrate his birthday. It was fun but I went to sleep when the sun was coming up and had to wake up early.
Me with the really good chocolate cake that I almost dropped, Felipe, and Felipe`s friend Francisco
Sunday- Woke up at about ten and took an hour bus ride in a big U because there doesn´t exist a straight route from were I was coming from in order to go to ERBOPECH, the Rotaract conference with people from Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. It was great. I met so many people and learned a lot about Rotaract. When I go back to Reno, I am hoping to found a club.
After some cultural presentations from visitng Rotaract club members, I chatted with the president of my Rotary club and the district governor who came to support our conference. While talking with then, I learned that the President of Rotary International is coming to Chile in November and I am going to translate a project for them in order to propose a Rotary International Week of the Child (it currently only exists in Chile). If I am lucky, I might be able to go down south for a day or two of the conference. And its location is close to where the APEC conference and George Bush will be during the same weekend...so I might have to jump over there too in order to peacefully protest. I think I should make a huge sign with the Rotary Four-Way Test (Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?) and sit outside of the conference....
Ok, that was a tangent...anyways, of course last night was a long one- we didn´t even eat dinner until midnight and I definitely went to sleep after the sun had risen only to be woken up at 9:30 to sit around and wait ALL day. But whatever. We sang and bonded and all that fun stuff. I had a good time.
Going crazy Sunday morning with fellow Rotaracters Isaac and Mario
Now it is time to sleep, although I should probably do some homework. I have a HUGE finance project, a 40 minute presentation to do in my internatioanl political ethics class on an international organization or NGO (hm...funny thing- Rotary fits the bill so that will be my topic), as well as an art project, and a case study in business ethics. Whew. When I write it all down it is kind of scary. And I have a week and a half to do it all. Maybe a power nap will have to do...
