And So It Begins

And so it begins. After spending several months anticipating our arrival in Santiago, we have finally arrived in our new home.

The flight itself was relatively painless minus the massive headache plaguing me for much of the second leg of the trip. American Airlines even came through regarding their TV choices...well, kinda. The Office and 30 Rock initially seemed like pretty solid choices. By the third time they replayed each episode, however, I never wanted to hear the terms "PPC" or "Generallisimo" ever again. Given the number of empty seats dotting the plane, we were luckily able to sprawl out and doze through most of the night. By sunrise, we had landed in Santiago, and, with the exception of a jar of honey, all made it through customs unharmed.

The next few moments marked the beginning of the whirlwind of sightseeing and lectures that have defined our orientation experience. It is, unfortunately, impossible for me to adequately recount everything that occured throughout the first few days. So, I've decided to briefly summarize some of the most exciting events each day.

Saturday: Realizing that many had not slept well on the plane, Carmen Gloria allowed us most of the day to relax in our hostel. We were, however, too excited to remain inside and many of us decided to roam the city. Fortunately, our hostel is situated relatively near many of Santiago's most prominent tourist attractions. Without a map or any guide whatsoever, we stumbled upon La Moneda and Plaza de Armas along with a ridiculous number of shoe stores and dozens and dozens of stray dogs. We also stopped for our first tastes of Chilean cuisine and enjoyed empanadas de pollo y pino. Little did we know that this food would become a staple appetizer throughout the next few weeks.

Sunday: As we had no organized activities until noon, several of us formed the mistakenly-titled "equipaje a" and went for a brief run in the morning. We discovered a nearby park in which we were joined by several stray dogs eager to race us down the area paths. At noon, we were joined by our faculty advisor for a peasant lunch at "Mi Rancho," in an outlying suburb of the city. The pastel de chocle, a thick dish consisting of numerous meats and corn meal, proved delicious but overwhelmingly large. We followed the meal with a quick visit to Cerro San Cristobal, a park atop the largest hill in Santiago. Like the enormous statue of the Virgin Mary, we looked down upon the sprawling city and the surrounding mountains. Santiago is very expansive, as most of the city's six million residents live in relatively short buildings. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong EPIICers, that it could be described as a "horizontal city." While we all greatly enjoyed the view, I found the layer of smog enveloping the city a bit upsetting. While I knew it was a "smog city" before arriving, I didn't realize the extent of the problem. Fortunately, it hasn't bothered me physically. It has, however, really complicated my efforts to photograph the mountains. Grrr.

Monday: After about ten minutes of our first lecture or "charla," we realized the "vacation" part of our orientation had ended. It was an absolutely stunning day, but we spent it listening to two long lectures in Chilean Spanish. Obviously, most of us would have enjoyed the opportunity to spend the day exploring, but we did learn a lot from historian Leonardo Leon (who spoke on Chile's indigenous inhabitants) and Veronica Cortinez (who discussed Chilean literature).

Chilean Spanish has proved as challenging as expected. Not only do most Chileans speak very quickly, but their language is peppered with unfamiliar terms and shortened words. Fortunately, most lecturers have spoken relatively slowly in order to be better understood.

Tuesday: More lectures on Chilean history. Fortunately, we were freed from our seventeenth story classroom in order to enjoy lunch at the lively La Vega fish market. The crowded pathways were lined with the freshest seafood I have ever seen including sea urchins and squids still in their swimming form. Then, we stopped at a restaurant and gorged ourselves on huge helpings of seafood including the Paila Marina--a gigantic bowl teeming with more shellfish than anyone seemed able to name.

After lunch, we metaphorically crossed the picket lines in order to tour the national history museum. Most workers were striking, but we somehow managed to procure a tour through the closed museum on Plaza de Armas. While the artifacts proved interesting, I definately prefered strolling through the plaza afterwards and watching old Chileans consumed in chess games and evangelicals screaming about finding salvations.

Wednesday: While the lectures and museum visits have been educational, Wednesday proved to be incredibly eye-opening and disturbing for all. We started the day with a few more mundane charlas on urbanization and labor movements at a local non-governmental organization called ECO that addresses urban development. These certainly reiterated the realities of the poblaciones (essentially slums) lining Santiago, but our tour still proved disturbing.

When arranging the tour, Tufts arranged for a bus to take us to various groups working to improve the conditions in La Legua, an infamous poblacion that endured serious oppression under Pinochet. Seeing such conditions first hand and speaking to individuals enduring them on a daily basis clearly had a major impact on all in our group; the educational benefits of seeing Santiago beyond the relatively affluent regions in which we will live are very clear. However, I was not necessarily comfortable with the format in which we did so. Throughout the tour, it seemed as if we were gawking at the struggles of those living with La Legua through the windows of a tour bus. I, along with some of my peers, also debated whether we should be taking pictures. The tour deeply impacted us and many of us sought to chronicle it for ourselves, but it seemed vaguely inappropriate to look at others and photograph their daily lives as spectators. To reconcile it, I chose to only photograph the vivid political murals, something in whichthe local community should take great pride, as opposed to the inhabitants and shacks. Perhaps if I intern in a Poblacion I will better be able to decide my feelings of bus tours and photographs of the slums when more familiar with the feelings of those living and working there.

Thursday: We continued focusing on the human rights violations occuring under Pinochet by visiting a memorial to victims in Paine. First, however, we stopped by the University of Chile Metro Station in order to see the murals created to chronicle Chilean history. Not only are they simply majestic to look at, but they provided interesting insight into thu subject matter. It should be interesting to meet the artists and see prohibited sections of the mural next week.

Soon, we were enroute to the countryside to visit Paine, a rural village with the highest percentage of disappeared in Chile. Both the victims' families and a stunning memorial demonstrated that the nation has yet to fully recover from the wounds inflicted under Pinochet.

To lighten the mood, we followed the memorial with a visit to Santa Rita vineyard, one of the best in Chile. Upon arrival, we enjoyed a glass of both merlot and sauvignon blanc along with some empanadas on the patio. Believe the hype, Chilean wine is truely amazing, especially the sauvignon. Once invited to the dining room, we received an salmon appetizer, lamb and potato entree, and a raspberry dessert along with glasses of chardonnay and a cabernet sauvignon. The latter is widely considered the vineyard's specialty, but I was definately partial to the sauvignon blanc. We followed the meal by touring the winery and enjoying salsa and coala (unsure of the spelling) performances by some talent Tufts students and vineyard staff.

Pictures will be posted soon for anyone dedicated or bored enough to read the entirety of my epic chronicle.


Christy