Vamos Chile

Last Wednesday I went to my first professional soccer game. It was Chile vs. Colombia. I am pretty sure Colombia was suppose to win but Chile dominated and won 4-0 :) Soccer is the favorite sport here, and in the vast majority of Latin America, so the crowds were absolutely amazing. I don't think the cheering ever stopped. We all know a few Chilean cheers by heart now! We all went to the game decked out in our cheap Chile jerseys that we bought at random places on the street. Ever since the beginning of September there have been tons of vendors selling Chilean flags, traditional outfits, etc because September 18-19 are the fiestas patrias (like our fourth of July). It is a huge deal here and everyone is getting ready. There are red, white and blue (Chile's flag is red, white and blue) streamers popping up everywhere. A lot of the buses, taxis, stores and stands have streamers and or flags on them. It is really neat to see all the spirit and how excited everyone gets. Back to soccer- Upon entering the stadium they were handing out thunder sticks and these funny red hair hats so by the time we reached our seats we were more than ready to cheer on the Chilean team. We arrived about 2 hours before the game started, I'm not sure why we got there so early but oh-well. We got to watch the end of a women's game so that was neat. When the men came out to warm up we noticed that it was raining in the distance feeling pretty lucky that we were not getting rained on. About 5 minutes later we were getting drenched!! It poured for a good half hour, making sure we were thoroughly wet just in time for the sun to set. Nevertheless we had a great time. The game flew by in a flurry of cheering, getting covered in confetti, eating candied peanuts, manjar treats and huge turkey/tomato/avocado sandwiches.

On Wednesday I also went to get my Chilean identity card. After class, a friend and I headed to the Registro Civil. We took our numbers and sat down. They were on number 13, we had 51 and 52. Since we had a bit of time to kill and were hungry we headed to a pasteleria we had passed/smelled on the way. I got a pastry that was probably as big as my head and worth every bite. It was two disks of sweet bread with manjar/dulce de leche in the center. I have found my new favorite dessert!! Luckily we didn't have to wait very long upon returning to the station. The whole process was easy- give them a few forms, address, phone #, take picture, get fingerprinted and cough up some pesos. I am not a fan of fingerprinting- you are left with ten sticky, smelly, black fingers. They gave us some lotion stuff and a tiny paper to clean our fingers but that only went so far. I definately went straight to the sink when I got home. Now we get to go back on September 30 to pick up our cards- a bday present from the state of Chile :)

On Thursday Kari and I made the journey to Con Con for sailing. On the bus ride there we noticed that there were white caps on the ocean. Last week it was certainly not this windy. All we could think about was how we were going to capsize the boat. We were kinda hoping that we wouldn't have to sail and would just have classroom instruction today but when we got there the instructor said we were going out. As we climbed in the dingy Kari and I grinned at each other- Uh-oh, written across our faces. It was going to be a wet day. Luckily for us, the instructor decided that we should just watch for the day since it was only our second time. We were saved. Three of the other guys, who have been sailing for awhile, all tipped multiple times. I can't even imagine how cold it must have been. Hopefully next week will be calmer so we can actually sail.

On Friday morning we met at the bus terminal at 7:00 AM to go to Santiago. It was difficult to get up at 5:45 on a Friday morning when I am used to having class 11:00. When we got to Santiago, we hopped on the metro and went to the Fundacion Vicaria de la Solidaridad. It was formed during the military coup to give aid to the victims. The foundation now has archives on over 45,000 citizens they helped/ were victims of the coup. Before we knew it we were off to visit Villa Grimaldi- Parque Por La Paz (peace park). The park was a torture site during the coup but now has been turned into a memorial. It is protected so they cannot destroy it, so the memory cannot be forgotten.

We ended up taking too long on this tour so when we got to the center plaza we ended up having a 10 minute history lesson by our history prof instead of an hour. Our next stop was El Palacio de La Moneda or the Chilean equivalent to the White House. We could not be late. Before entering we had to give them our passports and go through security. It was kinda intense. There were guards everywhere you looked. At one point while we were wainting, the guards at the front door changed. It was interesting to watch. Their movements are so stiff and straight. Once we got in, we took a short tour. Starting in the court yard, then the chapel and then a few other rooms. Our tour guide was a short funny old guy which made the tour fun. By this time most of us just wanted to get to the hostel and rest but we had one more stop left.

The Pinochet Foundation was our last stop of the day. Right away they served us cookies and coffee- this pretty much made up for the fact that we all wanted to be at the hostel. After our snack we watched a video and then listened to a guy who was a general during Pinochet's rule, during the time of the coup. It was very interesting to hear his side of the story- quite different from what we have learned so far. Finally we boarded the bus and once again went to the metro. We got on a rode for 13 or so stops.Way too many when we were all hot and hungry. Then we walked a couple blocks to the hostel. After dumping our backpacks we headed out in search of dinner. Being able to leave our backpacks behind was amazing. We had been carrying them around all day long. I'm not sure what all I had in my backpack but it was certainly too heavy. (I'm glad I don't have tons of heavy books to carry around this semester) I went to a little restaurant with 4 other people. Three of the girls got sandwiches, another got pizza and I had chicken and salad. We don't eat a ton of meat here so all I really wanted was a big piece of chicken and that is what I got. After dinner we went to Santa Isabel (grocery store) to get snacks and drinks for that evening and the next day's adventures. On the way back to the hostel we stopped at a little store to get ice cream bars. Mine was pistachio ice cream covered in chocolate and pistachio pieces. It was good. It was one of those things you just had to try b/c pretty much every street corner has an ad for this ice cream. It is a strange ad with a lady wearing lime green lip stick and eye shadow. Back at the hostel we played cards and talked for awhile before going to bed. I was in a room with one other girl. She got the queen sized bed and I got a bunk bed all to myself, hehe.

This morning I woke up to the lovely sound of traffic and proceded to flip flop for the next hour and a half before heading down for breakfast which was luckily different than my usual bowl of cornflakes and fruit. The hostal provided us with piles of crackers, meat and cheese, bread with jam and cookies- yes cookies for breakfast. Naturally I devoured it all, not knowing when or where my next meal would be. Oh and of course I drank about 5 cups of tea. Our first stop today was the central cemetary. It was enormous!! Our literature prof gave us a walking tour and said it was about 30 acres. The cemetary was really interesting. It is so different from any cemetary in the states. Many of the graves and like these little houses or chapels where they bury whole families. Others are walls filled with slots. There are also grave sites like we have in the states. The cemetary is almost like a city with different neighborhoods because the different types of graves are clustered together forming distinct "neighborhoods."

After the cemetary it was time to get back on the metro. We made our way to Barrio Bellavista (a Bohemian neighborhood) where we were turned loose for an hour to have lunch. A group of 6 of us went to a restaurant with typical Chilean food. Two of the girls got pastel de choclo like we had in Pomaire, two others got empanadas and fries (the hugest plate ever), another got a sandwich and I got two gaint sausages with fries. Little did I know the side of fries was going to be the size of Texas. I just remembered having this type of sausage (cannot remember the name) at the asado and in Pomaire and loving it. I also was in the mood for fries, what a healthy lunch, I know. Somehow I ate it all, I wish I had taken a picture. All the portions at this restaurant were huge. The two girls who got choclo could easily have shared one and we should have just shared my fries between everyone. I was still extremely full when I got back home 6 hours later. After lunch we went to La Chascona which is one of Pablo Neruda's houses. He was a famous Chilean poet. The house was really cool but you were not allowed to take any pictures inside :( After the tour we were able to wander around for awhile. I went to a few little artsy shops and then sat in a park and chatted. After another long metro ride we hopped on the bus back to Vina and I slept the whole way.