Mis Aventuras en Chile: the other side of Latin America...

I'm here to finally write about my spring break in Chile... almost four full weeks after my return (surprisingly enough I have found time in my school schedule to do so!!). It will surely be a game of flipping through my journal, diving back into the archives of my memory, trying to put myself back into that other world... because another world it was.

One of the most common ways to travel domestically and internationally in South America is by bus (what would be considered more or less a coach bus). They cost cheaper than most plane rides (depends on location, of course) and are said to be of good quality for long, overnight rides. I had my first experience of an overnight bus going from Buenos Aires to Santiago, a long painful ride, and a long stop at customs on the border. There really is not much to tell about this act of travel, except for my view of the sky at night, which you can read about here, and then the glorious, surreal and incredibly scary drive through the Andes (what I would consider a quintessential South American experience to be had).

Upon arriving in Santiago, the cab ride from the bus station to our apartment we rented for three nights consisted of downtown landscapes that reminded me of (a sunnier and warmer version of) Buenos Aires. European architecture and grand statues of independence liberators surround me as we drive through busy, downtown avenues. Yet there is something completely distinct between the European feel of Buenos Aires and this capital... it didn't seem as elegant. There was a sort of charm missing. It felt like for the first time I really was in Latin America.

I believe that spending my time in Buenos Aires has given way to an incredibly blurred outlook on just what is 'Latin America'. Buenos Aires is incredibly European and a big city with Fifth Avenue-esque fashionistas walking the streets where obesity is severely looked down upon (which is why you never see it here). It is a place where I, with my light skin, dark hair and freckles, can join the masses and be stopped by outsiders who think I'm a local and ask for directions. In Santiago, however, I stuck out like the sorest of thumbs. I was some strange white girl invading these people's space, where fashion is not of priority, and being thin and beautiful is not the required look as it is in BsAs. My comfort of being 'home' (my new home, back in Argentina) was completely lost in this place where I truly was the Other.

Something that my friends and I took great satisfaction in, however, was the amount of fast food in Santiago. There was plenty of it. McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, and their own chains swarmed the city and I was honestly completely surprised by just how much there was, which is truly saying something coming from the United States (from the Midwest, no less). But then there were also your classic, greasy diners. And we were ecstatic. Nothing of the sort exists in Buenos Aires (except for some kitschy, American-style diners with overpriced burgers and milkshakes that come with your Elvis Presley napkin and Back to the Future placemat), and we've been craving giant cups of shitty coffee and cheese fries at the wee hours in the morning from our favorite 24-hour diner in the East Village (we are college students, are we not??). Thus diner cravings were satisfied, particularly with the glory that is Chile's most traditional platter: chorrillana.

Chorrillana is a typical meal for sharing in Chile. It consists of a giant plate of fries, some sort of meat spread on top (usually beef, but sometimes it can be a mix of beef and pork and chicken), fried egg(s) and onions (caramelized, grilled or fried). Of course there are variations: some people add cheese, olives, roasted peppers. There is always a bottle of ají sauce on the table, something Buenos Aires would never dare to try (in Argentina their food is notorious for lacking any spice, because for some reason it is unwanted). We got into the habit of always asking for it with palta (avocado) to make it even more beautiful than it already is (if that's even POSSIBLE). So, our desire for greasy, bad-for-you-yet-totally-delicious food in a genuine, diner setting was beyond fulfilled. In fact, it was more genuine than any New York experience nowadays, because in pretty much all public places in Chile, one is allowed to smoke. And you can buy your cigarettes, right there behind the cash register. Some might find this to be a bit 'backwards', as if we were in 20th century America, but the fact is that Chile is a country filled with smokers, so their restaurants abide to that as well.

My camera was dead for spring break (because I was not smart and forgot to charge it before leaving) so the photographic evidence I have of these glorious meals are the two pictures below, which were taken by my friend Z (not a nickname, that is indeed his first full name) : the first one is of our first chorrillana ever! and the second at a restaurant in Valparaíso, with cheese and avocado added to the mix of meat.

My time in Santiago was spent at the music festival Lollapalooza 2012, which took place in Parque O'Higgins (a giant park, much larger than the festival's original counterpart: Grant Park in Chicago). I hadn't been to a music festival in quite some time, and still have yet to see a show here in Buenos Aires, so it felt really good to get my concert fix. AND NOT JUST ANY CONCERTS. Highlights of the weekend / a list of the shows I was able to see: Cage the Elephant, Band of Horses, Bassnectar, Arctic Monkeys, Skrillex, Peaches, Björk (she was beautiful and it was surreal), and, what made traveling to Santiago worth it all, JOAN JETT with her group The Blackhearts. She was beyond incredible, and for her age she still looks so flawless on stage in her pleather jumpsuit and studded belt. I couldn't believe how close I was to her, and how perfect she played all of her songs (including the best ones from The Runaways days) live. It was such a perfect show. Below is a picture I took of her on stage. THE REAL DEAL. Writing about this now, I still can't believe I can say I saw Joanie.

The Monday after the weekend's festivities, we took a two and a half hour bus West to Valparaíso, which cost about 7 USD. We arrived at the bus station which occupies a busy part of town (because as a general theme, I would say the bus terminals I have been to here have all been pretty crazy and noticeably unsafe areas to be in), and grabbed a cab to go to our hostel. Once nearing towards the water, we could glimpse up into the infinite hills with beautiful colored houses stretching for miles, far away and up into the sky. I begged that we would take a trek up one of these hills to get where we were going to (a random hostel we booked that day while still in Santiago, which was the cheapest one we could find on the booking site we used) and sure enough, we turn a corner and make a climb. Mind you, the United States is the only nation (at least as far as I am convinced) that more commonly drives automatic cars versus manual. That is not the case everywhere else in the world. So we were rising at what felt like a straight 180 degrees with the driver driving stick. It was a bumpy ride to say the least. And then finally we arrive at a bright blue, nautical themed hostel that more than exceeded any expectations that I had of what would be La Maison de la Mer.

I still feel that I could talk for days about this hostel, even looking back on it now, a month later. To read more details about this beautiful place and everything it was to me (and also to see some pictures from my extremely limited functioning camera) you should read this post that I wrote for my blogging class.

Everything about Valparaíso was beautiful. It is truly a charming city (as I hope can be gathered from my other post) and I cannot wait to be back. But I also can't even know where to start with remembering it all. It seems too great an effort. So I'm asking a little help from one Chile's own: Pablo Neruda.

Neruda won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971, and is one amongst his many Chilean contemporaries who paved the way for Latin American literature to be recognized globally. Most important among this group is Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in 1945 - not to mention the obvious fact that she is also a woman, this is a pretty big deal and has made her name known internationally.

Neruda had a house in Valparaíso in his heyday: it was something he wanted whose design would allow him to look at out the sea and at the hills of the city when he wrote. The house today now functions as a museum, called La Sebastiana (again, I do not have pictures of my own, not until I get some film pictures developed, so I can direct you all here to put an image to this beautiful spot), which has most original furnishings and paintings that one can walk through with a guided audio tour which my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed (it is a must-do while in Valparaíso). I would very much recommend checking out the link to be able to see the dazzling views the author had from his comfortable armchair.

If you think it long and mad, 

the wind of banners 

that passes through my life, 

and you decide 

to leave me at the shore 

of the heart where I have roots, 

remember 

that on that day, 

at that hour, 

I shall lift my arms 

and my roots will set off 

to seek another land. 

The above excerpt was taken from a translation of Pablo Neruda's poem "If you forget me". Valparaíso, to me... is this place... a place of return (as noted in my other post)... a place at the shore where I sensed from the start was a place in my heart "where I have roots" that could either remain or be sent off fleeting "to seek another land." But even if my wanderlust gets the best of me, somehow my traces will remain in Valparaíso, this magical city I am itching to go back to.

So I understand this post is long. But it only just begins to touch on my experience in Chile, in all honesty. I wish I had more pictures to share, and again, hopefully I will once my film gets developed (I'm picking up a good chunk of pictures on Monday). I have been meaning to write about it for a while beyond just for my blogging class. I hope you enjoyed and were able to follow along to the delight I found in my Spring Break vacation in Chile, a truly unique and beyond beautiful country in the Southern Cone.