No es un chiste (It's not a joke)

Dana and Yvonne on the boat, after Luis said something weird and awkward.

This past weekend a friend from K College came to visit. Dana has been in Ecuador working on her SIP (She studied in Quito last year at the same time I was here in Chile) and decided to come check out Chile for a few days. She arrived at a mediumly chaotic time here in Valparaiso with the protests and me attempting to get work done and start saying my goodbyes, but we had a good time together none the less. The night she was scheduled to arrive I had to go to a despedida (a going away party) for a good friend of mine, Victor, who is headed off to the USA to study in Indian for a semester. I am hoping to road trip down to see him when I get back to school. Victor lives in Villa Alemania which is about an hour micro ride from my house. I was going to go by myself, but Victor told me I could bring friends and Allan had told me that in order to be more Chilean I had to start asking favors. This of course led to a long discussion of how I'm really independent and don't ever ask for help, like most of the USA. I feel like I've successfully detered my friends from ever wanting to go to the USA, they all think we're cold and solitary...oops. It's interesting the cultural things that people crave and the ones they reject. I, for example, dislike having people walk me home all the time. I don't know why it bothers me so much, I guess I'm just used to having the freedom to do so and I feel bad asking someone to go out of their way to drop me off at my house. I also don't feel uncomfortable walking home alone (I don't live in a dangerous part of town). However, my male friends find it offensive when I reject their offer to walk me home. I'm still working on finding a balance between the two. Point being, I asked my friend Allan and Diego to come with me with Victor's house, they were alarmed and impressed that I was going to take the micro to Victor's house by myself. 'You're such a gringa'

The next day I went to the beach while Dana was exploring Isla Negra (another one of Pablo Neruda's house, which I hope to visit before leaving). It was so beautiful outside I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be outside.
Mil Tambores, August 15th

I made friends with the stray dogs, and had a man tell me I was ' la dulce de su vida' 'the sweet of his life' as he handed me a candy 'un dulce'. I will miss this country and the weird things that happen to me here. Dana, Edwin and I then met up at my house before going out to La Sala and dancing until the wee hours of the morning. The next day we were up early (10am?!) and took a boat ride around the bay with our friend Yvonne, who is another K college student here studying. A friend of Lore's awkwardly invited himself along (another Chilean thing I will never understand) and continued to be awkward for the rest of the day while we kept trying to ditch him. Life as a gringa continues as normal. The boat ride was beautiful and the sunshine and warmth was much appreciated. Our guide had a very dry sense of humor and constantly would say something funny like 'we sell stolen cars to Bolivia and then they re-sell them' everyone would laugh and then he would say 'it's not a joke' Oh....

Dana and I then went and had mariscos and pisco sours at the mercado, sat and watched the sea lions and pelicans play and then went to the 'ferria' they have here on the weekends. Basically people sell whatever shit they own in market style. I have to go back next weekend, I don't know why I haven't taken advantage of this before. After some bartering and laughter at the very weird items that were for sale, we returned for a well deserved siesta. Upon waking up from my nap I promptly threw up multiple times, and was pretty sure I was going to die. Needless to say I did not go out that night, even though I wanted to go see my neighbor's band play.
Lore playing at Mil Tambores

Dana headed out, I stayed in and watched Wall-E and drank Camomile tea. I woke up at 8 to say goodbye to Dana and then went back to sleep. I woke up at 2:30pm feeling so much better, but still wary of eating more food. However, I couldn't stay in since it was 'Mil Tambores para la educacion' and it was an experience I was not willing to miss because of an upset stomach. As you'll recall from last year I went to a drum festival called 'Mil Tambores' that takes place every year in October here in Valpo. The students decided to recreate this atmosphere for one of the marches for education here. I went with my housemate and Lore to meet up with some other musician friends. I didn't stay in the march for too long this time, but for once it didn't end violently, which is a good sign. I talked to my friend Cona (who is probably reading this :) ) today a lot about the education movement, but I'll get into that more tomorrow when I've done a little more research.
One week left, working on getting a few more interviews and starting to say goodbyes. I hope the warm weather holds out til I get back to the states!

Protests and Trekking

Sambo decided to climb a tree, we tried to get him down.

I feel like I spend a lot of time thinking here. Just sitting, looking around and thinking. I have come to the conclusion that that is why my mental health is a little better here. I don't even have time to think in the states, let alone think about my well being. I suspect that the slow pace of things is also helping, aka arriving half an hour late to everything. My friend got sassy with me the other day when I'd been waiting for him for half an hour, and we'd been in opposites sides of the plaza 'ayy pusiste Chilena' (you're so Chilean). Nobody had bothered to tell me where the Chileans meet in Plaza Anibal Pinto, fyi it's not by the fountain. This was one of many communication mishaps over the last week. The most epic one being my interview in Quillota, which is about an hour and a half bus ride from my house in Valpo.
Pancho's Birthday

Apparently there is more than one 'Paradero 3' in Quillota. Well, that's not fair. There is only one 'Paradero 3' IN quillota, but the locals at the other bus stop like to tell you that the paradero 3 you are at is the ONLY ONE. I eventually found my way to the 'real' paradero 3, arriving 1 hour late aka on time. Being a gringa, and being a gringa in Chile, I was promptly forgiven. From there I did two interviews with the director and social worker of a small NGO that is a new addition to SENAME (servicio nacional para menores, national service for minors). It was really interesting since it is a new type of program being launched, and currently there are only four of them running it.
Edwin y Anto, trying to find Cerro Mauco

The basic idea is to keep the child with their family, but with support from this program. They also are supporting more foster care families, but doing extensive check ups on them to make the whole process more legitimate and safer for the child. Also, Quillota is beautiful. It's right by the mountains and I went on a super sunny and warm day, so walking around being the lost gringa wasn't so bad.

Last weekend I needed to get my ya-yas out and recruited my friends to go trekking with me to 'Cerro mauco' which a friend of mine had told me was a nice day hike. [Sambo is currently protesting my typing since he wants to nap in my lap/arms] The day before I went to Yoga in an attempt to get more exercise, and boy did I ever get exercise. All of the other people in the class were clearly practiced in the Yogic ways and were tied up like pretzels while the instructor was telling me to 'estirate, estirate!' 'stretch, stretch!' Lady, I'm stretching as far as I can.
Andres at the August 9th protest

Needless to say the walk up my hill afterwards was a bit of a struggle. Anyways, hiking the next day. I resisted going out even though there were two birthday parties, one for my cousin Pancho and one for my housemate Jorge, so that I could get up early and go. At 6am my friend texts me to say he, and our other friends aren't coming. At 10 I call Edwin and we decide to give it a go, and his polola Anto comes with. Long story short, we get on a bus and realize that we in fact have NO IDEA where we are going and end up getting off and taking another micro back where we came from, walking in the direction of 'hills', asking people directions and finally getting to the base of the cerro around 3pm. And then it started to rain.
Ultimate Jenga

We ended the day with empanadas in Con Con and me falling asleep on the bus back to Valpo. Successful day I'd say.
other highlights of the week:
Playing Jenga with Jorge and Carlos
Teaching Allan English
Volunteering at Salvation Army, met the most interesting and smart homeless people here. Since homelessness is a reality here it was really cool to be able to talk to some of the people I see on the streets every day. One man collects Hershey's Chocolate tins, he was very excited to hear that my grandparent's live by the factory in Pennsylvania :)
National protest on August 9th that was meant to be peaceful and show the government how serious everyone is, but per usual ended with tear gas and arrests. More pots and pans that night.
I made Thai food for my housemates, it was a hit. I think...

Sambo: I blame him for my inability to work.

SIPing

I am beginning to get the impression that my housemates and friends are more concerned about me actually doing research for my SIP than I am. I sense that could be problematic, I am however, unperturbed. After a week of phone calls, I seem to be getting somewhere and will hopefully have three more interviews this week. I think I need to start being less self conscious and really push people to do interviews with me. They're really good about saying 'I'll call you' here, and never actually calling you back. It's like a complicated mating ritual:
1. Call the person, act polite and professional, while using the right amount of charm and humor.
2. Show up at the place to speak person to person, continue to act charming and educated.
3. Go back again, after having been assured that this time the person will have time to speak with you, try to not show dejection at being turned away, again.
4. Go back one more time, acting a little more persistent, but not too much so as to scare away your interviewee, pray to un-known research gods that this time it will all work out.
As you can see, I spend a lot of time flirting with potential candidates, but little time taking them out to dinner, proverbially speaking of course.
I am pretty convinced that I will not be getting all 20 interviews I was asked to get/told myself I would do. I am currently hoping for 10, which I'll be content with. I have learned a lot, although some of the information I've gathered was sort of like 'well, duh', but I think that's how research goes right? (Just say yes.)
This last week brought sunshine, new housemates and some beloved gringa visitors here to Valparaiso. Carlos, 21 from Santiago moved in over the weekend, he is also a musician. Paul, the giant French man, moved in on Monday and immediately turned around to hitchhike up to Peru with his Italian friend. They are taking advantage of the 'vacation' time while the government is figuring out all this student protest, free education business. Allyson came for the day, and I saw all of the current students who are just starting their time here in Valpo. It's exciting to see them learning all the ins and outs of the city, and remembering my own failures and successes one year ago.
I've spent a lot of time observing the protests and talking with friends about the pros and cons of the situation. I find it inspiring how dedicated the entire country is towards achieving free education. I wish protests like this would happen in the US against, oh I don't know, the War on Terror maybe? I think 10 years later it's time to stop killing people. (I am aware that it is not that simple, but nonetheless) Or for lower education costs for all people? It's weird to be such a part of this historic movement when this isn't my country. I am consistently the only blonde person out with the Chileans shouting for free education, and to be honest, it makes me a little uncomfortable. What right do I have to be out there yelling for change in a country that isn't mine? Then again, maybe this is my country too. My SIP has focused itself on education, because I've always seen that as the key to ending poverty and truly creating equality. And I think that's as true in the states as it is here in Chile. So why shouldn't I support the cause?
Last night it all came into perspective when I went over to my friend's apartment and saw/heard all of the people out in the streets banging on pots and pans with wooden spoons. Two years ago I did a research project on female movements in Chile during the dictatorship, and that was what led me to choose Chile for study abroad and come back for my SIP research, with a focus on gender. Women during the dictatorship took to the streets with their ollas, pots, and demanded accountability from the government. Women were unrestricted by the censorship of the dictatorship because they were seen as 'weak' and their only place in society was in the home. Pinochet unknowingly created a force to be reckoned with by bypassing the women, shrugging them off as stupid, ignorant and inactive. Now, more than 20 years later, people are still taking to the streets with their pots and pans demanding accountability from the government. It was really powerful for me to see that, it makes me feel like my research is coming full circle.

So here I am. Half gringa, half chilena. Excited to return to the states, but I know that I can't leave this chaotic place behind. What will happen in the next few years? Who knows. I can't say with certainty where I'll end up, but I know I am far from being done with Chile and Valparaiso.