As I mentioned, the mass that cate and I had wanted to go to was already over when we arrived. Thus, I failed at witnessing a major religious holiday in latin America like I had wanted to. However, amandas homestay family invited us to their weekend house which is an hour outside viña by train. Amanda is really close with her mom so we felt very welcomed. They were having a traditional parrillada (barbeque with different meats), but her mom said that we should bring our own food so we packed some pasta and a couple of bottles of vino for the gathering. They of course shared their meat and wine as well. I tried my first churripan- bread, chorizo and pebre which is the Chilean chimichurri which slight alterations…obviously anything with chorizo is YUM. Her tio was super friendly, unlike her sister and other cousins but I guess that’s to be expected from girls of the same age. Not to say that that excuses their unreasonably cold attitudes towards us…from what ive encountered, the girls here are just unkind to gringas. The house also had a pool so we tanned after finishing all three bottles of wine plus some appertivos that they offered us after we tipped our third bottle. Needless to say, all three of us were pretty borracha (drunk) and struggling to get on the blow up animals in the pool. We got a ride home later that evening from amanda’s mom, who proceeded to tell us how odd they found it that we were able to finish three bottles of wine. Oh, if only they knew.
We were surprised to discover upon returning that the majority of bars near cates house were open so we caught the end of a happy hour at a local karaoke bar. The MC was trying to rile the crowd, and to my astonishment, the majority of people who ended up performing were guys, who all did these super serious love songs. Cate and Amanda serenaded me with Madonna’s “Like a prayer”, which got the attention of many a fellow in the crowd. More of cates friends met up with us and we concluded the night by watching an impersonator of latin America’s Elton John give lap dances to male audience members while promoting his new CD…apparently, ricky martin isn’t even worthy of being the opening act for the real guy. Im forgetting his name right now.
Yesterday we went to valparaíso by micro. The people and the architecture make Valpo a more bohemian version of Viña. Something about the water system and its poor construction + the summer season makes valpo and viña very fire prone and at around 3pm the entire sky was covered with a musky grey smog and ash was falling from the sky. We had lunch at one of their best restaurants which was this French place with a menú del jour (fixed menu), and then walked around to photograph the buildings and some really sick murals. The meal resulted in a minor food coma so our walk back to Viña turned into another ride on the micro. After a much needed nap, I tried to run along the pier but the debris of the fire made it difficult to breathe so I stretched on the rocks and came home to get ready.
A few hours later, friends from cates program and friends of friends came to pregame at our apartment. We drank pisco (a locally liquor similar to whiskey) and diet coke and then boarded the buses for valpo. We went to this underground disco called la salla. The states doesn’t really have an equivalent of discos. Theyre a mix between the dancing and spacious vibe of a club with a more bar-esc grungy aesthetic. The only thing that comes to mind is what I IMAGINE fangtasia to be like---anyone with me? La salla had three rooms- reggae/electronic, drum/bass, and mainstream club music. The night was fun although it was frustrating not feeling comfortable making conversation with my semi-conversational Spanish, a gringa accent, and a lot of loud music to yell over. The only thing I can say is that girls do not have the same bathroom line etiquette as in the states; if one friend is waiting and others see her in line, they just jump right ahead and hold the door for one another. All I could muster was an angry glare, but seriously, waiting in line for the bathroom can be an agonizing experience..and then to be cut?!
We got home at 6am and only slept till 12 because we had a friends despedida (going away party) to drunkenly trek to. His homestay parents really solidified my decision to look for a family in Buenos aires. And they had the most incredible view of the pacific + all of the roof tops of lower Viña- buenissimo! His mom served us pisco sours which satiated my hangover only slightly. Lunch was served with excellent wine from Mendoza. Interestingly, they eat the main course (e.g chicken and rice) and then the salad AFTERWARDS. ¡Que extraño! We visited cates first homestay family afterwards to drop off a gift that she had bought them in barioloche.
Its amazing how much more can get done in a day when the sun sets soo late. New York in July usually has a maximum of 13 hours, but the sun has been setting at 9:45, on average! Cate and Amanda are visiting her homestay mother for this upcoming semester and then meeting up with this French guy that we met in la salla. Tomorrow we’re heading to an isolated beach near las dunas, which are apparently some incredibly but windy sand dunes to the east of Viña.

So after a very tumultuous 9hr delay in panama (arguing in Spanglish about my promised $400 voucher, praying for a bar of internet to send word to cate about my delay, popping and then subsequently regretting popping pimples in the bathroom) I arrived in Chile. I was unpleasantly greeted with a steep entrance fee of $130 for American citizens. My two bags however, were waiting for me, cosmetics in tact- so already this trip is starting off smoother than Guatemala. I wearily walked out into the crowd of expectant Chileans eager to greet family and older men trying to get me to ride in their taxi or rent their apartment, but Cate and Amanda were no where to be found. My optimism had nearly evaporated by the third time I asked “¿Has visto dos gringas?” (have you seen two white girls?) until suddenly, in the window of the airport café, I saw the amandas hair and cates grin. We waved and made silly moments until I decided it was no longer appropriate to make a spectacle of myself.
After a couple of minutes of hugging and coming to terms with the fact that we were all together, and in south American, AND HOW UNBELIEVEABLY STUPID WE WERE NOT TO HAVE EXCHANGED ANY INFORMATION ABOUT OUR FLIGHTS, we boarded two buses to Viña del Mar. the countryside was incredibly beautiful but different from the type of vegetation that I was used to seeing in Guatemala. It kind of reminded me of new Hampshire in the summer, because of the rocky hillsides and sparse greenery in some areas. However, as we got closer to the coast, that type of scenery changed.
Because of my 5:30am arrival in Santiago, by the time we made it back to the apartment that cate and I are staying in, it was only 9:30am. We both took long overdue showers, followed by naps in our respective sleeping areas (a hard bed and a red velvet couch). Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at a bar near cates house and made our way towards the mall. Mind you it was the day before Christmas Eve, and thus the mall was a mad house. We met up with Amanda and proceeded to buy groceries in a wallmart/Mercado type place and then took a microbus home. The violence and terror of the ride was familiar. They also have these things called collectivos which are more or less taxis with preordained routes that will pick you up if they aren’t full. That’s the only form of local transportation Ive encountered thus far, excluding the nicer buses from the capital and the presumably bigger buses that take people from Viña to Valpo. Sadly, when I described chicken buses and their gaudy religious exterior to cate and her friends, I was met with blank stares. We came back to the house wear we cooked turkey burgers, and had a salad of palta (avocado….not aguacate?!??) and tomate. The girl whose apartment we’re staying in is super fantastic. Shes this 29yr old hip Chilean who speaks no English and is the manager of the mens Zara here. At times, I had trouble following her and cates conversation but eh its only day 1.
Afterwards, we walked to Cates friends house where I sampled the local marijuana and was predictably disappointed. There were two other girls that were at this guys house so it was a small gathering but Amanda and I nonetheless proceeded to dominate the noise and energy level. I was surprisingly lacking much of a filter for this interaction because it probably would have been smarter to remain sensitive to the fact that these girls did not want to hear the lineage of “sarah lana” or particulars about my 10 yr plan. Cest la vie!
The next morning, cate and I caught up on some much needed sleep and headed to the beach to say farewell to one of cates travel buddies. This expedition turned into a 2 hour tanning session which resulted in some pretty horrific tan lines and a face that’s currently incapable of expression. Afterwards, we came home and made a heaping portion of stir fry, and then paid a visit to the house that cate will be living in next semester. Cates new mom is beyond wonderful. Somehow, even with the language barrier , I managed to direct the conversation to my bowl-movement issues. This then led to a foot/pressure point massage by cates new mom. Shes a professional, but still- how did that happen? Cate says that it’s a rare thing for a woman to be living on her own, and that her program is semi-uncomfortable with students living in a single-adult house but im really pleased that cate is going to live in such a spiritual, new-age environment. Then we visited amandas highrise that overlooks the pacific. We didn’t get to meet her family but tomorrow we’re going away with them to what seems like their summer/weekend house. Cate and I had the intention of attending midnight mass but as we walked up the main boulevard later that night, we realized that all masses are held earlier because people open presents AT midnight. The church that was still open for prayer was pretty and less tacky than the churches that im used to seeing in Latin America. Cate has the same opinion but then I thought back to one of the main ideas of my Religion in Latin America class which is that piety in Latin America very visually oriented, and gaudy display cases of biblical scenes featuring large plastic characters is not only appealing but very consistent with their idea of worship.
As mentioned, tomorrow ill be heading to the country side for a day or two. Im happy that Amanda has been able to foster such a close relationship with her “family” and im interested in seeing how they interact.
Thus far, the thing that im most excited about is the architecture. Its not that it itself is that interesting but the fact that I can relate to it because its another metropolis. It always worried me that I was a latin American studies major but that when I traveled here (only central america until now), I could never see myself truly enjoying or building a life in one of their central cities. Its nice to know that there exists some type of median between the industrial urban environment that I’ve come to love and partially require from New York, and the layout and architecture of cities in Central America. And from what I hear, Buenos Aires is very much in line with this aesthetic, just on a grander scale. For example, the visible extent of globalization in Central American cities was the McDonalds and the occasional Pizza Hut. (as an aside, in central America, the idea of fast food vs. local/homecooked food is completely backwards. Fast Food is strictly special occasion type thing.) But here, Cate showed me the recently-opened Starbucks…which completely rocked my world. Try and think about that- a designated third world country with an establishment that makes specialty coffee drinks… its almost oxymoronic. Prior to coming to Chile, I would have thought that that type of thing would be unintelligible to ‘Latin American people’ because I had grown so accustomed to the central American conception of wealth—and spending $4 on frappaccino would be seemingly ridiculous to them. (I was also told that chile has the most thriving economy in all of Latin America-¡Que interestante!) This example is just one part of the idea that this city and its architecture/establishments reflect an entirely different norm from what ive come to expect from latin American/third world cities. Maybe that was naive of me from the start, but on the flipside, it would have been just as naïve/insensitive to expect that every country has wealthy cities. So I guess I just prepared for the ‘worst’…

So I wasn’t aware that celebrities other than those with philanthropic images even THOUGHT about latin America, but I was gladly proven wrong. But this was not just any celebrity wearing a purple juicy jumpsuit and demanding that the immigration agents bring her forms with ONLY English. Oh no. This extension-wearing blond bimbo took any American stereotype to a whole other level. And who is this mystery international voyager you ask? None other than our own tara reid… who proceeded to LEAVE HER PASSPORT AND BLACKBERRY ON SOME COUNTER…and guess who benevolently returned it? Yes folks, I have had minimal interaction with TARA REID. “oh my god, you are a life saver..” she replies, struggling to juggle 6 different tabloids (none of which include her), her Louis Vuitton rollie and a YSL hobo. Bienvenidos a Chile?!??!

........and shes off.

Well perhaps this isn’t the most pleasant way to start my trip, nor my blog but I simply have no other choice. After an early wake up and a very stressful check-in at Miami International, I arrive at my flight bound for Panama with all of my luggage and time to spare. I detoured to the bathroom where I was once again confronted with the fact that my oily skin is defenseless against my bodies production of estrogen and other deadly toxins. A few minutes later im walking down the aisles and bound for seat 24C where I see the top of a rounded face with familiar black rimmed glasses. This individual reminds me of my friend Xavier, whom I had plans with on Monday , but had sadly forgot to call in the midst of my packing chaos. As I nudge closer, loosing 1 of 2 hiking boots in the process, my puckered brow became an uncontrollable grin as I realized that IT WAS XAVIER…with two seats next to him to sprare. Qué raro! The people who were assigned those seats eventually came, but it was a wondrous couple of minutes. The airplane food came after round 1 of my nap..nothing that one wouldn’t expect of airplane food.We took off late and due to my 1:30 layover in Panama, I was nervous that I would miss my connecting flight..

Unfortunately, my chances of getting on that flight, from what I was told, were slim to none anyways. Apparently with connecting flights, they overbook more than usual because they expect that flights will not arrive on time and so forth. So now, I and about 7 other people, including an intense group of military men, have been bumped back to a flight that leaves at 8:30pm arriving in Santiago at 5:30am. I have no idea how to get in touch with cate and Amanda who, if all went according to plan, would have been waiting for me at my gate. I asked if the flight attendant could deliver a letter to the gringas that would be waiting at the gate, but no such service could be arranged. I did however get a $400 flight voucher (HELLO BRAZIL!!) and a city tour of panama which I politely declined. So that’s the start of my trip. I knew that cate and I were wingin’ it by not speaking before our flights and planning for this type of DISASTER but at this point, everything is out of my control. My only option is to find a wifi spot at the Santiago airport and hope cate and Amanda are just chillen there.

In other news, I got a new battery for my macbook and im lovin the energy retention.

In other other news, I forgot my Spanish/English dictionary. It might turn out to be a blessing because I’ll be forced to rely on my working vocabulary instead of searching for more complex words, as I did when I first started out in Guatemala. Glass half full thinking……..im all about it.

And lastly, im sorry for the trivial nature of this post.- I promise to make the following ones more cultural-learning based.