Vamos a Vina, Part Deux

Kara and I went to the Viña festival last night and it rocked. It was like watching the grammies, or the oscars. But it was fun. Btws, the Viña Festival is the big thing to do in Chile during the summer (Tom Jones is coming!) and it really is the South American form of the Grammies, which makes it a little silly in any case. But everyone is there, scantly clad or sunburnt (or both.) The evening started when we arrived at the hostel, the same one we had stayed at in at the beginning of the trip. Ninfa (the hostel owner) remembered us and we chatted for a bit and she told us to stay out until the sun came up, which we assured her we would. We wandered along the beach and then went to find food. Which we did (cheaply!) at this great little market, where you would order, they hand you your receipt, then you pay, then you go back to the counter where you ordered and get your food. The guys behind the counter made fun of us because we had no idea what was going on. But it was some good food. So we caloried up and headed out the venue, which apparently was just built last year, and found seats up in the “Galeria.” And then the festival began. Like most things in Chile it began with advertising: specifically, the dancing Santa Isabel sign and dancing girl shopping bags, because Santa Isabel (a grocery store down here) was sponsoring part of the Viña Festival. So it freaked with the dancing shopping bags for a bit while some really trendy kids did hip-hop in front. Where I was standing (with the plebes), a chant of "LIDER" (The rival grocery store) started up around us. But once the advertising was over, there was a Cirque de Sole-esque opening to two Chilean superstars who aren't very super (come one, they're chilean!) who introduced the headliner, a group I really like called La Oreja de Van Gogh. They're from Spain, but they are really popular down here and poppy. It was weird that they played first but totally fun. Then, there was a national singers competition (a latino from canada, a group from Chile, a group from Columbia, a pop star from argentina and a group de espana). None of them were very good. Then the folklore competition happened (I don't know where all the folklorists were from because I was talking to guys next to me and it was hard to hear.) Meanwhile, it was getting cold so Kara and I deicded we need warmth and comfort, which we found in the form of churros and a manajar-filled relleno. Oh happy goodness, we are now both on a diet. Then this awesome group called Basilios started to play, but the emcee Chilean superstars kept interrupting them to give them prizes and stuff (which had happened with La Oreja de Van Gogh, but La Oreja got to play for longer). Like Kara said, "It's incredibly Chilean, confusing and inefficient." So the emcees handing out medals and asking them if they wanted to say anything and finally the lead singer was like " No I want to play!" And the emcees gave each other a look that clearly said "Shut down!" and walked off stage. And then we danced! and then crashed in amazingly comfy beds! It was wonderfully absurd.

Holiday!

Okay, so on Sunday, Dylan was trying to remember what happened on Friday. Now it’s Tuesday and I’m going to go back to last Monday, so there might be a lot missing.
Last week there were midterms. Surprising, I know, as having work and class and have been a little lax for the past five weeks or so. But in any case, there was much studying and testing. Now it is done and the Center is no longer full of crazy stressed Stanford students, but partially sane Stanford students. I think that by almost everyone else’s standards here, I am a crazy hippie. They haven’t met very many crazy hippies apparently. In any case, midterms was last week and I am so glad that they are over. During this period of midterms, I slept a lot; I think that was a healthy decision. Oh, I also spent a day wandering around Santa Lucia and taking pictures and that was fun.
Then I flew to Buenos Aires. And that was absolutely amazing.
Buenos Aires is beautiful and there is art and roses and pretty buildings and good espresso and bookstores and friendly people and dancing and spice. And lots of other things too. When we fist got there, we wandered down to La Florida, the pedestrian/tourist strip, and wandered. We stumbled across Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada. The white house in Buenos Aires isn’t white, it’s pink! And they call it The Pink House. Then we managed to find some very rich Italian food at an overpriced tourist restaurant. And wandered back to the hostel. It was a relaxed evening wander and there were lots of people out, the way that there hasn’t been people in Santiago. Also, I think I told Samia earlier that I wasn’t as impressed with Argentineans as I was with Brazilians. I rescind this statement. Friday was a day of museum as Kara and I spent 4 hours in Museo de Bellas Artes and then wandered to go find a bookstore and some coffee. That night, we joined the other 8 or 9 people in Buenos Aires at the time to go to “Sigue La Vaca.” The door handles were giant cow’s heads. Yep. An all you can eat beef place where you get your own bottle of wine. I got the chicken. But there were many other good reviews. Then we went dancing where there were tons of Australians and some Argentineans, too. And then the next morning we went to Recoleta, the graveyard city. Literally, it’s all tombs above ground. Like the dead people live in little houses and have a party at night when there is nobody else around. Which might be accurate because there are pubs and strip clubs all around the graveyard. The graveyard was intense and eerie and beautiful, but it gave me the feeling that I get whenever I walk into large empty churches. Then we went out to lunch at the place where the waiters think we are crazy and Kara and I headed off to MALBA (museo de arte latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) (yay!), the rose garden, and the horse races which were much more fun than I expected. That night Ilana, Kara and I wandered to the BEST/spicy food I have had yet. Okay, best is pushing it, but it was spicy and we were gluttonous in terms of spice, wine and desert and all was good. We ended up wandering back up the stairs of the hostel in tears because we were laughing so hard. The next day was spent wandering around San Telmo and La Boca, two very different neighborhoods, but cool to see. Like I said Argentineans are really nice. We also accidentally found a Carnival festival on our way back home, which was amazing and dance-y and colorful. Found dinner next to Recoleta and then Kara and I got demolished by Gloria and Dylan in a game of pool. I think that Team Super Awesome maintained their cool though and will definitely dominate the pool table by the end of spring break. Then Kara and I wandered the next day, drinking coffee and finding universities to sit in and talking to interesting folk, before heading on the plane back home. Now we are in Santiago again, kind of wondering why they call it “studying abroad.” That is the kind of brief version of Buenos Aires, in my mind it is a lot more beautiful and there is a lot more happening all at once, but I am too tired and that would take too long right now. Happy Tuesday!

Moments

¡Cuidado! Moment: When you are walking down the street like you know where you’re going and some Chilean yells, “¡Cuidado!” to prevent you from actually stepping out into on coming traffic and accidentally killing yourself.

Gringa moment: When you are with a group of people and a Chilean asks you if you all speak Spanish and after you have all answered the affirmative, he points at you specifically and asks “Even you?” Another form of the gringa moment occurs in the dance club, when someone asks you to dance and you tell them no and then they ask you again in English because they think you didn’t understand the first time, when really you just think they are sketchy.

TranSantiago Moment: When there are a lack of micras and metros, the busdriver has no idea where he is going, and you don’t have to pay to use the bus because city planning did not realize the impact of changing the entire public transportation system and end up just pissing everyone off.

Castaño Moment: You find yourself walking downstairs and into Castaño everyday for a sugar/caffeine boost because wherever you are, Castaño is not more than half a block away. It’s the Starbucks of Chile! In pastry form! And they have ofertas on cookies con chips de chocolate!

Stanford Moment: When you are standing on the street corner and your friend asks you what you want to do that night, and you realize that all you want to do is sleep, and when you say this, all your friends agree with you and then start talking about how much they have to study the next day despite the fact that you are in a foreign country and not on campus.

Highlights of the week: baking chocolate chip cookies w/o chocolate chips, talking with my host mom and dad about random things, discovering Bellavista, finding hazelnut gelato, talking to the folk at Astrid y Gaston, going to Jammin’, going to El Tunnel again, NUTS!, used book fairs in pretty buildings, being told my Spanish was passable, hearing Ilana’s stories, being distracted by the free wireless at Starbucks, actually going to Starbucks, Chinese dudes in heavy armor duking it out with swords while everybody just sits there and watches not really sure about what they are seeing.

Ciao!

Work...

Welcome to my stream-of-consciousness during the middle of studying for midterms, provoked by a sudden kick of caffeine from Nescafe and sugar. Yay!

The cons and pros of getting a job in Chile:

Case Study: Astrid y Gaston. (http://www.astridygaston.com/)

Cons:
It would take a lot of time even to have a part time job in Chile. I mean I’m already trying to do this volunteer thing, which would take up most of my free afternoons. And I like the volunteer thing, the people are different from anybody at Stanford and its good to get out of the center. And I am traveling pretty steadily for the next three weeks after this. First to Bueños Aires, then to Viña del Mar, Vadivia , Chiloe, oh my! And then, if I decide to take classes at the Chilean University next quarter, I would have like no time whatsoever. And I want to take classes at a Chilean university because I want to meet more people my age. Right? Right. Okay.
It’s illegal. And I’m not really ready to end up back in the states. But they are pretty lax about the illegal stuff here. I mean, I don’t really need a work visa because they just don’t care. They just don’t want to be responsible if I chop off my hand or burn off my face or something. But, it’s not even like I’d be getting paid. (I think; but that hasn’t really been discussed, yet.) It’s an internship.
It would take away time for my host family. Considering I would probably get paid in meals, which my host family provides and along with company during mealtime. In fact, the most interaction I have with my host family is over a meal. Then again, I am moving out next quarter, which also means that I would have to spend more time getting to know a new host family.
Fabia would flip. Hee, my mom would flip. Everyone would flip except for dad. And he would be excited and then flip when I fail out of school.
I am a student, despite appearances. I should be studying. It’s also illegal.

Pros:
I’d get to work in a kitchen in Chile and learn Spanish! Sweet! Umm, that basically sounds like the offer of a lifetime.
They don’t care if I do or don’t have a work visa, as long as I don’t chop off my hand or burn my face off or something.
I’m a student. I’d be learning about kitchen-y things and Spanish!
I would get to meet more Chileans, and learn more Spanish!
I’d get to cook!
It would make me feel more independent here, which would be a good thing.
I’d get out of the center more.
It could be lots of fun.

Yep. That’s it. Working in Chile is probably the stupidest idea I’ve been excited about in a while. Yep. Okay. Disappointment will set in for the next couple of hours, at which point I will decide that being a student in Chile is not my first priority and that living in Chile is. And then I will go through this discussion again. Wow, life is so predictable. Funny how that works. And the caffeine rush is gone.

Yay for happy exhaustion! Last week was a little stressful, just because travel planning happened, in which there was much drama with the internet and maps. But all is well now and I don’t have to think about scheduling again, until sometime next week. There was also a trip to Museo de Bellas Artes, which made me sad about the state of Chilean Museums and feel like a major Art History nerd at the same time, especially because there was a painting by this guy Holguin, who I already wrote a paper about. I felt especially smart that day. Also, I got my interview with the community service peeps, who work down by the bus station and are ¡superbien! So, hopefully, that will come through.
But the main event of the week was Mendoza. Four of us: Wendi, Sabrina, Kara and I, left Thursday night and head through the Andes to the Argentinean border. I have trouble sleeping on buses, especially when I have to wake up halfway through to go through customs, anyways. Luckily, this was also two nights before the full moon. The mountains loomed up like giant stegosauruses and the reflection of the moon on patches of snow were as bright as spotlights. It seemed like the whole world had stopped as we slowly wove our way through the mountains to customs, which was freezing. Customs didn’t take that long, so we reached Mendoza at 5:40 in the morning, caught a cab and end up at our hostel door. We knocked for a couple of minutes, while all wondering (without saying) what we would do if nobody opened the door. Luckily, a really attractive Argentinean did open the door and let us crash on the lobby couches for the next three hours. (While not the most comfortable arrangement, it was free. Yay!) The next morning (or that same morning, depending on your perspective) we ate breakfast and planned the next day and a half in Mendoza. First on the list was the tenedor libre, or the fantastically cheap all-you-can-eat restaurant. The prepared food in Mendoza is amazing. In fact, it was so good, we couldn’t move; they had to kick us out of the restaurant. So we wandered to the park and looked at crafts stuff that was for sale.
Then, it started to rain. Well, not really clouds were piling and there was some thunder. We headed back to the hostel to see if our calbagatos plans for the evening were canceled or still on.
Luckily for us, the horseback riding was a go. Normally, I don’t really like doing the horseback riding thing because the horses normally look sickly. But these were healthy horses. And since we were the only four people leaving from the hostel, there were two guides for the four of us. The guides took us up past the giant statue of Christ that they seem to have in every South American city and up into the mountains. As the moon rose, we could see the entire city of Mendoza lit up, with a layer of clouds hovering over the city. Lightning was shooting back and forth across the clouds, lighting up the sky. And as we watched, the moon rose up through the clouds and hovered over the lightning storm and Mendoza. Happy, content and tired, we rode back to the ranch (literally) and the guides made us a barbeque (so much food). And we returned to the hostel and crashed.
The next morning we woke up and caught a bus out to the mountains, where we went hiking through New Mexico looking mountains and shrubbery to waterfalls (which I don’t think we’ve found hiking in New Mexico). Later that afternoon, we went rafting with Mario and a Brazilian dude and had tons of fun. They had to end the rafting a little earlier because another lightning storm moved in, but we were all okay with that. That night we head out to Alquimia (The Alchemist, my Australian roommate proudly informed me.) Which was awesome, if only in size. It was huge and fun. The music was actually okay, the sketchiness of most of the guys there was not (when people all around you start yelling “Hey, California, over here!” it is time to leave). So Wendi and I hailed a cab and talked politics back to the hostel where we crashed. Next morning, took a bus back down through the mountains into the Santiago smog valley. And my host family stared at me as I struggled to make conversation while eating and trying not to pass out over my sandia. Oh, to be home!