Saturday evening my friend Sarah and I took the metro to Valpo to check out the events being held in celebration of el Dia Internacional de la Mujer (International Women's Day). I think it's really cool that they actually celebrate it here, and that everyone seems to know what it is. Soo, we arrived at la Plaza Sotormayo (a big open space with a monument to Arturo Prat, a Chilean naval hero who I think is actually buried there) to hear some music.
I was hoping to get there in time for Mamma Soul (I thought it was the same band I had seen in San Miguel last summer, but it wasn't) but instead we arrived for the last act of the night...
Palmenia Pizarro, Chilean pop singer and diva extraordinaire, even at roughly 70 years old. Oh, and BIG fan of plastic surgery, if you can't tell from the above publicity photo, haha. She pranced around the stage singing really sappy romantic songs (albeit some with decent rhythms) and even some Mexican ranchera (Sarah and I cracked up when she launched into "Cielito Lindo") while we kicked ourselves for not bringing our cameras. An especially unfortunate fact because her drummer was a dead ringer for Rod Blagojevich, I swear. When we had had enough of her stage crying, we hopped on a micro back to Viña, where we attempted to round up some friends.
As it turned out, we could only rouse Gino, with whom we walked around for a little while before deciding that we were all worn out and could only tolerate a relaxed evening. So we stopped by a little botilleria (ahem, liquor store) and inquired as to their wine selection (we are in Chile, after all, and also highly..er..sophisticated college students). The owner rattled off a list, but we made a unanimous decision when we heard the name "Casillero del Diablo." Devil wine! We know that word! We'll take it! Haha. We pooled about 7 bucks for the wine and carried our find up to Gino's house on Calle Quillota. There we sat around the dining room table, sipping our wine, chowing on bread with marmalade and some yummy cake (in Chile they just say "cake-eh" which I think is really funny), and conversing with Gino's host family: brother Javier, mom Erika, mom's boyfriend Hernan. As we're sitting there, Hernan goes to the kitchen and returns with a bottle of Coke, which he offers to mix with our wine. "Whaaat?" we all say. "Coke with wine??" He makes a sample glass for us to try. It tastes like...really sweet fizzy wine. This is apparently how Chilean make their wine stretch! We thank him for the cultural experience but guard our glasses. Our friend Julian joined us for a while before we all got tired and took taxis home.
On Sunday I slept in, and woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Inquiring about my evening, my Chilean parents promptly laughed at me when I told them we had seen Palmenia Pizarro in concert. Apparently she is sort of a notorious figure, and was almost forced to leave Chile and live in Mexico due to some very public indiscretions (not sure exactly what they were). Maria Elena worked on lunch all morning (although Alvaro had promised to wait on us hand and foot for International Women's Day, what a liar, haha) and her efforts paid off spectacularly: spinach fetuccine with fresh homemade pesto, a salad of sliced tomatoes and onions (typical Chilean dish), sliced avocados, and of course, bread! We had a great time eating and talking together (I got into a political discussion with Alvaro) and afterwards I sipped a tiny cup of coffee and had a big bowl of orange and vanilla ice cream while I talked on Skype with my mom, dad, and Cait.
Later in the afternoon I met up with my partners in crime, Sarah and Gino, and we went exploring for a bit in Valpo. We ended up finding Ascensor Polanco, which you have to enter through an underground tunnel and which takes you up to a tower with a view of the city. We ventured up into the neighborhood Cerro Polanco, climbing all the way to the top of a KILLER hill in hopes of finding a Mapuche village...
But mostly all we found were dogs and kittens, some pretty flowers and interesting houses, and a pack of little kids who threw pebbles and dirt clods at us and called us gringos. Hm. After quick stops at a couple of stores in Valpo we went back to Viña in search of something to eat. It was a challenge since most things close early on Sunday and no one much is out and about. But we did find a pretty tasty Chinese restaurant (staffed by all Chileans, of course) where we ordered dientes de dragon (dragon's teeth), which we were disappointed to discover were not actually dragon parts but rather bean sprouts. After dinner we headed home to rest up for the first day of classes...
Which started early for me. I booked it down the cerro (the elevator was closed at this early hour) to catch a micro to downtown Valpo and headed to my first clase, The Latin American Short Story. The professor, Adolfo de Nordenflycht Bresky, seemed nice enough and I like the sound of what we'll be studying. Also, the evaluations seem like they'll be way manageable--two take-home exams and a final five-page paper. It's funny because here in Chile the first few clases are basically like a preview of the course--many people are still moving around and trying out different courses until they make their final decisions at the end of the month. Very different system than what I'm used to! After class I went with my friend Erin to Jumbo to shop for school supplies, then took the micro back to Viña.
When I got home, our nana Mari was at the apartment cooking and cleaning. We greeted one another and I got to work reading the news, checking email, etc. Around 1:30 she popped into my room and asked what I wanted for lunch. She led me into the kitchen and showed me a smorgasbord of options that she had just finished cooking: tuna cakes, roasted potatoes, a tortilla of spinach and carrots, rice, stuffed peppers...I asked for a little taste of the first three options. Next thing I know she has brought me a tray with two tuna cakes, large piles of spinach and potatoes, a bowl of sliced tomatoes, and bread. Wow. I ate my delicious lunch and then took a short nap before heading out to my last two classes of the day.
After wandering around the building for a while I finally spotted a large crowd of gringos, which meant I had found my Grammar class. We waited and looked around for the prof, but all we saw was a young-looking guy with serious sideburns, black-framed glasses, sneakers, and a black hoodie chilling on a bench. Oh, turns out that was our prof, Pedro! And he was as cool as he looked. The class is going to look at advanced grammar concepts as well as the linguistic differences among dialects of Spanish-speaking countries, with a focus on Chilean Spanish. Very cool! He was also super laidback: "Yeah, I don't really take attendance, although it is important for you to be here. Oh, and if you're, say, 15 minutes late, you're not going to make me cry!" Ha.
Español Comunicacional was equally cool. I love my prof, Luciano Flores, and I get to hang out with him three days a week! The class will focus on improving our conversational skills and confidence speaking, with a base of Chilean culture--art, music, history, human rights, food, wine, economics, etc. In just a bit I will leave for my Traditional Dances class, which sounds promising! Until later.
Ascensor Polanco.
Noisy kittens on the rooftop. A guy standing nearby found it hilarious that we took so many pictures, but they were cute, dangit.
Artist's lair in Cerro Polanco.
View of the port from the torre.
The Three Musketeers.
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