Santiago Excursion Part I

The guards outside La Moneda. These guards are special carabineros (police) whose job it is to protect the presidential palace.
Plaza in front of La Moneda. The giant Chilean flag was hanging up in anticipation of the national holiday to be celebrated in the coming week. The colors of the Chilean flag blue, white, and red represent the blue of the sky and the ocean, the white of the snow-capped Andes, and the red blood spilled fighting for independence. There is one star on the flag to represent the fact that Chile is a single state (unlike our 50 federated states).
The room where the Chilean president welcomes other heads of state. Our tour guide told us he hopes one day some one in our group would return to Chile and be welcomed in this room as an ambassador or head of state. I told him not to worry, I'll be back.

One of the plazas inside La Moneda (there were orange trees and many gorgeous sculptures!)

Our excursion to Santiago was what I would call "un viaje muy largo en poco tiempo" (a long trip in a short time). Both days included visits to many different sites and organizations in our journey to discover more about what it means to be Chilean and the navigate the complicated arena of Chilean politics (and you thought the U.S. had a left-right split?).

Friday, September 12:

Vicaria de la Solidaridad- We began our tour of Santiago at the Vicariate of Solidarity, an office of the archbishop of Santiago which has created and stored an archive of tens of thousands of testimonies from Chilean citizens during the Pinochet dictatorship. These archives have been used by documentary film makers and judges in showing and trying the events of those years.

Villa Grimaldi- Secondly, we toured the park at Villa Grimaldi, once the headquarters of DINA, Pinochet's intelligence agency and secret police, and a detention and torture center. The grounds have been turned into a peace park with tile markers denoting the previous location of the mens' and womens' cells, torture chambers, and latrines.

Plaza de Armas y El Palacio de la Moneda- During the third stop of the day we met with our history professor, Rodrigo Moreno, who gave us a quick explanation of the statues and plaques in the Plaza de Armas near the Catedral de Santiago before we had to rush off to our guided tour of the Palacio de La Moneda, which is Chile's version of the White House. There we saw the changing of the guard and were guided through the presidential palace (a gorgeous and premier example of neo-classical architecture, for all of you architecture nerds like me). Unlike the White House, La Moneda does not act as a residence, but only as an office for the head of state. It was incredible how accesible this building is to the public. It stands in the center of Santiago and is surrounded by buildings on all sides with an expansive plaza in the front. During our tour we even ran into the Minister of Defense! The building is called the Palacio de la Moneda because it was originally built as a factory to make "las monedas", or coins, of the republic.

Fundacion Presidente Augusto Pinochet- Perhaps the most interesting and revealing stop of our excursion was our visit to the Foundation Pinochet, an organization founded in honor of the late general. We were welcomed by the director of the foundation (a retired general) who showed us a video and talked to us about his relationship with his general answered our questions about the dictatorship and Chilean politics today. To this day there has been little to no public discussion in Chile about the coup of 1973 and the following dictatorship. Chile remains a country harshly divided between left and right, Allende and Pinochet. While I do not understand more clearly the political divisions of Chile today, our visit to Fundacion Pinochet allowed me to more clearly understand the position of the Chilean military in the coup of 1973. It should be noted that the director of the foundation, and Pinochet supporters in general, do not consider the events of September 11, 1973 to be a "golpe de estado" or coup d'etat. Rather, they consider it a "pronunciamiento", a pronouncement, a justified pronouncement of the Armed Forces' allegiance to the constitution.

Chile's 9/11

On September 11, 1973 Chile's Presidential Palace was bombed and overtaken by the right-wing Junta government of Pinochet which would rule until 1980. In the days after the coup, Allende supporters and leftist activists were taken to the Estadio Nacional (national soccer stadium) which was temporarily converted into a detention and torture center. Men and women were tortured, raped and killed in the same stadium where, last night, the Chilean soccer team defeated Colombia 4-0 in a world cup qualifying match. Abandoning political and religious divisions Chilean soccer fans poured into the bleachers en masse and filled the stadium with chants of nationalist fervor and pride. During the game, Chileans were everything but divided. But Chile's history is a complicated one, as are its present day manifestations.

The meaning of September 11 and the memory of the coup is different for every Chilean. For some, it is a day of mourning and remembrance of the leftist popular movement and those disappeared, tortured and murdered during the Pinochet dictatorship. Many Chileans believe the coup "put right" the Chile which had been torn apart by the socialist economic policies of Allende's government and saved the country from civil war. Still others feel that everyone should get over what happened during those years--that every war, every movement, has its share of torture, death, and the oppression of innocent people. That happened thirty-five years ago, let's stop the fuss.

I have no grasp of what today feels like for the average Chilean. It's odd for me to be outside of my country as we mark the seventh anniversary of our own September 11. It is hard for me to draw comparisons between the two dates. Chile's 9/11 was an attack of the Chilean military against the Chilean government: Chileans vs. Chileans. On September 11, 2001 and outside force attacked the United States. The strongest comparison can be made in the fallout of each day. Both dates left their countries shaken, scarred, and polarized. Chile is still deeply divided politically.

Today raises many powerful questions. Who owns the memory of September 11? What does that day mean for our nation or to you and I as individual citizens? These questions hold true for both Chileans and U.S. citizens alike.

One Month

Wow, I cannot believe that I have been in Chile for an entire month as of today. I wrote the following in my journal last night: It is definitely a different experience--travelling to a new place and knowing you don't get to go home for a time so far from today that it is unreachable by anticipation.

Last weekend we visited Pomaire, an artisan village near Santiago. It was a small town of shops and restaurants so quaintly enchanting that I could've spent the entire day wandering the streets and browsing the thousands of pots, plates, mugs, piggybanks, etc. made of the native "greda" clay. In Pomaire you can buy enormous painted planter pots (the kind you'd find at Gerten's for $45) for about $6 or beautiful vases (which would sell at Pier 1 for $25) for $2. It's unbelievable. Of course, shipping those items becomes problematic, but they were beautiful to look at. We were able to visit a local studio and even got to work on the wheels. I have apparently forgotten most of what I learned in Ceramics I at CDH, but it was very fun to work with clay again.

I have formed a small group of friends here in Viña. There is a great group of Chilean students and European exchange students who I go out with and am becoming friends with. About three weeks ago I met my friend Andréanne, a Canadian exchange student who is here for the entire year. She is also studying at Adolfo Ibañez where I am studying, so we see each other periodically between classes. Last Friday we had lunch together at a neapolitan pizza joint near school which could rival Punch. She's my "winglady" on weekends.

This weekend the CSB-SJU group is spending Friday and Saturday in Santiago. Iwill have many interesting anecdotes to report back from that trip. Next week are the "fiestas patrias" or national holidays in Chile so we don't have classes on Thursday or Friday. I may travel three hours north with some friends to go windsurfing and hang out on the 3-mile beach of Pichidangui.

Love to all my lovers who have recently started their study abroad experiences in London, Madrid, Rome, Athens, etc. !!!!!

Hasta luego,
Anna

Photos!!!

Finally, as requested, here are some photos from my first 3 weeks in Chile. I don't think people could open the video link I sent, but these are the photos minus the cool background music in the video, which you can listen too (while browsing the photos :). Right click on the link and Open in New Window to listen to the music if you'd like :)

Que dulce es la vida chilena!!!

Chef Leo! My host father

My host siblings: Felipe, Ignacio, Macarena y Antonio

Macarena, Anna, y Marcela, my host mom

Feliz Cumpleaños!!

Almost all of us (we're missing 4!)

The view from my bedroom window

Our house

Two of my host brothers, los gran jugadores de pin-pon!!

Macarena, my host sister and Nely, our housekeeper

From the beach, a view of the church across the street from our house.

Hotel Sheraton Miramar, one of the three 5-star hotels in Viña.