Section of Part Two
One of the first lessons of life in Argentina:
patience. I realized after a week or so in the
country, that my classes were starting later than I
had previously thought. I decided to take advantage
of my free time and take a 10 day trip to Chile and
Mendoza (Argentina).
CHILE
The flight from Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile was
just amazing. While reading the newspaper, I caught a
glimpse of the snow covered Andes Mountains and I almost dropped
the newspaper in my hands. The plane was flying so
close to the mountain tops, I felt as thought I could
almost touch them. I felt alive. (This is no pun in
reference to the movie, Alive, where a soccer team’s
plane crashes in the Andes and the crash survivors
have to resort to cannibalism to survive). Seriously,
flying within hands reach of the Andes, gave me a rush
I can not describe. “This is life!!!!”, I thought.
Unfortunately, after landing in Santiago, the Andes
were invisible. My friend gave me directions
describing how to get from the airport shuttle stop to
her office. She said “when you get out of the van,
walk down the street in the direction of the Andes”.
Ha!Ha! There was so much smog that I could not even
see the Andes. Santiago is so famous for its horrible
pollution because it is located in a valley. The next
day, I got sick because of the pollution.
Santiago is an ugly place. Imagine Los Angeles without
the ethnic neighborhoods, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and
no coastal access.
THE PEOPLE
One of the first things I noticed in Santiago were how
different the people were physically. In Argentina,
most of the indigenous population was massacred by the
Spanish and populated by European immigrants. In
Chile, the population is more mixed between European
and indigenous roots. It was strange to realize that I
was taller than at least half of the people I saw.
Chile is a very conservative society. As in the rest
of Latin America, abortion in illegal but commonly
practiced, especially by those who have money to pay
for doctors to do the procedure clandestinely. It is one of
only two countries in the Western hemisphere where divorce in illegal.
(Malta is the other country with the same policy.) However, there’s
a legal loophole. The couple proves that they
were not actually living where they claimed to have been
residents at the time of the marriage, they can
nullify their marriage.
LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND PINOCHET
I left Argentina at a fascinating moment in modern
Latin American politics. The day before leaving, there
was a huge demonstration in front of the Casa Rosada
(like the White House) in commemoration and in protest
of the day of the military coup d’état. Traffic in all
of downtown Buenos Aires was blocked due to the
demonstration. In Chile, I stayed with an
anti-Pinochet family. Like Isabel Allende who escaped Pinochet by going to
Caracas, the woman in the family lived in
Venezuela for nine years.
However, I met other Chileans who were ardent
supporters of Pinochet. I couldn’t believe that half
of the population of Chile is against the
British/Spanish extradition attempt of their former
dictator. Pinochet was a brutal dictator who killed
his own people for their political beliefs or for
their supposed communist leanings. Another interesting
event occured while I was in Chile. The vice president
of Paraguay was assassinated and it was clear that the
culprits were the president and the head of the
military. Brazil gave the Paraguayan president exile
and Argentina did the same for the chief of the
military. Wow, where am I? I am in a country with a
love-hate relationship with a dictator (Chile). I am
living in a country where the people protest
everything, but the government gives exile to an
obvious assassin. (Argentina) Hmmm, this is much more
telling than any Latin American politics class in college could
ever be.
THE COUNTRY
After three weeks of the Buenos Aires humidity and
heat, I was thrilled to be in Chile. With its
Mediterranean climate and cold coastline, Chile
reminded me of my cherished California. On the bus
ride from Santiago to coastal Viña del Mar the vegetation was
so similar to what we have in California that I
thought I was going from my house to Santa Cruz or
Monterey. From the descriptions of Viña del Mar and
Valparaiso, I expected these neighboring cities to be
truly incredible. They are quant, picturesque places,
not incredible. Valparaiso is compared to San
Francisco because it is a port city (the second
largest city in Chile) and it is built on various
hills. I would say that it is more similar to the East
Bay than to San Francisco. The city has funiculars, vertical
outside elevators, that function as transportation for
people to ascend the many hills in the city. Despite
my cold and my clogged nasal system, I ate the famous
Chilean “locos”, a type of seafood which Chile
exports.
Inspired by Neruda
Since the cold I caught in Chile lasted for several
weeks, I obviously do not have a good impression of
Santiago. However, there is one place in Santiago I
will never forget. Pablo Neruda, the famous Chilean
poet and diplomat had three houses in Chile which have
been converted into museums. I went to his house with
no expectations. (I have found that living without
expectations from places or people is the best in
life. Otherwise we frustrate ourselves with what
reality gives us, because it is never what we had hoped
for.) I was absolutely impressed by the way he
constructed his house. For his deep love for ships and
the sea, he made the floor of his library like that of
a ship. When one walked in the library, the floor was
not flat like in a normal house. The wooden panels
cracked and moved to imitate the motions of a boat. In
the house, there were three bars, all in different
styles to match his various moods and ways of
entertaining. I never thought that a house would
impress me so much and make me think about how I would
want to decorate my own home.
THE ECONOMY
Chile was incorporated into the global marketplace by
Pinochet before many other Latin American countries.
Much of the economy is heavily dependant on
exports. Some of the main exports are copper, steel,
fish, seafood, fruits, vegetables and wine. As one
third of its exports are to Asia and the price for
metals has fallen globally, Chile is facing an
economic downturn. For the Chileans, 7% unemployment
is a tragedy. The rest of Latin America would be
elated to have such low unemployment. Chile is cheaper
than Argentina because it doesn’t have such high taxes
and it has a free flowing exchange rate.
VIÑA DEL MAR-MENDOZA
I traversed the Andes to return to my adopted country
by bus. During the eight hour bus ride, I was glued to the
window. The landscape was so breathtaking that I
didn’t need to listen to my walkman until the last two
hours of the trip. The types of plants and trees
changed dramatically as we moved along the road.
Mendoza is a very arid area which should not be as
populated as it is. There is not enough rainfall to
supply the population. Apparently, the Dalai Lama said
that the Mendoza area was the most physically similar
to Tibet that he had seen in the world. The movie
Seven Years in Tibet was filmed there. I spent 4
days relaxing at a friends house. Due to my cold and
the rain, I couldn’t go river rafting. However, I was
very happy to be there to enjoy the gorgeous
landscape. Even though there was not a big difference
between the cost of a plane or bus ticket, I returned
to Buenos Aires by bus to see the countryside.