A Little Chile

World's Largest Sand Trap?

2009-05-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

A rather amusing part of the Azapa Valley is the Rio Lluta golf course. (Pachi loves taking visitors to this place because they cannot believe it!) It's a golf course, but as you can see in the picture, it's all sand. But hey, there are serious golf tournaments here, so maybe we shouldn't laugh too hard. No, let's go ahead and laugh. :)

Museo de San Miguel de Azapa

2009-05-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

The Universidad de Tarapaca has a special affiliation with the Archaeological Museum of San Miguel de Azapa, which presents the cultural and anthropological development of the region. Its special attraction is the display of Chinchorro mummies, shown in the photo below. Seeing these mummies was incredible, and the process of mummification is astounding: organs and flesh removed; skeleton reassembled, reinforced with sticks; internal organs replaced with clay and dried plants; body remade with the skin of the deceased, and then covered with dark paste. Some mummies had clay masks showing facial features and/or clay sexual organs. The museo actually has the oldest known mummy in existence, a child found near Arica that dates back to around 5050 B.C. My jaw was dropping while looking at this exhibit; you look at these things in the case and realize they were once people!!! Other parts of the chronological display were also really interesting; for example, the arrival of the Bolivian influence to the area brought the color red into clothing and crafts, as you can see in the other photo. I just loved the way the museum was organized as a visual tour through 10,000 years of history.

El Valle de Azapa

2009-05-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

Our travels with Pachi also took us to the Azapa Valley, just outside of Arica. This valley is known for its production of fruits and vegetables, especially a unique violet-colored olive that produces a strong-tasting olive oil. I was so interested to learn about this because when I first bought olive oil in Arica back in March, I had noticed that it was especially strong - and good. It was from the Azapa Valley, and now I know that I was not imagining the strong taste! One of my students had me try olives that her father, who works in the valley, had prepared from scratch - right from the tree. They were amazing. There's a whole process of soaking them in salt water for a period of days until they reach perfection. Also in the Azapa Valley are the famous geoglyphs, which you see in the photo. Geoglyphs are huge figures made by collecting stones from the hillside to form figures or by removing debris to expose the differently colored surface as the image. The valley's geoglyphs are thought to have been made by ancient peoples, but it is not certain what purpose they served - whether they were used for directions or as some type of worship ritual. We do know one thing, though: Pachi pointed out to us the large, protruding male genitalia on the animal figures, representing their wish for fertility. Isn't it a riot that thousands of years pass, and some things don't change?!

El Morro de Arica

2009-05-31T05:33:00.000-07:00

My dear friend and colleague Pachi was kind enough to take Mom, Gordon, and me on a fantastic personal tour of Arica. Her family has been in the travel and tourism business for years, so she knows everything! The photo you see here shows Arica's main attraction: El Morro ("the steep hill," for lack of a better description). The final blow in the War of the Pacific's Battle of Arica was the taking of El Morro by Chilean forces on June 7, 1880. Until that time, Arica had been part of Peru. Although it functioned as part of Chile for years, Arica was not officially declared a Chilean city until 1929. At that point in time, it is said that people were given the choice to stay in Arica and be Chilean, or move to Tacna (9 miles away) and be Peruvian. I have also heard that many indigenous and poorer people were coerced into going to Peru. These are the bits of "history" I learn from taxi drivers and bartenders!

Catedral San Marcos

2009-05-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

These photos capture Arica's other attraction, La Catedral San Marcos, whose claim to fame is that it was designed by Gustav Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame! (I have not yet figured out or been able to understand when people try to tell me what he was doing here...). Anyway, it's made of metal and has a white and pink facade; very unique. I love the photo taken from El Morro, which essentially shows La Catedral and the whole downtown area, which has now become so familiar to me. Arica is a town of about 200,000 people, although it often feels smaller, as I already run into people I know!

Cristo de la Paz

2009-05-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

An interesting little story: This is the "Cristo de Paz," (Christ of Peace) which sits on top of El Morro. It is supposed to represent peace between the two countries of Chile and Peru. The Golden Rule is engraved on the bottom. Ironically, however, it is facing neither the town of Arica nor the country of Peru because people could not agree on which way it should face! Should it face Chile or Peru? In the end, Christ has his arms spread open to the Pacific Ocean, and if you look up from downtown Arica you see him from the back! It seems to me that people have somehow missed the point!

On Top of El Morro

2009-05-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Pachi drove us to the top of El Morro, where there are spectacular views of Arica, and you can actually see Peru in the distance. I am pictured here with Pachi with the Port of Arica in the background. I am also pictured sitting on a cannon. I had Gordon take this photo because I was transported back to the days of my childhood when my dad thought family vacations should be to Civil War battlefields. I think we have photos of me on every cannon on the U.S. East Coast. This one's for you, Dad! :)

Dinner at "Passion Fruit" with Gladys and Wilfredo

2009-05-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

Gladys, my colleague and Fulbright contact at UTA, and her husband Wilfredo have been so kind to me since my arrival. Mom and Gordon took us all to dinner at the restuarant Maracuya, which sits right on the ocean in Arica. Maracuya means "passion fruit," and the dessert I ordered allowed me to experience for the first time what a cut-open passion fruit actually looks like (see photo on left). It's very unusual! It almost looks like a kind of fruit salad inside, but that's the way the fruit comes in nature. It's really tart, but I've come to like it a lot.

Mom and Gordon Go Back to School!

2009-05-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

On Thursday of their visit, I took Mom and Gordon to my undergrad class at la Universidad. We joined with my colleague Monica's class to play Apples to Apples. It was new for these students, and Mom and Gordon knew how to play and were a big help with their native English speaker knowledge. Gordon got right to work explaining things in a clear way. Pilar's card said "shoplifting," and he explained to her that "it's when you steal something from a store." (My students later said how nice they were!) I enjoyed seeing them in my school setting, and they liked seeing me in my teacher role.

Back to Arica!

2009-05-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

It was exciting to bring Mom and Gordon back to my Chilean home of Arica. First things first: I took them to DiMango, my cafe/restaurant hang-out on the beach, where they serve amazing ice cream creations. Mom and I shared a "Copa Potrich," which is manjar (dulce de leche/caramel) ice cream and lucuma (a fruit we don't have in the U.S.) ice cream with manjar and chocolate sauces, topped with whipped cream and wafer cookies. (You can see my spoon making its way toward Mom's bowl.) Gordon had a yummy combination of coconut and lemon ice cream.

City of Cusco

2009-05-21T14:44:00.001-07:00

We took a private tour of the city of Cusco the morning of our departure. Cusco was once the capital of the Incan empire but was proclaimed Spanish territory by Francisco Pizarro in 1532. He made this proclamation in what he named the Plaza de Armas (formerly called ‘Huacaypata’ by the Incas), which is home to the beautiful Catedral de Cusco you see in the photo taken at night. Cusco is marked by a mix of Incan and Spanish architecture. I like the picture on the right because you can see remains of an Incan structure with colonial walls and roofing on top of it, and a cross in the distance. Today, Cusco is a very busy tourist city (95% of its residents have work that relies on tourists). Side streets are narrow and are often filled with people like those you see in the photo of one of the small street markets. Our tour ended with a visit to the walled complex of Sacsayhuamán, described in the next post.

Sacsayhuamán

2009-05-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Sacsayhuamán (pronounced very much like "sexy woman") is a walled Incan complex near Cusco. Had it been untouched, it would have been a site nearly as impressive as Machu Picchu; but the Spanish used many of the rocks from the structure to build their churches. The complex was a religious center for the Incans, the "sun's house," but the Spanish thought it was a fortress. Again, the precision of Incan stonework is present, and this has kept the stucture from being destroyed during various earthquakes in Cusco. You can even see the cougar paw they put in the stonework in the photo! A llama and a guinea pig can be found elsewhere in the complex. Amazing!

More Machu Picchu

2009-05-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

There is so much to discuss and describe, but I have chosen two things that I really liked. One photo shows a temple with three windows. The number three is very important in Incan culture because of the three worlds in which they believed: the upper world of the stars and gods; the middle world of life on Earth; and the lower world of death. These worlds are also represented by animals: the condor, puma, snake, respectively. The other photo shows an open area that the Incas may have used for speeches, celebrations, or even sports. What is amazing is that from the spot the photo was taken, the Incan ruler could speak and be heard by the whole community. Our guide demonstrated this, and it was as if his voice was carried right into the mountains. The stone structures you see in that photo made up the "residential" area of Machu Picchu, which is separate from the worship area comprised of temples.

Inside Machu Picchu

2009-05-19T17:46:00.001-07:00

One of the interesting things to note is that the people who lived at Machu Picchu were of the higher class and were not the ones who built it; workers were brought in. Having made the trip in a bus and climbed just a tiny portion of Inca ruins myself, I cannot even imagine how people were able to get from place to place in these mountains; but they did. The photo on the left shows the "gate" through which the rulers and nobility entered the community.

Machu Picchu, The World's Wonder

2009-05-17T09:27:00.001-07:00

Machu Picchu - "The Lost City of the Incas." It is safe to to say that I have never visited anything so breathtaking in my life. I'd seen pictures, I'd heard about it, but I could not have imagined what it's like to be there in person, looking down at the Incas' impeccably crafted community of stone and looking up to see the Andes poking through the clouds. The Incas started building Machu Picchu in the mid-1400's, but it was abandoned less than a hundred years later during the Spanish conquest, as its occupants escaped to the jungle or died from smallpox. Had the Spanish ever found this place, it would have suffered the fate of so many other Inca sites; what is so miraculous is that it is so intact. In 1911 Professor Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu hidden under thick brush; he'd actually been looking for something else! He was led to the site by Quechuans who were living in the ruins. It was Professor Bingham who gave the place its name, which comes from the Quechua words machu ‘old man’ and pikchu ‘peak’.

Getting to Machu Picchu

2009-05-17T09:13:00.001-07:00

The next day we began our journey to Machu Picchu very early, boarding a train from Cusco at 6:55 am. The train ride to Aguas Calientes (the stopping point for boarding a bus to MP) is three hours long, and as you'll see in the photo of Mom and Gordon, we were not quite prepared for the cold at this hour! We were on the first-class "Vistadome" train, but alas, it does not have a heating system. (The less expensive train is called the "Backpacker." I'm not sure what it doesn't have, but its name suggested to me that it might not be for us!) Fortunately, the mother in a family from Lima seated next to us seemed to have extras of every piece of cold weather gear in her bag; she was pulling scarves, gloves, hats, etc. out of the bag as if it was a magic hat. She insisted we use them to get warm, and we were very grateful; the train also keeps blankets on hand. We were treated to a lovely breakfast on the train, though, and by the time we arrived in Aguas Calientes, the sun was out, we were warm, and ready to go! We boarded a bus and had the amazing view you see in the photo as we took the 30-minute ride to the entrance to Machu Picchu. In Spanish there's a word "emocionante," which is a combination of emotional and excited, and that's the word that kept coming to my mind as I looked out the window.

The Village of Chinchero

2009-05-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Chinchero, a small Andean Indian village, was our last stop for the day. We arrived at dusk, which made the views overlooking The Sacred Valley even more spectacular. Chinchero is believed to be the mythical birthplace of the rainbow, one of the phenomena of nature that the Incas worshipped. What I found so interesting here, once again, was the combination of the Inca life with the Spanish life. An adobe colonial church, dating from the early seventeenth century, was built on the foundations of an Inca temple or palace.

Ollantaytambo

2009-05-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ollantaytambo (fun name!) was our first stop after lunch in Yucay. The town is built on original Inca foundations and is considered to be the best remaining example of Inca town planning. Ollantaytambo is divided into "canchas" (blocks). Each cancha has a huge stone doorway as its one entrance. The doorway leads into a central courtyard, which is surrounded by houses. Gordon - God bless him - opted to climb the steep terrace leading up to the Inca temple area. The steep terracing helped to provide excellent defenses (it obviously kept me away!). He took the photo you see from atop the terrace. Meanwhile, I was wandering around finding some fascinating things in the town. You can get a ride around the rocky, uneven streets in a sort of expanded motorcycle (see photo). I actually saw fancy versions of these things at a Honda dealership in Lima! A great idea. I also stumbled upon a family of ducks hanging out in the town, but they were unlike any ducks I had ever seen at home.

Lunch in Yucay

2009-05-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

We stopped in Yucay for lunch, and I just loved this little town! Its name means "bewitchment" (maybe I felt some connection to Salem!). It was so peaceful, with two large, grassy plazas nestled below the Andes and along the Urubamba River. Just standing in one spot you could look around and see the mountains that had been home to the Incans, and the influence of the Spanish in in the town's architecture; for example, the church of Santiago de Apostol you see in the photo. You could just feel and imagine all the different types of people who had come through this town - and who are still coming through as visitors! I took a walk after lunch and had a little "power siesta" on a bench under the tree in the photo - still recovering from my hike to the Pisac ruins!

The Pisac Ruins

2009-05-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

Continuing on through the Sacred Valley, we arrived at the Pisac ruins, whose citadel controlled a route connecting the Inca Empire with Paucartambo. Here we got our first glimpse of the Incas' impressive terrace work (for farming), along with the amazing stonework for which they are famous. There are still unexcavated portions of this site at the highest points. Speaking of high, getting to the Pisac ruins was an adventure in and of itself. Our guide let us know that it would be over an hour of some difficult hiking and climbing, and that some of us "might end up coming back to the bus." A little daunting, but off we went! The photo to the left does not even really capture just how long and difficult it was. We were very proud of ourselves for making it - and very exhausted. Those Incas must have been in great shape! :)

El Valle Sagrado

2009-05-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

The next day we started our day tour of The Sacred Valley of the Incas. I've let the photo above stand alone because it captures the beauty and fertility of this area, which is what made it so sacred to the Incas. The valley was a veritable treasure in the high Andes and was also a route to the jungle, allowing access to the fruits and plants of the lowlands. It is still a rich agricultural region today. You can also see the incredible luck we had with the perfect weather!

First Night in Cusco

2009-05-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Our first evening in Cusco, we settled in at our hotel in the city center. Mom and Gordon had the view in the photo from their window. We headed off to a wonderful dinner at a restaurant with musicians and dancers.

Highlights were the playing of "El Condor Pasa" and an incredible vocal performance of the Cuban song "Paloma." The dinner was a buffet of traditional dishes, including ceviche (seafood marinated in lime juice and cilantro), trout, alpaca meat, and various corn and potato dishes. The Incans developed 1,000 kinds of potatoes in Peru, and now there are over 3,000 kinds. There are nearly as many kinds of corn. I tried to think of how many kinds of potatoes I could name and came up with three: big ones, little ones, and red ones. I am in awe of the Incas.

Got oxygen?

2009-05-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Mom, Gordon, and I flew from Lima to Cusco on May 3 to begin our journey to the Incan ruins. Cusco sits high in the Andes at 11,000 feet; our "Mile High" city of Denver is only 5,280 feet, as a point of comparison. The photo above shows our approach to Cusco and the incredible view of the mountain range. The recommended drink to avoid altitude sickness is "mate de coca," which is a hot tea made with coca leaves. Coca is the plant used - in large quantities - to make cocaine. However, Peruvians are very quick to point out that coca is not bad; it is people who abuse it and make drugs like cocaine. Coca has been used there for ages for medicinal purposes. We all did very well with the altitude, although the shortness of breath was quite noticeable when climbing or walking fast. Not to worry, though, because if you find yourself feeling short of oxygen, there's "OxiShot" (see left photo). This oxygen station greeted us in Cusco's airport, and we thought it was a riot. I did speak to one man on our tour who arrived at his hotel and needed oxygen; they keep it on hand.

Lima, Peru

2009-05-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

"A Little Chile" is going to turn now to "A Little Peru," as my Mom and Gordon came to visit for a week, and we began our travels in Lima. Lima is yet another wonderful South American city, founded by Francisco Pizarro in 1535. The city tour took us to Plaza San Martin, named in honor of General José de San Martín, who proclaimed Peruvian independence from Spain in that spot on July 28, 1821. However, the most impressive plaza I've seen so far was Lima's Plaza de Armas, where we saw the daily changing of the guard in the front of Catedral de Lima (see left photo). During early Spanish colonial times, Lima was the continent’s richest, most important town. I think the grandeur of the city's main plaza seems to indicate this. The yellow church you see above is part of the Monasterio de San Francisco, where we were able to visit the library, which contains antique texts dating back to the conquistadores, and also the catacombs/crypts, which I found to be a little creepy! There were thousands of people buried under this area, and archaeologists have recovered their skulls and bones, which are on display. Many were Incans whom the Spanish converted to Catholicism. When school children come to visit, they apparently have to make sure none of the little ones try to exit with a bone. No need to worry about my doing that! :)

Despedida de Pochy

2009-04-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

Pochy, my good friend, colleague, and neighbor, is leaving tomorrow for a month-long trip to the States. I bought her an "helado de despedida" (goodbye ice cream) at DiMango's to thank her for all her kindness. I also presented her with our Salem State Education Department t-shirt, which she loved. I know she'll wear it when she takes her daily walk along the Pacific in the morning. I'm happy that a little part of SSC will be with her in Arica!

Libros para Ninos de Eve Bunting

2009-04-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

I was so happy with today's class for my undergrads. Our next topic for writing and discussion is social issues in the U.S. and Chile. I had shipped some of Eve Bunting's books for children and used them to introduce the topics to my students. I used A DAY'S WORK (immigration/unemployment); FLY AWAY HOME (homelessness); and SMOKY NIGHT (riots/violence). The students loved the books, especially the illustrations. In the photos you can see that they were so involved in reading the books aloud that they didn't even notice I was taking pictures!

Dia de la Tierra

2009-04-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

Chile does quite a bit for Earth Day, and I attended a great photo exhibit on April 22 as part of the festivities. Cristian Jammett's collection is called "Detalles de la Naturaleza" (Details of Nature), and it is all very close-up shots of some really phenomenal natural happenings: bees pollinating, flowers opening, an infant crab stretching, etc. All the photos were taken in the region of Arica. The photos were on display, and there was also a PowerPoint presentation with "What a Wonderful World" playing in the background. It was really moving - a great way to make people stop and appreciate what's around them.

Apples to Apples

2009-04-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

This was such a fun evening! Gladys invited me to her undergrad class (sophomore level) to teach them how to play Apples to Apples, which is great for learning vocabulary. I had the game shipped from the U.S. The students LOVED it, and some of the vocabulary learned was a riot. I learned that Mr. Potato Head in Spanish is "Senor Cara de Papa," which translates as "Mr. Potato Face." I find that hilarious, for some reason. I also learned that there are no chipmunks in Chile, and that the word they use here for "flip-flops" is "condoritas," since the flip-flop kind of resembles the condor, their national bird. (Then I had a musical flashback to Simon & Garfunkel's "El Condor Pasa!") Fascinating stuff! Oh, and the students learned some good English vocab, too, like squishy, chubby, and slimy. The word "inchworm" was new for them, and I found myself having to convert the inchworm to the metric system!

Profesores de Ingles

2009-04-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken during a class session I led for in-service teachers at UTA. They are working toward "licenciatura" as EFL teachers but are already in positions in the schools. They are practicing what's called an "Information Gap" activity, which I showed them how to set up for their students. The idea is that one student has information that another is missing, so they are forced to speak to each other (in the target language) to complete the task. This brought back memories for me because I remember distinctly learning this technique when I was preparing to be a French teacher. I used it quite a bit with my high school foreign language students.

Mis Pregrados

2009-04-18T18:04:00.001-07:00

My undergrads! Here they are! Claudia, Jocelyn, Aldo, Jocelyn 2, Leticia, Cristian, May-Ling, Franco, Fernanda, Valeria, and Pilar. Don't they look happy? (That's because class was over!) :) I am having a ball with them. They're the level of our juniors and seniors, and I have them for a course called "Discurso Escrito" (Written Discourse). Their first writing topic is education reform (since they're pre-service teachers of English), and we watched a YouTube clip Mary-Lou, my associate dean, sent me of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discussing community schools and accountability. This led us to lots of discussion about educational issues in the U.S. and in Chile. We discussed merit pay for teachers, which many of them chose as the topic for their first essay, a perusasive letter to either Arne Duncan or Monica Jimenez, Chile's Ministra de Educacion. She was in the news recently because an 8th-grader threw a glass of water on her when she wouldn't answer a question - things are a little stirred up here! Anyway, my students have very strong opinions, which I love. They are also teaching me things like Spanish "text speak" - for example, they write "tb" for "tambien"(also), the way we write "ur" for "your," and so forth. How fun is that?!

El American Corner de Arica

2009-04-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was part of a panel on Fulbright grants at the Universidad. I'm pictured above with my friend Pochy and Gonzolo Alvaros, who runs the "American Corner" in Arica. The U.S. Embassy in Chile has this great program where they set up "American Corners" in libraries in different parts of Chile. The one in Arica is at the university library. It's a special room with shelves of great resources and books in English, and tables where they hold English conversation hours and different kinds of events. We had a huge turnout for this event, and I connected with a student who is interested in applying for a Fulbright to do his master's in teaching ESL in the U.S., so I'm helping him look at our program at Salem State!

Liceo Agricola Juan Nunez

2009-04-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

This week I visited a public school in "la valle" (the valley), where there is an influx of Bolivian and Peruvian immigrant children whose parents work on the land in that area. The immigration has increased class sizes tremendously, and Cristina, the kindergarten teacher, has 36 children in her class, compared to 20 last year. It was a little chaotic, but I loved chatting with the kids, who were just adorable. Cristina had read them a story about a girl who ate alphabet soup and noticed that the vowels were each shaped like something: E like a comb, I like a pencil, etc. (Of course, when it came to "U," I didn't understand the word for "horseshoe" - thank God for the 5-year-old who could fill me in!). The kids then matched the letters with their shape and colored in the objects. In the top photo, which I love, are Damary, Marisol, and Jacqueline. Jacqui told me she was born in Bolivia, Marisol in Chile, and Damary in "Los Estados Unidos"(USA), like me. I could not discern whether this was true, or Damary was pulling my leg. :) I also visited an 8th grade EFL class, where Francisco and Cristian (above) seemed obsessed with the story of the man who threw a shoe at President Bush and wanted to know if we have a lot of terrorists in the U.S. That was a little disconcerting, but they were a charming duo nonetheless. We finally moved on from terrorists to soccer teams - much better.

El Dia de Pascua con los Metodistas

2009-04-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

I spent a very interesting Easter Sunday at a tiny "Metodista" church in Arica with my colleague Mabel Varas. It seems that the United Methodist Church did missionary work and established schools throughout South America, and Mabel's father was a student at one of them as a child. On the one hand, so much was familiar to me - the look of the church, as you can see, and a book of hymns with an introductory message from none other than "Juan Wesley!" Some of the hymns were in Spanish, but I recognized the tunes as Protestant hymns. For example, we sang, "Nos hemos reunidos" to the tune of "We Gather Together." On the other hand, this was not exactly my grandparents' Methodist church! Some of the songs had a little Latino flair, complete with a woman in the congregation who played the tambourine and the minister who played the guitar. I had to go up in front of the congregation with the microphone and introduce myself, and then everyone sang "Bienvenidos a la casa del Senor" (Welcome to the Lord's House) to me. Very nice, although speaking into a microphone in my second language is not at the top of my list of favorite things to do! In the photo to the left, you can see the minister's wife and children handing out little bundles of chocolate eggs marked "EL SENOR HA RESUSCITADO" (The Lord is Risen). I find it interesting that the word used in Spanish is the cognate for "resuscitated," which seems a bit more graphic to me than "risen!"

Colegio Chile Norte

2009-04-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

I had a great visit last week to Colegio Chile Norte, a government subsidized K-8 school in Arica that serves a lot of at-risk kids from some really difficult family circumstances. Danitza Heredia, the 8th grade EFL teacher, invited me to visit her classes to answer students' questions about life in the U.S. I was overwhelmed by the warmth of the students. The girls in the top photo above flocked to touch me when the photo was taken (Danitza said a lot of them really crave touch and affection). Students call their teachers (and any other adult who comes in) "Tia" (aunt/auntie). This is what kids call their teachers when they're little, and it carries over into the higher grades. I think it's an interesting cultural/familial aspect of school life. So I was "Tia Michelle" to loads of 13-year-olds by the time class was over! The kids' questions were a riot. They wanted to know my favorites Simpsons characters and what my first word was when I was a baby! The photo above made me really happy; I was pleased to see these adolescent boys diving into the reading materials in the school's library.

The International School of Arica

2009-04-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

I made my first school visit today to TISA - The International School of Arica, a Spanish-English bilingual school serving infants and toddlers and grades PK-2 (and expanding each year). In the 3- and 4-year old classroom, Florencia is carefully pasting squares of paper onto a plastic cup to make an Easter basket that will later hold an egg. (They don't dye eggs here, though, and although I brought egg dye from the U.S., I've run into an interesting dilemma in that you can't buy white eggs! Not sure those dyes come out too well on brown...) You'll notice the smocks the kids are wearing, which are part of the school uniform. This school is private and paid for by parents, but school uniforms are the norm in all schools in Chile - private, semi-private, and public.

El Vino

2009-04-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

Our first tasting of wine at Casas del Bosque was outside. Judi, our guide, is swirling a Sauvignon Blanc in the photo below. (Richard Elia, if you're out there, I was the only one in the group holding my glass the way Judi was!) We then went on to visit the production area, with its tanks and barrels. Judi compared the barrels of wine to babies, which need just the right temperature and room to breathe. She made us feel the wood of the barrels to see how porous it was. What struck me was the really strong aroma of fermentation at the production site. Our final tasting was in the living room and dining area (above), which looked like something right out of an interior design magazine. There we tasted a Camanere (a red wine) and then had lunch at the restaurant, Tanino.

Vina Casas del Bosque

2009-04-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was my first trip ever to a vineyard, Casas del Bosque in the Casablanca Valley outside of Santiago, and I don't know how any other is ever going to compare! I was unable to stop staring at the landscape and felt as if I had stepped right into the pages of an adult fairy tale. We all climbed aboard a tractor-like vehicle with nice benches for a ride through the rows of grapes - sort of an upscale hayride. We were allowed to pull the grapes right off and taste them (for some reason, I had thought that would be forbidden). Juan Solari founded Casas del Bosque in 1993; he was one of the first people to believe that the soil in that region would produce good wine. Casas del Bosque means "Houses of the Woods," and refers to the small abandoned houses in the woods that were formerly on this land, once viewed as poor and of little use. Hard to imagine!

Santiago de Chile

2009-04-08T15:25:00.001-07:00

Santiago, Chile's capital, is one of the most beautiful and pleasant cities I've ever visited. The photo shows the cathedral in the Plaza de Armas, the city's main square. Interestingly, the church has been rebuilt five times because of earthquakes! I stayed in a neighborhood called Providencia, which had gorgeous tree-lined streets, hotels, shopping, and some private residences. At times Santiago felt very European to me, yet it had a warmth that was very Latino. The people were just incredibly helpful and friendly. To the left are actors portraying Ines de Suarez and Pedro de Valdivia; they were in a rather cheesy, overly dramatic theatrical presentation of Chile's history that was part of my tour. Valdivia was the Spanish conqueror who founded Santiago in 1541. Suarez, also from Spain, was Valdivia's mistress and also participated in the conquest. The best - albeit unplanned - part of the drama was the stray dog who entered the scene and went nuts every time Valdivia pulled out his fake sword. At one point the dog chased Valdivia off the "set." A little rewriting of history: Pedro de Valdivia fails to conquer Santiago when chased by stray pet!

Fulbright Chile

2009-04-08T15:09:00.000-07:00

I flew to Santiago for a few days for a meeting of Fulbright delegates in Chile (Chileans who at one time were on exchange in the U.S.) and those of us from the U.S. who are currently in Chile. I am pictured with the Chilean delegates in the photo above at a cocktail reception that kicked off our activities. Unfortunately, shortly after this reception I was struck with some sort of virus or infection that left me feverish and half-functioning for the rest of the trip.I did manage to chat with two directors from the U.S. Embassy in Santiago; they were so nice and their work is so interesting that I almost asked if they had any openings! It was nice to hear about the experiences of other Fulbrighters and offer some suggestions for future exchanges. I was also lucky that the half of me that was functioning was able to make the trip they offered us to a vineyard! (separate post) Never too sick for some good wine! :)

"Imilla" = "Nina" = "Child"

2009-04-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

These posters were hanging in the entrance of an elementary school in an indigenous Aymaran village in the altiplano, composed of only six families. Aymara is an indigenous language spoken by groups of people in Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile. One is a poster showing body parts, colors, and weather words in Aymara and in Spanish; and the other is a poster showing all the local animals and their names. I was moved by the notion that in this tiny, remote place, they "get it." They are intent on valuing and teaching their native language and culture, and also teaching the official language of Chile. When you've spent years working in bilingual education, it doesn't get better than this!

Senor y Senora Alpaca

2009-04-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

The lovely couple in the photo (the couple to the left, that is, not at the top) is a pair of alpacas, who are smaller than llamas but larger than vicunas. Alpaca fiber is widely used in the making of sweaters, gloves, scarves, etc. You'll notice Loli's pink hair accessories, designating her as the female. I hope she wasn't upset about my posing with her partner. He spit on me just before the photo was taken but then posed very nicely. :)

Is your mama a llama?

2009-04-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Why, yes, his mama IS a llama! This friendly guy made me jump out of my seat as our tour van pulled up to a park office, and his face suddenly appeared up against my window! Not the least bit shy, this llama - probably because he knows the tourists will feed him cookies. A few of the animals rotate through the national park office periodically so people can meet them. They are still not fenced in, and llamas, like vicunas, roam free in the park. The llamas do have caretakers with the right to sell their wool, though. He was just such a cutie! :)

Las Vicunas

2009-04-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

The first animals we saw from the van at Parque Nacional Lauca were vicunas (vee-COON-yas). (I cannot get accent marks here; there should be a tilde/squiggly over that "n.") Vicunas are like little camels, and they roam free in the Parque. In the photo to the left, you'll see a vicuna family: mama, papa, sister, brother. The baby is on the left. She went to nurse from the mother right after this picture was taken. Do not be deceived by the nuclear family photo, though - papa vicunas are allowed more than one female partner in a family, but not vice versa. Where's the justice in that?! :)

Parque Nacional Lauca

2009-03-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

I hardly know where to begin; this was such an amazing day trip. Parque Nacional Lauca is about two hours from Arica and sits 15,000 feet above sea level (three times higher than Denver), right near the border with Bolivia. To combat altitude sickness en route, we had lots of "mate de coca," a hot tea made with coca leaves. The drive there was simply spectacular, as you can see in the photos. We went up and around, and up and around, for what seemed like forever, on some pretty sketchy dirt roads, with no guardrails! I went from a "somewhat pleasant lightheadedness" to having a mild headache, to feeling like I had to move in slow motion when we reached Lago Chungara, our final destination. I did very well, though, and any discomfort was SO worth it. The park is known for its snow-topped volcanoes, highland villages, and wildlife; and I think I will need to give those last two their own posts!

Campo de la Alianza, Peru

2009-03-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

Just outside of Tacna, we visited the monument of the Campo de la Alianza, site of the battle between allied Peruvian and Bolivian forces and Chile on May 26, 1880, during the War of the Pacific. This war ultimately led to Arica, the town in which I'm living, becoming part of Chile. It is a stunning monument, as you can see in the photos, and there's a nearby cemetery in the middle of the vast desert. What I found really interesting is that many people from Arica have never been there, because, as Gladys told me, for a long time Chileans were not welcomed at the site. It made me wonder about our U.S. Civil War battlefields and how long it was before anyone from either side felt free to visit them. It seems like 1880 was a long time ago, but Gladys said that some of the resentment has only recently subsided.

Tacna, Peru

2009-03-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I took my first day trip to Tacna, Peru, a city of about 400,000 people that is only a 45 minute bus ride from Arica; border patrol is only 9 miles away. People from Arica go frequently to Tacna for cheap shopping. The deals are indeed incredibly good. Unfortunately, they are also a little suspect. For example, places that sell books actually sell photocopied books. They look like they have a regular cover, but sure enough, the inside pages are copied. You can buy movies in Tacna that have not come out yet on DVD in the United States because someone in Peru actually taped the movie while seeing it in a movie theatre and put it on DVD! (Sometimes you can see someone getting up to go to the bathroom.) The illegality of this frustrates Chileans because the cheap prices of things made illegally in Peru has closed down some legally run stores in Arica. There's just a different sense of how much to enforce laws in each country. Nonetheless, Aricans do shop in Tacna, as did I. I only bought one book, though - and felt a little guilty about it! Fortunately, we also stopped at a cathedral, where I could do penance. :) The church you see in the photo was designed by none other than Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame!

Cena Internacional

2009-03-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got a great last-minute invitation to attend a dinner given by Pochy's friend in honor of a visiting professor from the University of Northern Iowa, Kathryn East. Other guests were local Chilean teachers who have gone on exchange in Iowa, living there for a period of time with host families. We arrived at about 9:30 pm to find a man cooking Chinese food outside (see photo). What a great idea! This is very common here - the chef comes, sets up the wok and fire, cooks, puts all the food on the table, and then heads on to his next appointment! It was some of the best Chinese food I've ever had. I love the group photo because what you see is so typical of homes in this area - a large, lovely outdoor area with a table for dining outside. (Pochy and her husband Jaime are on the far right.) Dinner started at 9:30 pm and with lively conversation, pisco cours, food, wine, coffee, etc., it went until 1:30 am. I was so glad I picked up Pochy's phone call to invite me!

Puesta del Sol

2009-03-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

I have just poured myself a glass of wine and am taking in this view from my patio - sunset over the Pacific. I am unwinding after a day of various stresses over Peru, of all things! I am trying to accompany the Chilean retired folks staying at my hotel on a bus trip over the border tomorrow. The border with Peru is 9 miles away, and our shopping destination of Tacna is about 50 miles beyond that. For some reason the people who run my hotel, who are always very nice and concerned about me, think that I may run into trouble at the border because I have a Chilean visa, but not a Peruvian visa. I cannot imagine that I'm "trapped" in Chile for three months when I have a passport, but at any rate there's some concern that Peru won't let me in - or out! Plan A is for me to show my Chilean I.D. card with all the other Chileans, not open my mouth, and slide through as Chilean. Plan B is that the hotel will send a taxi for me at the border if there's a problem. Can you imagine?! The old folks are NOT going to be happy if the gringa is holding up their trip! :) I also had to exchange pesos for soles (Peruvian money) today and was dismayed to think that I have finally mastered pesos and am now holding totally unfamiliar bills and coins once again. I'm starting to think there's something great about that Euro idea, when you don't have to do all this exchanging! Who can be too stressed looking at that sunset, though...

Pochy

2009-03-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

In this photo you see my new friend "Pochy" Morales (her real first name is Hildegard) on the right. Pochy is a former Chilean Fulbrighter to the U.S, in Iowa, and she lives within walking distance of where I live. She is very friendly and outgoing, and it's been great to have her living so close. Her husband Jaime also happens to be in my department at the U. Today Pochy took me to the market so I could stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. I bought some of those lemons you see since I will need them when I make a trip to the "altiplano" at some point. People here swear that sucking on a lemon on the way up and on the way down from the high altitude helps to control sickness. Who knew?! I will at least try it! Pochy and I had a very interesting discussion on the way home about her experiences with discrimination when she lived in Iowa. When she spoke Spanish with some of the Spanish-speaking immigrants there, some people told her she should stop - that she should go back to her own country if she wanted to speak Spanish. She speaks English just fine, but she was just doing what we all do when we find people who speak our native language - which is to speak it! The British assistant in our department and I speak English together, even though we both speak Spanish, simply because there's an ease and comfort to it. I don't think anyone here would ever tell us to stop; I don't think they give it a second thought. Pochy also said that she felt some discrimination because of her skin color; people often thought she was Mexican. She confessed to having held some negative stereotypes about Mexicans in her own mind, until she was thought to be one of them and realized that it was hurtful. I thought she was really courageous to admit that.

El Cantante

2009-03-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

This evening found me listening to Alejandro, the Chilean lounge singer, at the senior citizens' dinner at my hotel - an experience one thinks is unlikely to occur again in one's lifetime. How did this happen? I met a woman my age named Claudia at breakfast; she is here with her parents, who are part of the Golden Years retirement vacation program. I don't normally eat dinner with the seniors, but Claudia invited me, so I accepted. I did not know it was entertainment night! Alejandro appeared during dessert and urged us all to join him in singing what I can only assume are the golden oldies of Latin America. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, Alejandro stopped and shouted, "Ola!" (Wave!), and all the old folks had their hands in the air around the table! The evening ended with everyone on the dance floor, and I got to see some very impressive tango moves (the couple you see in one of the photos). Honestly, it was so sweet to see all these couples and groups of friends having such a wonderful time. Oh - and I bought one of Alejandro's CDs as a keepsake. Something tells me they are not in stores. :)

Un Buen Dia

2009-03-23T04:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was such a good, relaxing Sunday. I spent the morning at the pool, reading and resting. Then at 2 pm I headed to Gladys's house for lunch with her family. Her daughter Mariluz is visiting from Santiago for a few days. In the photo are Oscar, her youngest son, Mariluz, and Gladys. Her two daughters' names are Mariluz and Marisol, which in English would translate to "Mary Light" and "Mary Sun." I've always liked those names in Spanish. We were at the table three hours, eating, talking, drinking wine, talking, drinking coffee, talking. At 7 pm I had another invitation to the home of a woman by the nickname "Pochy," who lives just three blocks from me and had a Fulbright years ago in the United States. She had a colleague visiting from the University of Northern Iowa. We sat outside and talked for another three hours! Pochy introduced me to the Mango Sour and the Piscola. Pisco is an alcohol produced from grapes in Chile and Peru. Piscola is made with Pisco and Coke. Anyway, the day was full of good friends, good food, and good conversation. And - it was all in Spanish, and I noticed how much easier it was for me than it was three weeks ago! :)

Los Aleros del 21

2009-03-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

Wow - it's been a busy week! The photo shows a group of UTA colleagues at Los Aleros del 21 (The Awnings of 21st Street), said to be Arica's nicest restaurant. We were out on Friday to celebrate the end of a week of assessment workshops that are part of a grant-funded project at the U. In the photo, left to right: Justo, Ani, Aurora, Gladys (Foreign Language Dept. Chair), Mario (Education Dept. Chair), Mayra, and Emilio. The meal was wonderful, but thank God for my colleagues because I am finding that ordering from a menu is one of my biggest challenges! There are so many food-specific words, and here, the words I learned for basic foods are sometimes different. For example, "aguacate," the word I learned for avocado, is used in Mexico, but here it's "palta." They often say "ave" here for chicken instead of "pollo." As a result, it's not uncommon for me to order and not really know what's coming! At dinner, I had "palta primavera," avocado filled with a type of vegetable salad; "plateada," a good cut of steak with a sauce, and "pure de papas" (mashed potatoes). Thank God for mashed potatoes, which I always know how to say in Spanish! :)

Mechones (First-Year Students)

2009-03-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

I love this photo! As part of a hazing-type ritual for freshmen at the Universidad de Tarapaca, the upperclassmen have them strip down to their underwear, put on garbage bags - or, in this case, bags from the "agro" (market) - and beg for money downtown. They can then exchange their money for their clothes! I saw these students as I was running errands, asked if they would let me take a picture, and then dropped some money in each bag. They were so nice and so grateful; an absolute delight. As for the tradition - proof that undergrads worldwide will do anything! :)

Cafe

2009-03-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

I am fascinated by the difference in coffee rituals here. As I mentioned before, coffees "to go" are very rare. You sit down and drink your coffee leisurely over conversation; no one is running around with cardboard cups! In the photo are my morning coffee prep items: the water heater, the instant coffee (yes, instant - what everyone uses here!), and my very favorite thing - the Pez-dispenser-like thing that drops a little pellet of "azucar" or "sacarina" in your cup with just a squeeze! I remember these dispensers from Europe, and I loved them then. No messy packets to deal with; no stray bits of paper. I don't recall ever seeing these in the U.S., and I don't know why. If anyone knows where to get them, let me know! What's funny about the instant coffee here is that it's better than instant coffee at home. You can even see that it doesn't look the same in terms of texture. Yet it's all made by Nescafe. It's interesting how the same company obviously produces different items according to the needs and preferences of the culture.

DiMango's

2009-03-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

This was the great discovery of my weekend - DiMango's on the beach. It's a restuarant, outdoor cafe, bar, and "heladeria" (ice cream place) all in one spot. It's about a ten minute walk from where I'm staying. I had a little communication breakdown with ice cream ordering, however. For some reason, when you order a cup of "un sabor" (one flavor) here, you always get two flavors. (This happened to me at another place as well.) What I wanted - and thought I was asking for - was one flavor with chocolate syrup, but the man kept trying to give me a second scoop of chocolate ice cream to go with my dulce de leche scoop. I finally discovered that I needed to be asking for "un bano de chocolate" (literally, a chocolate bath - sounds nice!). Alas, it turns out that the chocolate bath is the kind that hardens into a shell on the ice cream. Not bad, though. As I left I was thinking how even simple things are just a little harder in another language, and sometimes you just have to throw your hands up an take what you get. At least I walked away with ice cream and not something else! :)

Almuerzo de Bienvenidos

2009-03-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

I am stuffed. My department took me out for an "almuerzo de bienvenidos" (welcome lunch) at a restaurant called Lo Nuestro. There was a huge buffet; we ate at 2 pm, and I'm still not hungry at 9 pm! Their specialty is carne asada, which is meat done on an open grill. In addition to the choice of grilled beef, chicken, or turkey, there were a number of side salads and dishes. One dish that I would describe as cold potatoes au gratin was "causa limena," a Peruvian dish. Everything was great, even the chicken kidney I ate without realizing what it was! The photo above shows a part of the group (we were 14 in all). The man to my right is Justo, my co-instructor. Also note the wine glasses. The Chilean wine is fantastic. I'm no wine expert, but it definitely has a really excellent taste. I'm more inclined to go for a second or third glass here than I normally would be!

La Luna

2009-03-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

If I get up early enough, I can see the moon like this over the Pacific - not that I'm usually up quite that early! This one I did see, though, and it was incredible. My running in the morning is interesting because of the variety of things I might encounter. Today I saw small groups of men in the Chilean army doing their morning run. The other day I saw a Bolivian man in traditional clothing and hat riding peacefully at the water's edge on his horse or mule (I'm sorry to say that I'm not quite sure of my distinctions there!). Sometimes there are women just like me, out for a run in their spandex and headphones. And ALWAYS there are the dogs - Dogs are generally not on leashes here, and they roam about in groups. Fortunately, the dogs are much more interested in chasing each other than in chasing me!

Arica

2009-03-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

Today I ventured into town for the day and snapped a few photos while I wandered. A little Arica history, with help from the folks at Lonely Planet: When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, Arica - then part of Peru -became a very important port for the silver mining trade. The top photo shows El Morro, which is an enormous rock that Chileans took from Peruvian forces during the War of the Pacific in 1880. Arica then became part of Chile, although the agreement was not official until 1929. The second photo shows Arica's largest "paseo peotonal" (pedestrian walk). It is called "El 21 de mayo" in honor of the date of the 1879 naval battle in the nearby city of Iquique. May 21 is a holiday for the people of Chile, and I will be here to see this year's festivities!

El Campus

2009-03-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Today I met with Justo (HOOS-toe) Gallardo, my co-instructor for the course I'll be teaching: Oral and Written English Discourse for future teachers of English as a Foreign Language. I'll be doing the writing part. Justo is a sweet, 50-something man, and I think ours will be a good collaboration. We met over a coffee at the U's cafeteria. The photo above shows more of the campus. I'm still adjusting to the schedule here. At the U, people are there from about 9 am until 1 pm, and then everyone leaves from 1-4 to go home for lunch, siesta, etc. Then people are back at 4 and leave for home at 7. Dinner is no earlier than 9 pm. This all takes some getting used to. I'm going to start leaving for the 1-4 time, which I had not been doing. (That's usually when I'm really on a roll at work at SSC!) But if I work the whole way through and then have to stay until 7, the day is too long. The faculty meeting yesterday was from 4-6 pm, and my head was spinning from so much education talk in Spanish. It is hard to explain the mental fatigue of having to focus so much energy on understanding what people are saying; we take that for granted in our native language. I can feel myself adjusting to the accent, though, and day by day my comprehension is improving.

Induccion

2009-03-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

So many things are different, yet some things are very much the same. Today was "induccion" (orientation) for new students. The photo was taken as I sat at my desk and watched two first-year students poring over materials in the courtyard just outside my office. When I walked in the building, there were computers set up with students waiting in line to register (SSCers out there will appreciate this!). All the profs from my department had 45 minutes in a room to greet about 40 incoming students to the English as a Foreign Language program. We introduced ourselves, and then students got a chance to introduce themselves - name and high school/hometown. What struck me was how similar all of this was to what we do at Salem State, right down to the look on the faces of the first-years as they listened to program requirements and what lies ahead! BUT, one thing thing about the system here is very different. Students sign up for courses they need without knowing the days/times they meet (in fact, professors still don't know when their courses meet, and they start next week!). I asked, "Then how do students plan their schedules?" The response: "They're full-time students, so they're expected to keep from 9 am - 7 pm free for classes and plan anything else around that." Hmmm. I was trying to envision how that would go over at home...

Hiper Lider

2009-03-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

Gladys warned me not to go to Hiper Lider (see photo) on the weekend, but I didn't listen! Not to mention it's Back-to-School week, and every family in Arica was there buying school supplies and school uniform clothing (it appears to me that most schools have a uniform dress code). The first astounding thing was how many small children were there; the whole family comes - Mama, Papi, infants, toddlers, teens - no one's left at home! This made for a rather crowded store, to say the least. One thing I love, though, is the level of patience people have. I waited in line for about half an hour to check out, and people were so slow, sending kids back to exchange items, etc. I know that in the U.S. someone would have been complaining pretty quickly, or at least rolling eyes. I looked in back of me in line to see if anyone seemed exasperated (I was getting there!), and people just smiled, not bothered in the least. When it was my turn, the person behind me noticed how quickly I got my items out of my cart and onto the counter. I think it's an automatic "people are waiting" response in me. It's kind of nice to feel that no one's rushing you. I was rather pleased that I got nearly everything on my list, given my lack of precise vocabulary for some items. Do I want my hair to be "liso" or "sedoso"? Is my skin "seca"? Do I have "caspa"? (dandruff - new word!) I thought I would never get out of that aisle! I cannot imagine what people go through if they don't even use the same alphabet or don't have any previous study of the language. I had not gone in with wine on my list, but by the time I left, there were two bottles in my cart. An interesting experience, but next time I'll listen to Gladys! :)

2009-03-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Saturday, and I am finally catching up on some much-needed rest! However, I did run today for the first time since my surgery - a mile along the Pacific - not a bad way to start back up again! I'm hoping to increase a mile each week up to 3 miles. In the photo to the left, taken from my patio, you can see the ocean; the running path/sidewalk is just on the other side of the fence. In the top photo, my apartment is the one on the corner, right behind the palm trees. I confess to having spent the majority of my day reading and napping by the pool! One funny thing I have discovered is that this apart-hotel hosts a nationwide program called "Vacaciones Tercera Edad" (Tercera Edad = Third Age = Golden Years), so I am surrounded by Chilean retirees. They love to talk, so if I'm not chatting with them, I'm getting to eavesdrop on their conversations and learn lots of vocabulary about medical problems. Ha ha. No offense to my very youthful "Third Age" loved ones out there! :)

2009-03-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

My favorite memory from today: Being scrunched into a taxi colectivo with four other Chileans, the Virgin Mary hanging from the rearview mirror, and Kenny Rogers singing "Lady" on the radio. I always wonder, as I sit in these taxis, who the people are who share this brief moment of contact with me, where they're headed, what their lives are like. And I wonder what they wonder about me. That ride was at the end of a six-hour day at the U, where I attended Part 2 of a faculty workshop on assessment of student competencies, led by a woman from the Universidad de Chile in Santiago. My head is spinning with all of the Spanish terms for outcomes, guidelines, performance levels, monitoring progress - you name it, I heard it today. The content was not new for me at all, but the vocabulary certainly was. I have three notebook pages full of new terms and phrases that I took down as I listened. At the end of the workshop, I took the photo above. Karenina, the presenter from Santiago, is the woman in the dress. My UTA colleagues, from left, are: Jaime, Ani, Monica, Eduardo, Daniel, y Reinaldo.

2009-03-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

As I write this, I am waiting for what I call "Chilean Comcast" to fix the cable TV in my new apartment. They're about as fast as U.S. Comcast! Ha! So I will blog while I wait. I had a really wonderful day from start to finish. I met with Cecilia, the Public Relations Director at the U. She had a photographer and a writer there to do a piece on me for the U's website. Cecilia gave me a beautiful welcome gift of a silver laser pointer/pen that bears the emblem of the Universidad. I was really touched. As for the interview, God only knows what I said in Spanish - I'm hoping for the best! :) Then Gladys took me to the "terminal agro," which you can see in the photo. It is a fabulous marketplace where fresh fruits and vegetables are available at low prices every day: aguacates (avocadoes), mangos, anything freshly grown that you could possibly want. We then went off to "Lider" to stock my fridge and my apartment. I thought Lider was a lot like Wal-mart, which is interesting because Gladys told me that Wal-Mart will soon be running about 40% of Lider stores. Even going to the supermarket is interesting. Yoplait sells mango/papaya yogurt in Chile; this is not a flavor I've seen at home. The fresh bread bins offer many options. Today I went for "hallullas" (ah-you-yahs), which are sort of like biscuits, but thinner and more bread-like. Trying to figure out which milk I wanted for in my coffee was a challenge. I guessed that "semi-descremada" might be 2%, and I think I was right. Chileans don't use cream in coffee, just milk - and there is no Medio y Medio. :)

2009-03-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

I am posting late tonight, after a long day; I think the travel is catching up with me! Tomorrow I leave the place I've been staying (see photos, one taken from the patio of my room) and move to Hotel Tiwanaku, an "apart-hotel." Think Residence Inn, or a one bedroom suite with kitchen. Tiwanaku is an indigenous Bolivian name. The apart-hotel is right on the ocean and has a small pool, which will help in the heat. It's in a great location, although nothing in Arica is very far away. At Hotel El Paso Park this week, I learned many important details of daily life:
1) Nothing works in a hotel room if you don't insert your key card in a little sensor slot inside the room - an energy saving device, so nothing is on when people are not here. I discovered this only after calling recepcion to report that nothing in my room seemed to work -A/C, lights, TV, nada. I hope they found my ignorance charming.
2) It's the best month for mangoes in Chile. They even have little ones the size of pears!
3) The TV shows I understand best in Spanish are Los Simpsons; !No te lo pongas! (What Not to Wear); and Superninera (Supernanny). A little scary, but I'll take what I can manage. I am only watching things in Spanish, though. CNN en espanol is getting easier to understand each day.
4) No one on CNN Chile cares about the OctoMom. She has disappeared from my life.
5) No one walks around with coffee or bottled water. What you get at your meals is what you get until you stop in a cafe or go to a machine. A transition for this Starbucks-struck nortemericana! :) That's who I am here - "la norteamericana." It's interesting, isn't it, that I'm not "la americana," since they're Americans here, too!

2009-03-03T12:34:00.001-08:00

Another interesting day! I walked into "el centro" (downtown) because I had to register my temporary resident visa with the city of Arica. The photos you see show the contrasts within the town. Some buildings look very modern and well-kept; others look quite poor - and they're all mixed in together. It's not quite like anything I've seen before. I had been told to go to "Extranjeria y Imigracion" (the place for foreigners and immigrants). After waiting in a long line there, I was told that no, I needed to go to "Investigaciones" (international police headquarters). While trying to find Investigaciones, I mistakenly entered the Appellate Court and the Division of Police Security (apparently different from the police who investigate). Once I found the right place, they told me I needed two photos and copies of my passport and visa; I didn't have those. Fortunately, just around the corner, there was a small tent-like store for foreigners just like me, who were missing these items. I was thrilled! A nice man took photos of me holding a black tray with my name and passport numbers spelled out in white plastic letters - very criminal-like. I returned and registered my visa. I was supposed to continue on to register for my "carnet civil," which will allow me to open a bank account, but I could not deal with it when I saw the line was about 40 people long. Another day! I'm now off to visit Gladys's evening class. I can't wait! No more police for me today! :)

2009-03-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today was my first day to visit the university. The photo you see is the main building and houses the "Faculdad de Educacion y Humanidades." My office will be in this building. I met many of the 12 full-time faculty members, who were so friendly and welcoming. The offices are tiny and the building is run-down, but the warmth of the people and their dedication to their academic programs soon become the most apparent things. I met the "decano" (dean). He said, "Me llamo Carlos. You can call me Charlie," as he laughed. He also offered me an office in his area, since the one I have now actually belongs to a professor who comes and goes. I think I'm going to like Dean Carlos! I got to the U in a "taxi colectivo." These are taxis that run in a loop around town. They'll pick up any waving person who will fit in the car, so you end up with strangers - but to go anywhere only costs 75 cents. Not a bad system! I am slowly getting accustomed to calculating prices in my head. One dollar = 600 Chilean pesos, so I remove two zeros and divide by six. A Coca Light costs 1,000 pesos, for example. Tonight I'll eat dinner in the hotel restaurant around 9:00 pm - still a bit early for here; they serve dinner from 8:00 to 11:30 pm. Very similar to what I remember from Spain.

2009-03-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

Well, if Santiago seemed very familiar and U.S. Americanized, Arica is quite different. I've seen nothing from the U.S. so far (which is fine!), and the population here is much more indigenous. I stand out with my pale New England skin! Arica is pure desert, recorded in books as being the driest place in the world, so I'm told. They can go a couple of years without a drop of rain. It makes Arizona look like a rain forest. I've learned that they do have trouble with terremotos (earthquakes), one of which recently destroyed a large part of their hospital. What you see in this photo is the Pacific Ocean, at a spot that has been photographed for National Geographic because surfers come from around the world (Aloha, Anneliese -can you believe it?!) to face off with "El Gringo," a giant wave that is especially tricky because of underlying rocks. Apparently, the first person to conquer the wave was from the U.S.; hence, the name. We saw lots of surfers there today. The "we" I'm referring to is Gladys Aguilera and I. Gladys is my wonderful new colleague at the "U." She immediately invited me to lunch at her house, where I met her husband Wilfredo, her sister Cristina, and her niece Alejandra. For a first course, Wilfredo made the best ceviche I have ever eaten using fresh local fish, and he paired it with a Chardonnay from Central Chile. Wilfredo loves to talk about Chile (and many other things) and knows SO much; however, his local accent means I understand about 70% of what he says. I'm smiling a lot and have made it my goal to understand him completely before I leave! Later we were joined by Gladys's son Oscar, his fiancee Giovanna, and their 10-month-old daughter Emilia. Lunch went on for two hours at the family table, with people coming and going, which is typical. It very much reminded me of meals when I lived in France - so slow and relaxing. Definitely a good thing.

2009-03-01T15:05:00.000-08:00

I landed in Santiago after an 8-hour flight from Miami, having slept very little. It was too dark in the early morning to see much of the landscape, but I did see some mountaintops when we were still at a high altitude. I was shocked to see so much of the U.S. in the Santiago Airport. Most stunning was the Dunkin' Donuts that greeted me immediately, and would you believe there was another one when I got to my gate?! I wandered over and noticed that one could purchase a "Boston Manjar." Manjar = Creme/Cream. Who knew I'd be learning a new Spanish vocab word at Dunkin Donuts? Anyway, my first real view of Chile was departing from Santiago for Arica, which is what you see in this photo. It was breathtaking.

2009-03-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

On February 28, at long last - and after a very crazy month! - I left Logan Airport for Arica, a town very, very far north in Chile, just nine miles from the border with Peru. I received a Fulbright grant to be a visiting faculty member at the Universidad de Tarapaca in Arica from March through May. Chile has a new program, "Ingles Abre Puertas" (English Opens Doors), which has the goal of ensuring that all students who graduate from Chilean high schools are proficient in English. I will be helping in this effort by working with a high school teachers who are taking university courses in methods of teaching English as a Foreign Language. In this photo, taken at Logan, the shirt is in honor of my good friend Millie, her daughter Bela, and husband Jeff, who were kind enough to entertain me in Miami during my 8-hour layover there, en route to Santiago.