Pre-Departure!!!

I am super excited to go to Chile! I can't wait to eat all of the amazing food and try their fantastic wine!  I'm really excited to see the art in Chile and hear their popular songs hopefully in restaurants or out on the streets.  I also really want to hear the Chilean Spanish and see how different it sounds than normal Spanish even though I don't know a lot of that either.  I'm also super excited to meet my host family and see the beautiful geography of Chile.  It is going to be so amazing to be in the warm weather which I am so looking forward to!  I'm ready to escape the cold and see the beautiful beaches.  Packing was pretty hard because I wanted to bring a lot but I downsized so there isn’t so much.  Plus it's odd packing for such warm weather when it is freezing out right now! I also made sure I brought sunscreen and sunglasses as I've heard the sun is very strong in Chile.  I tried to pack lightly but it was pretty hard for me as I want to bring many different outfits!  I really hope I get to see some traditional Chilean dancers because I love watching people dance! It would be really cool to see people doing the cueca since it is so essential to Chilean culture!  Looking forward to meeting everyone and can’t wait to be in Chile!!!

Chilean Dance

               The cueca is a traditional Chilean dance and Chile's national dance although not as popular as others nowadays.  It is danced with a man and a woman and they hold a handkerchief which they dance with.  The handkerchief is a way that they communicate without touching and leads to the intensity at the end of the song when they finally link arms.  They dance around one another in a circle and use their handkerchiefs as they dance.
               The cueca became the national dance of Chile under Pinochet because he was trying to use it to his advantage.  However, Chilean women turned it into a form of protest for their murdered loved ones.  They hung pictures of their missing or murdered loved ones around their necks or pinned onto their clothes and did the dance in the streets.  Another example of Chileans using art forms for political protest.  There wasn't much Chileans could do to protest Pinochet without getting killed so this was their solution.
                I thought that this was just a typical dance in Chile.  I did not think that it would be turned into a resistance symbol.  I think that it's amazing how the Chileans turned a simple dance into something that holds such meaning for them and their history.   It was also interesting to learn that salsa is more popular nowadays than the cueca.  The cueca is mainly danced in traditional settings like birthdays and weddings.  It was really cool seeing this dance but I hope I can see it in person in Chile!

Chilean Art

          Chilean art seems like it has always had a message behind it.  It has been a way for Chilean artists to express their struggles and lives artistically.  Due to Chile's political history, a lot of art has a political message embedded in it.  Arpilleras are fabrics sewn together that were used during the '70s in Chile to represent what was going on during Pinochet's time of power.  Art is a way for people to express their moods and allows them to say more than sometimes even words can express.  Chileans use art to protest in their country.  One artist, Papa Fritas, stole debt documents of students at a university and set them on fire.  The University del Mar, has been having financial irregularities and students are in so much debt for trying to seek a higher education.  That is just like here in the United States.  People are making money off of students for trying to make a better life for themselves.  It is wrong and unjust.  I commend Fritas for burning those documents in protest.  Things need to change.  Students shouldn't be punished or taken advantage of for trying to go to school.  Countries should encourage and help their citizens be educated people.  This also just creates more of a gap between the rich and poor because only rich people can afford college.  It is very hard for poorer people to go because of financial issues.  Chilean art seems to change and reflect the time that it is made in.  It shows what is happening and important to the people of the time.
            I really hope to see the street art that was shown in the last video.  I think it's beautiful and I love graffiti because it comes from everyday artists.  I also think it just livens up the places it is painted in and gives it such character.  I thought Valparaiso was just breathtaking with all of the graffiti everywhere.

Chilean Music

Violeta Parra:
           Violeta was an artist, singer, poet, and musician.  She sang Chilean folk songs that represented her country and she also sang about her life.  She had a horrible upbringing and her life never really got better.  Her father was a drunk and died which left Violeta on her own.  She seemed to suffer with depression as well which contributed to her decision to commit suicide.  Her art was a way for her to try and cope with the hardships in her life but that wasn't enough.  She was an amazing artist and her songs are so emotional and deep.  Violeta was a rebel and did not like to listen to authority.  She did her own thing and did not live in a conservative setting.  She escaped the realities of her time by being practically a nomad and never staying in one place.  She lived in different countries and left Chile instead of dealing with the hardships in her country.

Victor Jara:
          He was a singer and was very political.  He sang about better times and not having hatred.  He worked at the Technical University in Chile and gave talks about how horrible civil wars were.  He was against violence and included his ideals into his songs.  He had a family and lived in Santiago.  Him and his family were in Santiago on September 11th and Victor was killed by the military men because they recognized his face and hated him because of his political ideals.  He was a symbol for the people and his students and helped them keep their hope while they were imprisoned.

Los Prisioneros:
           They are a rock band and one of the pioneers of Spanish rock.  They changed the music of Chile from folk songs of Victor Jara and Violeta Parra to the rock/punk music and mainstream music.  Their songs were political and talked about social problems in Chile.  During Pinochet's reign, the music was banned because of its political messages and young people used it to protest Pinochet's rule.  The band broke apart many times and added new members.  They played their last concert in 2006 but their music continues to be popular.

Ana Tijoux:
           She is a hip hop singer who is very politically involved.  She was born in France to Chilean parents who fled Chile because of Pinochet at the time.  They were imprisoned and escaped to France.  Her parents taught her about Chile and politics from a young age.  She thinks politics allows people to reflect on the world and she thinks of it as a good thing.  Her music talks about a lot of political subjects including education equality.  She uses her music as a communication method because she believes it's better than writing.

Each of these artists are important to Chilean culture because they respect and love Chile.  They have so much passion for their country and they want it to improve.  That's what their music is about.  Envisioning a better more accepting Chile.  They want the best for their people and to be proud of where they are from.

Questions: Why was Violeta Parra so poor?  I thought she got really famous and her paintings were in the Louvre but she struggled throught the whole film with money?  Did she never make any money?

Chile's Indigenous Cultures

       The Mapuche in Chile are the largest indigenous group who live there.  They have lived in the southern part of Chile and trace their ancestors back there.  The Spaniards and English and French eventually tried to colonize Chile and got into a super long territorial war with the Mapuche.  Mapuche means "people of the Earth" and they worship and honor the Earth for all that it has given them.  They understand that the Earth provides everything for them and they use everything in its natural form.  They have healers who use herbs for their medicine.  They respect other's religions and for their own, they have ceremonies to show their appreciation to God and the Earth.  Even thought they are the largest indigenous group in Chile, they are not respected.  People make fun of them and they are very poor because their land keeps getting taken by lumber corporations.  These corporations have cut down the native trees that the Mapuche used for lumber.  Chile does not recognize that land as belonging to the Mapuche so the Mapuche are continuing to fight to claim it.
       The Dakota Access pipeline is an oil pipeline that goes through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.  It was announced in 2014 and was very controversial because of its environmental impact.  Oil pipelines crack all of the time and spill oil which is horrible for the environment.  Native Americans who live in the Dakotas opposed the pipeline because it went through sacred burial grounds and would pollute the water quality in the area.  The Standing Rock tribe founded a center for opposition to the pipeline and thousands of people joined.  The pipeline was still completed although they bulldozed land that belonged to the Native American tribes and where their sacred burial grounds were located.
      These two issues are quite alike even though one is from Chile and the other is happening here in the United States.  It shows that governments do not respect indigenous people or their land.  Its all about making a profit and money.  It is horrible greed.  The Mapuche and Native Americans were the first people in their countries.  They are the natives.  They respect the land and the Earth yet they are given no rights and are struggling to survive.  The Mapuche are having to leave their land to find jobs to support themselves and their families because they don't have enough farm land to make a living.  The tribes impacted by the Dakota Access pipeline were not taken into consideration.  Their sacred burial grounds meant nothing to the companies trying to build the pipeline.  Oil is more important than the environment or traditions of Native American tribes.  We raped and took their land yet in 2014 we still don't respect them and do the same thing all over again for our own benefit.  It's disgusting.  The same thing is happening to the Mapuche in Chile.  I really hope that they continue to fight for their rights and make headway.  They deserve to be treated with respect and allowed to carry out their lives as they please even if it isn't the conventional way.

Chilean Film

Bear Story Review

       This short film is about a bear family.  The dad bear creates an object that tells a story about his life and what happened to his family.  The dad bear, along with other zoo animals, gets taken away by circus people to live and perform at a circus.  They get taken away from their families and lives without their consent.  The bear eventually runs away from the circus and rejoins his family.  Everything is happy again and the family is reunited.
         I think this film is a visual to describe what happened in Chile before, during, and after the 9/11 coup of Allende by Pinochet.  At the beginning of the story, the bear is happy with his family and everything seems perfect.  Then one night, the coup, everything gets destroyed.  The bear goes to live in a different world where he is forced to do things and this is the dark period.  After he escapes, aka the end of Pinochet's reign, life is good again and he is reunited with his family once again.
         I think the film did a great job of showing the history of Chile visually.  It is a little odd because it reminded me of the three little bears, but the circus metaphor made a lot of sense.  The film is all dark during that part and the bear holds a mementos of his family in his pocket to remind him of the good days and his family.  This keeps him going and trying to fight to escape the circus.  I understood the purpose of this short film pretty quickly right after watching it, and that is the point.  I think people will be able to understand the meaning behind it if they know about the history of Chile.  Overall, the film was a little eccentric in using zoo animals and a circus but it conveyed the meaning effectively and made it more understandable in simpler terms of that dark time period in Chile's history.
Link to the film:https://vk.com/video244132350_171200778

Chilean History and Politics

Questions on the videos:

Daniel Sparler's lecture:

How was the United States able to have so much power over Chile?  Aren't there supposed to be boundaries that we are not able to cross in another country?  We destroyed their economy because we didn't approve of their political leader! How is that OK!?
Where is our limit? What is considered too far reaching in the affairs of other countries?

Al Jareeza- The Colony:

Why is the colony still in use?
Why hasn't Chile or German taken responsibility for what happened?
Why is it being covered up?
How can we prevent anything like this from happening again?

Chilean History and Politics

Al Jazeera Correspondent- The Colony: Chile's dark past uncovered

     This video was about "Colonia Dignidad" a colony founded by German Peter Schaefer in the secluded country side of Chile.  He founded a community who were his German followers to keep their heritage intact in Chile.  Or so he said.  Schaefer was a pedophile.  Colonia Dignidad seemed like a perfect community from the outside, but in reality there was child abuse, torture, murders, and forced labor being practiced.  Schaefer was an expert manipulator and held his people in captivity for over 50 years.  Justice still has not been reached for all of the victims of Schaefer and his nefarious actions.
     I did not know that any of this ever happened! This was super eye opening.  I was appalled.  The abuse that these people went through was unimaginable.  They were probed with electrodes and shocked to be sterilized.  Little boys were sexually abused and raped by Schaefer and he got away with it! It is just insane.  It really shows how evil people are and scares me.  I'm also horrified with how long this went on for and how the camp is today a resort!? WHAT!? I would never go there and have a good time when there are massive burial graves around me and the remnants of poor tortured souls!  This horrible event has still not been brought to justice and is to me still unresolved.

   

Chilean History and Politics

Daniel Sparler's Chilean History Lecture:

    In this video, Sparler talked about how Chile is very different from other Latin America countries.  Chile has the highest life expectancy, second highest literacy rate, and a very low infant mortality rate.  Then the video was very focused around politics.  Chile is divided into three main political sections: the right, left, and center.  Due to this, in elections it is not common for one candidate to obtain the majority.  Thus, congress votes on the top two candidates.  Salvador Allende was a physician and realized how people in his country did not have access to health care.  This motivated his political career.  He ran for president four times and finally won.  He was the first Marxists to rule a country.  The U.S. did not like this and took many secretive measures to get him out of office.  They went for Chile's economic system and funded a newspaper to spread disinformation.  Allende did not believe in using violence to stop the U.S. or others from dwindling his power so the Soviet Union disowned him.  Allende said that the only way for them to succeed was to use "democracy, pluralism, and freedom".  That was not the answer the Soviet Union wanted.  Sparler showed the United State's relations with Chile and how we behaved when a Marxist obtained power.
     I knew the general information about Chile at the beginning of this video like how Chile is an outcast among Latin America countries.  I did not know that the United States played such an active role in Chilean politics.  Maybe I just don't understand, but I think it's really scary how the United States got so involved.  The CIA tried to kidnap Allende and we destroyed their economy.  We spread disinformation in their country.  That is horrifying how much power we have abroad in a completely autonomous country.  Also, I don't know much about Allende but I loved how he turned away from violence.  He said that is not the right way to go about things.  I think that really sheds a good light on him and makes me think he's not so bad as he is portrayed by America.

Chilean Food and Drink

            In the Anthony Bourdain video, Anthony traveled around a lot of different areas in Chile.  He went to coastal cities, Santiago, and a city in the fertile wine region of Chile.  He went to fresh markets, many restaurants, as well as tiny little shops.  He ate snack foods, deserts, drank a lot of wine and beer, and tried many different dishes.

            He explored many different places to try and show the viewers a variety of dishes.  There are different types of food in the different regions that are popular.  He included a lot of variety that is very helpful.  He liked all of the dishes he tried and the food looked amazing.  It was all very fresh and well prepared. 

            There was a lot of meat used in the dishes.  Pork was very popular which I did not know was popular there.  They had a dish where they ate a cow hoof.  I did not know that you could eat that or that it would even taste good.  I loved that they had markets to buy your food from.  Also, the seafood looked amazing.  I was almost drooling in the video.  I love seafood and knowing that it is all fresh in Chile is absolutely amazing!  Also, alcohol seemed very popular to have with every meal.  I think it’s so interesting how much other countries drink.  The pisco sour drink looked really good I definitely want to try that!  I thought the whole ‘coffee with legs phenomena’ was really weird, as Anthony pointed out.  Women are being objectified while a customer enjoys a cup of coffee?  I don’t understand it at all and I think it’s very strange. 

            I’m looking forward to trying all of the fresh seafood in Chile!  Honestly, almost every single dish he ate I wanted!  Besides the hermit crabs and hoof soup.  I will practically eat anything but not if it is still moving or is a very strange part of an animal.  As long as the dish looks good I’m open to practically anything!  Although, I do not like mayonnaise and it was disappointing to see how much of it they use!

            If my host family offers me food that I don’t find appealing, I think I would just apologize and say “no thank you”.  I would just explain that I don’t like it.  Like I said, I’m pretty much open to anything though, so hopefully that won’t be a problem!