hoy estaba nublado.

i woke up to my alarm at 8:00 this morning realizing i hadn't brushed my teeth the night before. took a pill for the old allergies and puffed twice on my albuterol. hit the snooze.. 

around 10:30, despite my body's urgings to remain under the covers, i untangled my bare legs from the sheets, 1,000 threads and counting. without adjusting my camoflage shorts i managed to step one bare foot onto the cold tile floor. 

today, it was cloudy. cristian says spring is just coming and doesn't know if she wants to be hot or cold. la primavera. spring. no snow here to melt uncovering new life.  the changes here seem more nuanced than back home. 

spring and i understand each other i think. our palettes thirst for the novelty and color of a new season, but can't seem to tear ourselves apart from the long nights of winter which have become so comfortable. we anticipate change, at times we even insist it, but once it arrives, we realize the change is too much. thus we retreat and so we remain, squinting through the fog to another season. 

 

three weeks in action

here's the url, i hope it works!

http://www.new.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=513502386050

of la luna, fiestas patrias, and ignorance.

it's been a little while since i've written, so let's recap.. 

Sunday through Wednesday night of last week was spent in San Pedro (of the Atacama), a small town in the Atacama desert of Northern Chile, inhabited largely by european foreigners. despite this fact, much tradition remains. on wednesday everyone gathered in the town for the parade and festivities held in honor of the national holiday. 

time spent in san pedro was pretty sweet. days spent traveling in a rusty toyota 4x4 in the mountains and nights spent gathered around a "fogata", or bonfire, which is central to every restaurant in san pedro. 

valle de la luna (valley of the moon). i was literally on the moon, i'm pretty sure of it.  pure salt floors, one foot into the just hardened snow-like ground, it was as if i was the first person to set foot on the moon. the only difference: i need a chilean flag. :) also, the stars. oh the stars.. my friend fabiola described it this way--i have shrunk x1,000,000 and am standing underneath a collander tipped upside down. the holes through which water flows, or in this case which let light come through, are the stars. :)

arriving "home" to antofagasta, i had no idea of the events that were to come in the four days that would follow.  to sum it up, two of those days were virtually spent gathered around the dinner table eating empanadas (a moon-shaped bread filled with lots of meat, also raisins and olives) and huesillos (dried peaches accompanied by bits of barley soaked in a bittersweet juice), drinking (wine, piscacola), conversing (most of which i didn't understand). between 2  and 11 pm on one day, i got up from the table twice, both of which to go to the bathroom. thankfully, the weekend was also full of nights spent dancing to burn off the empanadas. 

ignorant. a stereotype of americans. unfortunately, i seem to fit that stereotype. my glancing at npr's news in brief when i get a chance to connect on the worldwide web is not sufficient. on saturday the topic of conversation came up of the U.S. with its need for a vast government intervention to re stabilize the economy, i was shamefully unaware. how can i be expected to know what's going on in other countries when i can't keep track of my own. i hereby commit myself to a higher standard of self education. i will be informed..  

photos :)

hello! 

here are a few photos. just click on the blue question mark. :)

a few things

a few things on my mind...

• one of my new friends, cristian, asked me what i expect from my stay in chile. i told him i wanted to learn about the people of this specific area in the atacama desert: how they live, what they like, what they dislike, ; also, to see the tierra (the land) of chile, the nation of one of the most diverse landscapes in the world... after i had spoken, he proceeded, "chile is a lonely country. perhaps it´s the sea and andes mountains that isolate our country, i don´t know." 

for me, there is so much mystery here, in the people..in the language..the land.. to be situated in a part of the world where it seems the land greatly defines the people. each region so distinct. i am currently situated in the middle of the atacama desert, where the great precipices of sand absorb the heat during the day and cold at night, where rain is virtually non-existent, where the source of copper is the greatest in the world. certainly, this far north second region of Chile out of the fifteen is not a hot tourist spot, apart from San Pedro de Atacama. the copper industry is what sustains the region, what keeps chileans here in the desert. it is evident outsiders aren't streaming in, and to be honest, sometimes i question why i am here and not in perhaps Valparaiso, which i'm told is a unique port city also a lush labyrinth; or Santiago,  a thriving metropolis with its art and incredible view of the andes; or go to the far south of Chile to Punta Arenas that looks across the magellan strait to the Tierra del Fuego. yes, sometimes i wonder why i'm here, in one of the driest deserts in the world... but forget the the stereotypes, forget that its inhabited for its commerce, not so much its natural beauty.. sure i live on a busy highway, but i blasting live minutes away from an ocean where i can feel its breeze during late afternoons outside my home buried in the cliff that overlooks the city. bordered on the east an endless ocean, and the other variegated mounds of sand which stand against the clear blue sky. priceless. 

• NEWS BREAK... 
•  this weekend, a man drove off the cliff on the other side of the street from where i live. i hear he died instantly. every day since, i walk past the broken down fence and despite the 75 degree weather, i can´t help but shiver. life is precious. soon, i expect there will be a memorial for the victim. every so often along the streets in antofagasta, especially on the hilltop where i live, you will see something like a miniature house inside of which contains candles, photos of the deceased person, memorabilia of her/his life. An illuminated statue of Mary stands above the sacred site.   every night family members go to the spot to pray for their husband, wife, daughter, son that has died. 

• today marks the day of two tragic moments in U.S. history as well as in Chilean history. 

September 11, 2001. attacks on the world trade center twin towers in new york city. we lament the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent men and women as well as heroes who gave their lives to save others. 

September 11, 1973, 35 years ago today, fighter jets blasted the presidential palace         where lived Chile's social reformer and 3 year president Salvador Allende. His legacy of hope for all people and promoting the well-being of the most disadvantaged citizens remains today throughout Chile.

• Chile's birthday is coming up.. let's celebrate! the entire country is preparing for the celebration which lasts at least three days, Sept 17th, 18th, and 19th. flags are strung everywhere, especially on nearly every vehicle in chile, from banners on buses to quieter but no less proud versions on cars. not surprisingly everyone travels during the holiday. me, i have the entire week off of school.. i think i may hop a bus north to San Pedro de Atacama. 
  

el maestro, el amigo: el mar

my new favorite place in antofogasta: the ocean. today i ran down the carretera (the highway where i live), past las ruinas de huanchaca, down some steep escaleras, and i reached the rocky shores of the pacific ocean. the distance between us, me and the pacific ocean, is miniscule. but once i am standing in its majestic presence i feel so small. it's not a bad feeling, it just puts me in my place. i am but a spot.

another world the sea, the land. though my senses overflow, i can't help but stand still as i gaze at the ancient waters. a spectacle, a god, a habitat. i wait. jurassic giants advance as the winged creatures fly overhead nearly scraping my forehead. 

the water jumps from forty feet below slapping my face; i regain consciousness. Pelicans depart the surface to retrieve their lunch and a crab crouches on a rock.  Century-old ships span the high seas, waving. i wave back.

el maestro, el amigo: el mar.

im here, im alive.

well, here i am in antofagasta, chile after a long first few days. i arrived in santiago monday with a bit of a surprise waiting for me. upon finally departing the airport, i was stopped by an officer who told me in castellano, basically a more difficult version of spanish, that i had to go through a bag check. to my defense i had been on an airplane since six o´clock the night before, exhausted, thus failing to open my eyes wide enough to see the sign with a giant green apple and a red diagonal line across it. well, it just so happened that i had with me a braeburn apple in my backpack. the once kindly gentleman with the glasses much too large for his small frame became an man-eater as he peered enticingly over the glass. He left and returned 20 minutes later with my death sentence. 150,000 chilean pesos, approximately 300 dollars. one apple now the forbidden fruit. they asked me if id like to witness the execution of the trespassor. yes, of course i did after all the agony it had caused. their explanation of the execution included all of the gory details: first, a blue goo would suffocate the lawbreaker, it would then be chopped into bits and if said offender was still breathing, it would be ground up in a great vat and finally its shameful corpse would be buried with the rest. in my mind, i had already killed the apple, but i watched about to enjoy every moment of justice. the blue liquid wasn´t quite what i´d been anticipating, nor was the final execution; in fact, the moment passed as quickly as the executor held up the knife. oh, and grinding the apple to bits was apparently something they do later, because to be sure it was thrown in the trash with other assorted fruits. thankfully, the man had pity on me because i was an ignorant american, and fined me only 36,000 pesos, 75 dollars instead of 300.
if anyone was wondering, i still eat apples; in fact, they are more valuable to me than ever.