A couple views of our classroom at the instituto.
Friday brought some adventures around Santiago. We all got our first taste of TranSantiago, the public transportation system that consists of multiple-line metro system and a gazillion buses. Patrick had given me a Bip! Card, which works just like a Charlie card (for those familiar with the Boston T system). The Bip! Card is so named because of the beep sound it makes when tapped – clever, no? However, it became my best friend for the next couple weeks. I really enjoy public transportation – whether this comes from my visits to Boston, commuting at Penn State using the bus, or utilizing TranSantiago, I don’t know. It’s cheap, gets you where you need to be, and provides a lot of interesting people watching.
Anyways, we took the wonderful metro out to the Providencia and Las Condes communes to visit the American Embassy. We weren’t allowed to take any technological devices inside – the place is a freaking fortress. We met with several embassy members, including the second-in-command (the actual ambassador was somewhere else that day) – not to mention their own contingent of half a dozen or so Marines that guard the overall operations.. The embassy members talked mostly about safety and getting registered with them so that just in case a volcano erupts or there’s an earthquake, they know where the Americans are. Aw, my country cares so much about me!
A view of the embassy from above - from the embassy website.
Friday night was just hanging around and consuming more wine. Wine was only $2 - $6 a bottle – my favorite was 1790 pesos, I believe, which is roughly 3 dollars. If I counted right, in my 16 days in Santiago, I consumed the equivalent of at least seven bottles of red wine. Love it.
Laura, Laetitia, and Karyn with the great spaghetti dinner we made.
Saturday was… more class? No rest for us WorldTeach volunteers! The day went as usual, learning learning learning, until it was broken up by three current WorldTeach volunteers coming in for a panel discussion: Jake, Ryan, and Kelly. They had a lot of wisdom to offer, and generally helped us shed some fears on our upcoming four months of teaching. Afterwards, we all scattered for dinner only to meet up again for drinks at a bar called El Diablito (the little devil). The current volunteers, plus a couple who had just finished their stints, joined the entire group in the downstairs room. Anyone who tried coming down took one look at us – too many gringos! – and high-tailed it back upstairs.
A bunch of the WorldTeach crew at the Diablito.
Sunday was a more sobering event. Our group was introduced to Andres, who had been a political prisoner during the Pinochet reign. A brief breakdown of recent Chilean history included the shooting/suicide of its socialist president, Allende, in 1973, followed by the dictatorial takeover by Augusto Pinochet. There followed several years of human rights violations, including thousands from the political opposition – El Mir – being captured, tortured, or disappeared. Despite the dead – known and unknown – during his dictatorship, the economy was bolstered and is now the strongest in Latin America. It seems that most of the country is still bitter towards Pinochet, depending upon who you ask, but there are some that do recognize the things he did for the economy.
Our first visit was just a block down the street from our hostel, at Londres 38. Earlier one night I had seen a demonstration outside of this building, and now understood why. An untold number of men and women were detained, tortured, and executed here. Many of their names were emblazoned on marble bricks set into the sidewalk, including their political party and age. A lot of them were only 20, 21, 22 years old at their time of death. To think, this place I slept only a block away from had 3 decades earlier been the site of unimaginable horror. Had I been this age and in Chile at that time, I could have been one of the thousands disappeared.
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Andres talking to our group outside of Londres 38.
We then made our way to the cemetery, a sprawling plot of land that houses countless tombs and mausoleums. Some of the mausoleums were absolutely gorgeous works of architecture.
An example of the intricate tombs, and the grave of Violeta Parra, a famous Chilean singer.
However, our main point of interested was the wall dedicated to the victims of Pinochet’s regime, Allende’s grave, and the mausoleum reserved for bodies they are still finding and identifying. It was sobering, to say the least.
A view of the mural with the names of the executed and disappeared.
The next major stop was at Villa Grimaldi, a major place of detention and execution during 1974-1978. Several prominent Chileans had been tortured there, including our guide, Andres and the current president, Michele Bachelet. Andres showed us the various trappings that were still standing so that people could see what the victims suffered. There were cells only a meter by a meter used to house six people at a time, a wooden tower that kept people in cubbyholes on each floor… we were told what was done to the prisoners, and it does not bear repeating. At that point, I fell into a horrible mood because I could not possibly comprehend what would make one human being do that to another. I quietly grieved for all of those raped and beaten at that detention center.
A view of the grounds of Villa Grimaldi. The house where people were tortured has since been torn down.
A few more stops, a quick nap on the bus, and we were given the afternoon off. It didn’t seem like anyone was doing much of anything, and I wanted to take advantage of the fact that all the city museums are free on Sundays. So, I met up with Patrick and we took in a very interesting exhibit at the Museum of Visual Arts (read: modern art). The showcased artist, Valentina Cruz, had a very distinct style reminiscent of M.C. Escher using a lot of charcoal, minimal color, and unique crosshatching and pointillism. The majority of her work was from the 70’s and really reflected the political turmoil, executions, and Big Brother-esque feelings of the latter part of that decade.
Afterwards, we wandered around the Parque Forestral and Plaza Italia before heading into the Providencia and Las Condes communes. We found a nice Italian pizza kitchen to eat at, and pleasantly discovered their two for one deal. Of course, the kind of pizza I picked was better. Then it was off to an upscale mall that had a Showcase Cinemas in it. I was happy because they had the movies in English with Spanish subtitles, so we chose Harry Potter. It was pretty good – I loved the special effects – and it helped me learn some Spanish vocabulary. After that late showing, my weekend officially ended.
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