Solstice and those dreaded standardized tests

So today is December 21st, the longest (or shortest depending on which hemisphere you are in) day of the year. I've always wanted to be in one of those pyramids in Egypt where the light shines perfectly through that one hole and then through the use of ancient mirrors and other wonders lightens up the inside and you can see ghosts. I think that's how it works. But I'm spending this one in Chile, where the December Solistice means its summertime and despite the cold spring, it is defintely feeling hot like summer should.

December 21 this year also means a day of reakoning for those Chileans who took the standardised test to get into the university. The PSU. It's one of those dreaded tests that dictates you future and the future of your children and their offspring. Do poorly and you'll be flipping burgers, do well and you'll be walking streets paved with gold and own a bit of them too. Well maybe its not that harsh but it feels something about so. We of course have our share of college entry exams in the US. I believe I took the SAT but didn't really care since I was going into the army right after high school. When I did finally go back to school I went first to a community college where you just have to have write a check that doesn't bounce (ok maybe you had to send transcripts and show your HS diploma) and then transferred to the university.

In Chile the whole university route is quite strict in the sense that what you choose at 18 will have a long standing mark on your professional life. Plus the degrees run about 6 years here. I'm very grateful that I was able to take the approach my father suggested: just get it done with, worry about what I will do for work later on. As a result I chose a major that I thought I would enjoy: studio art. It was a lot of fun and somehow I've managed to find work and even break into other areas without the degree that might have been required if I were Chilean.

But for your average Santagiuno even thinking that route is hard. Its not just the pressure from the family, from friends, from that always watching mass of society, it comes from within. How will you find work with an art degree from a good university, much less from a tier two school? Better to go with that Ingeniero Comercial route.

So the whole process starts with those dreaded PSU scores that were delivered today at noon. I hope things went well for everyone who took one all though it never works like that. But boy am I glad that Kirkwood Community College didn't ask me to take anything like that to get in. Who knows where I might be had it worked out like that.

All that social media stuff

I had a friend here in Chile who recently left for the states to work at a power company as a "social media expert." I don't know what he does with his days or how a power company can better their business with social media like facebook, twitter or a blog. I suppose its about tracking their image and being aware of what people are saying, and maybe, just maybe having some sort of influence over it all.

I've long been interested in all that good stuff that allows you to post about your life through different media. But I'm hardly in control or manage to post on any sort of social media platform with any sort of frequency. The last post I wrote was months ago and gives you an idea of how long my absences have become.

When this blog started back in 2004 it was easier. I had just arrived in Chile and everything seemed so new and interesting. Just going to teach English classes was food for thought. But as time passes I've become more accustomed to my surroundings and need to reach deeper in order to keep my interest in the blog, let alone that of you...a devoted and returning reader.

But then came along facebook, then twitter, and those other strange sounding inventions that are supposed to make our lives better or at least more public. I guess you could call it a good thing even if privacy is obsolete. I have a twitter account and have tweeted once I think, but still people continue to follow. Not in any great quantity but here and there. Facebook has proved to be extremely useful, especially when it comes to keeping touch with my family and friends, who are scattered around the world in places as disperse as Iowa, Michigan, Germany and even the Philippines.

However the downside of Facebook is that the more I post or upload photos there, the less I seem to do it on the blog. In the end I would rather focus on the blog, it is mine, it has been around now for a while and in some ways it better reflects me. Facebook though guarantees a certain level of distribution of your thoughts.

So here is what I'm thinking: update with Twitter which goes then to the facebook page, write on the blog and link it from facebook, share the best photos on both the blog and on facebook.

So the dilemma continues. Any ideas?

Thus ends another trip

So once again a long planned, long anticipated trip has come to an end. I spent the last three and a half weeks in Europe, visting family of my maternal grandfather and grandmother in two separate, amazing and large family reunions.

Some of these people I met on my first two trips to Germany, one 13 years ago the other 17 years ago. Things have obviously changed. My generation is quickly moving into the middle position, although there is only now one cousin expecting the next generation.

Some of the things that stand out from the trip:

Randomly running into my 86 year old grandfather in one of Germany's oldest breweries in Munich, the Hofbrauhaus. I had no idea he had arrived in Germany yet when on a trip to the bathroom between the liter sized steins, I almost bumped into him. We were both surprised. He had just finished his second liter with a group of random high school students from Illinois

The places themselves where the reunions were held were incredible. Kinsegg, located near Fussen and the Rosshof, south of Frankfurtwere picturesque settings for these gatherings. The sheer quantity of people was also impressive. Some 130-140 at the first and 40 at the second. Its nice to go to a country one hardly knows and have that sort of network already there.

I think about half my time I spent admiring the food. Both the renions had an excellent spread of Kuchens, sausages, salads, breads, sauces…makes me hungry just thinking of it. No better way to share time with those closest than over a plate of top grade grub.

And most of all the atitude of hospitality from our German hosts. I wish I spoke some German and it wasn't easy for all to communicate at all times, but there was a mutual, communal willingness among the group to welcome and share our lives and stories. Couldn't ask for better.

More photos to come!

Andergraun

Chile's punks are hard core. The documentary "Andergraun" (a jarbaled version of "Underground" in Chilean) follows three punk bands in Valdivia. These bands are real Do-It-Yourself, no frills, lets go out and tag the walls and put up flyers for our next show that we drew type bands. While I'm not the biggest punk fan, I enjoyed the movie. It's the dream of starting a band in its purest form, or maybe rawest would be a better way to describe it.

Check out what I wrote about it on Revolver.

San Carlos de Apoquindo

Last Saturday was a rarity. The weather was perfect: clear, warm with a good strong sun. Something that one learns to relish during a dreary Santiago winter. So we loaded up and headed to San Carlos de Apoquindo. The area is owned by the Universidad Catolica and serves as a sports/activities complex. They have everything from a football stadium to a polo field. But for me the best part is the network of trails that you can hike or bike. The main route leads you up to Alto Naranjo, one of the hills that make the route up to Cerro Provincia. But there are a number of other trails at San Carlos that will take you to some great look outs over the city.

Discovering the Plaza Ñuñoa.

I like where I live. Ñuñoa is a community in Santiago located just south of Providencia. It is mostly residential, lots of trees, only recently have taller buildings made there way to the community, unfortunately taking away some of the great views of the San Ramon group of mountains towards the east.

As a muncipality Ñuñoa also has a lot going for it. Its the only community in Santiago that has a recyclng pick up service. It also has a free bus in the mornings (though it doesn't get quite far enough). There are a lot of free music shows in several of the plazas, including the Plaza Ñuñoa, near where I live.

The Plaza Ñuñoa also offers some great night entertainment: breweries, theater, live music, good happy hour specials all make it an attractive destination at night.

Revista Revolver just published a short guide I wrote to the night scene in Ñuñoa. I didn't go too far in depth into the places, and I probably left out a few goodies (La Isla, Butapest, to name a couple), but it gives you an idea of what is possible if you're looking to get to know the Plaza a bit more.

Republika 550 - After four years they've gotten run out

Several weeks ago I wrote an article about Republika 550, an abandoned house that had been taken over by a cooperative of artists and used to over a whole bunch of art and performance related workshops. Check out the orginal article here.

Well today I saw in a couple of papers that the house had been "retaken," ie raided by police and the cooperative that has been using it, Akí, booted out. It's too bad but to me not that surprising. There was a lot of good that was being done there. There were a whole lot of activities going on and all for free. From clowns, painting, theater, urban graffiti to dance and more. For a moment, after all the legal steps were taken to kick the group out, there was some hope that maybe there would be some sort of arrangement. But it seemed at best a long shot. A stuttering bureaucratic state agency in charge of administrating this state owned, but abandoned houses; and a revolutionary/anarchist blend of artist activists who denounced regularly "the system" all coming together didn't seem too realistic.

The house its self needs a lot of work, and although Akí found a lot of creative ways to use the space, as well as cleaned up a decent amount of trash and done some redecorating, a much larger restoration effort is needed for that place. It's a beautiful house, but has been sitting there for too long without much upkeep. I wonder if had they been a bit more active in not just using it but improving it, things might be different.

But in any case I hope some of the creative energy invested into the place over the last four years will convince whoever is in charge of it now that a cultural center open to the public is the way to go forward.

We'll see.

Revolver Night tonight in Centro Arte Alameda

Tonight is the one year anniversary and "official" launch of Revista Revolver, an online mag that covers music & culture here in Santiago (and Chile in general). It starts at 9.30pm at the Centro Arte Alameda. I'll be there at the door and pouring some wine (while it lasts). Then we got a couple live bands and a DJ. Come check it out, the CAA is a pretty cool place, has a bar upstairs and is only a block or so from Metro Baquedano.

4th of July at Santiago Radio

In search of a more festive 4th of July atmosphere than Ñuñoa on a dreary saturday I headed to Santiago Radio's new studio, located in Barrio Suecia on Bucacrest 118. I visited Nick aka Nico Jah, and Jimmy Jam, probably Santiago's only english language reggae DJs, while they played some music over the internet broadcast.

The new studio is a huge step up from their garage styled operation in the back yard of Steve Anderson's Santiago Times in Bellavista. DirecTV is even providing sponsorship (big flat screen) in order to reach more gringos with a "English Spoken here" campaign. The place still is in the works, but should be open around August 1st. Check out their link above.

The new studio will also serve as a Café with a small setup of tables and couches for snacks and conversationl.

Back to the Basketball

Today I played basketball for the first time in about 15 months. The last time I fell badly and dislocated my ankle from my leg. It was ugly, painful and put me in crutches for a month, physical therapy for weeks and off the court, bike, trails, even the sidewalk! But I've recoved. There is of course a need to be careful. I can't go for every rebound like Dennis Rodman used to do. But I can once again play. Feels great.

Looking Down on the City

Photo by Kyle Weaver

It's been about a month and a half since I made it up to the top of San Ramon with a great group of guys. We ended up being eight, and managed to start the first day, about a six hour hike, pretty late around 4pm. The darkness turned it into an 8 hour climb this night. The end of the hike wasn't exactly pleasent. I struggled on each step up and the darkness only played more tricks on my tired mind and body. But on above me were the Andes, lit up by a lightening storm ever so and then. And the view over the valley as I passed the last bit of rock obstacles near the top shortly before midnight was grandiose. 6 million people and all their lights, all over a kilometer below me.

Chile vs Bolivia photo

As I mentioned on my last post we went to the Chile - Bolivia game last week. Chile won squarely 4-0. Plenty of goals to celebrate. Another win and another step towards the World Cup in South Africa next year. It's been fun to watch them play and this game was no exception.

Vamos Chile

The Chilean soccer team hosts Bolivia today and I've got tickets. Chile has played exceptionally well the last few games and is looking very good to qualify for the world cup. They even beat the top ranked team in South America, Paraguay, last Saturday. Should be a good game. VAMOS CHILE!

Getting back to the bike

Last weekend I made it out to Huinganal, an area in La Dehesa witha a great set of mountain bike trails. It had been a while since the last time I'd been out there, and I had the same reaction that I did the last time I went overa year ago: Why do I not come out here more often?

Chile's hills, cerros and mountains are well suited the adventerous biker. The sport seems to be gaining a lot of momentum. Huinganal for one was packed, and this last summer saw the opening of the first downhill bike park near Santiago in La parva, one of the ski resorts located on the edge of the Andes.

The photos below are from the 2009 Panamerican Mountain Bike Championship, which were held in March up at La parva. These guys are fearless. There were riders from all over the Americas. (check out the article I wrote about it in Revista Revolver.
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The travel blog dilemma: what’s the next step?

Today I should really start with that line but it would just be too obvious. My blogging suffers as a second tier activity in my life. No matter what it is that I seem to be doing with my day, the blogging never will get to be first in line. Even when I’m working in something that appears similar the blog gets less priority. In fact the more similarity my day tasks are, for example writing short articles for BNamericas nearly killed this blog, the less willing I am to focus on updating when the day’s work comes to a close.

There is another dilemma at the heart of all this. Why keep the blog? When I first started this blog back in November 2004 it was an unapologetic travel blog. Look at those stray dogs! The fresh fruit is cheap! The Plaza de Armas has a cathedral, etc, etc.

But as time goes by the day to day life in Chile appears less noteworthy. It’s a natural process of growing more comfortable with my surroundings. It’s a good thing, but it means that some of the things, or many I should say, that were a source of inspiration upon my arrival today are just another part of the backdrop.

So what’s next? I don’t know the answer to that one. I follow some other expat themed blogs here. There are several I like, others I don’t care much for. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of keeping a blog that serves as a sounding board for complaints and gripes. For me it has to have something more than just comments on the slow service, something else that appeals to the positive side of life, although the negative will always be there as well.

So, if after all this delay, you, dear reader, are still coming back here, I hope to promise you some things like:

Links to articles I’m writing on Revolver. These articles have a life/cultural/arts focus. Much different than my work at Yankee Group writing market research reports or my breaking news stories at BNamericas. They are definitely a more engaging article to write, although I still do like to talk about mobile handsets.

Photos, photos. I love to take photos. There are many that haven’t really seen the light of day and this is a good place to share them.

What else? I think that’s what is a bit unclear. Exactly what direction to take this blog in its post-travel era….

Sleeping dogs

Street dogs rarely have it quite this good.

Santiago Places: Puerto Fuy

So last night I went out with family for a nice dinner..we made it to Puerto Fuy, an upscale restaurant on Nueva Costanera that specializes in a sort of seafood inspired fusion. It's not exactly cheap, (prices per plate range from 11,000-15,000), but unlike some other restaurants in its price range it delivers on both quality and service, in fact I would say it does more than just deliver, it excels.

A good place for an out of the ordinary night out for a bite. And the host and waiter pay stations have cool mini tablet PCs with touchscreens.

La Ciudad de Fotografos

Two weekends ago I made it to the outdoor documental film festival held in front of the museum of contemporary art in the barrio Bellas Artes. The documentaries were a collection of some historic reels -an interview with both Fidel Castro and Salavador Allende- and more contemporary titles as well.

The night finished with La Ciudad de Fotografos, a documentary by Sebastian Moreno about a group of photographers that documented public protests under the military regime. The film is told through the eyes of Moreno, whose whole recollection of the military government is based largely in the photographs taken by his father, one of photographers featured in the film.

These weren’t the foreign journalists working with Reuters or the AP, but rather Chileans who felt these events had to be captured on film and formed their own independent group to do so.

The film combined interviews with several of the photographers, the actual photos they had taken at the time and video that had been shot of them taking the photos during the protests.This was dangerous work, the military didn’t want these photos to get out. They had little options for publishing them due to government censorship. at times they would just hang them from their neck and walk through the center to get people’s attention. They were exposed to danger and the risk of detention at a time when people were going missing and being tortured.

While the documentary is about the photographers, it is also about those times that they lived and all the nuances of covering these public protests. It is also a tribute to how powerful photography is in shaping people’s perceptions. In one scene they show a magazine that is to be published, but all of their photos have been censured, every single one.

I highly recommend the film (not sure where you can find it though sorry, but the trailer can be watched here) to anyone who is a fan of photographer or interested in Chile's recent history.

Magic cheeses, Craigslist and the easy way out

As a result Craigslist and several other websites aimed at freelancers have been a frequent destination for my web browsing. If you have spent anytime on Craigslist at all you know that there are quite a few of these posts that promise some high paying figure “working from home” or as a “distributor” of some strange sports gel.

It would be quite nice to just rake in the cash by clicking on web ads or surfing the internet. It would be the easy way out, but I do have to admit, it would also be insanely boring.

The urge to believe that these things might work (and who knows, maybe they do?) seems to be some sort of primordial belief. It goes hand in hand with hope and desperation. Looking for something new, something bigger that will come and lift you out of your hopeless (sic) situation.

In Chile this sensation seems strong. While most Chileans are spared the desperate poverty of some of their neighbors, Chilean slums are much nicer than across the border in Peru or Bolivia, but still there is a large mass of people barely scraping by that haven’t got the things or financial freedom afforded to even the lower middle class in the US.

As a result there are always stories arising in the evening news about the most recent scams. Recently there was a group that called their victims pretending to be a TV executive and told their victims if they brought more cash with them to the studio than other unknown contestants they would win a free house or something. The victim then arrives and is greeted by a nicely dressed individual, who takes their cash and walks off. Middle aged woman seemed particularly susceptible to this tactic.

But there is no scam that seems to have attracted as much attention, both before it was revealed and in the aftermath, as the case of the magic cheeses.

Another characteristic of Chile is that foreign sounding names or companies seem to gain an instant credibility. So when French born “Madame Gil” showed up as a representative of a company called Fermex Chile, people listened.

She had a niche market at her fingertips and was generous enough to cross the world in order to find some “investors.” Starting with a US$ 500 investment, her Chilean partners would manufacture in their home a sort of cheese that could then be used to make cosmetics. It was a market sure to grow and only took 10 days to produce.

The investors, or as we should call them, victims, lined up and bought her package, started making the cheeses and delivering them to Fermex. At first some received a return on their investment, thus intensifying the buzz around the Quesos mágicos.

The buzz grew to an obsession in some places. An entire town in the south of Chile, Coltauco, was almost completely involved. As the word on the street grew, people sold their possessions, even their houses to invest more in this supposedly booming industry. In total Chilean authorities estimate Madame Gil pocketed some US$ 27.8 million through the magic cheese scam.

Then one day she was gone. A continuing stream of TV documentaries and interviews in the paper followed.

Eventually she was caught and is on trial in France. Authorities there have rejected calls to extradite her to Chile. Her victims have organized and hired lawyers, and a judge from France even came to visit some of them. However the investigation moves at a snail’s pace and the chances of her victims recovering their cash seems slight at best.

I realize, maybe it is a stretch to compare the “get paid for doing almost nothing ads” on Craigslist to a magic cheese scam, but when I read pages like this, I can’t help but think of Madame Gil.

Dusting off the blog

It's been another long and unannouced break from the blog. The last entry was in November. Since then life has been full and I just haven't squeezed the blogging as I should. I should at least put a photo up everyonce in a while.

But at least I've made it to sit down today. It's a new year and its summer...will have to keep this better updated....