Municipal Elections in Chile

On Sunday Chileans went to the polls to choose their mayors and city council. Municipal governments are quite important in Chile since there is no real regional (or state) power, just the city and central government. Therefore many decisions about everyday life (from zoning to taxes, recycling, adult education, cultural events, etc) are passed on to the municipal government.

Moreover the elections this year drew a lot of attention as they serve as a sort of barometer of how people might vote for the presidential elections to be held next year.

The overwhelming consensus that one can glean from the municipal results is that the right wing is much stronger today. Bolstered by corruption and transparency scandals, a lack of leadership, a disastrous transportation system, the Alianza, made up of Chile two right wing parties the UDI and RN, seem to be in their best position to actually win their first presidential election in decades.

The incumbent government, the Concertación (the coalition), is a grouping of three center to center left parties (the DC, PS and PDI). The coalition was formed in 1989 when Chileans voted Pinochet out of office in a nationwide referendum. However as years have gone by, the need to unite against the military and Pinochet (who died in 2006) and the effect of being in power for almost 20 years seems to have weakened the coalition as an institution.

The future candidate with the most momentum today is Sebastian Piñera, a billionaire from the RN party. The prevailing logic states that if he is so good at business, he must be good at running a country as well, right? I get a bit nervous when I think of billionaires (and all of their assets) being trusted to run the country in a way that is best for the general good of the country not just good for their business interests. These people get to where they are by following their own vision, but does that vision include everyone else?

I definitely think that the Concertación is in a very weak position and some change would be good for how business is done at a government level. However I have a hard time being as outraged at the Chilean government as most Chileans, but that’s because after watching Bush dismantle my country and take the world along with it in a bloody, criminal fashion, some light corruption scandals and a poorly envisioned public transportation system seem like a paradise.

In any case watching the municipal elections as a foreigner is always a bit puzzling and interesting. The main strategy to get elected is create a large, up to 2 meter tall sign inverted V shaped sign with your photo and a catchy phrase (or not). Something like, “we are with you.” Then reproduce that sign a thousand times over and set them right next to each other on the street. I find it hard to believe that it really influences people, but I guess in some sort of way it must. In any case it’s a boon for street dogs (hence the photo) and teenage vandals that poke out the eyes and color in the teeth.

Better late than never....

So I wanted to get a post up last week....but didn't get around to it.

Last week on Wednesday October 15th I turned 30 years old. Quite the milestone, its hard to believe how time has flown by, especially since I arrived to Chile in 2004. That was the other milestone, on Oct. 11th I hit my four year mark in Chile. A week of reflection and a bit of celebration was in order. On my birthday I went to what is my second soccer game ever and my first in Chile against their arch rivals, neighbors and a historically very successful team, Argentina. There have been quite a few occasions where people have asked me if I wanted to go or that I had considered going, but it never happened.

Never seemed like the right time.

The wait paid off. Chile played their best and beat Argentina 1-0. Really should've been at least 2, or even 3-0. They really did beat Argentina. This is the biggest thing that could happen to the Chilean national team. Winning the world cup would only be bigger if they had to beat Argentina to do so. Moreover, Chile has never beat Argentina in a world cup elimination round, and it has been 98 years since they beat them in any situation at all (i.e a friendly match).

Radiohead in Chile?

That's what the rumor is. There was an article in El Mercurio as well as talk in Argentina about a Latin American tour.....I sure hope so. Supposed to be in April or March 2009 and would be in the SandeaApoquindopoquindo stadium.

Oktoberfest in Chile

So its about time for the 2008 Oktoberfest that will take place just outside of Santiago from October 30- November 6. Its an excellent opportunity to try the growing selection of Cerveza Artesanal. I went two years ago and was quite impressed by the number of breweries on hand. This year there are supposed to be around 30 micro brews and the event should see some 40,000 visitors.

Prost!

Change

Damn it’s been a long time since I updated this blog. A lot has happened since I updated this blog. A period of pretty intense change has struck my life, some of it very welcome, some of it surprising but in the end probably positive and some just plain difficult and painful.

Some of the change is still coming and very good. I will get married later on this year. (Actually I still need the official date from the Municipal government here, but the registro civil continues on strike, grrrr). This is a positive change and one that is planned and welcomed.

Other changes are also brewing. I have been working for a year as a telecoms analyst, researching and writing in-depth market research reports on subjects like machine to machine technologies in Latin America, the rise of smartphones, prepaid vs postpaid mobile subscribers and WiMAX, etc. However the company downsized and rather quickly laid off almost half of its analysts, myself included. So this change has been unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. Sure I will miss the stability and paycheck that this job provided. But it is also an immense opportunity to expand my focus to new areas and expand my craft past just writing. More to come on that one as it develops.

But then there are the changes that we all know will come to us one of these days but that are completely unwelcome and painful: the loss of loved ones. My father fought a long battle with cancer. First it appeared as colon cancer and after a major operation and intense chemo session he recovered. Then several years later it returned as prostrate cancer.

I remember when he told me about it, I almost left Chile right away. I think about now how different the last few years would’ve turned out had I done that. I stayed because he wanted me to continue with what I was doing and I didn’t feel finished. We communicated via email and video chat on a regular basis and all my free time I could muster was spent going back to the states to visit him.

In that time I managed to get into journalism as a reporter and then got the job as an analyst, which gave my father and I, who was a journalism professor for over 30 years not too mention an editor, photographer and writer in the past, a whole new dialogue. I never really thought that was the path I would go down when I came to Chile. But it worked its self out somehow. So despite the distance I think we were able to develop the relationship even a step further. Many people, especially Chileans, have really questioned why I would be in Chile if my father was fighting cancer. But this development of a common trade has put us closer in mind than we ever could’ve been had I moved physically closer to him by going home.

Over the last year (since August 2007), I have been able to make four trips home. I have been able to bring my Chilean fiancé Caro to Iowa City on three occasions now. The urgency that the cancer created really made it a priority to get home when it was possible, sometimes it was my job that brought me back, other times it was just to visit. I can honestly say that I think we made the most of it with the two and a half years that we had.

But of course we knew that there was a day coming where things would change, and like clockwork that day came, and we lost my father last month. I got to be there for that and share with my family. We had a great service for him, surrounded by the people he influenced over the years as a friend, father, teacher and advisor.

But now that I’m back in Chile, the full magnitude of these changes is becoming clear. I don’t fear it, as long as I’m being proactive in embracing new possibilities. In trying to develop my professional and personal selves actively and not dwelling too much on the weight of the situation.

And what better time to be back in Chile than in the spring time when the mountains are green and still have snow but the weather is nice?

World Press Photo

I went about a week ago (maybe it was a bit longer than that) to the World Press Photo. This is the third year I've seen it. In Santiago it usually passes through the Centro Cultral de Las Condes. The place gets some good shows but this is one of my favorites. The photos are very good, very serious and can be a bit overwhelming. They go to show you how watered down our newspaper images are, and how powerful photography is as a story telling medium. This year my favorite was a series of photos taken in the moments before and after a suicide bomber attacked Benazir Bhutto. There is one of her adjusting her veil in the last seconds of her life that is simple but very very powerful. In any case if you aren't familiar with the World Press Photo and you like photography or the news its worth checking out.

Santiago places: Bar Constitución

So last weekend I made it out with Caro to Bar Constitución, located in Bellavista along Constitución (the street parallel to Pionono where all the nicer restaurants are). The place has gotten a fair amount of attention and attracts a mid twenties and younger crowd. The bar itself is set up nicely, although the wall that faces it is made of crappy unpainted wood that doesn't mix with the rest of the place. It has a DJ stand and the place fills up quickly after 11pm. The place even has some good microbrews hard to find in most bars...Mestra, Kross, Capital....all a plus.

Everything seemed nice upon walking in, but it all went down from there.

Service in Chile isn't very good in general, but this place was an extreme. The service was horrible!

The waiter took forever to even bring a menu...the first round took quite a while...the second one I had to get up and ask if I could just walk around the bar and pour myself a beer..then they just stopped attending to us at all...and it has that stupid system quite popular in Chile where you pay in one line and then go to another to get the actual drink. Then when we finally got the bill they over charged us. Plus while I was at the bar just trying to get them to bring more drinks the staff was running around with all these bills all confused like they had lost someone's tab or something. It gave the impression that there was no manager and never had been one.

So its a place that has potential as long as you don't require food or drinks!

Olympic Gold Medals: Extracted from Chile

So this news is a bit old but I found it pretty interesting anyways. The medals that will be used for the upcoming Beijing olympics were made from metals in Australia and Chile. In fact the gold medals, all 2,000 of them, were made from gold extracted from Escondida, a gold mine located in the Atacama desert. The metal was then refined in China for their final form.

Interesting tidbit of albeit trivial info, something to pull out at random moments in cocktail parties and quite elevators.

Auctioning Lost Luggage

Every wonder what happened to that bag that continues to circle the baggage claim belt?...round and round it goes while you start to worry whether the (American) airlines has again lost your luggage.

Well if it goes unclaimed long enough in Chile, they will auction it for charity!

I have to say I was surprised by it all. It was auctioned, as I understand, by LAN Chile and the airport and the earnings went to support an NGO that builds houses for poor people.

The suitcases were sold of course without knowing what was inside. Seems like such a curious event, just imagine what you might find folded/hidden/stuffed/vibrating/nicely wrapped with a bow in that suitcase.

The Flower Lady: A Slideshow Story

So I've been wanting (and others have urged) to put some of my photos together into stories as a slide show with a narrative and everything...so here is a little test run of some photos I took a month or two ago in the Plaza Ñuñoa. Hope you like it.

Back in Chile-Back on the Blog

So its time for one of those I haven’t updated the blog for a long time type entries. It just seemed to get pushed further down on my list of priorities. I’ve been busy, I’ve been traveling, yadayadayada

I made it to Iowa to see the family. It was flooded, very flooded. But the weather was wonderful. It was nice to wear shorts and a short sleeve shirt. I also got to see the fourth of July for the first time in a long time…I think its been about four years now. Last time I was completely sick of all the flag stuff, all the patriotism, it just made me sick. This time around after not living in the US for three and a half years there was something nice about it, go figure. I even got to light off some bottle rockets with my brother.

So we’ll say that I’m back on the blog, there will be entries again, and again. Or at least I hope so.

What about the pets? Update

Thought I'd just add something to my post from yesterday....The pets (a hundred of them or so at least..they say there are 500 more still behind) have been rescued. From the photos in the press it looked like all dogs. I'm sure we'll see this on Animal Planet or something.

Chile in Headlines: What about the pets?

So its been well over a week since Chaiten, a volcano in the far south of Chile, started bellowing ash, smoke and lava. The town, which holds the same name, has been evacuated, the last member was just recently pulled out. But recently there has been a fair amount of attention on "what will happen to Fido?" What about the pets?

The government said late this weekend that it would allow a small group to enter the restricted area to feed the animals, but hasn't authorized actually pulling the animals, estimated to be aruond 1,400 strong, out of the area.

Now my guess is that they don't want to add to the logistical nightmare they are already facing with just the people. Adding dogs to the living space, not too mention the bill, would just be more than the state had in mind.

But it does raise some interesting issues. Is a dog a member of the family? Who decides this? How can the state punish people for poorly treating animals if it doesn't care for them in times of need?

I guess the cynic in me says, if the discussion is surrounding what to do about pets, then things are going pretty well for a natural disaster. But then, what about Fido? Will he be left to just eat pigeons and lap dogs?

El Regalon

After an extremely filling meal at what might be one of the best restaurants around Santiago...Calypso, Caro and I rested in a field behind the eating area (the food is rich and the wine is strong so they have some comfy chairs and hammocks to rest in)...we were visited by a large but friendly dog.

A spot to enjoy

I felt going to the archives and pulling up something from the past.

From Termas Geometricas which is just north of Villarica. The place is stunning, with a very nice infrastructure that flows perfectly with the narrow canyon, waterfalls and massive green plants that form the nature around it. Not to mention the 17 naturally heated pools that it has. A true gem.

Although a lot has happened here in Chile over the last 9,000 years:

There is one thing that has never happened.


Pic from National Geographic (who else would have it)

Until this last week. On May 2 a Volcano in the far south -Chaitén- blew its lid. After a couple days or so of puffing smoke ash it has started to spew fire and ash, as in the photo above, mixed with lightening. Yesterday saw some of the biggest explosions yet.

The event is nothing minor, ash has reached as far as Buenos Aires and forced the evacuation of the entire area. Luckily there aren’t any major urban centers nearby. But on the news I saw a dog left behind, lying at the front door of his house with a sad face.

I was lucky enough to see a different Volcano, Llaima, erupt in January, near Temuco. But this is something much bigger, and notable, since it has been dormant so long. It makes you wonder about those four or five dormant monsters on the edge of the capital.

Catching a Taxi at the Santiago airport- what not to pay

Today El Mercurio reported that airport authorities will be darkening all of the glass around the doors where passengers enter the main terminal from the arrival area to combat “pirate” taxis that have charged up to 200,000 Chilean pesos for a ride to the city. For a bit of context, hiring one of the official airport taxi chains costs between 12,000-15,000 pesos depending on how hard you push for a bargain and where you are going.

I don’t know who these foreigners are that arrive so completely clueless as to what the going rate of a taxi ride is from the airport. Ripping off arriving visitors at the airport is a con job performed round the world. So if you are coming to Chile, save yourself the headache and just hire an official taxi or a “transfer” shuttle bus.

Although probably perfectly legal, the price inflation also applies to hotels. I went to meet someone passing through Chile at their hotel -The Sheraton- just yesterday. I took a cab from Ñuñoa and paid about 3,500 pesos. When I was leaving I asked the hotel staff how much a hotel taxi would cost to the same place: 7,000 pesos...double the price!

Remembering the heat

Seems like quite a while now that I didn't hesitate to put on shorts and a short sleeve t-shirt. Those days have slipped by a bit too fast and now the cold winter without good inside heating looms.

It all makes me feel a bit dreary, especially since I'm pretty reduced in movement thanks to a sprained ankle sustained in a basketball game.

In fact we even had rain just yesterday. The seasons move forward, the stories coming from family in the US is now of spring, its warming up there after a long nasty winter. So bring it on now, I got out my thick wool sweaters and wear them all to often, and winter really hasn't even fully began.

The N95 street view: Gotta light?

A friendly light at the local shoperia.

So I took this with my Nokia N95...I sometimes forget that my phone has such a good camera, so in order to force myself to use it a bit more I'm going to start posting some shots from the "street" view using the phone. Hope you enjoy.

The Junk Food Alternative

Along one of the main arteries in Santiago Leonardo opened a shop about three years ago. He owned the building so its overhead was low. So he took aim at what he thought was a problem in Chile: too much junk food.

Soy mayonnaise, peanuts with salt, with garlic, hot pepper, even healthy dog food for the family pet. Everyday you can find him manning his post, watching the street, speaking to the occasional visitor, trying to bring a bit more health to the Chilean diet.