A weekend vacation to Conce

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I needed a break from vacation weekends, so I decided to stay in Conce. I also thought I might appreciate the city more then, when I was free of the daily weekday routine. As Holly put it, we should pretend we’re only going to be here for three days and therefore do as much as we can. So first we decided to visit a thundering waterfall, only an hour outside of the city and a hidden jewel that I had not yet heard of.

On the morning of Friday the 24th of October, four other girlfriends and I met at the supermarket to collect a picnic lunch, then headed off to the waterfall “Salto de Laja” for a mere two and a half dollars by bus. An hour or so later we found ourselves at a miniature-sized Iguazu Falls, with hardly anyone else there to disrupt our peace. We first walked as close to the falls as we could without getting completely soaked (a very hard task), then hiked to the top and found a grassy spot to eat and rest. We lied in our swimsuits for hours, talking as girls do and eating a lunch of tortillas, cheese and palta. I made flower crowns and friends with the dogs. We decided we were all getting much too toasty, so some went to swim in the water above the falls. Then we all walked to the edge and sat next to where the water fell from solid rock, and looked over at the gorgeous view of pounding water, rising mist, brilliantly green mossy rocks and a vibrant rainbow. We then came home in the evening, just in time to take onces (tea time) with the family.

The next morning was spent in relaxation. In the afternoon I met with some friends in the Plaza Peru, a small hangout area for college students just outside the University. That night there was to be a birthday party on Kenny’s roof, to celebrate his and Rachel’s birthdays that Saturday, and Katie’s birthday on Sunday. So we bought empanadas and wine to contribute to the party, and met with other’s on the twentieth floor. And if I were him I’d never leave that roof. It has a view of all the city, but I had never seen the city from this angle. Usually I may climb the hills to see out North, but Kenny’s lookout faces west - and is one of the tallest buildings in the city - which allowed us to see the incredible sunset. A good beginning to a party. It continued to be wonderful, full of good friends, dancing, empanada-eating, ponche-drinking, and friend-making (on the other side of the roof there was another birthday party of Chileans, for a guy who was turning twenty five. We decided it was best to join forces). We were asked to leave the roof by the apartment people so went to another Chilean friend’s house, and late in the night were dropped off at our respective houses.

For the next day the plan was to check out the beaches nearby, which I’ve certainly been wanting to do for awhile. But my family was to go to my abuelito’s all day for the elections, and therefore I could have a house to myself…A very rare occasion. So I opted for staying at home, practicing guitar, doing homework that needed some catching up on, talking loudly on skype for a very long time, and doing as I pleased. The family came home that night, we played with the dog for a while, and eventually all went to bed.

Overall, that weekend did make me appreciate the city and my family so much more than before. Perhaps it’s because it’s getting closer to summertime that I like it more (I do thrive in the sun), but I have also realized how much more there is to do, and how much the family cares about me. Granted, they don’t ask me very many questions about what life is like in the states, which I try to start telling them sometimes (I feel like, therefore, we don’t all have a very deep connection. But I guess that’s difficult anyways because we speak different languages). But they do at least care about my wellbeing.

For the past few weeks I’ve had this weird cough, for example, and my mamá decided to go out of her way to call a specialist, come with me to the appointment and communicate with the doctor what it iss I have. There was also a grand incident of miscommunication. Sparing you the details, I clogged the toilet and thought my mamá knew and said she’d get a plumber, but then one never came. So then I asked her about it after the smell started seeping through my wall, and she looked very surprised. She said the family has never had to call a plumber before. I asked how could that be, and she answered that you’re not supposed to put toilet paper in the toilet. Oh… I guess on my first day of arrival, she must have explained this to me and it went unheard, along with many other things in the excitement of that day. Apparently you’re supposed to always put toilet paper in the garbage. So she and papá again went out of their way to call the plumber (even though they’d never done it before and didn’t really know how it worked), and insisted on paying for it even though I pleaded that I should. Basically there were many things that were said, and missed.

Speaking of family, I thought I would give an update of life at home….

I just recently - kind of - dug up what it is my papá does for work, because he talks so fast to me that most of the time it’s hard to get anything out of it (every morning we sit at the breakfast table not really talking, and then towards the end he starts rapidly talking about lawyers he meets with and politics in the country. It’s hard to make him stop though at this point so I’ve ended up being late a few times to class). I think he sells land, because he talks about going to the campo a lot and has shown me pictures of empty fields. I don’t know, however, who he sells it to or what these people do with it. I’m quite sure he has told me this, and in vast detail, but it has all been quite lost in translation. He has heart problems, and this past weekend when I was gone his heart stopped for a few seconds. He is now recovering from that but is very tired. The dog, with whom he has a very loving relationship, always helps to get him excited.

When I first came to this city my mamá also had health problems, so she was out of work and spent her time cooking and cleaning at home. She has since gotten better and returned to her work, of being a biology teacher of four separate classes in four separate grades. She therefore gets little sleep these days for all the work she has to do and papers she has to grade. I can tell that she feels, though, the same as I experienced over the summer - both the exhaustion and the rewarding feeling of teaching. She has been doing this same thing for the past twenty five years, however, so I’m sure she is quite used to it.

Jano, my older hermano (who currently works as the director of a hospital), recently went to Santiago to take his specialist exams in medicine, to see what kind of field he can work in. He ended up getting a wonderful score and being placed as a neurobiosomething. An incredibly good profession, as I’m told. So, come next year, he will be starting four more years of classes at the University of Viña del Mar.


Mas cosas:


I have begun to volunteer at a daycare center here in the city. It is in a poorer neighborhood and I’ve only been once, but that one time last week simply made my day amazing. I helped with the oldest kids (five year olds), and I think I want to stay with them. Fact: Chilean children, especially at that age, are the cutest in the world. They all have round cheeks and large, curious eyes, are friendly and loving and always wanting to give hugs. The entire two and a half hours I was there I had one child or another hanging from some part of my body. They asked me questions and they in turn helped me learn new vital Spanish words (“playdough,” “snail,” and “worm” being just a few). They sang us songs and talked a lot, fiddled with my jewelry and laughed endlessly at Tom and Jerry. I almost taught a girl how to tie her shoes (using the “orejas de conejo” -“ ears of bunny” method), but I told her we’d continue the lesson the following Tuesday. I just wish I’d discovered this place sooner.

Classes are interesting. Lucy’s class - pronunciation and grammar - is boring and pointless as ever (we were tested on what categories of sounds the letters go under. They have names such as “fricativa” and “oclusiva” that I will never need to know in my lifetime). In theater we had a performance of a movement we’ve been working on in class, accompanied by a Chilean poem. It was quite a strange assignment, but in the end very fun. Pedro’s class - conversation and grammar - has perhaps become one of my favorites. Where in the beginning I thought he was a square in a brown suit, he is now a man with a dry but fun sense of humor and an intelligent, critical mind. Still in a brown suit. In his class we read articles about U.S. politics and he dares us to state our opinions in Spanish. In his class we also worked on a sort of play in small groups, where we wrote a comical script of daily Chilean life. If possible, I will later add the video of ours. I must say that it’s hilarious.

You just had daylight saving time, yes? Therefore I am now five hours ahead of you Californians.

Another thing I’ve been discovering about this city is that there are many hidden cultural events that occur regularly. For example, there is the theater that shows art films every Tuesday for a dollar for students. There is also a cultural center just down my street. Last week, Vero, my uncle Nelson and I went to a folklórico concert there, which was also mixed with some French-influenced music. Very very cool.

Being a fireman is voluntary.

“Mote con Huesillos” is a new Chilean drink I have found to love, and is like a tapioca drink of the south. However, it is made with cooked and chilled barley, dried peaches, water, and sugar, all mixed in a cup. Quite refreshing, I must say, after lying in the sun at that waterfall all day.

I think I live in one of the poorer families in the program, but I’m glad at times to not be quite as pampered as Kenny perhaps is in his 20-floor apartment. Others here have nanny’s and are not allowed to do their laundry. My mamá explained to me once the family’s idealogy. They do make enough money to live very comfortably, but rather than spend it on such things as clothes and cars, they spend it on good quality food, health, and education for their children. That’s certainly my kind of family.

Perhaps yet another reason I’m loving this place more and more: I finally feel like I’m getting better at Spanish.

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Photos

Salto de Lajas
Photo - Holly Cobbold

At the daycare center
Photo - Lindsey Schwartz

The kids love hugs!
Photo - Lindsey Schwartz

cuties
Photo - Lindsey Schwartz