Blogs from Santiago, Santiago Region, Chile, South America - page 12

After a good nights’ sleep I made my way to the National Historic Museum which had just reopened last Tuesday after being closed for 2 months. It was the best place to learn about Chile’s history. I learned a lot about the Mapuche tribes in the Art Museum but here I learnt a bit more about the other tribes who lived in Chile alongside the Mapuche. They lived in different regions such as Chinchorro,Arica, Aymaras, Changos, Atacamenos, El Molle and Diaguitas. I find learning about their lifestyles fascinating mainly because they adapted their lifestyles so well to the geographical areas of Chile which they had inhabited. A lot of the museums in Santiago have shown the lifestyles of the indigenous tribes through displaying objects found in archaeological digs.... read more

I studied about Chile’s independence process, inspired by the French Revolution and the American war of Independence which both gave Chileans ideas about becoming independent from Spain. It began with Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808 to the Battle of Maipu, then in1811 with the National Congress and ended in 1818 when the War of Independence ended and the empire collapsed. The King abdicated and Chile had its first autonomous government. I learned a bit more about how Argentina, Chile and Peru got their independence, helped by the same man in each country – the Argentinian Militar Jose de San Martin. I’ve seen statues of him everyhere in Argentina. According to Argentinians he is the one famous person who is popular amongst everybody, a completely non-controversial figure unlike all the others. I also learned about the ... read more

It seems that as Chile is geographically isolated, separated by the Andes from Argentina, especially in the North of Chile where the Andes are higher, it seems to consider itself protected from the unsavoury characteristics of other countries, and as a result in my opinion seems to have an inflated sense of its own superiority. I was getting very stressed on this line of thought and as we drove through the Andes my view of the many roadside graves where people had died in one tragedy after another was only increasing my anxiety so I put my headphones on, put my Dirty Dancing soundtrack on my walkman, closed my eyes and as there was no way I could even do a small thing to change the world for the better in that very moment, I began ... read more

I’m getting very curious about South American countries. After visiting two, by logic and a little knowledge of each country’s history, I’ve figured that all of the countries probably have their own problems and their own strengths different from each others. I definitely want to visit more of the countries, I still feel that there is a good bit of meat still to chew off the latino bone before getting to the bone itself. On this trip for me each day is a day of enlightenment and discovery, and this trip is, whilst very hard work, incredibly rewarding. I really want to come back to South America one day in the future but I would do it differently. I’d come for 10 months so I wouldn’t have to race around and I could enjoy more slow ... read more

Right now I am in a Beatles bar which I passed by chance when desperately looking for a cup of tea. The walls and tables are all decorated with newspaper headlines about the Beatles. There are posters of Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields, red buses and the British flag. After having being on the Beatles tour in Liverpool with Noriko I am now more of a fan than before. I brought postcards, keyrings and fridge magnets of red buses and post boxes from the UK to give out to any friends I meet in South America. At a push I would give out postcards to the Argentinians but no way could I give out keyrings with red buses and red post boxes. To Argentinians these are the cotroversial symbols of the Falklands, but Chileans would accept ... read more