Week 18 in Chile

Another whirlwind week in Chile! Enjoy!

Monday, September 30, 2013

-Dermatologist appointment at 2:30; got there on time, but the doctor wasn't there yet and there were like 10 people waiting in front of me. As soon as I saw this I just started cracking up. Only in Chile.
-DDHH class at the office where we talked more about our upcoming papers/projects about memorials in Santiago. Mine is about Londres 38 (www.londres38.cl) which was a center of repression and extermination during the first years of the Pinochet regime. The scary part about this place is that it's located right in the heart of the city and new one even knew it existed. It's less than a 5 minute walk form my house, so literally it's in such a central area. It's crazy how well it was hidden and how well all of those types of places were hidden. So much of the Pinochet regime is so mystifying to this day. After that class, we had a make up class with a different teacher, but we got to go on a field trip with her to the Sede Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (AFDD), which is a center for the families of people who were detained or disappeared during the Pinochet years. We heard a women speak about how her husband disappeared and to this day almost 40 years later she still has no idea what happened to him. She doesn't know where he is or if he is alive or dead or anything. Nothing of his body was ever recovered. Because of her uncertainty about her husbands whereabouts, she still considers herself married and thus has remained faithful to her husband and never remained or loved any other man. What a sad and tragic story. If I get to come back down here for research next summer, I would love to talk to her more in depth about her experience as well as other women who are involved in the center. Feel free to ask me about my research ideas, if you are interested! I love blabbering about women's rights and Chile haha.
-After class, I grabbed sushi with a few friends and caught up and had some girl talk, always good to catch up with people from the program who take classes at different universities and such

Tuesday, October 1, 2013 & Wednesday, October 2, 2013

-Both days were generally uneventful and full of going to class and other school related things
-On Tuesday, I finally met my Tandem partner, which is a language partner assigned through La Catolica. His name is Felipe and he is a Chilean engineering student. We are supposed to meet once a week and practice Spanish and English with each other.
-Wednesday night, half of the CIEE group left for La Serena, but we didn't arrive until Thursday morning, so that's really when the trip started.

Thursday, October 3, 2013 - Sunday, October 6, 2013

-Over the weekend, half of the CIEE group and I travelled north to La Serena, Valle de Elqui, Pisco Elqui, Vicuña, and Punta de Choros for a wonderful excursion exploring the beautiful region. We biked lots through the almost desert, saw adorable penguins in the wild, ate lots and lots of delicious fish, learned about pisco production in the region, and had and amazing time. Below are some pictures from my trip!

PENGUINS

SEA LION ATTEMPTING TO CLIMB ROCK

MORE PENGUINS

Until next week!

Besos,

Lesley