Our trip began in true South American style (I think) when we found out on Tuesday morning that our plane was still in Auckland. Our general level of excitement and ciders shared with molar meant the 6 hours waiting for an alternate plane passed quickly. When we arrived in New Zealand and were told our flight was delayed till the following day I was saddened - mostly because my grand plans of having a 38 hour birthday were replaced with a much shorter 20 hour birthday. But the upside was we enjoyed one last night in the first world comfort of private bathrooms and fluffy bathrobes.
Our final leg to Santiago was educational thanks to our abuelita Eva who sat next to us. I believe she loved chatting with us because firstly we were about to travel around her continent of origin, secondly we were almost neighbours in Australia (she lives in Ryde) and most importantly her husband had his earphones secured to his head the whole flight. While I made all efforts to understand her Spanish and ask for the translation of words I did not know, Sarah's preferred response was a smile and a nod - which, to my surprise and disappointment, resulted in Eva congratulating Sarah on her handle of the Spanish language!!! Grrr...
After arriving in Santiago and successfully withdrawing foreign currency, negotiating transport and securing accommodation Sarah lost no time in enrolling us in a walking tour of Santiago. Visually there were a couple of things worth mentioning (see photos) including:
- the stray dogs that the community care for (pictured in the fountain)
- the "mobile phone" building, built by a teleco back in the 1990s which looks like a Nokia brick
- the present from Argentina which depicts four boys fighting and represents the 4 nations of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru
- the street performers which were literally in the middle of the road
However, the best part of the tour for me was to hear a small piece of the amazing history of the Chilean country. There are two stories worth recounting:
The story of Lautaro
Santiago was established and goverend in 1541 by the Spaniard Pedro De Valdivia. He attempted to subdue the indigenous tribe of the Mapuche with initial success due to the superior fire power of the Spanish conquistadors. However he made a mistake in attempting to "civilise" some of his prisoners by educating them in Spanish art, history and war. Lautaro was trained as part of De Valdiva's personal attendants from the age of 15 and escaped at the age of 19 and using his new education formed, trained and equipped a Mapuche army that inflicted devastating losses on the Spanish for four years until his death. Thanks to his efforts and the fighting spirit of the Mapuche they remained the only tribe to evade subjugation under Spanish rule. As a side note, the Mapuche culture is an interesting one as the entire society is run by the women from cooking all the way to administering justice. The men's job was almost exclusively to keep the women alive!!
The story of Salvador Allende
My interest in this story is because it shows the potential limitations of political power given by the popular vote.
Allende came to government in 1970 promising the nationalization of assets and the redistribution of wealth across the classes. However within 3 years he had the far right (and the wealthy) deliberately sabotaging the economy in a effort to disable him and he had the far left pressuring him to take private assets by force. The conflict culminated in 1973 when the chief of the army, Augusto Pinochet, rolled tanks in front of the presidential palace and then ordered the air force to bomb it. Twenty years of a thinly veiled dictatorship followed with Pinochet even rewriting the constitution to protect himself after he left.
After the tour we had our first Chilean beer on a balcony in the city before I dragged Sarah up San Christobel - a mountain that sits in the Centre of the city. About an hour into the ascent we decided that this trek could be called a climb instead of a walk. The burning legs were worth it though as the view from the top was magnificent. It finally put into perspective just how large Santiago was with buildings stretching further than the eye could see in all directions. The massive statue of Our Lady, all 30 odd tons, was dragged up by ox cart and looks over the city with arms wide open in a protective stance which along with the beautiful Spanish hymns being sung made for a moving experience.
As usual, Sarah had packed too much into the day and it ended in a fantastic example of South American hospitality at the house of Fav. Fav was an exchange student 20 years ago with the vice principal of a school Sarah taught at and she treated us to a most fantastic evening of food and conversation with her two daughters and her parents (who had traveled from another city for the occasion). This was not all though as she also drove us to and from our hostel (we both fell asleep on the return journey) and insisted that we could visit and stay with her in Santiago or her parents in Valparaiso!
Blog soon! Love to everyone at home!
Ged and Rah
Ps. The photos are roughly in order of the above story.
Pps. For the bored and observant there is a lie in each entry...
