March 28, 2008
In general, I try to avoid doing and saying things that will contribute to furthering the stereotype of the stupid dumb gringo. I don’t always succeed, but I do try. Other people, apparently, do not take such precautions.
Let me start at the beginning. Today I went to the mall to buy a present for my mother in law. It was her birthday about a month ago so I wanted to get on that or risk losing face for not being timely with my gift 
While I was there, I walked past the pretzels stand and couldn’t resist. The smell was too much for me to handle. I ordered a soft pretzel with “salsa verde,” which actually wasn’t a salsa but had green salt/herbs flavoring sprinkled on top. I finished it off and then got the rest of my shopping done. Before I left I got thirsty, so I bought a water and headed to the outdoor food court to people watch.
A group of four old visiting gringos nabbed the table behind me. The first thing I heard the hundred year old woman say to one of the 75 year old men with her was, “I can’t believe we haven’t seen any Indians here.”
Oh, but don’t worry, it gets better.
The old wrinkly guy answers with condescending superiority, “Mom, you can’t call them Indians anymore! The natives would consider that really rude. They’re ethnics. But you’re right, it is weird. There don’t seem to be any at the mall.”
Yeah, how weird, no indigenous people walking around the mall in loin clothes, fancy that.
I also saw the same man point to a girl as gringa as you and I and practically yell out, “Look! That Chilean is wearing flip flops. My guide book says Chileans don’t wear flip flops! It was WRONG.”
And then their group proceeded to argue over the correct pronunciation of dulce de leche. Three were all for Dell-ZAY Dee Let’s See. The old lady, however, was dead set on the kind of, but not really, Italian pronunciation. Although her version was something like this, DUHL-cha duh Luh-CHA, said with a Southern accent.
My brain was about to explode so I got up and left. As I strolled to the restroom, I thought to myself, “What idiots!” I got to the bathroom and began washing my hands. Then catastrophe struck. I glanced into the mirror, I noticed a HUGE morsel of the “green salsa,” to the right of my chin. It looked like a crusty booger plastered to my face.
I had been walking around shopping at upscale stores, conversing with store clerks and smiling at small children with the most conspicuous fake giant booger on my face.
Who’s the idiot now???
March 24, 2008
Have you ever heard of couch surfing? It’s basically the coolest idea ever. Basically, it’s a website dedicated to hooking up travelers with people who want to host them, be it, show them around the city, meet up for coffee or even offer them their couch for a night or two.
I first heard about the website on Dave’s round the world traveling blog. He’s been traveling now for almost four months and he’s spent some time couch surfing. For a long time I was reading things like, “I surfed someone’s couch last night,” and I was like what the heck is that?!? When I finally checked out the Couch Surfing website and figured out what it was I was ecstatic. What a genius idea!
I signed up right away and within a few days someone had emailed asking if she could couch surf with us for two days. I looked at her profile and saw that she had received nothing but positive reviews from other people on the site so we decided to say yes. Why not?
She arrived yesterday and just spent one night with us. Here from Panama to study law en la Universidad de Chile, she just wanted a place to stay while she looked for some kind of student residence where she could live permanently. She found one today!
Before she came I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Do people just come for a free place to stay? Or are they actually excited to meet you? Xili was excited to meet us and we felt the same. She was awesome and sweet, and best of all, she didn’t murder us in our sleep with an axe or anything like that.
I’m thrilled that we had a good first experience hosting someone and I can’t wait to receive more people on our couch! In two more weeks a German girl and a guy from New Zealand are coming. They’re traveling together so I told them if they want to squish together it’s up to them, although I really have no idea how they are going to fit!
Really, there are a few reasons why I wanted to do this. I love to meet people. I really enjoy showing people around Santiago. Those who have never been before are always so thrilled by everything, and their amazement and wonder helps me from being so jaded towards this city. The biggest reason though, is that every time S. and I have ever traveled anywhere, people have been great to us. Strangers helped us along the way, and people that we just met treated us like old friends. I know when we take our big trip around the world that kindness will just continue. So I’m sort of like paying it back right now, even though we haven’t left yet 
March 21, 2008
I used to not write in here for lack of inspiration. Now I have about a hundred different topics that I could post but I just haven’t had the time. Take a look at my sidebar and see how many different blogs I’m writing for. That should help you understand my total lack of dedication to JMCS.
Anyways, so one of the crazy things that I was thinking about the other day might sort of surprise you. We have a nana who comes once a week to clean the whole apartment. I’m really embarrassed to tell people that because our apartment is so small and that’s such a cuico thing to do. Cuico means a rich, upper class, snob. All I have to do though, is write one extra story and that covers the cost, so how could I pass that up?
The concept of nanas is something I’m not really comfortable with in Chile. There’s such a distinction between the life of a nana and the life of someone who can afford a nana. And then to bring a nana into my home and have her cleaning everything and fricken folding my underwear…well, that just seems not only degrading but also as if I’m rubbing in her face everything that I have that she probably never will. I also don’t like the fact that having a nana is definitely a status symbol in this country. You haven’t made it big until you have a nana. And the people who make it really big have nanas to assist their nanas. That’s mostly because labor here is just so cheap.
But, nonetheless, I still hired one. Every Chilean person that I’ve ever talked to has had the same attitude — if you can afford a nana why in the world wouldn’t you have one? My mother in law basically convinced me that any any woman in Chile who works must have a nana. If not, a career is an impossibility. Because you can pretty much count on zero help from the male half of the family this means one thing. Basically upper/middle class female liberation in this country came at the expense of females on the lowest socio-economic level.
The cost of my nana is less than what I pay for my shampoo and conditioner set. And no, I don’t pay exorbitant prices for my shampoo, although it’s definitely a lot pricier here than in the U.S. That’s probably because it’s a blond person shampoo and there are only like three blond people in all of Chile, myself included, so the demand is not real high.
Anyways, back to the point. Nana < Shampoo + Conditioner. And that's considering that I overpay my nana significantly.
We are part of the ruling caste class. I know we work extremely hard for all that we have. But, that doesn’t change the fact that once a week, when Eloisa is working hard to make my little apartment spotless, and I’m sitting on my couch, using my computer to write my stories, my guilty conscious works overtime.
- I would love if you'd
help support my
blog and buy through
these links!
