Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

September 3, 2008

Meredith recently wrote a post about how Chileans are obsessed with bundling up their babies. I also remember talking to my dear friend Rachel about (formerly from the very controversial blog, A Chile Tale, now writing pure hilariousness about her life in China over at Living the Hai Life) the subject too. She has a ridiculously adorable daughter whom she failed to properly wrap up when she would take her out on the streets of Linares and Chileans would come up to her in the street and scold for her apparent neglect of her baby.

Now, I want to talk about how it’s not just babies they enjoy wrapping up. Many Chileans seem to have a terrifying, paralyzing fear of cold weather (which is not really that cold at all) sort of the way that when it snows in North Carolina, life stops, even if it’s just a centimeter.

The other day I was walking home from the gym. I would guess that the temperature was probably in the low 60′s or high 50′s (Fahrenheit — while I have mastered the metric system, Celsius always gets me down). My hair was slightly damp with sweat. Unfortunately, I don’t happen to be one of those women who “glows,” or “glistens.” I usually finish a workout drenched. So sure, walking home I was little wet, and yes, I was wearing short sleeves on a semi-chilly night. But, honestly, the temperature was no cooler than Tampa in the winter, which as we all know — not cold!

So back to the story — walking home. I step out of the gym. No sooner has my foot hit the pavement when I hear an old man say groughly, “Ay, m’hija, se va a resfriar,” or “Oh, child, you’re going to catch a cold.” He wasn’t looking in my direction or speaking directly to me, so I assumed he must not be talking to me. After all, it would be crazy to tell someone they’re going to sick because they’re wearing a t-shirt rather than a parka, in what is nearly spring time weather.

I got to the corner and stopped to wait for the light to turn green. A young girl looked at me, shivered pointedly and said to her friend, “She must be so cold!”

Two seconds later I walked hurriedly past a group of guys moving slowly. First they piropo’ed me, telling me how much they liked to watch my ass move. I ignored them. They were still walking behind me, and then went into a diatribe of how they were concerned for my health and I need to put on a sweater or I was for sure going to get sick. How did we go from ass-talk to grandma talk?!?

Keep in mind, I live not even three blocks from the gym. Chileans are obviously very concerned for the well-being of a poor little Gringa in short sleeves on a 55 degree night.

A few days later it was hot out. If we had been in Chicago, it was warm enough that people would have been swimming in Lake Michigan and wearing shorts and flip flops to school. I wore a sleeveless knee length dress. Chileans were staring at me as if I had just sprouted a second head. I did pass a giant blond Gringo man wearing cargo shorts and sandals. His smile said it all, “You’re from the Midwest too, aren’t you?”

Even with my minimal attire I was still sweating a little bit after a brisk 20 minute walk to my destination. As I passed woman dressed in pantsuits made of wool and men in Columbia parkas, I finally realized, this is why people here walk so slow! They wear such heavy clothes in the wrong weather that they can’t go any faster or they will sweat like pigs. Everything has fallen into place. Great fear of pneumonia means don’t expose the skin on any body part or You. Will. Die. (or so my mother in law, and all Chilean mothers I’ve ever met, would have you think) in temperatures less than 70 degree. Covered up skin means slow walking and less sweating. Now I get it.

Other signs of Chilean fears of cold weather include, You Must Always Blow Dry Your Hair Even If It’s Summer. Wet hair equals death. Also — Never Go Barefoot, Even If It’s Summer. No shoes also equals death.

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17 Comments

That’s funny because I’ve noticed people in Vancouver wearing flip flops and shorts and thinking to myself that they are freakin crazy.

I’ve commented to a few friend’s of mine that they should be wearing more clothes and they laugh and say, “What’s wrong? It’s summer!”.

Crazy people! They obviously don’t know HEAT.

Comment by Mexico "Way" — September 4, 2008 @ 12:02 am

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Wearing no shoes definately equals death. I wear no shoes around the house and Marcos goes mental, “dont come crying to me when you catch cold”. He says. If I am at the in-laws, Ms mother runs to get me some slippers. In Australia, in summer, the only reason you would wear shoes indoors would be cause the floor was dirty and shit stuck to your feet. I even have a scar on the bottom of my foot where, when I was young, I walked to the shop to get ice-cream barefoot and trod on a tiny piece of glass that had to be surgically removed, even then my mother didnt tell me to wear shoes she told me to watch where I was going! Those latinos just need to toughen up!

Comment by Kristy — September 4, 2008 @ 3:02 am

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Man can I relate to your friend Rachel. Ecuadorian women constantly harass me about that. They think your baby will die or something if they are not wrapped up in so many blankets that you can only see their eyes. It really gets on my nerves.

But yeah I see Americans wearing t-shirts and sandals in weather that seems very cold to me so I dunno.

Comment by kumichan83 — September 4, 2008 @ 3:06 am

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Yah, I totally agree with you on this one. Chileans really have no idea what cold weather is. And they can dress however they feel is necessary, but they should realize not everyone grew up in such a warm place.

As for bundling babies in particular, it definitely makes me cringe. I’ve seen babies on the metro outfitted for blizzards and their faces are bright pink and they are actually sweating. Terrible. But a worse baby offense for me is watching countless Chilean parents feed their very young children fake juice or soda and white bread or cookies. *Always* it seems. There are snacks down here with more nutrition. Think fiber, whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, and water, people.

Comment by Anya D. — September 4, 2008 @ 7:09 am

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I totally agree with everyone about chileans freaking out when you’re not totally abrigada. I learned very quickly while living with a host family that walking around the apartment barefoot was a sin, but I assumed walking barefoot from my room to the bathroom was o.k….it wasn’t. I always get stares when I break out my flip flops and I think I have accumulated about 5 pairs of socks from various “in-laws” who practically had a heart attack about my walking around so scandalously dressed in leggings and flats last September.

What I do disagree about is the cold weather here. I think it can be terrible because for many, many people, heating doesn’t exist. The temperature may not be all that low, but there’s never a break from the cold so you wind up freezing when all you need is a short blast of heat to make you realize you’re fine. And no matter how much tea you drink, you’re still cold. I have never been so cold as I was when i first got here in June 2007 and I lived in an older, unheated apartment. I would sleep in my snowboarding long underwear in my -15 degree sleeping bag with a hat and switch hands while I was reading because they would go numb every 10 minutes or so (and I used to go to school in Maine where 37 degrees meant flip flops and no t-shirts).

Comment by Sheabel — September 4, 2008 @ 8:03 am

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Are you from the Midwest? Because there we generally have this attidtude that we can survive whatever Mother Nature throws our way (not true, becuase I am the biggest baby!). And I have even seen people wearing flip-flops in snow on -10 degree days with little red toes sticking out. Ouch.
Then, you have the other extreme, like last Sunday when I went to do my shopping and I stripped down to a t-shirt, but people still had on wool coats, and scarves. I wanted to scream “I’m dying in the sun! How can you stand it?”

Comment by Sara — September 4, 2008 @ 9:09 am

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I love this post!!! haha I am scared to have kids and bring them here, my husband’s mother will freak when she sees how I will dress my babies!! And I think of all the things she yells at me for, not blow drying my hair, and walking barefoot are numbers 1 and 2!! Even walking in socks! My father in law actually bought me slippers because it drove his wife crazy! Every time I take a shower, the hair dryer is sitting on the counter top waiting for me! I remember going to class in flip flops and PJs, with wet hair in the middle of the Minnesota winter and it never bothered me!

Comment by Shannon — September 4, 2008 @ 9:15 am

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Ha ha ha you had me laughing so hard.
Have you noticed how the first cool day of March has everyone reaching for their coats, boots, scarves and the likes.
Even if they have to walk a half a block to get to the bus and then sweat like pigs in it (because God forbid anyone opens a window), they still throw on everything they can.
The funniest thing is that very few people have good heating systems in their houses, which are so cold that it’s better to keep your coat on INDOORS rather than OUTDOORS, where you at least have the choice of walking fast (which very few people do).
In spite of this, I have to admit that my baby does sleep better when bundled up more than less. But sometimes she’s sweating and my grandmother will still say her hands are “frozen” which is expectable in babies under 1, dah…
Hoping I can upload my next post on Chile tomorrow.

Regards.

Comment by Florencia — September 4, 2008 @ 9:56 am

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Kristy, my boyfriend says the same thing if I’m not totally bundled up! He also gets really mad when I am sick and am not wearing at least five layers…nevermind that I’m sweating and the fact that I HAVE a cold doesn’t necessarily mean that I AM cold. To my own birthday party which was held indoors I wanted to wear strappy sandals. He informed me that I was stupid and was not allowed to complain or expect sympathy when I got sick. I will agree that for my Californian blood it’s often very cold here and has been a definite learning experience in how to dress for winter (sweatshirt and flip flops don’t cut it!), but Chileans take it to extremes.

Comment by Emily — September 4, 2008 @ 10:03 am

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man, so true. my boyfriendÂ´s mom brought home bedroom slippers yesterday that she had bought for me, because iÂ´ve walked around in socks like 2 times. and no exaggeration, i barely make it from the bathroom to my room and my boyfriend is right there, scolding me for having wet hair. i sit there thinking “ummm, i was about to go back to the bathroom to blow dry it, donÂ´t freak out.Â¨

Comment by Jessica — September 4, 2008 @ 1:47 pm

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i love your line of reasoning, that so is why chileans walk so freaking slow! it totally makes sense. and i hear i was thinking they just didn’t ever sweat.

Comment by Emita — September 4, 2008 @ 2:37 pm

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I am so glad IÂ´m not the only person who gets really annoyed with this whole cold-hot topic. The other thing here is that changes in temperature = death!!!! I canÂ´t stand it!!!!!!! So crazy…..

Comment by Tyffanie — September 4, 2008 @ 5:01 pm

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I can see how it can be precious and bitchy but I am totally stealing “chaoito” – ha, love it.

Comment by jillian — September 5, 2008 @ 4:02 pm

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and…I responded to the wrong post. damnicito.

Comment by jillian — September 5, 2008 @ 4:03 pm

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Ha, ha! Love the theory about the slow walking. Here it is winter coats and boots in the mid-50s. In Ireland a couple weeks ago the mid-50s meant bring out the tanks and flip-flops and swim in the ocean.

I also do not glisten – drenched is a better description, especially in a non-ACed gym.

Comment by Lori - Blondie in Brazil — September 7, 2008 @ 3:05 pm

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Sooo true. The obligated hair-drying and slipper wearing. It annoyed me when I was first here in high school, but I got used to it as a University exchange student in Spain – where it was even colder and we didn’t have central heat. I also had flatmates, not a host mom, so wasn’t being ordered around. Drying my hair became one of my favorite activities because it warmed me up.

My Chilean host mom here in high school, always told me to put a scarf on to cover the skin on my neck before going out. Because the carotid artery is there so I imagine the blood gets cooled. Anyway since I’m terribly “friolenta”, I’ve benefitted lots from the Chilean advice on keeping warm.

I even wear mittens when I go out at night or on colder days. Chileans probably find that I dress too warmly. But I just like to feel like I’m in Jamacia all the time. And you can achieve that by wearing tons of clothing.

I’m a slow walker too, flaneur by nature. I’m probably one of the Chileans you guys can’t get around. jejejeje.

Comment by Maeskizzle — September 7, 2008 @ 6:58 pm

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ja,ja,ja,ja este post si que me ha hecho reir! me hace tanto recuerdo a mi mama!! La primera cosa que he hecho cuando me he ido a vivir sola ha sido baÃ±arme y con mi pelo mojado ponerme frente al ventilador, directo a mi cara y ver a que hora llegaba mi muerte!

Comment by Eliana — February 27, 2009 @ 4:07 pm

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