January 31, 2009
I learned an interesting tidbit of information today. As you know, we were previously worried that S. was going to lose his job working in construction here in Chile. And then, as I vlogged about, he did not!
But, things are still precarious on the work front. His company didn’t have any new contracts coming in, until recently that is. This week they found out that the project they’re working on at the airport is being expanded. They’ll now have work out at Santiago Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport until 2013, thanks to the government.
Unemployment hasn’t yet hit dire straights the way it has in the U.S. But, the government of Chile feels it coming on. So they are bumping up projects that originally weren’t scheduled for completion so soon, because they want to try and keep unemployment down.
However, in the private sector, things aren’t so bright. Cencosud (who also owns Jumbo, Easy and Almecenes Paris, amongst other business ventures) halted construction on the Costanera Center, which would have been the tallest building all of South America, and the second tallest in the entire Southern Hemisphere.
People keep telling me that the recession hasn’t hit Chile. Nobody seems too worried. But, I have this strange sense of calm before a storm. Chile has had a great economic run, but just like the U.S. they’re not impervious to crisis either.
A few months ago I wasn’t feeling the recession at all. I asked readers about it and most comments said they were fine as well. Now I know that one good blog friend’s husband has been laid off, my own blogs are cutting back, and several people I’m close with are job hunting with no success. So let me ask again — are you feeling the recession now?
January 30, 2009
Really, I would love to tell you that the Travel Channel contacted me because I have the coolest Chile blog under the sun. But, that’s just not true. In reality, it was a mix of social media and luck that allowed me to have such a cool day filming with them.
See, back in the day when I didn’t have a job and had much more spare time on my hands, I spent hours on Flickr, commenting on people’s streams, making contacts, reading information in groups. The possibilities were endless.
I’m also on Twitter, which is sort of a mini blog. You update your status regularly, telling people what you’re doing at that exact moment, using 140 characters or less.
As it just so happens, Shira Lazar, the girl who contacted me from the Travel Channel is also on Twitter. She tweeted when she found out about her trip to Chile, asking if anyone knew of any bloggers/personalities in Chile that she could touch base with. One of my old Flickr contacts, who I hadn’t spoken with in ages, tweeted back to her with a link to my blog, and the rest is history. The coolest thing about that is, I had no idea that my old Flickr friend even read my blog!
I’ve also had people contact me about my photography services through facebook, and my first wedding actually came via this blog! So basically, my point is that while social media may seem like it’s a bit silly, truly using your social media contacts can help you profesionally.
So, if you want to hang outline here I am on:
Flickr
Twitter
Needish
Facebook
Vimeo (just joined yesterday)
Ps. In yesterday’s vlog, Lori guessed right…I didn’t even notice Mila, our nana, walking by!
January 29, 2009
Untitled from Kyle Hepp on Vimeo.
First of all, George, you win a 12X18 inch photo of your choice, so email me: kylehepp at gmail dot com. Congrats, and thanks for the great suggestion! He was the first person to suggest La Piojera, which was one of the places we ended up going.
Today was my big day with Shira Lazar for the Travel Channel. She’ll be covering the whole trip for another website as well, so if you just can’t wait to see what the TC special, “Confessions of a Travel Channel,” is all about, you can check out her impressions of her first time in South America over at Jaunted.
I vlogged about the day above, but in case you’re at work or something, let me just sum it up for you: Filming something that’s sort of reality TV but not really, is WEIRD. Shira and I would have a conversation and then someone would be like “Wait, actually can you go stand over there in front of that tree and do that exact conversation again?”
I had a mic on me pretty much the entire time and they filmed for the whole afternoon that we were together, but the show is 7 days worth of footage cut down into an hour, so I’m not sure the odds that you’ll actually see any of me on TV are very good. However, it airs in June. Someone will have to tape it for me and let me know!
We went to la Iglesia San Francisco and Barrio Paris/Londres, not necessarily because they’re the coolest places in the world, but mostly because I wanted to be able to explain a little bit about the Catholic church’s influence on the country as well as the dictatorship.
Then we hit up la Piojera for a terremoto. We got a standing ovation when we walked in the bar, then the cameras which had been filming us from outside came in and the crowd got even rowdier. There were 2 camera men with a TON of equipment, a producer, a coordinator and a driver with us so we were quite a spectacle. We got hit on by a wasted guy who told us he was a painter and wanted to make art with us. Shira was curious as to why so many people were wasted by 5pm on a Thursday afternoon, so I got to explain yet another side of Chilean culture to her. 
January 27, 2009
This Saturday some Santiago bloggers Katina, Tamsin, Caira and I met up with Valpo bloggers Matt and Allie (plus several significant others/friends whom we did not kick out just because they don’t have blogs).
Our night out on the town was fun. We went to some generic, overpriced Providencia bar with typical horrendous service and then moved on to a Peruvian restaurant (Puerto Peru, I think it might have been called).
Over the course of the night, of course, we all started asking each other the typical questions that are unavoidable in a group of Chile-expats, “What are you doing here, do you like it, are you here long term?”
I always find it fascinating to hear other opinions from people who actually like living here. A lot of my closest friends share similar feelings to myself –I don’t hate it, we’re only here temporarily. So, whenever I meet someone who wants to stay in Chile indefinitely, I usually feel a little bit shocked. I forget that not everyone has plans to flee, since that seems to be what a lot of the other (younger) women around me are working towards.
The funny thing is that out of the few young people I’ve met that would like to live here permanently, most of them have been men. In certain ways, that makes sense — Chile with it’s extraordinary machismo is a man’s world. Is that what sends the gringas running in the opposite direction? Or maybe Chilean women have the same power over Gringo men that Chilean men seem to have over Gringa women.
And then, obviously, you have to factor in individual experiences. I sometimes wonder how I would feel about Chile if I hadn’t been assaulted on day number 5 of living here, if a guy hadn’t jumped out of the bushes and told me he was going to rape me, if I hadn’t been followed home by a creepy guy who threw a rock and smashed a new TranSantiago bus window when I turned around and yelled at him to leave me the fuck alone, if I hadn’t ever been bitten by a huge angry dog, screamed and had nobody help me even though people were passing by all around me. The ifs go on forever.
It might not be fair, but if I hated this country with the passion of a thousand suns I’d feel pretty damn justified. I don’t, though. I’m just wary of Chile, and living here tires me because I have to think defensively all the time. So talking with people who genuinely like being here made me wonder if maybe I would too if my Chile slate were clean….or if I were a guy.
January 23, 2009
Why do you think so many of us are married to Chileans? 
HA. I kid.
A long time ago I went on a trip to Costa Rica. I could not believe how huge the bugs were. I was bit by mosquitos as big as bottle tops and ants the size of my hand. Large insects are a decidedly tropical phenomenon and which Chile is not, so when I moved here, I was pretty happy that I wouldn’t leave the country with stories of massive cockroaches crawling across my butt while I used the toilet, like my mom in Colombia.
Last night, I heard fluttering of wings and a loud buzzing noise. Thinking it was a bat, I opened my windows, got a broom and prepared to chase it back out into the night sky where it belonged. However, when the frantic flying stopped and the thing settled down on my wall next to the bedroom light, I realized that what I thought was a bat was really the most gigantic moth (or something in the moth family) I had ever seen. I mean, maybe it was a bat crossed with a moth, I don’t know. But it was HUGE and insect-y. I didn’t know what to do so I just left it chilling on my light. And then took pictures.
Eventually it came down, Papito killed it and swatted it under the refrigerator where it’s dead body remains until I can get S. to get it out from there.
While I’m not squeamish when it comes to bugs, I have to say that something that massive truly grossed me out. Have any of you ever seen a moth that big or was this thing on steroids?
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- @dregonzrob, hahaha, eating wall paper, that's a new one. Dog whisperer dato coming your way :)
- @lanapuckett, when we get back I'll have to introduce you to @gabrielrodriguez, @sebamilla and @sebastiankaulen!
- @dregonzrob, you need the dog whisperer!!!
- Brian McBride is announcing his retirement from the game today. He will go down in history for me as my favorite U.S. player ever. LOVE him.
- Caroline and Tommy should probably stop being this hot or somebody's going to catch on fire. http://tinyurl.com/2feozcy
- Writing w/ @imnotobsessed tomorrow early! Love catching people up on their daily dose of gossip and I <3 @inosherry, my online co-worker :)
