Chile Blogger Meet Up

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.

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Everything’s Bigger in South America

January 23, 2009

Why do you think so many of us are married to Chileans? :P

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.

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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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Where Would You Take Someone from the Travel Channel?

January 21, 2009

Hey guys! Random question here, but I need your help in a big way!

Someone from the Travel Channel contacted me. Yes, very exciting although I don’t think I’ll end up on the actual show they’re doing, Confessions of a Travel Writer. But, at the very least I’d like to help them out since one of the featured travel writers they’re filming, Shira Lazar, has asked me to show her places in Santiago that are off the beaten path.

I have some ideas already but I want to make sure I’m not missing out on anything. She’ll only be here a Thursday night, that’s it. Shira will be filming the itinerary the Travel Channel gives her and then breaking away for a little bit with me to go see cooler places. :) She’s not totally sure of her itinerary yet so I’m waiting to decide on where to take her after I find out where she’ll be and what kind of stuff she’ll have already done by the time I have her in my clutches.

Where would you take someone from the Travel Channel on a Thursday night in Santiago? It can be anywhere…a bar, a park, a club, a restaurant, a landmark…anywhere. If you give me a brilliant idea and I end up using it, I will give you a 12X18 of the photo of your choice to be shipped anywhere in the U.S.* I need all brilliant ideas commented on this post by no later than 6pm tomorrow, so help me brainstorm please!

*Sorry, it’s way too expensive and also bad for the environment to ship just one photo to Chile, but if I send it to the U.S. for you, you can send the photo somewhere as a gift or just wait until the next time you’re in the country to pick it up.

PS. She is also hoping to find bloggers/personalities in Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales. Hmmm, slim chance, but does anybody have any connections down there, or even just recommendations on where to go in those areas?

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