¡Aloha!

Hi everyone! I must say this is a great idea to have a blog for the long haul traveler. It can be pretty difficult living abroad, though I enjoy it most of the time. Well, I´ve been in Chile for a few years studying Hispanic Literature and am about to finish, God-willing. I lived in Valpo for a couple years which was absolutely awesome. What a beautiful city! (You do have to accept the dirtiness to enjoy it). It’s such a creative, artsy city, has good nightlife (Valpo's full of universities) and beautiful hills that make for great paseos. The ex-cárcel is a great cultural space where people hang out and sometimes there are concerts and other events there. I saw the best human circus of my life at the ex-carcel. It was beautifully silly, incredible and intimate with a sort of existencial ending, not to mention the circus people were sharing this big renovated house in the port where I lived with several good friends I met there. So we got to know the circus performers and their kids for like two weeks before we actually went to their fabulous show. Los mil tambores was another great cultural plus to Valpo. When I lived in Cerro Alegre, I could hear them drumming from Playa Ancha (that’s a long ways away). In Valpo, there are bars and houses hidden in little nooks in the hills and more bars and discos in the port.

Anyway…so my boyfriend Vuko and I have been dating for a few years. He’s from Viña and is the reason I’ve been living in Santiasco for the last two years. That’s when he found a job here and we relocated to Chile’s lovely capital. So I traded this artsy port city with sensational views of the Pacific for molotovs, guanacos and tear gas, Transantiago and smog. But it’s worth it because I get to be with Vuko. Santiago does have it’s good side which includes Vuko, my friends who live here, my capoeira group, hot weather (I´m making up for all those 40 below zero days I suffered in Northern Minnesota), the Santiago library (I recommend a visit—it’s something Lagos got right), the National Library, el Barrio Lastarria, lots of yummy restaurants and fun bars, and the sweet swimming pool I found the other day.

I´m an ethnologist aficionado or maybe a culture addict and a geophiliac. I can invent hordes of interpretations and comparisons of US and Chilean cultures and throw in a splattering of Spanish experiences as well. My favorite topics to talk or gripe about in no specific order are jotes, pedestrians, food, places, dancing, parties, smog, clothing, health and diet, entre otros.

I´m looking forward to getting to know you all and hearing about your experiences.