On questions of stability

People always ask me "But why CHILE??". There are so many other countries in South America with bigger reputations than Chile, Argentina is known for it's lifestyle, food and drink, whereas Chileans are seen as much plainer. Columbians have a voracious appetite for life, and Peruvians are open, friendly, and have awesome food. So why Chile? Until now my answer has always been stability. The economy is strong and stable, the government is similar, however, I never factored in the power of the earth itself. Now when I reply with "stability" people look at me as if I incorrectly translated the word from Spanish into English, a kind of confused but understanding stare.

And it is true, natural disasters didn't really influence my planning at all. However, natural disasters can destroy every ounce of stability a country has in mere minutes. Law abiding citizens can become animals, looting goods that aren't necessary, or buying food in loads and selling it for double price on the black market. In times of disaster and catastrophe everything changes, money no longer has value, and power is simply the person with the biggest gun. I am lucky. I wasn't here when the earthquake struck, nor do I live in an area particularly affected by the gravity of the disaster, but it is maybe something that people should factor into the planning and consideration of any trip. I never took it seriously before, but I will be adding it to my checklist for future adventures.

In Chile, luckily, there is stability. The government deployed troops to keep order, the main business centre resumed functioning after only a week, and efforts to construct essential buildings and housing are ploughing ahead at the speed of a high horsepower tractor. The comparisons between the quake and following reactions here, with those in Haiti, show that I was at least half right about the power of stability.

Chileans have grown up with this instability, and lack of security. Their past has seen not only literally shaky ground, but fragile economies and governments. It seems that crisis actually brings the people together, gives them strength. The rebuilding process is almost therapeutic, stone by stone, laying the foundations for new growth and opportunities. And that is the attitude of today, "Fuerza Chile" (strength Chile). The foundations are good, and the reconstruction is simply allowing space for new interpretations.

I'm back!

Back in Chile that is. And I am going to try much harder to actually update this, now that I know there are actually people other than mum who read it - awesome! And thanks for the support Mum....

So I am back, and nothing much has changed despite the big shake-up (the earthquake of course, not the government which has also changed but is still fairly central). The overpass bridges on the highway have come away from the road, and there are large sheets of metal connecting the two, but I didn't see any that had completely tumbled (they do exist apparently). A few houses are looking worse for wear with big cracks, but it isn't dramatic like in the south. Apparently there has been some serious damage in Valparaíso, which I guess I will see when we go this weekend.

Two months without Spanish doesn't do much for being able to communicate with people, and my housemates and I are all finding it a little frustrating. I will get back there though, just need a bit of patience and time.

The biggest change that has happened is that the rabbit has fallen in love with the dog. It is the complete opposite of when I left and the rabbit was living on top of some boxes in the patio just to stay clear of the dog. Now he follows her around like a love-sick teenager, and is acting very much like a hot-blooded teenager.... What do they say - going at it like rabbits?! Not only that though, he grooms her and kisses her and sleeps with her. She isn't that keen and bites him every now and again, but it seems like a case of "treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen". He also eats her food. Was pretty cute when they were both snuggled up on my knee the other night though.

That's about it at the moment. But I will leave you with this thought: why is it that when the choices of food on the plane were meat or pasta 4 out of the 10 people around me asked for chicken?

Chau, kiwikaz.

Was going to put a picture of the lovebirds curled up together but can't seem to get it to work today. You will have to have a look on FB.

Election results

Change is in the air. Chile had it's second vote today for the president and Piñera won (affectionately known as Pirana). So the government has changed from the left to the right, for the first time in 20 years (since Pinochet). Turns out that either all those people didn't go on holiday, or it didn't really matter. On a different note, I am astounded at the number of people that didn't vote. It is compulsory but only if you are on the role, therefore many people simply don't enroll. Strange, for a country where they had no choice for so long, that they don't embrace their right to choice now. I don't understand, but I guess that I am a voter.

Election time

It's election time in Chile. Well to be fair, the first round of voting was last weekend so I am a little slow with this update, but it is an ongoing process here.

The way they run their elections is significantly different to in either Australia or New Zealand. They have two houses, deputies (of which there are many and they basically filter out the poor bills in the first round) and then the senators (of which there are fewer). This doesn't sound too different to an upper and lower house system to me, but I am still a long way from understanding either of these systems! They also have a president who they elect usually in two rounds of voting. If in the first round no one candidate obtains a majority they have a run-off vote the next month between the two mist popular candidates. This is usually what happens as apparently it is quite difficult to achieve a majority in the first round. This year there were 4 candidates, of whom three were strong. This is in contrast to other years when usually there are only two strong candidates (one centre right and one centre left). There was a split this year in the centre left coalition, and therefore two centre left candidates ran. Because of this, the original candidate for the centre left (Frei) actually ended up more on the right... very complicated but quite interesting.

Anyway, the most interesting thing in this story is that the first round of voting is finished, and Piñera (right) and Frei are in the run off election. This election takes place on the 17th of January, when many of the supporters of the right are on holiday. You can only vote in your electorate here, which means that a significant number of the voters on the right simply won't vote, because they are on holiday. The second run-off election is always held at the same time of year and the party on the right always has the same problem. Does this make it a truly democratic process? Isn't the whole idea of modern democracy that every person has an equal opportunity and right to vote?

Voting takes place on a Sunday, and all establishments serving alcohol close at 12pm on Saturday night, and you can't buy alcohol for the entire voting day. Apparently you have to be sober to vote. Actually, nearly everything is closed on voting day, supermarkets, restaurants, even the corner shop only opened in the afternoon. Made it difficult to find somewhere to eat... not only do you have to be sober but also hungry apparently.

Anyway, that is my take on the Chilean political system. There are of course many more ins and outs but I don't think I can explain them without a diagram (yes I have truly become a TESOL teacher - everything in diagrams).

Gotta go,
Chao y nos vemos pronto
KiwiKaz

An interesting weekend, filled with laughs... Was Eduardo's 30th birthday weekend in Pichilemu. I won't outline the whole weekend... but we managed to go for a ride in a row boat, that was fairly overloaded and looked a bit like the Titanic about to sink... I went swimming in the estuary and was able to easily outswim the boat with two boys paddling (much to their embarrassment and consternation). When we went to return in our boat we discovered it had floated out into the middle of the estuary, and I was sent to retrieve it. The water was cold too. I didn't see any of the boys volunteering! Everyone was very greatful though and the story was recounted to every new person at the party, and I was well paid in Churipan. My telephone also went for a swim in the puddle in the bottom of the boat and is no longer functional.... Lovely.

On Saturday night we went out dancing after we had had a massive feed of fish, was lots of fun, though I could have done without the strange guy who was obsessed with my hair and insisted on touching it. Then back to the cabin with some new friends in time to see the sun coming up. More talking and a some dancing until the sun was well and truely stationed in the sky -time for bed.

Sunday was a nice quiet day in the sun. We also had to get the water fixed, the plumber paid in beer of course. Had a look at the market in town, and got a ride back to the house in a horse and cart (the weekend of random transport!) Didn't get back to Santiago until really late and then I had to prepare classes for 8am on Monday morning. But it was a lovely weekend, with really good friends, lots of sunshine and no stress. I even managed to forget my chronic shortage of money for nearly the entire weekend. Back to reality now though. Only about three weekends until the long weekend in the country for the wedding though so I have that to look forward to - bacán! (Awesome).

The boat rescuing cueca dancing flightless bird.

Cueca as a metaphor for Chilean life

Cueca as a metaphor for Chilean life

I won’t profess to being an expert Cuecera, but since arriving in Chile six months ago I have devoted a substantial number of nights and a large portion of my pride, to learning the national dance of Chile.

On first sight, about three months after I arrived, the Cueca was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen. A repetitive wailing song with a similar melody for every song, and a man and a women waving their hankies at each other while dancing in apparently random circles, stomping their feet, and not touching except for miraculously ending arm in arm at the end. But it grows on you, like heroin.

Oh how my perception has changed! Now I see the cueca as one of the most sexy, powerful and symbolic dances I have ever known. The rhythm courses along my neurons well after the pandero has ceased, and the music and words have a significance of time, place and general nostalgia that I have not experienced before. Its not my own nostalgia (how could it be when I have only know it for a few months), rather the representation of a torrid history and the resilience of the people that have kept its spirit alive. The more I learn the stronger the addiction grasps.

The basics of the Cueca as I grasp them are as follows. It is a dance with arguable origins that became very popular in the country and bordillos of the mid twentieth century. It depicts the act of seduction, using the metaphor of the rooster and the hen. The rooster is showy, dominant and at times aggressive, while the hen is coy and coquettish with her pursuer. It is basically divided into three parts separated by the partners swapping places on the dance floor and briefly making a turn away from one another. In the first part the dancers describe a rough semi-circle, with the rooster pursuing his interest. The second part has more give and take with a pursuit and retreat, and the hen can take more power here. The final part is characterised by stomping on the ground by both the hen and the rooster and after the final turn the hen ends up on the arm of the rooster, as his prize. However, the hen ultimately holds the power as she decides whether she will accept her rooster or not. The most important thing in the cueca is not how well you twirl your hankie, or the fancy footwork, but the eye contact and intensity with which you dance.

The style of Cueca varies immensely, depending on whom you are dancing with where. Watching some people it is like sex on the dance floor with all your clothes on and no touching, super slow, with their eyes only breaking at the times when it is required to turn away. Others dance a more fun bouncy cueca, with less aggression and more of a feel of a country picnic. The historic cueca is somewhere in the middle, with sliding movemoents of the feet and loose knees, but a generally fairly erect posture of a proud chilean dancer. And this is only the urban Cueca. Traditional Cueca is much different, but also has differing connotations. Dancers in traditional dress still dance a highly choreographed and structured cueca after national parades, as mandated by Pinochet during the 70’s to try and raise national patriotism. I don’t know how Pinochet would feel about the “sex on a stick” cueca that can be seen in the clubs of today!

Perhaps the most powerful part of the history that I have learnt since I have been here is the legacy of the Cueca during the Pinochet years. In stark contrast to the regimented cueca of the Pinochet mandate, women of the “disappeared” men danced the cueca solo as a protest, in front of government buildings around the city. The idea of forcefully stopping innocent women dancing alone was too much even for Pinochet and his men, and it was the only form of protest during those years that didn’t end in bloodshed or disappearance. They quickly became celebrities, and this was possibly the only thing that did save them from disappearance, as they surely must have been a deviation in the clean parallel lines of right and wrong that were drawn (1).

September is the month of Cueca and general chilean patriotism. Everywhere you turn the city is draped in red white and blue flags and banners. It is actually a law here that you display a chilean flag outside your house for the national independence holiday and the two days flanking it. It is not however, a national requirement to love cueca. In fact, many Chileans look upon it as the dance of the country, and don’t appreciate the revival in its popularity.

Cueca has been my window into Chilean life. Quite literally, it has been the primary way that I have been learning Spanish. From those first days bumbling around the dance floor with my very patient teacher, flicking people in the eyes with my hankie and not understanding a word of the instructions, to today dancing reasonably well and understand much of the conversation around me. It has been a slow process on both fronts, but every Thursday I turned up religously to cueca. This devotion to the national dance (and willingness to make a fool of myself while learning), has facilitated some strong friendships, from people who were at first somewhat wary of me. It is necessary to prove yourself to some extent in all countries, and Chile is no exception. The people here while warm and friendly once you get to know them, can at times be very suspicious of foreigners, especially the women. They are under the impression that we are here to steal their men. The similarity to the rooster proving his worth to the hen is strong, and I feel that I have done my time as the rooster and am now allowed to sit back with a glass of rum and be a hen for a while.

In cueca, the hen ultimately holds the power. That is the way that I see the chilean family situation too. Although it is a masochist society, with men making come-ons in the street frequently, ultimately the women hold the power. Their coquetish ways aren’t restricted to the dance floor, and while they appear demure while dancing cueca, there is fire hiding not far from the surface. It seems (solely on observation), that the women make the men chase hard, (like the rooster), and once the man has snared them she doesn’t let him forget it!

Cueca reflects the history of discrimination in class and socio-economic standing in Chile as well as any social lecture ever could. Originally popular in the more dangerous areas of the city, and the country, it was originally shunned by the upper-classes. The cueca brava, a more organic form of the dance virtually disappeared during the Pinochet era, when the regimented version was embraced by these upper-classes. The cueca brava is undergoing a revival now though, with the youth of Santiago embracing the music and themes as their own. To me, this reflects a change in the discrimination of the class system also, with young people influenced more strongly than ever before by western culture. In a way, the revival of the Cueca is a rebellion against this westernisation by some of the youth, and a strengthening of the national unity and patriotism, but not as Pinochet ever imagined it. It is now becoming more recognised as a symbol common to all socio-economic classes too, which to me also reflects a softening and increasing acceptance of people of a lower status within the society, and a realisation that it is often solely circumstances and not through any fault or flaw of their own, that they are less educated or privileged than others. This is strengthening in the youth of today, though it still feels that other generations may be struggling with this realisation.

For me, Cueca has allowed me an open door into Chilean life. With my somewhat improved Spanish, and my pandero in hand, any given night at a Cueca fiesta will bring conversations with many new people. Mostly they are curious as to how and why this gringa dances Cueca, but I don’t mind explaining it, as it always leads to conversation, and usually new friends. This way, I am not left on the sidelines, rather embraced by people interested in reviving and moulding the culture of this country, and that is what the Cueca is all about, the rooster and the hen, dancing together to discover what makes the other unique.

1) A documentary by Mark Corcoran explaining more about the history of the Cueca, especially during the time of Pinochet, can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moq88oQC-pM

Los Porfiados de la Cueca - Cueca meets rock. Look for the singer in the middle playing the pandero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gku5HVdCRh8

Glossary

Cueca - the national dance of chile

Pandero - the chilean version of a tambourine

Yes it has been months...

Hmmm, September, October, NOVEMBER! What has happened here - have I fallen off the face of the earth? It is possible... Obviously I have been busy, and now I am going to recap the last two months in one line; take a big breath! Was working, got sick right before I went to Perú, my friends threw me a surprise leaving party that went all night and then dropped me at the airport minus half the stuff I needed, traveled in Perú without anything particularly bad happening to me, made millions of new friends and was able to converse with the locals because Spanish in Perú is much easier than in Chile, walked the Inca trail and visited Machu Picchu, amazing is too small a word to describe the experience, traveled on Lake Titicaca which is really more like a small sea at 4000m in the middle of the Andes, came home with some sort of parasite which gave me problems for about 3 weeks and the doctor charged me $250 and never found out what was wrong (and he made me produce a lot of different samples into about 9 different jars which wasn't a fun experience with my limited Spanish), a friend from NZ came to visit and I had to translate everything for a week, my head got shut in the door of a bus, went to an amazing Cueca party and got interviewed for a documentary about it - in Spanish, and don't really have enough work at the moment so I am having to curb my enthusiasm for having fun. I think thats about it. The photos are on Facebook and probably tell a better story than I can here. Especially for the trip to Perú. Right now I am off to the market, we have no food in the house (normal), and the rabbit is hungry (to be fair he is always hungry, even when he has just been fed).

Will try and write a bit more often. I seem to have time on my hands at the moment, though that is time I should be focusing on trying to find more work!

Besitos!