Bip! ! !

Our commute to work at Acción Emprendedora in Puente Alto can be simply described as complicated, but that makes it all the more exciting. It has taken me some time to perfect my “micro” skills. Getting off the bus is quite simple and safe, but getting on during peak hours can be a struggle. In 2002 the government came up with a new transportation program dubbed Trans-Santiago. It consisted of new bus routes and new equipment (like Bip! Cards). The new design centralized bus routes by focusing on using major avenues to transport people to and from the metro. Therefore, the metro was envisioned for longer commutes, while the bus system was effective at short distances. In my opinion, the system functions effectively and most Chileans I have met agree that there has been some drastic improvements in respect to cleanliness, safety, and frequency. However, one thing we can all agree on is that the metro is overwhelmed during peak hours, which forces some stations to temporally close until the crowds subside. The train platforms are packed with people trying to get on a train that is already filled with people. It’s best just to wait for the next train, which is frequently only one minute away… specially if you are a little claustrophobic.

Who am I?

My DukeEngage experience is a unique case because unlike the other Santiago participants, I consider myself to be a Chilena. I was born and raised in Virginia, but my entire family is Chilean, which has meant that I have been given the opportunity to learn and live by the Chilean culture at home and with my family, but also experience the "American Dream" through living in the states and attending school. If someone asks me where I'm from, I never know how to respond. Although I have always lived in the states, in my heart I have always been Chilean and I only feel true to myself when identifying with my Chilean heritage.

Having this in mind, I was really excited to finally get the opportunity to live and work in Santiago as opposed to just going for a couple of months to visit my family. Now when my family back in the states tells me that I don't know what it's like to actually be Chilean since I've never lived there, I'll be able to defend myself.

My trip to Chile signified something so much more to me than any other DukeEngage program would have: I was going home.

After having been in Santiago for a couple of weeks I have been faced with the reality of my situation - I have no identity. In the states, I am Chilean or simply a Latina. No one would ever consider me to be a "gringa" in the U.S. - all you have to do is take one look at me and you know that I don't belong. In Chile, however, I am the gringa. How is this possible? I had a discussion with my host sister and her friends last night in which we were all arguing about where I was from and what my nationality really was. Because of U.S.-Chile relations, I do have dual citizenship, but my host sister insisted that my nationality was based on my place of birth. Her friend came to my rescue and argued that nationality is in the heart and soul; nationality and identity can't be determined by a piece of paper.

The question of my nationality and my identity is one that I will have to face forever. I could be upset that many of my fellow Chileans consider me to be an outsider, but only I am capable of knowing the culture that has truly shaped me into the person I am today. There are many times in the states that I feel unwanted and feel like an outsider, and although I am sometimes called a gringa here in Chile, I never feel so complete and at home as I do in this country. Who am I? Yo soy Chilena.

~Christine

p.s. Last night it was determined that if I could answer a very important question, then I was truly Chilean. The question: Who is the forward who is going to star in Chile's world cup game on Wednesday who has been suffering from injuries? With a smile on my face, I calmly responded: Chupete. Everyone laughed and the discussion was finally settled. If I had been asked the same question about the U.S. team, I wouldn't have been able to answer. There is only one team for me - Chi - Chi - Chi - Le - Le - Le...VIVA CHILE!

Angel Parra and the Chilean Division

Angel Parra is one of the band members of the group Los Tres. Los Tres was created in the 1980´s and they have appeared on 90´s shows like MTV, when music on the channel was actually good, and released several albums over the years. Angel is part of the famous Parra family in Chile. The Parra family, over the years, has raised some of the most famous Chilean artists in its history. The family leans toward the political left and is loved by many Chileans because it actively opposed Pinochet´s right-wing dictatorship.

On Friday, June 11th, we had our almuerzo at a sushi place with Angel Parra. Angel, like many in his family, believes that a country´s fair social policies towards all its citizens is just as important as having a great economy. He is a strong critic of the right and he, along with many other people, was shocked when Piñera won the last election because there was a strong belief that the left was the majority. His opinion about the United States is that it´s similar to a coin with a shiny, clean side, while the other half is marred with an ugly rust. I, along with the group, agreed to this point that he was making. He mentioned that the United States is stained with its gruesome and unjust social policies over the years towards minorities. However, he is in love with the United State´s culture in terms of its music. Angel believes that the United States has a rich music scene and history and that the country pays homage to those who have contributed to it. He mentioned this because he later talked about how Chile does not respect those former Chilean artists that are now long past their fame. Specifically, he told us about his great-aunt, Violeta Parra, and how it took an eternity for her famous paintings to be given a location in downtown Santiago to be displayed.

Another interesting comment that he said that later gave birth to a semi-heated debate within the group after he left was his belief that Chile was too divided to be one right now. He didn´t mention that it was to the point of civil war but rather that Chile´s political left and right suffer from many scuffles and disagreements with the other. The right fears the left while the left distrusts of the right.

Afer Angel Parra left the room we discussed how much we enjoyed having Angel and the intellectual topics we discussed. However, some members of the group compared Chile´s divisions with the United State´s divisions and there was an argument that Chile is more closely tied than the US. Some talked about how the United States is not only separated by class and politics, but by race as well, and how Chile doesn´t suffer from the race issue because it´s more homogeneous. However, others in the group mentioned the Native Indian struggle and how they have been mistreated because their indigenous. This added another dimension to the Chilean unity argument because in Santiago you don´t hear much about Indians since they either live to the north or south, or if they live here they change their names to Spanish in fear of persecution.

Another subject that dissolves the country´s unity is the concept of immigration. Argentinians that emigrate to Chile receive better treatment because they are seen as equals by Chileans. It is similar to Western and Northern Europeans in the U.S. Because they are perceived as equals, Argentinians usually live in the nicer areas of Santiago. In contrast, Peruvians and Bolivians are looked down upon because of their native looks and because they are countries that are economically-inferior to Chile.

This opened my eyes to see that we still don´t know enough about Chile. If we spent all our time in Santiago and never went anywhere else, then we would have an erronous perception of Chile. I´m excited for our trip to Talca, which is about 5 hours south, so we can get a larger feeling about how Chile actually is.

The Fresh Air of Valparaiso

On Saturday, June 5th, we boarded a bus headed towards the port city of Valparaiso. I was surprised at how in-expensive the 1.5 hour-long trip was because it only took 3,800 pesos, or about 6 dollars, for the ride. Marlen, her husband, and her four-year-old son Piero rode along with us. Piero is an energetic toddler and all the girls flocked after him because they thought he was adorable.

As soon as we arrived, we had a short desayuno and took a quick ride to el hostal Verde Limon, where we were going to spend our next couple of days. Verde Limon was bigger and nicer than the previous hostel and also painted in many colors to match the beautiful city of Valparaiso. The bottom section had a long swing attached to the thirty-foot-high ceiling and Sofi took the pleasure of climbing onto it and swinging on it several times during our stay.

Shortly afterwards, we met up with Antonio, his polola Karen, and his friend Roger, who were going to show us around Valparaiso. The city of Valparaiso is more artsy and liberal than Santiago and the city is decorated with well-painted murals. You quickly notice the difference in the air quality from Santiago because you can get suffocated in the Santiago smog while there is a breeze of fresh air that blows into Valpo from the Pacific that gives the city a fresh aroma.

After walking around and touring the city, we went to eat at a seafood place by the name of Los Portenios. Seafood is popular in Valpo since it is a port city and it is easy and relatively cheap to attain. I ate a dish of fresh shrimp mixed with mayo and a salad. I decided that I preferred my shrimp fried because the fresh shrimp wasn´t too tasty for me.



In the afternoon, we toured the city more and went to Pablo Neruda´s old home. There is a section of the house that faces the Pacific and you can see the naval and cargo ships out in the bay. We were told that the construction of the Panama Canal severely affected Valparaiso because it was a popular choice for ships rounding the bottom tip of south america prior to the canal. However, the city appears to have rebounded and is doing well with tourism. We saw a variety of Neruda´s paintings but couldn´t take pictures because the museum wouldn´t allow it. The museum did allow us to take photographs of the view outside and I managed to take pictures of the awesome view of the town from the fourth and fifth floors.


Later that evening, we took a forty-minute bus ride for the equivalent of USD $.50 to visit Karen´s parents and had la once (bread, cheese, butter, and tea/coffee before dinner. I was surprised at how cheap transportation was in Chile because the ride back was only about USD $8.00. In the U.S. you would easily spend at least fifty dollars for a similar ride.

Further on that night, we took an excursion around Valpo to get a glimpse of the city´s nightlife. We enjoyed a great meal at Valparaiso Eterno where a lady sat in the middle of a stage in front of a microphone and played music from her guitar. The experience was pretty awesome because she managed to get Eduardo to go up and sing in the stage and even asked us to recommend songs for her to play so we could feel more welcome.

Valparaiso was a fun, relaxing time for all of us. I´m sure we are going to miss the fresh air of the city.

Jon and Laura with la Comunidad

We are working with la Comunidad de Organizaciones Solidarias, which works toward solidarity in Chile. It's an umbrella organization that works with over 90 different NGOs, that do everything from working with children, to shelters, etc. On our first day, we went to Providencia, an area of Santiago, to see a "show" that an organization was doing. This organization, called Abrazarte, works with youth who live under the bridges and in the canal that runs through Santiago. The woman who runs the organization, Pia, who was an actress and founded the organization, hired a group called Auch! to teach classes to the kids (I use this term loosely, because some were maybe 13, and others in their 20s) to "play" white buckets flipped upside down like drums. It's similar to the group Stomp. They met twice a week for 2 months and finally they were playing on the street in front of the old train station. They were asking for donations for their performance. Afterwards, the group met up to split up the money, etc, we it was really great to hear the kids thank Pia, and tell her how much this meant to them. A lot of them have drug problems, come from abusive backgrounds, etc. It was amazing to see the sense of support and community that Pia had been able to give them.

Today we went to la Lengua, the poorest area of Santiago. We were able to visit a house, and honestly it was so difficult to see the extremely poor living conditions. Some don't have even hot water. We went to Cristo Especial, a center for handicapped people that live in la Lengua. Jon and I are going to be making a website for them, and to get a better idea of who they are and their motivation, etc, we will be going to the center a few more times in the upcoming weeks. It's made up of 2 houses that are connected. Four days a week, about 15 or so people with disabilities come to the center. They have a weekly schedule, that includes activities such as making mosaic tiles, theater, singing, and dancing. Actually, when we arrived they had a welcome song that they sang for us, which was amazing. Also, when we took out our cameras everyone got so excited and we had a grand photo shoot. We had a good time. Anita is the woman who runs the center daily. She's an older woman from Belgium, but she's been living in Chile for almost 50 years. She's an inspiring woman. As you can infer by the organization's name, their goal is to make every person feel special and that they matter to someone. The sense of community and friendship is evident the minute you arrive to the door of the center. The walls outside are painted with bright and colorful images with sayings such as "todo sueño es posible" or 'every dream is possible" and "lo esencial es invisible a los ojos, solo se ve bien con el corazon' or 'the most important things are invisible to your eyes, you can only see them well with your heart."

All in all, it's been a great start to our time here in Chile. We definitely have had our eyes open, and we're excited to delve into our work and get more involved!

Our first week with Accíon Emprendedora

Our first interaction with Accíon Emprendedora was on Monday, and it was the day when we were going to get the rundown of the administrative part of AE and what we´re going to do for the following two months. Eduardo and I started off on the wrong foot because a little miscommunication took us to AE headquarters, which was in downtown, when we were supposed to be in the southeast side of the city. We had to quickly take the metro and switch trains twice to get to Puente Alto. Puente Alto is where the AE interns from Duke are going to be doing most of our work. After showing up thirty minutes late, Eduardo and I joined Callie, Christine, and Sofi in the powerpoint presentation about Accíon Emprendedora.

At the presentation we met Nick, who is going to be our intern director, Alvaro, the AE director at Puente Alto, and the rest of the Puente Alto staff. Accíon Emprendedora is an organization that works with prospective entrepreneurs and current entrepreneurs and conducts classes about how to kick-start and run the business and gives guidance and consulting to those who already have a business and want it to improve. There´s a main office in Santiago Centro that carries out all the administrative business of AE and four offices around Santiago and Chile that deal with their respective constituencies. Puente Alto itself is a mid-to-low income community in Santiago and the majority of students that come to AE classes in Puente Alto are middle-aged adults that only finished the Chilean equivalent of high school.

Alvaro and Nick informed us that our main goals during the two months at AE were going to be to organize the AE alumni party and to conduct surveys about why alumni retention was so low and how to make the alumni party better for next year. Having the alumni come back is important for AE and Alvaro explained to us how only a few return after graduation. Alvaro put us in charge of gathering information about how the alumni feel about the post-graduation info sessions that Puente Alto conducts. We even came up with an idea to stimulate alumni interests by contacting alumni and asking them if they´re willing to give out discounts to their businesses to other AE alumni. The purpose of this is to establish networks so that AE alumni are more willing to come back to post-graduation info sessions.

Tuesday, was the day we met the AE staff in Santiago Centro office as well the staff at the Oficina Central. We met Daniel Rojas, who works at the Oficina Central, and learned that it was his birthday. For his birthday, the staff at the Oficina Central and our group went out to eat pizza at a restaurant downtown. We enjoyed a two-hour long lunch that began around 1:30 since Chilean lunches (or almuerzos) are much later than American ones.

On Wednesday we began our actual work. We´ve been planning the reuninon party which is tentatively scheduled for July 8th and finished writing the surveys that we´re going to give to people in the following weeks. In addition, when we give the people the surveys, we´re going to tell them to come to the alumni reunion.

What felt like a very short, but fun week is winding down and the group is excited for our weekend trip to Valparaiso.

Our Introduction to Chile

The big day finally arrived on Friday, May 28th. We all boarded a plane in our home cities and we flew to Miami before taking a direct flight to Santiago, Chile. We had a little scare when we couldn´t find Sofi and it was time to board for Santiago, but she showed up just in time to catch the flight. After we calmed down from our little scare, excitement quickly surrouned us because we were going to be in Chile in 9 hours.

The flight to Santiago was relaxing and our group either slept or watched the wide variety of movies that LAN Airlines offered. We arrived to a rainy Santiago around 730 am, and since it was late fall in Santiago, the sun was barely rising. Marlen and Antonio met us at the airport and they had a van ready for us to take to el hostal (the hostel) that was located in Santiago Centro. We were going to be staying there for the next two days. All of us were exhausted from the trip so we slept at until 2 p.m.

Ater we awoke, Antonio and Marlen took us around Santiago Centro. We went to eat at a restaurant by the name of El Hazadero, and the restaurant brought us four small grills of already cooked meat to eat. The food was delicious, but it was too much
for the nine of us so we had to get a large quantity in a to-go plate. Afterwards, we began our first excursions around the metros and that´s how we learned that the metros are the popular choice of travel since they are inexpensive and transport people to further stretches of the city. We walked around cafés and tried some chilean drinks and quickly learned that we needed to change our dollars to pesos because some restaurants over-valued the peso. We walked to the Mall del Centro and found the mall American-like fit to Chilean tastes. We figured that downtown Santiago would have more American and European stores.

Later that night, we had dinner at a restaurant called El Cosmopolitano
and that´s where we met a group of Chilean university students that will be our buddies during the trip and show us around Santiago. After getting acquainted with our Chilean buddies, Joseph Repp, a Duke student who lived a year in Chile working for an NGO, was in Santiago for the weekend and he took us to a friend´s get-together. We enjoyed a good time with the Chilean locals and our Chilean buddies. We were slowly becoming acquainted with the Chilean norms and slang. It was difficult at first for those of us who haven´t been to Chile before because Chilean spanish is spoken differently than most other versions of Spanish and takes time to get used to.

Our second day, Sunday, was the day we were finally going to meet our host parents. We started the day by going to downtown Santiago because it was Patrimonío Nacíonal.
It is the one day, other than Día de la Independencía, when the city opens important sections in government buildings that aren´t usually open to the public. Antonio and Marlen took us around the city to visit the buildings, but we couldn´t get into many of the buildings because there was at least an hour-long wait, and we preferred to walk rather than wait. However, we did manage to get into La Bolsa de Valores, which
is where Santiago conducts its stock trading. It was also evident that the earthquake had affected the government buildings because there were cracks on the walls and parts of buildings were closed off because the earthquake had affected the building so much that it was unsafe.

It was finally time to meet our host parents. We were a little jittery before meeting them because we had talked to them through email before but had not seen them in person yet. However, once we got to introducing ourselves to them we were completely fine. We all happened to get along very well with our host families and we asked them how life was in Santiago and they asked us a about our lives in the U.S. Eduardo and I are both living with our host Yanina in Santiago Centro. She is a 55-year-old single mother who is a social worker. She is very nice and we constantly conversate about politics in Chile and around the world. The other 5 Duke students have families ranging from sixy-year-old retired grandparents to a 25-year-old couple and we are all spread out around different communities in Santiago. Our first couple of days have been great and we can only wait to see what more Chile has in store for us.