today is the day that is thursday

Studied all day again today. Made it briefly to the gym, but was feeling rather fatigued. With bloodshot eyes. And what a day, both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died.  Crazy- both are significant markers in time.  

First final tomorrow! oof.

Healthy! But ready to go...

Hurray! Thank you for all your kind wishes, I am healthy!  And Christin has improved dramatically.

Christin pre-diagnosis, and now recovered thank goodness!

 I felt so well yesterday that I decided to join the group at El Colorado, a ski resort outside Santiago.  

Lunch break with Marthyna, the Polish girl- Santiago in the background (to the left under the cloud/smog layer)

There was some nice fluffy powder, at certain points it felt like I was skiing on sponge cake it was so bouncy.  I spent the day on the slopes with some other great skiiers and boarders.

Today I am studying for finals, how terrible.  Being bored makes me incredibly hungry.  Tomorrow is another study day, then two days of tests and I fly home!

Happy Father's Day!

Wish I could BBQ with you today!

Photo Source: Hair salon window in Santiago

In-flew-enza

The world health organization has declared a swine flu pandemic.  Chile, unfortunately, is listed.  Our program is discouraging us from riding the metro and we are having class at the hotel conference room rather than at the law school.  When we fly into Argentina on Sunday customs will be spraying us down with disinfectant.

The article is here.

But I'm feeling very healthy and am not very concerned.

Thursday

Class then Villa Grimaldi.  Very triste.

Here is the story:

An Italian came to Chile and built a beautiful, walled, Tuscan estate in the 1960s outside of Santiago proper.   He built a water tower within the compound because water lines were not yet able to service his estate.

In 1973 the military led by General Pinochet presented the Italian with a choice: sign the documents releasing ownership of the property to the military and go away into exile, OR, refuse to sign and die.  He chose to sign.

From 1973 to 1979 over 4,000 Chileans were trekked through the compound as prisoners of the military.  If they were kept in the water tower converted to a prison then they were on the brink of becoming one of the disappeared.  

If not in there then they were kept tightly bunched in small cells and tortured throughout the day by either electrocution in the man or woman's most sensitive areas, water suffocation (water boarding), or dry suffocation (shavings placed in a plastic bag wrapped around the prisoner's head that entered the air passages once the oxygen was depleted from the bag).  A total of 236 are known to have died or disappeared from Villa Grimaldi (of 3,000 total that died in that time).  Disappeared means the helicopter flew bodies over the ocean, tied rail road ties to the bodies, placed them in bags, and dropped them.  These rail road ties have since been recovered some with remnants of buttons or clothing.

Presidente Michelle Bachelet and her mother were kept in the water tower as prisoners because General Bachelet was a member of the socialist party.  The President was exiled rather than killed; she returned for quite the triumph.

__

I'm sorry to share such a gruesome tale, but knowing the history is not only so important in understanding Chile's progression socially, politically, and economically, but is also important to analyze if the solutions Chile has employed to this history of horror could be applicable to current atrocities in other countries around the world.

So. An educational, somber visit.  But these courses are certainly a steep learning curve!

Gooooooooooollllllll

Tonight we had a great dinner, no- excellent excellent dinner, meeting with businessmen expanding to South America (right up our studying alley).  It was nice to get away from the group and pretend we aren't just poor traveling students :)

On the drive home the streets were ghostly.  No cars, no pedestrians.  Because tonight, TONIGHT, is the Chile-Bolivia futbol game.  And the Chileans are going wild.  From our window we hear raucous bouts of cheers or groans, very loud. very.  We were going to purchase tickets but were advised by a nice gentleman here that because Christin and I look so "different" it would not be a good idea for us to be out late with the crazy futbol fans unless we were in a very expensive area.  So, we are left watching it on TV and participating in the groans and cheers of the masses.  The air is electric.

Oh oh! Chile 3, Bolivia 0

madness

lunes y martes

Monday- went to the Central Bank of Chile!  We were treated to an exclusive entrance to meet with one of the board members in the very room where the members meet each month to discuss the interest rate and other economical matters.  Then we went to the Department of Justice to meet with a man who is presenting to Congress a plan for a different approach to Criminal Law (Chile currently runs two different criminal law systems, one remaining from the Pinochet era and now a new one)Photo: the very important room at CBC

Tuesday, oh, today!: had a lecture on the environmental issues of Chile and the effect on trade then we went to the Center for Justice of Santiago, including visiting an all-male low to medium level security prison.  The prison is for those who are awaiting their trials, and they can be held without a trial for 6 months to 2 years.  We walked through the cells and the courtyard full of the prisoners, in the unit for drug and sexual offenders.

After the prison we went to the offices of the public defender and prosecutors.  

The system is geared towards prosecutors and the defenders have only 5-10 minutes to meet and ask questions to each client before the first hearing because of the heavy case load- crazy.

Tomorrow Christin and I get to meet with a great businessman who is expanding to Chile, terrific!

Michele Bachelet

On Friday we went here....

It is the National Congress in Valparaiso, and every single Chilean president has been sworn into presidency in this room.  Chile has the fourth oldest Congress in the world (U.S. is numero uno; then Great Britain; then France).  Constitutional Law is so intrinsically important and vital in the great Latin American debate.  Think of it: the U.S. constitution has never been changed in over 200 years of its existence.  Bolivia has changed its constitution about 200 times!  This is why Chile has a separate court to deal solely with constitutional issues, whereas our Supreme Court absorbs those issues.

Here is another room at the National Congress where bills are argued.  Copper is Chile's greatest source of wealth, thus the giant copper backboard.  And there are giant scoreboards on the wall to reveal how each person voted.

Afterward we were treated to a very nice sit-down lunch; the service was nice, we had three courses, and the view was wonderful (as we were on the top floor).  The plates had the special crest of the National Congress.

It is nice to travel with such a reputable school- we're treated so nicely!

Valparaiso: Redeemed

(In Vina del Mar right before the gypsy harassment!)

I apologize for being rather negative in the last post.  Vina del Mar was not going well- too overcast, dirty, and boring.  Turns out we were staying in one of the rather seedy parts of town- thus the excess of car alarms, street noise, and slime.  When we left this afternoon we drove the coastal rode, which reminded me in short form of the Pacific Coast Highway.  We made a stop and here are the photos....

We arrived back in the city around six and it was coooold.  The temperatures have dropped on us, yikes!  We went to the grocery and are making dinner now.  Because the swine flu hit our law school Diego Portales we have been removed to the hotel conference room.  My word, it was protests that removed us from Universidad de Santiago, hopefully nothing else occurs!  However, this means we don't need to take a forty minute metro ride in the morning = more sleep!

I thought I had so much more to say.  Maybe I'm too concentrated on our food :) ciao!

Hola from a grimey little seaside town

I am in the Best Western of all places, in the little business center that smells of smoke and bleh. I am in Vina del Mar, translating to vineyard by the sea, but the beauty of the name is lost in the falseness of the claim. Okay, we ARE on the ocean and we walked the boardwalk yesterday. I do love the sea so it was pretty enough, but we were confronted by gypsy women who were extremely unnerving and rather frightening. Imagine the tone of voice of the most evil witch from a fairy tale, saying: ahhh que lindas chicas, mmhmm, mira la bufanda... que ricas, somos gypsys. And then theyre all pressing in around you, hands reaching out. You can be left standing only in your underwear before you know what even happened if you aren´t careful. But we were careful and we carried on. The stray dogs littered the beach and the many tall apartment buildings fronting the beach are covered in gray sludge grime. I think part of my disappointment with this town is that my expectations were much higher. However, Christin and I are going to try to do more of a pampering day- sometimes the student travel lifestyle calls for a little indulgence to break the tiring cycle of wearing dirty clothes and living from your suitcase.

Yesterday we were in Valparaiso and that was much nicer, its very close to here- a sister town. We went to imporant presidential places and I will discuss more later and post photos.

xox

A quick run down

It's funny, I started this blog as an Israel travelogue.  So now I'm going to revert back to the original purpose of tracking my travels while I am away from home.

I am very ready for a nap, so here goes a quick run down:

Sunday morning: flew in at sunrise, phenomenally beautiful (picture not adequately representing, below).  The Andes are amazing.  Very cold when we arrived (7 3

0), met up with other group members, took the bus into Santiago.  Checked into "rent-a-home," which are furnished two bedroom two bath apartments.  We are in a quaint area, very c

onvenient to the metro.  I am roommates with my friend Christin (from Florida) which is super.

Sunday later in the morning: too excited to nap, Christin and I took the metro to Plaza de las Armas.  It was Father's Day, and as it was Sunday, the museums were free.  We listened to a

 great band, watched the celebrations, had lunch at a little cafe (traditional Chilean soup= one large chunk each of: carrot, pumpkin, potato and a hefty leg and thigh of chicken, also in one piece on the bone, in a shallow dish of hefty oily broth).  We went to the Natural History Museum (enlightening), walked through an artists neighborhood, grabbed cafe con leche to people watch, came back to the hotel and crashed; first full group meeting at 7 (orientation); went to eat with ten others (ordered a big plate of empanadas!); then home and bed.

Monday morning: alarms didn't go off- frantically scrabbled to get ready in ten minutes.  No coffee- yikes.  But we found a McDonald's on the way, which pleasantly provided us with cafe con leche...grande.  Class started at 9 and went to 1 (more descriptions of the classes later), after which we had a reception (more empanadas and sandwiches).

Monday afternoon: Christin and I went to a large hill in the city and received 360 degree views, phenomenal.  At the top is a gigantic white Virgin Mary, arms outstretched over the city (much like Jesus in Rio).  

We took a funucular to the top (a large wooden trolley of sorts took us up the very steep incline).  We decided to walk back from the mountain top, which took about 2 hours.  We found some very nice stray dogs who helped lead us back, one we named "Chilean Lassie."

We were exhausted when we got back so we bought empanadas and jugo de pina at a little shop next to our hotel, went home and did some reading for the next day's class, and went to bed early!

Tuesday (today): alarms worked!  Had a small breakfast provided downstairs.  Class once again 9-1 then Christin and I caught the metro to a rather large market selling typically traditional wares- a lot of alpaca items, lapis azul stones, and other crafts.  We found a nice little cafe and had empanadas and diet cokes. (are you getting the drift that I love empanadas?)

And now, relaxing and reading for a bit before we meet up with the group this evening.  We're watching Motorcycle Diaries- I've seen it probably 6-7 times, but since I am watching it in Chile, I think it will take on new relevance.

Much love to all!

mystery destination revealed

Remember I said my blog would get more interesting, at least to me, in a short time? Well that time is here and now.  Here is the view from my apartment window:

I present to you Santiago, Chile!

Colored falling leaves, crisp air, cold mornings.

I have been impressed and delighted in my two days here.

Much more detailed post to come!!