CHILE!

I spent a total of two weeks in Chile.  Last year, I went to Europe and I described the whole trip in the form of a rankings.  To wrap-up my trip to Chile, I'm going to do the same because it allows me to relive the great experiences and write about a few experiences that didn't fit into the themes of my other posts.  Unlike my Europe trip, all of my experiences were great because I wasn't at the mercy of a tour company. I'm hoping I didn't forget something...

Awesome Experiences

1. El Cuadro Winery: I dedicated an entire post to this experience.  I may have mentioned something about a carving...

2. Bocanariz:  My top two experiences are oriented around wine...Well, I'm in a country that has a climate conducive to making wine.  What did you expect me to enjoy the most?

House Carmenere (big glasses) and a Carmenere flight (smaller glasses)

Bocanariz is a wine restaurant in the Lastarria restaurant district near downtown Santiago. Two of Garv's co-workers recommended it and it exceeded their recommendations.  Lindsay and I went there for lunch after seeing some sights in downtown Santiago.  It had the best wine, best food, and was relatively inexpensive (two three-course meals, two glasses of wine, and two flights of wine for about $50).  Our first wine was Carmenere, and frankly, we couldn't tell the difference between them, but they were all good.  Our second flight was a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah.  All of them were good.  The food was also phenomenal.  I had salmon:

And this was dessert--lemon pie.

And they had this awesome sign...I was actually only at the happy level...

I wish I could be more eloquent, but some things are more experiential and cannot be captured in text.

3. Skiing: It also has a post of it's own. Skiing in July...

4. Boat Ride: #7 in this post

5. Tiramasu: This was a stylish pizza restaurant near Garv and LG's place that is very popular--especially among women...Garv, LG, and I arrived at about 9:00 pm and there was an hour wait so we went next door and had some wine.  We were seated at 10:00 and had a bottle of wine and we each had a pizza.  Once, again...see the last sentence of #1.

6. National History Museum: there's a paragraph about it in this post.  This probably wouldn't be as high on other people's list, but it's my list...

7. The Coast: #5 and #6 in this post. Living in the Midwest, there's always something alluring about the ocean.

8. Memory Museum: See this post. Chile had a dictatorship from 1973-1990.  Garv and LG would not have gone to live there then...

9. Da Dino: the last picture in this post.  We ate at Da Dino one of my first nights in Chile and then we ordered some carry-out after skiing.  So much greasy goodness.

10. "Good Morning, Santiago!" walking tour: described in this post.  If you travel to Chile, Garv and LG will take you on this tour.

11. Valparaiso: #8 in this post. At the time, I don't think I appreciated the uniqueness of Valparaiso enough.  It's geographic composition (constructed up hills) is extremely unique and off the top of my head, only Manhattan (NY, not KS), Venice, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Singapore are more unique.  The reason Valparaiso isn't as well known is that it's only 800,000 and is no where near as influential as those other cities.

12. Daily Schedule: During the weekdays, LG and I had a pretty standard schedule.  Wake up at 9:00.  Leave for the metro at 9:30.  Tour or museum at 10:00.  Lunch at 2:00.  Nap, lounge in the sun, or work out in the late afternoon.  Go out at 8:00. Eat at 9:00.  Bedtime at 1:00 am (probably 11:00 pm for LG).  It's the perfect schedule for me.  I wish we did this in the US.

13. Sur Patagonia: described in this post. I ate wild llama...

14. Mexican food: In high school, Garv and I were part of a Spanish class trip to Mexico.  One of the things that we both vividly remember is eating "pig off a board" in some small town.  The guy literally had a pig on a board and cut off the meat and put it in a tortilla.  It was so good.  Garv and Diego had found a Mexican restaurant in which they cut meat off a stick.  It was also awesome.  Sorry no pics...

15. Cerro San Cristobal Hike #1: This was the first thing I did in Chile.  I was introduced to "Santiago's dogs." Though we only went a third or half of the way up, it was a great way to stretch out my legs after being crammed into a plane.

16. Fuente Alemana: The first place I ate at in Chile.  It was the perfect food after a long day of travel.

17. Earthquake! #10 in this post. I really debated where to put this.  I thought about putting it in the top 5...or the bottom 5.  But I probably shouldn't tempt Mother Gaia or whatever the hell personification of the natural world would be most appropriate.  So I put it in the middle.

18. Cerro San Cristobal #2: Since we didn't reach the top the first time, LG and I walked to the top a second time.  I call it a walk, and not a hike, because we walked up a paved road.  At the top is a church, a statue of the Virgin Mary, and some food stands.  I brought "Lindquist Herky" to the top because the University of Iowa College of Education is having a contest for most unique picture or something corny like that.  Normally I don't do crap like this, but I thought that two alums of the UI College of Ed with Lindquist Herky would be a good candidate to win.  So here's the pic:

Here's some other pics from up top:

Finally, here we are having a mote con huesillo which is a peach, peach juice, and barley or wheat.  It's the non-alcoholic national drink.  It was okay.

19. The first Saturday night in Santiago: see this post.  I can't think of anything significant to add.

20. Church: On the first Sunday night, we went to Church.  Chile is a very Catholic country and it was packed.  Mass is in Spanish but there are parts I could follow because it's not like there's that much variety in a Catholic mass.  The sermon, of course, I could not follow.  Garv and LG like church there because it helps them measure their progress in understanding spoken Spanish (which is MUCH harder than reading Spanish--I could read a lot of it but I rarely understood anything spoken).  Communion was hilarious.  There was no system and people went whenever they wanted.  People ran into each other to get to communion and get back to their pew.  We, of course, waited until the end.  But I couldn't stop laughing at the lack of a system and Garv's reaction to the lack of a system.

21. Cirkopolis: On July 17, LG, Garv, and I went to Cirkopolis at the Teatro Municipal de Las Condes, which is about a five minute walk from their aparment.  Cirkopolis is an acrobatic show somewhat like a Cirque de Soleil show.  It was almost all action and very little speaking so we could understand it.  That, however, was not the most entertaining element of the show.

Since we purchased tickets a few days before the show, we could only get singles and had to sit separately. As it turned out, Garv was in a balcony...I was in the fourth row dead center!...and LG was in the front row!  Or so we thought.  About five minutes before show, someone showed up with a ticket for my seat.  I didn't have my ticket because for some strange reason, the usher takes your ticket when you're seated (it's Chile, so don't ask).  So I go over to LG and tell her we had a problem.  So we rush up to the usher.  She tries to help us, but realizes they'd sold two tickets to the same seat.   In the meantime, someone else sits in LG's seat!  Obviously, the online system and ticket office weren't aligned...Chileans are not fond of efficient systems.  Alas, amazingly, the "jefe" somehow knows that there are two open seats in the twenty-fifth row so LG and I sat together. 

22. Cerro Santa Lucia: This is the smaller of two hills in Santiago and is in the heart of downtown.  Geographically, Santiago is hemmed in between two mountain ranges and it's a city of six million.  Thus, smog is a huge problem.  Since I'd arrived Chileans had told me I needed to wait until after it rained because the views would be amazing.  So the day after it rained, LG and I walked to the top of Cerro Santa Lucia and had this view:

23. The Fault in Our Stars: Garv and LG had wanted to see it so we did.  It was in English with Spanish subtitles so it wasn't a problem watching it.  John Green can write.  His interpretations of history, however, are not as good as his writing for young adults.  (Those last two sentences are strictly for the purpose of my history classes.)

24. Pre-Columbian Museum: See the Tuesday, July 8 part of this post.

25. Germany vs Brazil
26. Netherlands vs Argentina

See this post for both of the above. I was hoping these two would be higher.  I thought it would be better watching soccer in South America.  But then, I forgot, that soccer is boring.  I know there are lots of people on the soccer band wagon, but baseball has devoured all of my boring sport quota.

27. The Mall:  Chile has awesome malls.  I didn't buy anything because everything is more expensive in Chile except wine or beer.  It's a lightly populated country a significant distance away so that's why everything is so expensive.

28. Karaoke:  See #11 in this post.

29. Market Tour
30. Patrimonial Tour

The company that does the "Good Morning, Santiago!" tour, Spicy Chile, has two other walking tours.  The first one was a tour of the markets.  They're permanent farmers' markets where you can buy fish, meat, spices, vegetables, fruits, froot loops (yes, they have giant barrels of cereal), and paper products.  It's the grocery store.  Though they have regular grocery stores, too.  We probably didn't need a tour guide.  But I did have the obligatory Coke made with sugar rather than corn syrup.

For the Patrimonial Tour, we needed a guide, but he or she didn't show up.  We followed the route on the map but we needed narration to understand the significance of where we were.

31.  Santiago Public Library, National Library, National Archives

There wasn't anything very substantive here (at least in English) except this awesome map of the Americas in the 1860s.  But LG and I did take these pics outside the Santiago Library.  And I had eXpresso at lunch:

32. Fine Arts Museum

33. Moneda Cultural Center

DO NOT let post-modernists get a hold of anything or they'll fuck it up.  See the July 9 portion of this post.

34. Hotel Adventure: See #3 and #4 in this post. Do a Google search of the town you're planning on staying in.  And reserve a room before leaving on the trip.

FINAL (or not so final) THOUGHTS

Iowa is an awesome state.  When I was at Ole Miss I was the biggest homer ever.  Many Iowans are proud of their state.  Non-Iowans are either misinformed (Do you drive your tractor to work? har har har.  Is that where they grow potatoes? uh duh) or ignorant about Iowa.  Iowans, therefore, are very eager to show off their state and have outsiders see what we love about Iowa (that's one of the reasons Iowans love RAGBRAI).  Iowans want Texans, New Yorkers, Californians, Massachusettsians, Connecticutians, etc to regard Iowa positively.  So Iowans bombard them with the question "What do you think of Iowa?"

In Chile, the same phenomenon is in operation.  Chileans are very proud of their country, which they think is great, but others are often misinformed or ignorant of it.  They want to show it off, especially to Americans.  So I was asked frequently "What do you think of Chile?"  The answer to both of those questions is somewhat hard for the outsider to answer.  They're both great, but it's hard to articulate the justification for that answer.  Is Chile as incredible as Italy or France?  No.  Is Iowa as incredible as New York or California?  No.  Both Iowa and Chile, however, have a simplicity to them that is incredibly appealing, especially if someone is looking for simplicity in their daily lives. After moving back from Mississippi, my observation about Iowa was that it was easy to live there.  I think the same can be said about Chile.  Though that may not wow the outsider, over time, it makes both places great, especially for the people from there.

European Highlights (2013 Trip)

European Highlights: July 26-August 10, 2013

Introduction
For many summers, I had been saying that THIS was the summer I would go to Europe. This summer, I didn’t say that and I went. I had planned on traveling somewhere because I had a window between July 25 and August 11 in which to travel. In early July, I noticed that Contiki, a travel company for eighteen to thirty-five year olds, had a special on a trip in my available window. So I booked it because I wanted a guided tour for my first trip to Europe. It was a sprint through Europe and I saw many “highlights.”

Itinerary
Friday, July 26: Travel day: DSM-ORD and ORD to Heathrow.
Saturday, July 27: See London. Stay in London.
Sunday, July 28: Travel to Paris via the Dover to Calais ferry. See Paris. Stay in Paris
Monday, July 29: See Paris. Stay in Paris.
Tuesday, July 30: See French countryside. Stay near Lyon in a frat house that was purportedly a sixteenth-century chateau.
Wednesday, July 31: See Avignon. Go to the Beach. Stay in Antibes.
Thursday, August 1: See Nice. See Monaco. Stay in Antibes.
Friday, August 2: See Pisa. See Florence. Stay in Florence.
Saturday, August 3: See Florence. See Rome. Stay in Rome.
Sunday, August 4: See Rome. Stay in Rome.
Monday, August 5: See Venice. Stay in Venice.
Tuesday, August 6: See Munich. Stay in Munich.
Wednesday, August 7: See Dachau concentration camp. See Rhine Valley. Stay in small German town.
Thursday, August 8: See small Dutch towns. See Amsterdam. Stay in Amsterdam
Friday, August 9: See Amsterdam. Stay in Amsterdam.
Saturday, August 10: Travel Day. AMS-ORD, ORD-DSM, Drive back to Boji.

Ranking of cities
1. Paris: Some cities have monuments. Paris is a monument. It is a grand city and the square mileage of the city that is covered with eighteenth and nineteenth-century buildings is amazing. I can’t wait to reread David McCullough’s The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris now that I know some of the places he’ll be talking about.
2. Venice: What city will be destroyed first? Venice? New Orleans? Amsterdam? Seoul? Damascus? My money is on Venice. But it’s an amazing city…
3. Rome: You walk down the street and turn the corner and there’s something ancient. Then you turn the corner and there’s a gelato store. And then something ancient. Then some more gelato.
4. Florence: Some historians say that there was not a Renaissance or that its influence was very limited. If they haven’t been to Florence, they need to go. If they have, then they need to go again.
5. Nice: I laid out on the rock beach and swam in the Mediterranean. I liked the rocks much better than sand.
6. Amsterdam: It’s known for the red-light district, at least among young tourists, but I preferred the other areas of the city.
7. Munich: The city is relatively modern since most of it was bombed in WWII. They drink beer by the liter.
8. London: It’s low on the ranking primarily because I arrived there at 10:00 in the morning without much sleep. So I was not able to experience the city fully.
9. Cairo and Athens: I didn’t actually visit Egypt or Greece, but from the amount of Egyptian and Greek statues and artifacts in Paris, London, and even Rome, I wonder how there’s anything left in Egypt or Greece.

Great Experiences (ranked in order)
1. Colosseum and Forum in Rome: There’s a line from Gladiator in which one of the slaves says “I cannot believe men could build such things.” Even today, that line is true.
2. Wine, baguette, and crepes at a French Café: Of all the things I did in Paris, this was the most Parisian thing I did. Though the waitress was surprised I wanted wine instead of coffee at 9:30 in the morning. It was peaceful and I felt very refined and cultured. After reading #3 below, you’ll understand why France and Germany fought three wars between 1870 and 1940 and Germany won them all.
3. German Beer Hall in Munich: In 1929, Georges Clemenceau, the prime minister of France during WWI, wrote his memoir, Grandeur and Misery of Victory, which was then published posthumously. In it, he wrote that” I have sometimes penetrated into the sacred cave of the Germanic cult, which is, as every one knows, the Bierhaus. A great aisle of massive humanity where there accumulate, amid the fumes of tobacco and beer, the popular rumblings of a nationalism upheld by the sonorous brasses blaring to the heavens the supreme voice of Germany, Germany above everything! Men, women, and children…drink in long draughts the celestial hope of vague expectations.” Obviously, he wasn’t impressed. I was. I loved it. It was a lot of Germans sitting at picnic tables drinking massive amounts of beer—just like Remsen.
4. Unnamed small town in Germany: I thoroughly enjoyed the simplicity. We had a wine tasting. Then I walked around town. Then I had some wheat beer (in Germany, you have three choices: beer, dark beer, and wheat beer).
5. British Museum: One of the most brilliantly conceived books I’ve ever read is A History of the World in One Hundred Objects. In it, Neil MacGregor, the director of the museum uses one hundred objects to illuminate a particular aspect and area of world history. I teach about ten of the objects in class so I spent my time race around the museum taking pictures of these objects. I needed three days to see everything. I had an hour.
6. Louvre in Paris: It’s lower ranked because the British Museum had no admission price. I needed three days to see everything. I had three hours. But I did see Napoleon’s Coronation and a lot of people looking at the Mona Lisa.
7. The streets of Nice: They were more like alleys, but it amazed me the number of restaurants and shops there were.
8. Dachau: This was a German concentration camp near Munich. It was rather harrowing to see the crematorium.
9. Swimming in the Mediterranean: We swam in the evening as the sun went down. The air was hot and humid and the water was warm.
10. Wine at a café in Florence: For some reason, the group activity on our evening in Florence was to go to…a karaoke. WTF. So I went to café with a girl from Massachusetts and we drank wine. Much better.
11. Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: Another museum! But when I go to American cities I have two places I want to see: a baseball game and the major art museum. So obviously, I was going to do that in Europe. Normally, I don’t enjoy Dutch art when I see it in American museums, but there’s a reason for that…the Dutch kept all of the good stuff in the Netherlands!
12. Vatican: Some people in our group saw the Pope make an unannounced appearance. I was still at the Forum.
13. Avignon, France: The Pope (or at least one of the Popes) lived here from 1309-1417. The fortress was much bigger than the cathedral. Obviously, the Italians weren’t happy about him living there.
14. Fountainebleu, France: This is a huge estate that a French king had built for his MISTRESS. It is amazing. It was a brilliant move by the king as women then competed with each other to be his official mistress. Yes, the kings of France had an official mistress. I didn’t get to go to Versailles so I can’t imagine what that’s like. No wonder the French destroyed the monarchy.
15. Tower of London: The Tower of London was the home of the British kings the same time that the Popes were in Avignon. The Popes were clearly more powerful.
16. Tourist Trap #1: Perfumery in Antibes: This is ranked as high as it is because the French woman explaining perfume to us looked exactly the way I would imagine a French woman explaining perfume to us would look. Of course, I didn’t have my camera.
17. Tourist Trap #2: Leather Shop in Florence. This is ranked as high as it is because the Italian woman explaining leather to us looked exactly the way I would imagine an Italian woman explaining leather to us would look. Of course, I didn’t have my camera.
18. Dover to Calais Ferry: This was my biggest surprise. The ferry was huge. It had almost everything—café, restaurant, bar, arcade, gambling, shopping, an observation deck that provided justification for bringing a jacket to Europe.
19. Tourist Trap Meals #1: French Cuisine in Paris: The food was really good, the wine was really good, and the atmosphere was great.
20. The French amusement park: This near our campground in Antibes (French Riveria). It reminded me Arnolds Park except their rides were much more dangerous. And there were pictures of naked women on the rides. Seriously. The French are not uptight.

Mediocre Experiences
21. Heineken Expierence: Just another brewery. Heineken dominates the European beer market. And it’s a really good beer.
22. Leaning Tower of Pisa: During the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, Pisa thrived economically. Then the river it’s on dried up diminishing economic activity. Now it’s a shithole. The Leaning Tower is a very apt metaphor for the city.
23. Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steppes: Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I’m not sure what the big deal was.
24. Tourist Trap #3: Stein shop: At least the guy here gave us the straight up sell job, skipping over the demonstration. And yes, he looked exactly the way I would imagine a German guy explaining beer steins to us would look. Fortunately, I didn’t have my camera.
25. Tourist Trap #4: Clog and cheese shop: At least I got to eat a lot of really good cheese.
26. Tourist Trap #5: Munich Bike Ride: At least the tour guides were funny and we ended it at a beer garden.

Sucky Experiences
27. Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco: High class casinos aren’t as interesting as casinos in, say, Emmetsburg. At least the drive from Antibes to Monaco was really cool.
28. Tourist Trap #6: Small Dutch town Bike Ride: I think we rode about a mile and it cost us about three hours of time we could have spent in Amsterdam.
29. Tourist Traps Meals #2: Italian Cuisine in Florence. The food was fine, but not worth whatever we paid for it.
30. Tourist Trap Meals #4: Chinese food in Amsterdam. The food was mediocre. The Chinese in Iowa was much better. And if you’re wondering why we ate Chinese in Amsterdam, it’s because the Dutch dominated Asian trade in the 17th century.
31. Security at the Amsterdam Airport: Let’s just say that Europeans don’t have a 4th amendment.
32. Clubbing: It was a group activity in Paris, Florence, and Amsterdam. I only participated in Paris. I couldn’t hear or see a thing and it gave me a headache. Did I mention I was the oldest person on the tour—tour manager and bus drive included?
33. Eiffel Tower at night: This needs to be experienced with a woman.
34. Sex show in Amsterdam: There are people having sex right in front of you or doing other grotesque things. It was stupid and gross and I wasn’t entertained or turned on. The people having sex didn’t look like they were having fun—they were just doing a job.
35. Contiki Chateau: This was a huge fucking (Sorry, Mom. Sometimes the F-bomb is the only word that will do.) disappointment. Going into the trip, I was most excited to experience wine country. Instead we’re bussed out to the middle of nowhere to the “chateau” which was a big frat house where some people got obnoxiously drunk.

My impression of European culture, society, politics, and economics
There’s a reason the British North American colonies declared and fought a war for independence: SPACE. It seems to me that everyone crams into as small an area as possible, even in small towns. I suspect it’s because there was/is not a lot of land available to the lowest four quintiles of the population.
It’s amazing the living conditions and the price of goods that Europeans will put up, but I suppose it’s all relative. Even though I really missed cold milk and air conditioning, it was a great trip. I can’t wait to go again—only this time I’m planning it on my own.

September 11

One of the reasons I love history is that while it is possible to acquire more knowledge to create a clearer picture of the past, there are always new things to learn about that expand or rearrange that picture.  Traveling to Chile has added to that picture.  In the United States, September 11 means the terrorist attacks of 2001.  In Chile, September 11 means the coup d'etat (violent overthrow of a government) of 1973.

Before visiting of Chile, here's what I knew or didn't know about the coup:
1. Chile was becoming more socialist as the government was nationalizing (a government takeover of a private business or corporation) industries.  I didn't know who the president was.
2. It was replaced by a dictatorship led by Pinochet.  I didn't even know his first name.
3. The US, particularly Nixon's secretary of state Henry Kissinger and the CIA, was somehow involved.
4. Hard-core leftists (especially those who would consciously describe themselves as Marxists) in the US really hate (hate might not be a strong enough word) Kissinger because of the Chilean coup.
That's it.  That's all I knew, which is almost nothing.

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The touristy things that Lindsay and I did that prompted this particular post were one of the first and one of the last things we did in Santiago.  On Monday, July 7, we did a walking tour of Santiago (the subject of a previous blog post) which started at the statue of Salvador Allende, the president of Chile who was overthrown and killed/committed suicide on September 11, 1973.  On Thursday, July 17, we visited the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, which was dedicated to the horrors of the seventeen year dictatorship that followed the coup.

Allende Statue Outside La Moneda

'

Entrance to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights

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The drive from the airport to Garv's apartment offers a stark contrast in worlds.  Near the airport are shanty-towns of shack after shack (I didn't get a picture), common to all Latin American cities .  Garv, however, lives in an area of Santiago called Las Condes which the safest and cleanest area of any huge city I've been to.  Las Condes is the financial center of Chile and is nicknamed Sanhattan.  There are a lot of wealthy retired Chileans and expatriates living and working there temporarily.  And both of these areas are much different than Santiago's downtown.

The view of Las Condes from their terrace at night.

The view of Las Condes from their terrace during the day.

It was the huge disparity between poverty and wealth that Salvador Allende tried to alleviate when he was elected in 1970.  Allende was the first socialist democratically elected in the Western Hemisphere (Castro had violently seized power in Cuba in 1959).  His primary objectives were to nationalize the copper mines (which were partially owned by US companies) and health care, redistribute land, and provide free education.  However, the economy tanked during the three years of his presidency mostly because of decline in the world copper market, spiraling inflation, price controls, and mandatory wage controls.  Basic food commodities increased in price dramatically and could only be found on the black market since his regulations had failed.  Allende had campaigned and governed on the basis of ending foreign influence in Chile and empowering the people and workers.  Instead, his policies wrecked Chile's economy, like Marxist policies always do.

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I love political ads.  I'm serious.  You should love them, too.  What's the alternative?  Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety.  Stalin.  Hitler.  Etc. In these systems, political opponents were harassed and treated violently.  There were no elections or elections were rigged.  Secret police were a common threat.  Governments changed by coup d'etats or assassinations rather than through elections.  So learn to love them Iowans, because you're going to continue seeing a lot of them.  And we're lucky it's possible to so openly, blatantly, and publicly critique public officials.

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Because the nationalization of industries and redistribution of land, Allende's opponents wanted him out of office.  He proposed a national referendum (an election) on whether to remove him or not, but his opponents wanted to ensure that he was removed from office.  On September 11, 1973, Chile's government was overthrown.  Tanks rolled in and airplanes bombed things and they took over the Moneda and everything.  You can Youtube "Chile Coup" and to see news coverage from the period and retrospectives from today.


It's surreal that something like this happened so recently.  It's surprising that Chile isn't completely fucked up today, especially since it subsequently endured seventeen years (1973-1990) of a dictatorship under Agosto Pinochet filled with executions, assassinations, torture, disappearances, and suspension of civil rights.  Anyone my age and older lived through the dictatorship and have memories of it.  According to Garv, however, it's not something Chileans talk about because there are very strong feelings about it.

There's a huge debate on whether Allende was assassinated or committed suicide on the day of the coup.  I'm not sure, and frankly, it only matters if one's concerned with how Allende looks in the historical record and the popular culture.  I'm not sure how he's regarded in the historical record because I've only read one book about Chile.  In popular culture, however, there seems to be at least a segment of the population that regards Allende very highly.  Allende's glasses, in particular, have become a symbol of him as his broken glasses came to represent the coup while his glasses have come to represent the end of the dictatorship.

Allende's glasses in the Museum of National History

Example of an Allende T-shirt Common in Museum Gift Stores

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One of the most interesting aspects of Chile's interpretation of the coup and dictatorship was that there was no mention of the US's role.  Obviously, my searching for a mention of the US's role is an example of my American-centrism.  To most Chileans, the coup was mostly a Chilean event, which it was.  But the coup and the US's role in it was also an example of a hot war in the Cold War.  Most Americans are aware of the Korean War and Vietnam War but they may not know why the US fought there--to stop the spread of communism.  Americans are aware of US intervention there because they involved large-scale military intervention.  Many Americans, however, are not aware of CIA sponsored or assisted coups: Iran in 1953 (to prevent the nationalization of oil companies--that's the reason Iran hates us so much today); Guatemala in 1954 (to keep Chiquita bananas under American ownership); Cuba in 1961 (the Bay of Pigs failure); and, of course, Chile in 1973 are the most well-known.  In each case the CIA wanted to remove a leader so as to prevent the spread of communism, but in exchange the US supported a dictator because, hey, a right-wing dictator is better than a left-wing leader nationalizating oil fields, banana plantations, copper mines, or the whole frickin country.  The extent of the US's role in Chile is hotly debated, though the US did have a role. But whatever the case, the major problem with the Cold War is that the US and USSR used other countries for their ideological battles.  However, as indicated by the lack of mention of the US's role in Chile's interpretation of the coup, within these countries the battle was not about the geopolitics of the Cold War, but instead a political, social, economic, and cultural contest within those countries where the people are looking out for their own welfare, not to color in their country red or blue on a map.

Skiing in July! July 16, 2014

July 16 in the southern hemisphere is like January 16 in the northern hemisphere.  However, Santiago is much warmer in the winter than Iowa.  In fact, there have been a few afternoons when highs were in the sixties and Lindsay and I could sit outside on the their terrace and work on our tan (this was helped in part due to direct sunlight and a little bit of a greenhouse effect because of the layout of their terrace).  So even though it's winter here, it's more like a California winter since Santiago is at 33* S latitude and Los Angeles is at 34* N latitude.

July 16 was a national holiday since it was the feast day of the Virgen del Carmen, the patron saint of Chile.  We were fortunate enough that one of Garv's co-workers lined up a ski outing for half price--transportation, equipment rental, and lift tickets for $120 a piece.

Our morning started at 7:00 when the rest of the group--Diego and some other of Garv's co-workers and their girlfriends--arrived at Garv and Lindsay's apartment.  The van driver was supposed to pick us up at 7:00.  He arrived an hour late at 8:00, which is very common in Chile and drives Garv nuts (it would drive me nuts, too, if I lived here).  Our first stop was the equipment rental shop which was in Santiago.  It was not efficiently run, which is also very common in Chile and drives Garv nuts (it would drive me nuts, too, if I lived here), and after a little over two hours or procuring gear, we were finally on our way.

To reach snow, you have to climb a considerable distance to the mountains.  Santiago is at about 1700 feet, slightly higher than the highest elevation in Iowa.  The base of our ski resort, La Parva is at 8700 feet.  So we had 7000 feet of climb.  Several other ski resorts are located in that area because it is the lowest possible elevation at which there is enough snow to ski.  If you look closely at the next two pictures you can see where the snow line is.

We reached the resort at about noon and quickly hit the slopes.  Because of the package we got, we were restricted to only a portion of the mountain, but that was just fine because there were about five runs that suited my skill level  just fine (in the past, I've been able to do blacks on mountains--for this adventure we only had access to greens and blues, but that was okay for one day, especially since I haven't skied for ten years).

I generally skied by myself since no one else had very much experience though I had a few adventurous runs with Garv and Lindsay. I was pretty happy with how I did.  I could still ski pretty well, I didn't get too tired, and most importantly, I didn't fall once while skiing (I did fall a couple times just standing around or trying to help Garv up).

At 5:00 pm, the lifts closed down so we packed up the van, wound our way down the mountain, returned the equipment, arrived back at the apartment at 8:00, and devoured water, pizza, and beer.

I really enjoyed this experience...skiing in July, in a different country, and in a different hemisphere.  I hadn't skiied since 2005 in Alaska and it's a shame because it's something that I really like to do.  It seems that I need to get a few thousand miles away before I go skiing when Mt. Kato is only 80 miles away...

El Cuadro Winery: July 13, 2014

Sunday, July 13, 2014

I'd never been to a winery outside of Iowa. Sunday morning, Lindsay did a little research and discovered that from Vina del Mar back to Santiago we'd be going through an area with a bunch of wineries.  She found one that looked good and was open on Sundays so we went.  It was an awesome experience and also helped me make some intellectual connections.

1. We went to El Cuadro winery in the Casa Blanca valley between Santiago and the Pacific coast.  The grounds are immaculate.  Garv and Lindsay informed me that this is what the California wineries look like, too.

2. El Cuadro has the most awesome logo ever--a very early and Eastern version of the Greek god Dionysus parading around a bunch of wine.  If I was in charge of a winery, this is the logo I would have selected!

And if I had to choose a wooden carving inside the entrance of a winery, this is the carving I would have selected!

With Dionysus--or at least an early version of Dionysus.

And if I had to choose a wooden carving for inside the gift shop, this is the carving I would have selected!

With a satyr

Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, wine making, and grape harvesting and he represented chaos, instinct, disorder, and ecstasy.  He was celebrated during festivals that included parades, tragedy and comedy competitions, and drunkenness.  I like the more feral and virile version of Dionysus (pre 600 BC; seen above) that the winery used much better than the effeminate and almost androgynous imagery that Classical Greek (600-300 BC) and Renaissance sculptors used (seen below).  Satyrs, seen in these images, were little helpers of Dionysus and they were originally hyper-sexual as seen above. They would later take on the more human characteristics that is seen in the images of Dionysus.

A less animalistic and sexually evocative Dionysus and Satyr

The main reason I was so excited about the Dionysus and satyr carvings  is that I teach a lesson in which I contrast the characteristics of Dionysus--wine, chaos, etc--with those of Apollo.  So I'll get to use some of these pictures in class! Apollo was the god of a lot of things--music, poetry, medicine, colonization, dance, and intellectual inquiry.  Apollo, most importantly, represented order in contrast to Dionysian disorder.  I like demonstrating the juxtaposition between these two Olympian gods in order to help students understand the sometimes confusing elements of human nature.  How can someone who is can normally be completely logical and rational (like me, 99% of the time) become completely irrational (like me during Hawkeye sports)?  We have all varieties of science and social science to explain this, but the Greeks (though extremely scientific for their time) did not.  They had Apollo and Dionysus to explain why humans vacillated between orderliness and chaos.

3. Whoever purchased or commissioned the carvings for this winery has a great sense of humor.  You might notice above that the satyr is in the gift shop with his hand out asking for money--very clever though I didn't fall for it.  Also, there were pictures of Adam and Eve with wine--after eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, of course.

4.  Oh yeah, the wine.  It was excellent, especially the Sauvignon Blanc.  Sauvignon Blanc is the only white that I like and this was one of the best I've ever had.  I typically don't buy Sauvignon Blancs  because it's too risky--they are either excellent or they taste like bad grapefruit juice spiked with vodka.  Fortunately, El Cuadro's was top-notch.  We also tried a Syrah, which was their signature wine.  It was okay, but not that great.  Garv talked the wine-tasting leader guy into trying a Cabernet Sauvignon which was much better than the Syrah.  I bought a Sauvignon Blanc and a Carmenere which I will be bringing back.  Garv bought a Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon which I don't know what he'll be doing with.

5. Please indulge me with this mini-essay: "Alcohol Tours as a Metaphor for Economic Eras"  (Lindsay asked me why I was writing all of this so I told her: "It's my blog and I can write whatever the hell I want to.")

At the University of Iowa, the late Ken Cmiel, in the second half US history course, suggested that the history of Anheuser-Busch provided a great metaphor to explain the industrialization of the United States after the Civil War.  Before railroads, beer had been produced locally because it was cumbersome, heavy, and likely to leak or spoil.  The railroad changed all of that.   Beer could be produced in one place and shipped to all parts of the country. It was able to become a large company that had the raw materials shipped to St. Louis via rail and then distributed the product across the United States.  Anheuser-Busch, because of their product, production techniques, and distribution system, then built a national and international brand (Budweiser is usually the only American beer one can find outside North America).  

It was one paragraph in a lecture, but for some reason it has stuck with me for nearly fifteen years.  Reflecting upon it now, it could be the basis of a great lesson because it hits on the themes of industrialization, transportation, the rise of corporations, alcohol and temperance, and invention of brands.  But bottom-line, mass-produced beer represents the industrial economy that dominated the US from 1865-2000 in which large corporations mass-produce goods, whether it's beer, pop, tv dinners, cars, vacuum cleaners, or curling irons.

Let's now think about various alcohol tours.  I've been on four brewery tours or "experiences" as some of them have come to known: Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis; Boulevard in Kansas City; Guinness in Dublin; and Heineken in Amsterdam.  I've also been to the Jack Daniels Distillery in Tennessee and the Jameson Distillery in Ireland.  They're all very similar: brewing or distilling process, branding and advertisement, free beer(!) or whiskey, and move lots of people through the tour.  It is all very industrial with the emphasis on creating a consistent product for the masses which is a perfect reflection of a factory-based economy.

Since 2000, the Western world lives in a post-industrial, information economy which is more service, information, and technology based; has a more de-centralized and less hierarchical command structure; and has increased employee autonomy.  In this type of economy, the uniqueness of the employee--and  by extension, the individual--is primary.  As uniqueness becomes more important to one's identity, a person will seek out experiences that confirm that identity.  In the world of alcohol experiences, this manifests itself in the form of microbrews and wineries.

The best example of the proliferation of microbrews is that within the last two years, two have started in Okoboji: West O Beer and Okoboji Brewing Country.  Both brew their own beer on site, have several excellent selections, let you throw peanut shells on the floor, and have great little bars.  They also offer private tastings and the such, but at places like this, the emphasis is on the uniqueness, rather than consistency, of the product.  I really like both places and what is happening in Okoboji is happening across the country in that there is rapid increase and success of microbrews.

In the Casa Blanca Valley, a minor wine-producing region of Chile, where El Cuadro is located, there are thirteen wineries (or at least thirteen wineries that paid to get put on a map) that offer some sort of experience.  I have no idea how successful the wineries, or at least the tourist part of them are, but the fact that there are so many speaks to the fact that their is a tremendous demand for the kind of experience employees in a post-industrial economy crave. Because of soil, terrain, seasonal tempatures, daily temperatures, precipitation, and many other factors, certain types of grapes grow better in certain places and results in wines particular to the winery.  Every time I visit a winery, I'm always struck by the amount of knowledge necessary to understand wine.  This makes it a drink very representative of the information age.  Moreover, the central event at a winery is tasting the different types of wine where the unique characteristics of the wine are highlighted and then enjoyed.

The experience at a big brewery tour and a winery are drastically different (though both are fun) and represent different economic eras.  Mass-produced beer and their accompanying brewery tours represents an economic era that emphasized industry and the mass production of goods for a conforming market.  Wine and wineries and craft beers and microbrews, in contrast, characterized a post-industrial, information based economy in which uniqueness is more valued.

6. Back to the blog. So the winery tour was a major success.  Eventually, I'll be rating my experiences, but the winery is definitely a contender for the top spot.  The winery, the logo, the wine, the intellectualizing...that will be hard to beat.

Selfie in front of some vines

Have I mentioned how awesome this carving is?

The Weekend on the Coast: July 11-12, 2014

For the weekend, Lindsay, Garv, Diego (one of Garv's co-workers), and I went to the Pacific Coast of Chile.  It's winter down here so the coast isn't crowded, but it's no where near as cold as as an Iowa winter so Chileans still go to the coast on weekends.  There was a lot of craziness and awesomeness this weekend, especially Friday and Saturday, so I'm going to divide the weekend into two parts. Also, instead of writing in prose, I'm going to bullet point the highlights and lowlights(?)...

1. The Trip to Zapallar, Friday, July 11, 2014
The trip from Santiago to the coastal town of Zapallar was supposed to take about one hour and forty-five minutes.  Instead it took three hours.  First, coming out of Santiago, we missed an exit because their exits here are poorly labeled.  So we had to turn around.  Before missing an exit, we paid the west-bound toll.  But then to get back to where we wanted, we had to pay the east-bound toll at the same toll plaza and then pay the same west-bound toll.  Three F-ing tolls in five minutes!  That cost us fifteen minutes and eight dollars.

The next adventure cost us an hour as crawled along the interstate because the road went from one lane to two for construction.  So not the best start...



2. Seafood in Zapallar
We found a restaurant on the Pacific.  It was a delicious--though I didn't take any pictures.  There was a Porsche parked next to us in the parking lot.  That anecdote is relevant for #3.

3. Finding a Hotel
When we set off to Zapallar, we planned to find a room in Zapallar.  Zapallar is a town of 4000 people.  There was a Porsche in the parking lot of the seafood restaurant.  Then there are these first two sentences from Fodor's Travel Guide's description of Zapallar:

"An aristocratic enclave for the past century, Zapallar doesn't promote itself as a vacation destination. In fact, it has traditionally been reluctant to receive outsiders." 

Obviously, we didn't find a place to stay as Zapallar turned out to be a place didn't want three random gringos and a Mexican-American to show up.  There was a hotel in Zapallar, and it was very nice, but there was no one there to check us in.  They probably didn't expect anyone to show up at 12:45 at night.  Since we were unlucky in Zapallar, we set out south to find a hotel.

4. The Panamerican Hotel in Quintero, Chile
After about an hour drive, we found the Panamerican Hotel in Quintero, Chile, a port on the coast.  It was probably best we drove in during the dark as the drive out of town the next morning revealed lots of sketchiness.  Quintero is an industrial chemical city so imagine the type of town and hotel you might find there. The hotel was rated "4-star," but these were Quintero and not American standards.  The room was a 1-star level.  We had to share beds that were not very big, it was not very clean, and it smelled, ummm, musty?.  The reason the hotel was a 4-star, however, was because of this:

That is from the doorway of our room--incredible view.  But it doesn't account for the fact that the interior made it made a Motel Six or even Joe Schmoe's Budget Motel seem paradisical.

5. The Drive Along the Coast: Concon, Renaca, Vina del Mar, and Valparaiso
Saturday, July 12, 2014
On Saturday morning we made our way down the coast through resort towns until reaching Valparaiso, a major port in Chile.  It was a gorgeous drive and helped us forget about the previous night's accommodations.  Below are some of the pictures we took at the stops:

6. Traffic Stop in Valparaiso
Immediately after entering Valparaiso we were unluckily stopped at a random road block.  Naturally, the carabineros (Chilean police) had a lot to digest with four foreigners in a rental car. There were two things that really confused them.   Diego rented the car and drove.  He has dual citizenship in the US and Mexico and that really threw them.  But what REALLY confused them was that on his Iowa driver's license and his passport card (for citizens who travel from the US to Mexico or Canada frequently, they can get a passport card the size of a driver's license), he only had one last name.  They wanted to know why his second last name wasn't on his documentation.  He had to explain over and over that in the US, we only used ONE last name!  Eventually it took long enough that their shift ended or they had fulfilled their bureaucratic obligation or whatever so they let us go and took down the roadblock.  Why was the lack of a second last name (one's mother's maiden name--so I would be Anthony Michael Klein-Dunn) such a big deal? Because in Chile, one's family, school, parish, and neighborhood are very important and says a lot about someone.  It's even very important in getting a job.

  What would they be able to tell from an American's second last name? Who knows?  I guess it's just a habit for them.  Throughout the questioning, we weren't really worried--we just wondered what they were doing because all of the discussion between Diego and the police were in Spanish.  But as Diego informed us about what was going on, we couldn't help but laugh.  Four foreigners in a rental car?  No big deal.  The US Federal government and the state of Iowa only includes one last name on official forms of identification.  That's a big deal.

7. Boat Ride
We make it to Valpo, parked, and headed toward the port to check out the huge cargo ships (like the one in the background, not the smaller ones in the foreground).

While checking out the huge shipping vessels, we were quickly accosted by hockers selling boat rides in the harbor.  For $60 total, we could get a private ride on a smaller boat, which we quickly agreed to.  Below is our boat:

Here we are on the boat:

Here are some sea lions, which like to sun themselves in some places I wouldn't expected.  According to our guide, they can jump six feet out of the water.  And we got within six feet of them...

And here's part of Chile's naval fleet.  You can see three ships: one bought from the US Navy, one bought from the Dutch navy, and one bought from the British navy.  Side note: in the 1880s and 1890s, Chile had a larger navy than the US.  Theodore Roosevelt changed that.  It's one of many reasons he's on Mount Rushmore.

You'll notice how calm the water was.  Apparently, it isn't always this nice in Chile in the winter but I've caught amazing weather when I was here.  Here's another picture of the tranquility, which the city of Valpo extending up the hills.

It was a calm and beautiful day on the water.  My only concern was if a sea lion would jump into our boat since we were so close to it.  Lindsay's concern was whether or not the engine would blow up since something wasn't quite right and the two guys on the boat kept messing with something.  I think it was the bilge pump that wasn't working properly.  Regardless, they got out a dime and fixed the idle so it was all good.  (That previous sentence is an inside joke that only Mom and Dad will understand.  Also, it's Garv's joke and not mine, but I found it uproariously funny.)

8. Valparaiso's Lows and Highs (Literally and Metaphorically)
Valparaiso is a rough town because it is full of sailors, stevedores, and teamsters, not necessarily known as scions of culture and erudition.  Near the port area, it's pretty rough.  I didn't take any pictures because I was scared to take my iphone out of my pocket.  But in this rougher area, we did find a restaurant called Porteno's that was being featured on national television as we walked in.  It was seafood, but it wasn't as good as the previous night.

Valpo is built on hills overlooking the harbor and it creates some really interesting urban geography.  We randomly made our way to a very nice neighborhood which offered this view of the water:

We ended our day at bar in the more touristy area on the edge of the tough part.  We wanted to catch the end of the third place match.  Here's a picture of Garv and I watching soccer.  You can tell we just started watching since we weren't bored yet.

And then here's the group toasting the end of our trip to Santiago.  And toasting cheap beer.  A pint was only $2.

In retrospect, Valpo is one of the most interesting cities based on urban geography because of the vertical zones and wish I would have given that aspect of the city more attention.

9. Best Western
After our beers in Valpo, we drove to Vina del Mar which is the next city over.  It's the resort area and we had much better luck finding a hotel.  We found a very nice Best Western that was completely westernized and got two rooms so that we could get some decent sleep (clean, towels, breakfast).  We arrived there at 7 PM, took a siesta, and then went out to eat at about ten.

10. Earthquake!
The whole trip I really wanted to eat Argentinian food which is basically lots of steak and lots Malbec.  We get to the restaurant and the power along that block is out.  So it's apparent that I won't be eating Argentinian while I'm here.  But that's ok because next summer we might do a weekend trip to Buenos Aires so I can get the real thing.

So instead we went to an Italian restaurant that was highly recommended.  The food and wine were excellent (again, no pictures!) but the highlight was the earthquake.  Before the entrees came, we feel a little shake for about five seconds and then it stopped.  Then the people in the restaurant started clapping since it was only a little one.  It was my first earthquake and was a 5.something--not as severe as the 6.1 in the northern Chile on Sunday.  I wasn't really scared because it was over before I fully processed what was happening.

11. Karaoke Bar
We finished the night at a Cuban-themed karaoke bar.  This is the only picture I took inside because images of Fidel Castro and Che Guevera annoy me and I am not going to promulgate them.

Cuban Revolutionary decor aside (and I'm sure I was the only one perturbed with the communist propaganda on the walls) it was an awesome karaoke bar.  What made this one awesome was that there was a DJ and one singer who could actually sing.  Then on the screens throughout the bar, the words would scroll so everyone could sing along (this is better because then I didn't have to listen to people who suck at singing try to sing).  And my do Chilean women love Mexican and Puerto Rican pop songs (possibly more on this in a subsequent post).  They went nuts.  We knew the origin of the songs because Diego pointed out them out to us.  The gringos, however, did not like the Spanish language songs as much and by about 2:00 AM, we'd had enough.  The Chileans probably partied for three or four more hours, but it was bed time for us in our clean, comfortable, western, and decidedly non-communist hotel rooms.