Revolver: How to be an Eco-Warrior in Santiago

Saving the world is a tricky business in Santiago. Although there are plenty of people working hard to improve environmental awareness, the majority of the population appear to think going green is something you do before you throw up after a heavy night out.

Difficult though it may be, however, it is possible to reduce, reuse and recycle in this fair city. So whether you’re a fully-fledged eco-warrior or just looking for somewhere to recycle, here’s how:

Just say no

Photo by Joanna Rozniak

Supermarket bag packers clearly believe that their plastic carriers are as fragile as fairy wings and your tins of tuna and loaves of bread are as delicate as egg shells. For this reason, they carefully place just one or two items in each bag and you leave with about 50 of the darn things. According to www.eco3r.cl, Chileans go through a whopping 3 million plastic bags in 2007.

Next time you’re in the supermarket, say no to their bags, and keep saying no when they insist. Take your own bags, pack them yourself and explain why you’re doing so in the comments book at customer services.

We love Revolver contributor Abi Wilkinson’s foldable Santiago-themed cloth bags.

Buy less stuff

My ex-boyfriend was a peso-pinching miser who scorned my tree-hugging ways, but in many ways, he was more eco-friendly than I was. I’d watch him mumbling to himself over prospective purchases — “Lo necesito? Pues, no” — and he’d put it back.

If you don’t really, really need it, don’t buy it. Use accessories to brighten up old clothes or buy second-hand from Bandera, borrow stuff from friends, take a mug to work, get inventive in the kitchen, join the library, share magazines with your mates, scrounge stationery from work, use old bills and letters as scrap paper and get things fixed rather than throw them away.

Then, when it’s time to leave town, share the love and give your stuff away. Someone you know is bound to want that BIP card, SIM, sleeping bag, half-bottle of Pisco or not-quite-ripe avocado.

Save energy

Don’t leave your TV or computer on standby, turn them off and unplug them. Buy a hot water bottle to keep warm in the winter. Boil only the water you need to make that cup of tea and do the planet (and the next tenant of your flat) a favour by buying energy-saving light bulbs. They’re available from most big supermarkets.

Recycle

Let’s be frank. On the whole, Santiago sucks at recycling.

Vitacura is the one area that is showing the rest of the city how it’s done. Their Punto Limpio between Nueva Costanera and Américo Vespucio has recycling facilities for paper, cardboard,plastic, glass bottles, aluminium tins, clothes, toner cartridges and tetra packs.

Photo by Joanna Rozniak

They’ll also take batteries and other items that are damaging to the environment off your hands. Gasp in awe and wonder here.

For the rest of us ordinary mortals, here’s a full list of recycling facilities across the city.

Mobile phones can now be recycled at most metro stations and Reciclemos y Limpiemos Chile is encouraging schools and colleges to recycle paper with an impressive incentive scheme.

Finally, don’t assume that your building is recycling those wine bottles they ask you not to throw down the rubbish chute. They probably aren’t. Take them to your nearest bottle bank instead.

Those boots are made for walking

No one will love you for adding to the smog, so walk or cycle whenever you can. Cheap bikes can often be found by searching on university notice boards, www.oxl.cl or www.santiago.craigslist.org.

If you fancy ringing your bell at angry car drivers, Critical Mass reclaim Santiago’s streets for cyclists every first Tuesday of the month. Meanwhile, the lovely people at Ciclorecrevoia close off parts of the city to cars every Sunday morning so that you can pedal, skate or walk in peace.

And if you’re heading out of town, take the bus rather than fly. It may take longer, but buses are a great way to see the country and reduce your carbon footprint.

Buy Organic and in season

Photo by Joanna Rozniak

Chile’s unusual geography means that fruit and vegetables grow in abundance here. However, if you’re tempted to buy mangoes or sweet corn in the middle of winter, make sure they haven’t been flown halfway round the world first. Prices are your guide. If they’re piling the strawberries high and selling them cheap at La Vega, chances are they’re in season.

Better yet, if you can afford it, buy organic. Biocaja bring seasonal organic veg boxes to your door for CP$9,900 per week (+ CP$2,500 delivery). To order, email biocajas@gmail.com

Clean green

Bleach and other household chemicals can be harmful to marine life. Sadly we’ve not found anywhere in Santiago that sells environmentally-friendly cleaning products, but, for ideas on making your own, take a look at ecologistas en accion (Spanish) or grist (English).

Have eco-friendly kids

Disposable nappies may be handy and save on mess but they take up huge amounts of landfill space. Chilean-designed eco nappies are available at www.agu.cl, and there’s a natty line in organic cotton baby clothes at www.ser-organico.cl.

Recycle creatively

Just because the government aren’t recycling your stuff, it doesn’t mean you can’t. Arty disco dancers can learn how to make their very own glitterballs from old CDs here,

Eco bricks, Photo courtesy Claudia Fernandez

and fashionistas can buy fab boots made from plastic supermarket bags here. The Spanish designer who makes them was inspired by the mountains of wasted plastic in — yes, you guessed it — Santiago.

Chilean artists are pretty inventive too. See who’s using what at arte chileno independiente. One artistic soul currently needs your used candles for a sculpture.

The award for the most creative use of plastic bags goes to whoever came up with the idea of building houses with them. In various parts of South America, buildings are being constructed with ‘eco bricks’ using empty plastic bottles stuffed with tightly compressed carrier bags.

Get on your soap box

Patagonia in Southern Chile is one of the most spectacular wildernesses on earth. It’s home to deep glacial lakes, pristine rivers and now a massive environmental campaign, Patagonia Sin Represas. Large-scale dam projects are planned for the area, which campaigners say would threaten eco-systems, rural farms and rivers, not to mention the tourism industry. Thousands of high-voltage towers would also be needed to bring the power to Santiago and mining projects in the north, potentially blotting 2415km of landscape. To find out more about a controversial mining project at Pasca Lama, read what our friends at Matador have to say.

And for regular info on all things green and Chilean, see Greenpeace Chile or Terram.

So, now that you know where to recycle those empty bottles of Chilean red, start making friends with the environment. She needs all the help she can get.

Note: If you know of a great environmental project we haven’t mentioned or have spotted a handy place to dispose of batteries, please feel free to add it to the comments section below.

http://www.santiagomagazine.cl/index.php/en/living/473-eco-warrior-in-santiago.html

Revolver: Music for the Jilted Generation – The Prodigy in Santiago

Photo by Solange Reyes Poblete

 “Teatro Caupolican. As fast as you can.”

Had they seen it, The Prodigy would have been proud of my entrance. Taking me at my word, the taxi driver put his foot down, yelled at dithering pedestrians as he mowed them down and narrowly avoided a head-on collision outside the venue. It was pure adrenaline and very Prodigy.

Already inside the venue were a motley crew of lithe hipsters, ageing dance fans, punks and misfits. It was a typical audience for this impossible-to-pigeon-hole band who make rock for ravers and dance music for metal-heads. Whatever music you’re into, it’s an odds-on certainty that your mum won’t like The Prodigy.

Before the 28 October show, internet forums had been buzzing with righteous indignation at the change of venue and Primal Scream’s cancellation. But what no-one had seemed to realise was that The Prodigy don’t need support bands. They don’t need anything except a PA the size of a small country with enough bass for your face to vibrate.

The moment they stomped petulantly out onto the stage, all gripes were forgotten. Opening with World’s On Fire, Maxim worked the crowd like a psychotic fairground attendant (‘all my people of Chile, I can’t hear you!’) while Keith leapt across the stage as if suddenly released from a cage round the back. Then came Breathe with its infectious beat and snarly punk chorus and it all went off.

If Chile could somehow tap into the energy that The Prodigy produce live, all its future electricity needs could be met. While other bands speak to their fans through their lyrics, a Prodigy gig is all about the raw power and aggression of bass and beat with the amps racked up to 11. Subtle they are not.

Caupolican’s security staff looked on in bemusement as mild-mannered boys stripped to the waist, screamed at the stage and swirled their shirts around their head to Spitfire, while middle-aged men did themselves an injury busting their best moves. Bemusement turned to horror when Maxim asked the soundman to ‘give them the bass’ and a sweaty jumping mob, women included, shouted out the words to Smack My Bitch Up.

Indeed, if there had been an earthquake that night, no-one in the crowd would have noticed. With the bass loud enough to take your scalp off, several thousand heads bobbing like angry seagulls and twice as many bouncing feet, the venue quite literally jumped of its own accord.

Write in if I’m wrong, but 19 years on The Prodigy are still the best live band ever.

http://www.santiagomagazine.cl/index.php/en/music/shows-international-acts/468-the-prodigy-in-santiago.html

Blog: Cloud-spotting in Chile

photo by makelessnoise

“There’s the llama, look!”

Above me were a billion, tiny stars, shining brighter than the sequins of a Las Vegas showgirl, but no llama.

“To the left. Up a bit. Near the Southern Cross.”

Squinting hard and shivering with the cold, I scanned the skies again. Faced with such an all-singing, all-dancing celestial light-show, it seemed ungracious to be focussing on the shadows.

Then I saw it; a black swathe of cloud that looked uncannily like a llama grazing happily among the stars.

Northern Chile, with its clear dark skies is considered to be one of the best places in the world for star-gazing. It’s less well-known for its llamas. But for the indigenous Quechua/Aymara peoples of the high plateaus, the Milky Way is a mirror of life on earth. As there are few sightings of archers or water-carriers in these parts, it’s no surprise that the heavens are a veritable Noah’s Ark of foxes, armadillos and condors.

Once I got used to spotting constellations made of ‘dark stains’, I found it hard to stop. To the horror of my astronomy-loving friend, I pointed out a man riding a turtle and Bob Dylan.

As we walked further away from the lights of Pisco Elqui, I stopped dead. A huge, dark, majestic mass was taking shape in the sky. What was it?

“Is that …is that, the condor?”

“Urm, no”.

There was a long pause as my mental well-being was clearly being brought into question.

“That’s the Andes”.

www.gowander.com

Blog: South Americans, Soap Operas and Eastenders

portugal soap opera ad photo by j-cornelius

A two and an half hour wait for a new visa at Santiago’s Ministry of Immigration and Foreign Affairs needn’t be dull. You can watch TV. And what else would be on at 8.30am but a string of South American soap operas?

I have absolutely no idea what I was watching when I went there on Friday. The sound was on low and I was sharing the waiting room with what appeared to be every single Peruvian, Bolivian, Cuban and North American citizen in Santiago.

I can tell you that the first soap opera of the day involved a lot of hair-wrenching and anguished looks to camera. There was also some hair-pulling (clearly these ladies were no longer friends), a muscular man and some romping under the sheets. I think there were some horses (but not in the bed). The maid looked like she was up to no good and the daughter escaped out of the window.

Then there were some adverts in which various glamorous women appeared to be ecstatically happy as they removed stains, did sit ups, made their husband’s tea and washed their families’ clothes. This was followed by a second show which was equally as confusing.

A bunch of 30 something actors were pretending to be 15 year old school-kids. The ‘girls’ were all pouty and sultry. They’d clearly had their growth spurts early and were struggling to keep their gigantic breasts in their miniscule school uniforms. The ‘boys’ had obviously taken advantage of the home gym equipment advertised in the commercial break and had six packs you could break bricks on. Maybe they were very bad at maths and were being forced to stay on at school until they passed the trigonometry test? Whatever was going on, the sexual chemistry was compelling. Even the teachers were coming out in hot sweats.

It got me thinking and I have to wonder, what on earth do South Americans in Britain make of our soap operas? To demonstrate my point, here’s what happening back home (according to the internet):

Eastenders

Sam tells Jack she cannot accept his job offer, but ends up accepting a passionate kiss instead. As news of his visit filters out, is the game up for Owen? Zainab eats humble pie… and someone is watching Syed and Christian.

Sounds riveting doesn’t it? But wait. Here’s..

rovers return photo by spratmackrel

Coronation Street

News of Leanne and Peter’s plans to open a bar spread across the Street and an angry Liz confronted them over their plans. Will they be put off by the reaction?

 I bet South Americans in London can’t keep themselves away from the water cooler to chat about that one.

 To further ram my point home, here’s a summary I found of the season finale to the Chilean smash hit ¿Dónde Está Elisa?, a soap opera about a kidnapping based on the Argentinean show of the same name.

 Juanita Ovalle is brutally murdered by Elisa’s killer Consuelo Dominguez. After Juanita saw her throwing the murder weapon into the river, Consuelo offered to buy her silence but after being rejected by her ex-lover Raimundo, she confessed to the killing of Elisa and beat Juanita to death with a candelabra.

Ok, so British soap operas have had their moments I admit. I was glued to Brookside when Beth (of the lesbian kiss fame) and her mum buried dad under the patio. Then there was Michelle in Eastenders who had Den’s baby and Mark got Aids and Arthur stole the Christmas Club money. And who could forget Curly getting his heart broken by Raquel in Corrie?

But really, where’s the glamour? I’ve never watched ¿Dónde Está Elisa? (at least not consciously) but I don’t imagine that Juanita and Consuelo look like Peggy Mitchell and Pat Butcher…or Emily and Rita in their backstreet Salford newsagents. You’re more likely to be clubbed over the head with a pint of stout or a meat pie in Coronation Street and the school kids in Eastenders are all gangly, spotty chavs who wear puffer jackets. The only person spilling out of their bra is Pat Butcher and the only six packs on offer are the ones being drunk. Sexual intrigue comes in the form of  Fred Elliot bragging about his meat pies and Ken Barlow fumbling into bed with a bored Mancunion housewife.

There are no polo matches. There are no cruel house staff with chips on their shoulders. There’s no religious intrigue. No affairs with lusty lifeguards. No plastic surgery. Everyone is horribly normal and well..ugly.

Really, I pity any South American soap opera fans in England, I really do. My how they must miss their home-grown TV.

 

BlogCatalog

Blog: My 10 favourite places in Santiago

1. La Vega

Nowhere in Santiago feels more South American than La Vega. Wander the city centre streets with its uninspiring but earthquake-proof architecture and there’s a real feeling that you could be anywhere. Not in La Vega. Santiago’s main market, set in a shady part of town next to the murky Mapocho river is gloriously, chaotically Latin American.

Fruit and veg is piled high inside and out, sellers brag about the size of their plums, housewives are scolded for squeezing the fruit and flies buzz around the vats of olives and hunks of cheese. Foreigners may baulk at the pigs heads that look out dolefully from the butcher’s stalls but the stray cats and dogs look on longingly.

Chile grows some of the finest produce in the world and it’s all here. From creamy avocados to juicy lemons, La Vega is a cook’s dream. Dirty and oppressively busy at the weekend it may be, but I love it.

Photo by Juan Nosé

2. Lastarria

Barely more than a single street, Lastarria is home to a fine collection of bars and restaurants frequented by people who wear designer glasses and black polo necks. There’s also a decent art house cinema, a museum, a theatre, a tiny park, several boutiques and a book and antique market at the weekends. If you’re lucky, you’re also catch a glimpse of the man who sports a skirt and a headscarf and sells dolls heads from a blanket. However, I like it best first thing in the morning. When the sun glints off the cobblestones and the terracotta walls of the Veracruz church and the smell of fresh bread wafts along the street, it couldn’t be lovelier.

3. Tostaderia, Calle San Pablo (near the Central Fish Market)

I’ve got no idea what this place is called, but I fell in love the moment I saw it. In a city that serves and sells terrible coffee (we’re talking Nescafe), this little shop sells and grinds coffee beans from Brazil, Columbia and Costa Rica from behind a long wooden counter. It’s worth ordering some for the smell alone (Costa Rican is the best). Also on sale are herbs and spices, potions and powders, dried fruit and baking ingredients. Watch out for the old ladies with sharp elbows.

4. Bar El Ático, Irarrazaval 1060, Ñuñoa

Not only because it reminds me of home and plays the best music in the whole of the city, but because Bar El Ático is a sanctuary from reggaeton and Latin American pop. Indie as it comes, I found my people here. The Pixies, Radiohead, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and the like sound all the better when you’ve not heard them played out for a while.

 5. The terrace of Emporio La Rosa, Calle Monjitas, Parque Forestal

Two minutes from home is one of Santiago’s most popular ice-cream parlours. It’s not my favourite (you can read where is here: http://natashayoung.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/ice-cream-heaven-we-know-where-it-is/), but the ice-cream is darn good and it’s in a great spot. By some weird quirk of weather or geography, the sun always seems to be shining here. Chocolate and Chilli Ice-cream, newspapers and sunshine is one hell of a mix.

6. The General Cemetery

Not because once a goth, always a goth, but because you can learn more about Santiago’s culture and painful history here than a year spent talking to Chileans. It’s a flower-filled oasis of calm here too, albeit busy with families picnicking around the graves of loved ones at the weekend. I went on the night-time tour for Revolver back in the autumn (http://natashayoung.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/revolver-gravespotting-%e2%80%93-more-weird-ways-to-spend-the-weekend/) and paid homage to folk-legends Victor Jara and Violeta Parra. Perfect for history buffs.

 

7. Mimo’s Hairdressers, Mosqueto, Bellas Artes 

High on entertainment value, Mimo’s is an institution. Run by a crazy Argentinean named Miguel, this man really knows how to cut hair. Judging by his constant stream of conversation, he also seems to know about a lot of other things as well. He once spent many minutes telling me that the left side of my hair was like the sea and that the stubborn flick of hair above my right ear was the masculine part of my personality expressing itself. He once refused to continue cutting until I’d promised to start a daily mantra that would harness my inner winner. He offers disappears for minutes at a time, returning with a violent sniff and talking ten to the dozen.

The salon itself is full of delightful misfits, who smoke like chimneys and nod along to the deafening techno. They play songs that have lyrics in English like ‘suck me hard oh yeah’ and the resident Yorkshire terrier has a purple and green fringe. As you leave, they all shout out, ‘Mira! Que linnnnnnnnda! It really is the most marvellous place.

8. Bellavista

By night, Pio Nono in Bellavista is like an English wedding gone bad. Like us Brits, Chileans appear to have an amazing capacity for alcohol but no off switch. While Pio Nono (the street that runs through the centre of the neighbourhood) is full of lurching drunks sloping Escudo over each other, two minutes away on Constitución, civilised dining goes on in expensive restaurants. It’s as chaotic as Soho, with live folk venues fighting for space alongside neon lit clubs, hot dog joints and salsa hangouts. During the day, Bellavista is great for graffiti spotting. If you’re lucky, you might catch an old crooner singing ballads on the stage behind the Feria at the weekend.

9. Centro Arte Alameda

You just don’t get cinemas like this anymore in England. Independent films in a quirky space that often has design fairs, gigs and club nights too.

10. The Swimming pool on Cerro San Cristóbal

Stupidly expensive and only open for a few months of the year, but by god what a view. Surrounded by the Andes and jaw-dropping vistas of the city on clear days, I’d go every day if I could.

 So, those are mine. What are yours?

Now also published at Matador: http://matadortrips.com/my-10-favourite-places-in-santiago-de-chile/

Blog: Chasing cars with Guapo

Photo by Sophieatkins Flickr

Guapo, a German Shepherd cross who lives outside my local bar in downtown Santiago, likes car chases, especially when they involve taxis. In fact, the only thing he enjoys more than tearing after passing vehicles and trying to sink his teeth into their tyres, is barking at men. Male taxi drivers give Guapo a very wide berth.

Dressed for the winter in a red fleecy coat and with a blanket to sleep on, Guapo has been semi-adopted by Bar Sycosis. They tolerate him occasionally taking a dislike to the male clientele and give him food, water and affection. Regulars take bets on which motorist or passing male pedestrian he’s going to terrorize next.

One of thousands of street dogs in Chile, Guapo is luckier than most. Un-neutered, un-vaccinated and largely unloved, stray dogs are everywhere. Sold in pet shops and given away as prizes in competitions, there’s little education about the cost, time and patience needed to keep a pet so many end up on the street when owners get bored or can no longer afford it. Animal protection legislation isn’t high on the agenda for the government here and the few laws that do exist have more bark than bite.

Some will say that Guapo and friends are better off in the street than being stuck inside all day. However, like any other extreme sport, car chasing, the de rigour canine activity of choice in this town, isn’t without risks. Although many Chileans go out of their way to pat or feed the street dogs in their neighbourhood, few can afford the vet bills when something goes wrong. Many of the dogs who snooze in the shade, fight and torment taxis around Plaza Italia sooner or later end up with sports injuries, and these go un-treated.

So, if you’re driving around Bellas Artes and see a crazy German Shepherd advancing rapidly in your rear-view mirror, go steady. The neighbourhood wouldn’t be the same without him.

For more on dogs in Santiago, see:

http://natashayoung.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/revolver-weird-ways-to-spend-the-weekend-doggy-style-in-melipilla/

Thoughts on airports: The Loneliest Walk

Photo by Wesley Fryer

On the other side of that door they’ll be hundreds of expectant faces. They won’t have much longer to wait. Any minute now, that door will open and someone they love will arrive home.

Families will be huddled together, jostling to get the first glimpse of a relative. Kids will be holding up ‘Welcome Home Daddy!’ banners with tired little arms as women discreetly check their make-up for the hundredth time. Lovesick, freshly-showered boyfriends will be waiting nervously with flowers, while excitable family pets will be straining at the leash. Old friends will look forward to catching up. Tired taxi drivers will wait for their fare and think of dinner. Mums, radiant with relief, will be anxious to hug their children as dads will secretly hope that they come through soon to save on parking. They’ll all be reunited soon.

As the door slides open, they’ll glance at your face frantically for a millisecond before moving on to scan others. You’re not the one. Not today. You and your battered bags are invisible to them. As you walk past, frantic shouts erupt around you – ‘Mira, es ella!’, ‘Mi amor!’ ‘Papi!’ – as everyone rushes forward, their arms stretched out wide. The sound of wet kisses and muffled embraces drown out the airport security announcements. The limbs of hugging families and dropped luggage block your path.

A testimony to the beauty of love, friendship and family, these are moments of pure joy.  But when you’re not home, walking out of that door into arrivals can be the loneliest walk of your life.

Matador: Ripped Knickers & Other Chilean Food You Just Have To Try

Photo by Pablodf

Dine with Chileans and you’d be forgiven for thinking that they can’t live without avocadoes or ketchup. However, look beyond the loathsome burger joints of the capital and you’ll find a staggering wealth of cheap, wholesome food that puts other countries to shame.

 Chile’s unusual geography and long straggly coast, means that fish, meat, fruit and vegetables are all in plentiful supply. Vegetarians will have an easier time of it than in neighbouring Argentina and although Chile is more expensive than Peru or Bolivia, bargains can be found at lunchtime wherever you see the ‘menu del dia’ sign.

 Street Eats

The Italiano

Despite the name, hotdogs don’t get more Chilean than this. Smothered in chopped tomato, mashed avocado and about 3 pints of mayonnaise this is Chile’s fast food of choice. Lose the avocado and you’ve got yourself a completo. Many swear by the Santiago chain Dominó.

Sopapillas

If you’re got the munchies after a night out and aren’t counting your calories, sopapillas are just the thing. Pumpkin and flour are shaped into patties before being deep fried and slathered with pebre, a delicious sauce of tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli, coriander and lemon that Chileans just can’t live without. Cheap as chips and sold on street corners everywhere, there’s also a sweet version served with sugary Chancaca sauce.

Empanadas

Popular all over South America, empanadas are pastry-wrapped portable pies similar to an English Cornish Pasty. Baked or fried and with a selection of fillings, meat based Pino is the filling of choice for locals. Aficionados head to Pomaire, a small village famous for its pottery just outside Santiago, for the stomach-expanding ½ kilo version. The best in the land (and write in if I’m wrong) are at Los Hornos de Rio Seco in Cajón del Maipo’s San Alfonso.

Comfort Food

Cazuela de Ave

A stalwart during the winter months, Cazuela is a rich, soupy casserole full of goodness that’s perfect for dunking your bread into. Chicken on the bone is cooked in a nutritious stock with hunks of pumpkin, potato, carrot and corn on the cob. True carnivores can check out the beef version, Cazuela de Vacuno.

Pastel de Choclo

Minced meat, chicken, raisins, black olives and eggs are crammed into a pie dish and then topped with a layer of creamy mashed sweetcorn and a sprinkle of sugar. It may sound weird but it tastes delicious. Every Chilean mum will tell you that hers is the best. 

Paila Marina

Seafood fans will think they’ve died and gone to heaven when they see this. Traditionally served in an earthenware bowl, every conceivable type of shellfish is thrown into this traditional seafood stew along with herbs, spices, garlic and plenty of coriander. Best eaten in the Southern coastal towns, it’s pretty darn good at El Rincón del Pancho in Valparaiso’s Mercardo Cardinal too.

Chorillana

Ooh this is dirty and wrong but it feels so right. Usually big enough for two, a massive plate of greasy chips is covered in fried strips of steak, onion and scrambled egg. Your heart will hate you but your taste buds will be begging for more. Studenty Casino Social J Cruz in Valparaiso serves the best.

 Something special

Curanto

The pride of the island of Chiloé, Curanto is traditionally prepared over hot stones in a hole in the ground. Shellfish, meat, potatoes, vegetables and potato bread and covered with nalca (Chilean rhubarb leaves) and left to cook for an hour or so while everyone knocks back a few glasses of red wine.

Veggie Delights

Humitas with Chilena Salad

Summer is the best time for veggies to come to Chile, if only to try the humitas. Made from parcels of fresh corn, onion, basil and butter, they are wrapped in corn husks and then baked or boiled. Served with a sprinkle of sugar and a tomato and onion salad (Chilena), these babies are deliciously, deceptively filling.

Porotos con Mazamorra

Chilean country-folk have a knack for cooking beans and this dish is the pick of the bunch. A warming stew made from fresh beans, pumpkin, ground corn, onion, garlic and cumin, this ‘poor man’s food’ is proof that you don’t need to be rich to eat well at the bottom of the world.

Sweet Treats

Calzones Rotos (Ripped Knickers)

Ok, so there are better desserts than this, but none with a name this good. A flat fried pastry twisted into shape and topped with icing sugar, sweet-toothed Chileans can’t resist them. Look out for the soft round pastry sandwiches filled with gooey caramel known as alfajores too. They are guaranteed to liven up long bus journeys and make great presents.

Published at Matador.org: http://matadornights.com/ripped-knickers-and-other-chilean-food-you-just-have-to-try/

http://www.matador.org/

Blog: Chile, Isabel Allende and why nobody wants to talk about Pinochet

Chile is a bewildering and surprising place. After 8 months in this skinny, mountainous land, I feel I understand it less now that I did when I first arrived.

When you move somewhere new, it’s the differences you notice. Indeed, the strange idiosyncrasies of a place and its people are what make travelling so exhilarating in the first place. Some of those differences, (like long, leisurely Spanish lunches for example), are to be embraced and taken home, while others are harder to accept or get your head round. My students have given me a real insight into how people think here and it’s not always pretty.

I thought it was just my fellow expats and I that dissected Chilean culture over glasses of red, but having just finished Isabel Allende’s joyous memoir, My Invented Country, I was surprised and delighted to discover that she had already made many of the same observations. Full of love for her homeland and her compatriots but with a fair amount of scathing insight too, it’s like a beginner’s guide to the quirks of Chilean life.

 So with Allende backing me up (in italics), here are just a few of the things that have turned my head.

1. Keeping it classy

Class matters in Chile. In England, people might take notice if you have a degree from Oxford or Cambridge (they’ll call you a swot behind your back) but other than that, a degree is a degree. Here, the university you went to, and indeed your address, says something about your status, and the better the university, the better the chance of getting a decent job.

Similarly, in English classes, Chilean students sometimes refuse point blank to pronounce the ‘sh’ sound of shop, because the same sound in Chilean Spanish would make them sound lower-class. It’s apparently the reason why so many people say they like ‘chopping’.

“Foreigners rarely catch on to how this shocking class system operates because social interchange is polite and friendly at every level… (but).. we Chileans have a well-trained eye for determining a person’s place in society by physical appearance, colour of skin, mannerisms and especially the way of speaking”.

“Not only do racism and class and/or class consciousness exist, they are as deeply rooted as molars”.

 2. Most Chilean men wouldn’t last 5 minutes in England

A student a few weeks ago told me that he’d spent the previous day ‘helping’ his wife. When I asked what with, he told me he’d helped her with the cooking and the washing-up. This was presumably her job. Many men here live with their mothers until well into their 30’s or 40’s and never lift a finger around the house. They don’t know how to iron, cook or look after themselves and stay at home as long as possible. Call them a mummy’s boy and many of them will take it as a compliment.

“When a man washes the plate he’s eaten from, he considers that he’s ‘helping’ his wife or mother and expects to be praised for his effort. Among our Chilean friends there is always some woman who will serve breakfast in bed to adolescent boys, wash their clothes and make their bed.”

3. PC is just a type of computer

Chileans call a spade a spade. To the horror of more sensitive outsiders, friends are good-naturedly called fatty (gordito), blacky (negrito) or anything else that fits. Fat bottoms are pinched and commented on and white-skinned foreigners are all ‘gringos’. Language students sit in mute incomprehension when they hear that in England the word ‘fireman’ has been replaced by the more gender-friendly ‘fire-fighter’. Telling them about word compounds like ‘able-bodied’, ‘visually-challenged’ or ‘big-boned’ would just blow their minds.

“The first time I heard the expression ‘politically-correct’ I was forty-five years old, and I have never been able to explain to friends or relatives in Chile what it means. “

 4. A voice that could break glass

A good friend of mine had the front to say that he thought all Chilean men sounded camp when they spoke. Allende even got to that one before him too.

“We Chileans have a tendency to speak in falsetto… an Englishwoman who visited in 1822 commented…. that people were charming, but that they spoke in a disagreeable tone of voice”.

5. Blondes have more fun

Chilean men lose their heads in the face of young, attractive, blondes. It’s like watching kittens rolling around in catnip for the first time. No wonder the police have so many water cannons; half of them must just get used to cool off the horny locals who hang around outside backpacker bars. Even the ugly ones set them off. I once saw two young blonde American travellers, whose faces, frankly, could be used to scare off enemy invaders, being wolf-whistled by Chilean workmen. Meanwhile a stunning Chilean girl waltzed by unnoticed. Beauty I suppose is in the eye of the beholder, or – at least in this country – in a bottle of bleach.

“Colour prejudice is so strong that if a woman has yellow hair, even if she has the face of an iguana, men turn to look at her in the street.”

 6. Loving the red tape

Why fill out one form when you can fill out 3? You want your pension money back when you leave the country? No problem, just visit these 57 different offices on Wednesday between 11.01am and 11.29am, have everything stamped and copied in triplicate, visit your embassy 3 times and you’re all set.

“The Chilean is a legal animal. There’s no better job in the country than being a public notary: we want everything on paper, sealed, with multiple copies and stamps on every page.”

7. Wacky Races

Pedestrian crossings appear to have no meaning in Chile. Drivers clearly wonder what all those stripy lines across the road are for. Seat belts too cause similar consternation and are rarely used. Driving sober at the weekend is frowned upon. Racing other cars to traffic lights passes the time.

“Chileans, become savages when they have a steering-wheel in their hands”.

 8. Kiss me

English people don’t understand greetings or farewells. We find them embarrassing and awkward. We never know whether to shake hands or kiss and often just end up nodding shyly at one another. We talk to strangers for hours before asking their name. Chileans are often affronted by our lack of social graces in such matters. Although we might kiss people the first time we meet them, we either forget to do it on a daily basis or can’t quite see the point and we definitely don’t understand kissing people we don’t like.

“Older people are kissed mercilessly, even against their will. Women kiss, even if they hate each other, and they kiss any man within reach.”

9. Love me not a tree

There’s practically no such thing as being environmentally friendly in Chile. Groceries are packed 3 items at a time into plastic carrier bags, recycling facilities are almost non-existent and foreign companies are pumping money into mining and dam projects that will obliterate the landscape. They’re even working to move a glacier to get at the minerals beneath. Worst of all, no-one seems to care.

 “Foreign companies acquired natural resources such as forests and oceans, which have been exploited with very little ecological conscience.”

 10. Don’t talk about the military coup

Chileans love to talk, except about politics. The mere whisper of the name Pinochet and the tumble weed starts to bounce silently across the room and everyone shifts uncomfortably in their seats. Occasionally, the Pinochet supporters come out of the closet when you least expect it. The other day a student floored me when she said that for her “it wasn’t a military coup, but just a change of government”.

“In Chile, people try to avoid talking about the past… it may be that the rest of the population shares a collective shame regarding what took place during the dictatorship”.

“Ways were found to ignore – or pretend to ignore- violations of human rights for many years, and to my surprise, I still find some who deny these crimes occurred.”

Santiago stencil: Pinochet is dead. Long live Chile!