Reflection
Hello my lovely friends and family. This week has been a harder one for a variety of reasons. I want to preface this post by saying that it is not a very upbeat one as this week has not been an upbeat one overall. That being said it has been one with a tremendous amount of learning and reflection on the history of an incredible country. Thank you for coming back to read Chileen in Chile :)
As more families and travelers that shared Happy House Hostel with us move out and continue on with their journeys, we remain. We are all antsy to move in with our host families this coming Saturday, to finally unpack our oversized suitcases for good, and to stop having to climb up to the top bunk (in eight of our cases). Beyond our housing situation, this week has been filled with 10 different lectures on topics of Chilean history in addition to various bus rides and field trips. Not only is it quite exhausting to sit through two hour lectures on history to begin with, it is ever more exhausting to try to understand it coming in speedy chilean Spanish. Even more as many of you know, the history of Chile, more specifically between 1973 and 1990, is not an easy one to digest.
On Monday, we had a lecture with Professor Leonardo León talking about the history of the Mapuches, the largest and most prominent indigenous population of Chile at the time of colonization (and continuing to current day). They remain famous because they were the only indigenous group in Latin America not conquered by the Spanish. Unlike smaller indigenous populations living in the central valley of Chile or even the largest empires (i.e. the Incas or the Aztecs) to the north, the Mapuche's retained a very strong border at the Bío Bío River (around present day Concepción) that was never successfully crossed by the Spanish. Even more, I have a super fun fact for you! During colonial times, Chile was less than a third of the size that it is today. The country consisted only of the central valley, stretching from the Bío Bío River in the south up to el Norte Chico (current day La Serena) in the north. The top third of the country (including the Atacama Desert) was a part of Bolivia and Peru. Bolivia didn't used to be a landlocked country! (Which continues to this day to cause tension between Chile and Bolivia). And the bottom third+ was the Mapuche land.
On Tuesday, we continued the historical discussion of Chile with Professor Luis Ortega, a historian as well as a member of the Socialist Party of Chile who worked on the campaign of Salvador Allende. We ate lunch with him in El Mercado Central, the fish market of Santiago, before walking to Plaza de Armas where we explored el Museo Histórico Nacional with Luis as our personal guide. As a lead historian and curator for the museum, he walked us through the exhibits while discussing Chile's history up to the 1973 military coup. The museum inhabits the former judiciary branch of the government, back when the central government along with the Catholic church were all located around the Plaza de Armas. One of the most interesting facts that Luis shared with us is that the Chilean Declaration of Independence does not exist anymore because soldiers forced a member of Allende's team to rip it up during the military coup as she was attempting to smuggle it out.
Similar topics were covered on Wednesday morning, and in the afternoon, we all traveled to el Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos. The museum is dedicated to the 17 year military dictatorship and the human rights violations that took place during those years. Starting with the September 11, 1973 golpe de estado (including a recording of Allende's final 7 minute long speech broadcasted from inside La Moneda, the bombing of La Moneda, and footage of Allende's body being brought out) and ending with the 1988 plebiscite that reestablished a democratic government. As we walked through, it felt very similar to my experience in the Holocaust Museum in DC. We stayed until the museum lights turned off and walked home together, partially in silence partially trying to verbalize what we had just seen. An emotionally draining afternoon lead to an early goodnight and preparation for what Thursday would bring.
We took the metro to the office on Thursday morning where we were greeted by Pedro Matta and his model of Villa Grimaldi. Throughout the morning, Pedro discussed the human right violations under the Pinochet dictatorship focusing on the torture practices that took place at Villa Grimaldi. What was once the property of an Italian businessman and the site of intellectual meetings between socialist activists and literary legends of South America (think Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Allende, and Neruda) was turned into a site of pain and murder. After going through the model, we traveled to Villa Grimaldi, located in the outskirts of Santiago in the foothills of the Andes. There, we walked through the property, where all but one of the original buildings were destroyed by Pinochet's regime in an attempt to cover their tracks. We walked through and Pedro continued to reiterate what we had learned in the morning. But in addition, he went on to discuss his personal story of how he too was tortured at this camp. I could not begin to think about the pain and horror he went through in 1975 but also how hard it must be to come back to the location and talk about it repeatedly. There was even a point of the tour in which we walked up to a poster containing headshots of all of the people working under Pinochet who worked at Villa Grimaldi, and Pedro continued to point out the three people who personally tortured him.
After lunch, we traveled with Pedro to Cementario General de Santiago. We toured the cemetery that holds more than 5 million of Santiago's past residents starting after Chile's independence. This stop was powerful for so many reasons. First of all, we were able to see the economic segregation present in the city of Santiago reflected in the cemetery. As you walk from east to west (just as if you were walking from the eastern part of Santiago to the western parts) you pass from the wealthiest tombs decorated with marble and statues -- practically mausoleums -- to the middle class simple family tombs to the burial locations of the poorest of Santiago's residents. These distinctions, just like the distinctions in the city itself, occur suddenly as you cross across the road. Secondly, we spent time at the tomb of Salvador Allende. It is incredibly simple yet beautiful, containing a carving of a portion of his final speech. Pedro began to cry as he recited the engraved words, reliving the pain of his death and the turning point of the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC8UirZLCZQ
"Trabajadores de mi Patria, tengo fe en Chile y su destino. Superarán otros hombres este momento gris y amargo en el que la traición pretende imponerse. Sigan ustedes sabiendo que, mucho más temprano que tarde, de nuevo se abrirán las grandes alamedas por donde pase el hombre libre, para construir una sociedad mejor."
"Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, great avenues will again open, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society."
The first half of yesterday gave us a respite from the week. We went to the De Martino vineyard for a tour, a tasting, and an incredible banquet lunch. It is a beautiful organic vineyard whose goal is to reduce the mechanization and artificial additions to the wine making process. We learned fun facts about how the direction the vineyards are planted makes a difference in the taste of the wine because of how much sun the grapes receive. We learned about the history of the land and the drip irrigation system and the barrels the wine is aged in. Our final stop on the tour brought us to a large warehouse room full of massive clay pots. Unlike the modern metal canisters that are used in the fermentation process (that allow for mixing and filtration and the release of CO2), the winery makes one form of wine using these clay pots. They are sealed shut for fermentation with plastic and metal and a massive pile of cement-like clay. During the tasting, we had the opportunity to try a wine made through this process and it was WILD how much of the clay pot flavor came through. Not my favorite flavor, but it was so so so interesting!
Though we did plenty more this week, I want to end my blog (because it is getting long, thanks for sticking with me) with how we ended our Saturday. After the wine tour and tasting, we drove to Paine, a rural farming town about an hour away from Santiago. Paine became famous for being the town with the highest percentage of victims in the Pinochet regime. 70 men disappeared from the town due to their involvement in the Chilean agrarian reform, their social activism for unions, and their commitment to bettering labor policy in the country. In honor of their murders, the town has a beautiful memorial. The wood beams are different sizes, representing the diversity of the town's population while also mirroring the mountain range in the background. There is a tree growing in the center of the memorial representing growth and live and rebirth. And finally, in the place of 70 wooden beams, there are 70 unique mosaics to represent each of the men taken. Each one was designed and completed by the family of the disappeared. Our visit was facilitated by two of the lead educators of the memorial, each of whom is a grandchild of one of the disappeared. We also heard from La Señora Luz, who told us the story of how her father was taken and never seen again. The most painful part of all three of these stories is the lack of justice that these families continue to live through. Only one of the three even received the remains of their loved one. La Señora Luz finished her speech in tears telling us to "gritan la historia de nosotros, la historia de los campesinos" ("shout the story of us, the story of the farmers"). This is my first shout. Share this history and learn about what happened in Chile under the US-backed military coup.
I stepped off the plane a week and a half ago with practically no knowledge about Chilean history which has made the last week ever harder and eye opening.
Thank you for sticking with me, and by next Sunday I will be all moved in to my host fam! Stay tuned!
Love,
Olivia/Liv/Boo
Recordar -- to remember
I need to give credit to Señor Fernandez for prompting this idea in during my VIth form Spanish class. When you think about "remembering" in English, you are pulling something from your mind. But in Spanish, "recordar" comes from corazón meaning heart. You are pulling something from your heart. This difference has stuck with me, and it has felt ever more present this week. So many lectures and presentations have been touched by a personal story, all coming from hearts.
As more families and travelers that shared Happy House Hostel with us move out and continue on with their journeys, we remain. We are all antsy to move in with our host families this coming Saturday, to finally unpack our oversized suitcases for good, and to stop having to climb up to the top bunk (in eight of our cases). Beyond our housing situation, this week has been filled with 10 different lectures on topics of Chilean history in addition to various bus rides and field trips. Not only is it quite exhausting to sit through two hour lectures on history to begin with, it is ever more exhausting to try to understand it coming in speedy chilean Spanish. Even more as many of you know, the history of Chile, more specifically between 1973 and 1990, is not an easy one to digest.
On Monday, we had a lecture with Professor Leonardo León talking about the history of the Mapuches, the largest and most prominent indigenous population of Chile at the time of colonization (and continuing to current day). They remain famous because they were the only indigenous group in Latin America not conquered by the Spanish. Unlike smaller indigenous populations living in the central valley of Chile or even the largest empires (i.e. the Incas or the Aztecs) to the north, the Mapuche's retained a very strong border at the Bío Bío River (around present day Concepción) that was never successfully crossed by the Spanish. Even more, I have a super fun fact for you! During colonial times, Chile was less than a third of the size that it is today. The country consisted only of the central valley, stretching from the Bío Bío River in the south up to el Norte Chico (current day La Serena) in the north. The top third of the country (including the Atacama Desert) was a part of Bolivia and Peru. Bolivia didn't used to be a landlocked country! (Which continues to this day to cause tension between Chile and Bolivia). And the bottom third+ was the Mapuche land.
On Tuesday, we continued the historical discussion of Chile with Professor Luis Ortega, a historian as well as a member of the Socialist Party of Chile who worked on the campaign of Salvador Allende. We ate lunch with him in El Mercado Central, the fish market of Santiago, before walking to Plaza de Armas where we explored el Museo Histórico Nacional with Luis as our personal guide. As a lead historian and curator for the museum, he walked us through the exhibits while discussing Chile's history up to the 1973 military coup. The museum inhabits the former judiciary branch of the government, back when the central government along with the Catholic church were all located around the Plaza de Armas. One of the most interesting facts that Luis shared with us is that the Chilean Declaration of Independence does not exist anymore because soldiers forced a member of Allende's team to rip it up during the military coup as she was attempting to smuggle it out.
el Museo Histórico Nacional
Similar topics were covered on Wednesday morning, and in the afternoon, we all traveled to el Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos. The museum is dedicated to the 17 year military dictatorship and the human rights violations that took place during those years. Starting with the September 11, 1973 golpe de estado (including a recording of Allende's final 7 minute long speech broadcasted from inside La Moneda, the bombing of La Moneda, and footage of Allende's body being brought out) and ending with the 1988 plebiscite that reestablished a democratic government. As we walked through, it felt very similar to my experience in the Holocaust Museum in DC. We stayed until the museum lights turned off and walked home together, partially in silence partially trying to verbalize what we had just seen. An emotionally draining afternoon lead to an early goodnight and preparation for what Thursday would bring.
el Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos
We took the metro to the office on Thursday morning where we were greeted by Pedro Matta and his model of Villa Grimaldi. Throughout the morning, Pedro discussed the human right violations under the Pinochet dictatorship focusing on the torture practices that took place at Villa Grimaldi. What was once the property of an Italian businessman and the site of intellectual meetings between socialist activists and literary legends of South America (think Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Allende, and Neruda) was turned into a site of pain and murder. After going through the model, we traveled to Villa Grimaldi, located in the outskirts of Santiago in the foothills of the Andes. There, we walked through the property, where all but one of the original buildings were destroyed by Pinochet's regime in an attempt to cover their tracks. We walked through and Pedro continued to reiterate what we had learned in the morning. But in addition, he went on to discuss his personal story of how he too was tortured at this camp. I could not begin to think about the pain and horror he went through in 1975 but also how hard it must be to come back to the location and talk about it repeatedly. There was even a point of the tour in which we walked up to a poster containing headshots of all of the people working under Pinochet who worked at Villa Grimaldi, and Pedro continued to point out the three people who personally tortured him.
Villa Grimaldi, today a public memorial park
After lunch, we traveled with Pedro to Cementario General de Santiago. We toured the cemetery that holds more than 5 million of Santiago's past residents starting after Chile's independence. This stop was powerful for so many reasons. First of all, we were able to see the economic segregation present in the city of Santiago reflected in the cemetery. As you walk from east to west (just as if you were walking from the eastern part of Santiago to the western parts) you pass from the wealthiest tombs decorated with marble and statues -- practically mausoleums -- to the middle class simple family tombs to the burial locations of the poorest of Santiago's residents. These distinctions, just like the distinctions in the city itself, occur suddenly as you cross across the road. Secondly, we spent time at the tomb of Salvador Allende. It is incredibly simple yet beautiful, containing a carving of a portion of his final speech. Pedro began to cry as he recited the engraved words, reliving the pain of his death and the turning point of the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC8UirZLCZQ
Tomb of Salvador Allende and family
"Trabajadores de mi Patria, tengo fe en Chile y su destino. Superarán otros hombres este momento gris y amargo en el que la traición pretende imponerse. Sigan ustedes sabiendo que, mucho más temprano que tarde, de nuevo se abrirán las grandes alamedas por donde pase el hombre libre, para construir una sociedad mejor."
"Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, great avenues will again open, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society."
The first half of yesterday gave us a respite from the week. We went to the De Martino vineyard for a tour, a tasting, and an incredible banquet lunch. It is a beautiful organic vineyard whose goal is to reduce the mechanization and artificial additions to the wine making process. We learned fun facts about how the direction the vineyards are planted makes a difference in the taste of the wine because of how much sun the grapes receive. We learned about the history of the land and the drip irrigation system and the barrels the wine is aged in. Our final stop on the tour brought us to a large warehouse room full of massive clay pots. Unlike the modern metal canisters that are used in the fermentation process (that allow for mixing and filtration and the release of CO2), the winery makes one form of wine using these clay pots. They are sealed shut for fermentation with plastic and metal and a massive pile of cement-like clay. During the tasting, we had the opportunity to try a wine made through this process and it was WILD how much of the clay pot flavor came through. Not my favorite flavor, but it was so so so interesting!
Each one of these suckers costs 15,000 euros
Clay wine on the right! So interesting how much darker it is too... (For anyone who has seen Somm, the white on the left carried hints of a freshly opened can of tennis balls)
Though we did plenty more this week, I want to end my blog (because it is getting long, thanks for sticking with me) with how we ended our Saturday. After the wine tour and tasting, we drove to Paine, a rural farming town about an hour away from Santiago. Paine became famous for being the town with the highest percentage of victims in the Pinochet regime. 70 men disappeared from the town due to their involvement in the Chilean agrarian reform, their social activism for unions, and their commitment to bettering labor policy in the country. In honor of their murders, the town has a beautiful memorial. The wood beams are different sizes, representing the diversity of the town's population while also mirroring the mountain range in the background. There is a tree growing in the center of the memorial representing growth and live and rebirth. And finally, in the place of 70 wooden beams, there are 70 unique mosaics to represent each of the men taken. Each one was designed and completed by the family of the disappeared. Our visit was facilitated by two of the lead educators of the memorial, each of whom is a grandchild of one of the disappeared. We also heard from La Señora Luz, who told us the story of how her father was taken and never seen again. The most painful part of all three of these stories is the lack of justice that these families continue to live through. Only one of the three even received the remains of their loved one. La Señora Luz finished her speech in tears telling us to "gritan la historia de nosotros, la historia de los campesinos" ("shout the story of us, the story of the farmers"). This is my first shout. Share this history and learn about what happened in Chile under the US-backed military coup.
Paines memorial
I stepped off the plane a week and a half ago with practically no knowledge about Chilean history which has made the last week ever harder and eye opening.
Thank you for sticking with me, and by next Sunday I will be all moved in to my host fam! Stay tuned!
Love,
Olivia/Liv/Boo
Recordar -- to remember
I need to give credit to Señor Fernandez for prompting this idea in during my VIth form Spanish class. When you think about "remembering" in English, you are pulling something from your mind. But in Spanish, "recordar" comes from corazón meaning heart. You are pulling something from your heart. This difference has stuck with me, and it has felt ever more present this week. So many lectures and presentations have been touched by a personal story, all coming from hearts.
Dear Olivia, you recount an emotionally exhausting time, learning first-hand about the impact of a cruel dictatorship on the lives of Chileans. And as you say, one of the horrors is the fact that the US supported Pinochet. All day I've been thinking about two things: how some leaders create suffering around the world and how few leaders of wisdom are in charge. The US has a horrific history, too, that most people don't study or confront: decimating American Indians and their culture, using Chinese slaves to build the Panama Canal; placing Japanese families in internment camps during WWII; building an economy on the backs of African slaves that resulted in today's racism toward our Afro-American countrymen and women and other ethnic groups. The list goes on with homophobia and marginalization of women and other people. Around the world: inhumanity leashed onto fellow human beings.
ReplyDeleteAnd now we are close to having a Mussolini-style dictator destroy our democracy. Can we learn any lessons from Chile?
What makes our world this way? Jimmy Carter said the following in the 1970s :
"Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.
"You see every extreme position defended to the last vote, almost to the last breath by one unyielding group or another. You often see a balanced and fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends."
Carter warned our nation against following the “path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest” for “down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others.”
Thanks for your beautiful essay, replete with gripping photos.
Love you, Grandmummie