The land of poets treated me like a queen. Between friends and friends of friends, I was hosted from home to home, and it touched me deeply. After quite a chaotic arrival in Santiago, because my bus was 6h30 late (because of border crossing and traffic jam in the city), I finally ended up in the house of Francisca’s family, a friend I had met on the island of San Andrés in Colombia, two months before! All of them were adorable with me, especially the mum, who cooked a delicious pastel de choclo for me and also helped me shopping for camping material for my Patagonian trip. Indeed, I had understood during my travel and several discussions with travelers coming from the South that one enjoys Patagonia way more with the freedom of a tent and cooking gears (and, as a side bonus, saves on prohibitive hostel prices of the South of the continent!). Santiago was the best place for this shopping, because Argentina is a little expensive at the moment (by the way many Argentinians have been crossing the border to go grocery shopping for several months).

I also visited the Chilean capital a little, eating maritime at the pretty Mercado Central all made of wrought iron, wandered along the river, walked around the center and its charming buildings, had some drinks with a group of Chilean friends in the “Bellavista” area then tasted some excellent Chilean wine while these same friends, Daniel and Claudio, were playing the guitar and singing songs of their country. To sum up, I am far from having found Santiago as horrible as I was told! The Bellavista is even a very cute, student and a little bohemian area, made of low and colorful houses and pretty bars. Ok and now I need to tell you a story, for the first time in my travel something bad happened to me (till now I had only lost stuff, which was my fault). Waiting to cross the road, I felt that something touched my purse, I looked: it was open and my wallet was missing! I looked at the man next to me and questioned him, he said that the thief had left running in a certain direction he pointed at. I didn’t believe him and grabbed his wrist, made him turn around and saw my wallet hidden behind his back. I took it from his hand and shouted at him out of anger, he looked at me and left. What an awkward scene, really… I believe we were both quite surprised at how things had turned out, and my brain was clearly not fully functioning, but my instincts were, and better; all is well that ends well! In the end, then, nothing bad has yet happened to me.

In Santiago, I also took time to visit two museums that fascinated me, each in its own fashion. The first one was Pablo Neruda’s house, the poet and literature Nobel prize (one of the two Chilean poets and literature Nobel prizes). This writer was clearly an eccentric character looking for beauty (cf my blog’s title, that helps you understand why I loved his houses so well – I visited two of them in total), and he would create around himself magical universes, filling his living spaces with souvenirs from his uncountable travels and ambassador’s mandates, arranging themed rooms and places made for sharing good times with friends. He loved gadgets, charms, souvenirs, art, futuristic furniture, colors, absurd details, and the sea. In short, I could live in one of his houses! He had this one built for his mistress and true love, in order to hide her until he divorced to marry her and spend the rest of his life with her. Neruda was also very left-wing and close to Salvador Allende, to whom he’d give way in the presidential race (and to whom he’d owe his mandates abroad).

This is the link with the second museum I visited, the Museum of Memory, which would otherwise seem to have nothing in common with the first. It was established based on the investigation results of the truth commission whose responsibility it was to restore the truth on the dictatorial period in Chile, in order to pass on to future generations those memories loaded with suffering and to avoid an unfortunate repetition of history. The link with Neruda is that his friend Allende was overthrown by a coup d’état during which he was killed (by the way Neruda would die during the same year of the coup d’état, in circumstances that seem not to have been completely clarified yet. General Pinochet seized power and established a military regime that would last 17 years. His inheritance is controversial and the country is still divided about it, because, among others, he is allocated Chilean economic success (neoliberal model that made the country both very modern and “yankee”), which is still felt to this day, but what is certain is that his dictatorship was accompanied by the classical elements of this sort of authoritarian regime: censorship, disappearances, torture, killings… A lot of pain for the Chilean people, of which many citizens flew (among others) to Switzerland and stayed there.

But Chile doesn’t have a very classical political history. This country is indeed the only one where, in the Cold War context dividing the world in two, the population democratically elected a socialist president, meaning that they voted for “communism” (marxism), while in all other countries in which it was established it did so forcibly (of course, this sort of results couldn’t be appreciated by the US, which probably got involved somehow in the country’s affairs). That’s not all, not only there was this historic votation, but Chile also had the opportunity to vote against its dictator! I told you, his inheritance is controversial and the Cold War split the country in two, and Pinochet’s regime organised elections it thought it would win, which would have confirmed its legitimacy. But they turned out to cause a huge mobilisation and campaign for the No, led and won with success and joy with 54,71% of the votes against the dictator (on that topic, I can recommend the excellent movie “No”, watched a few years ago and enjoyed at the time).

Chilean history, therefore, is singular, and it is also spiced up with neighborhood disputes (the country seized part of the Northern coastal territory, which was at the time the sole Bolivian access to the sea, now landlocked), German and Nazi colonisation, relative peaceful cohabitation with indigenous people that make up the country (due to the fact that, contrary to Argentina, the government hasn’t proceeded to an extermination of that part of the population), and seemingly never-ending Mapuche indigenous struggle ( the Mapuche have fiercely defended their territory during Spanish conquest and they represent the only portion of territory that never ended up in colons’ hands). Finally, and I mention it because equality always does some good, Chile at the moment has a female president, Michelle Bachelet (Kirchner was in power in Argentina till not so long ago, but she got into corruption issues and wasn’t reelected… which doesn’t mean that Argentinians are happier with their current president, Macri!).

After the capital, I went visit Viña del Mar and Valparaíso, where friends of one of my mum’s friend live, the Cavieres family, which welcomed me with open arms and showed me their city from all angles! I spent great days with them and really appreciated the time they dedicated to me. Tania and Camilo (both of them bear names of latino revolutionaries, which I find awesome) made me taste the giant empanadas de mariscos (seafood ones) in Concón, then we dipped our legs in the sea (you can feel you’re more to the South, the water isn’t as warm as in Peru or Colombia). Then we ate at home with their mum, meal accompanied by a few glasses of very good red wine ( I don’t think I have eaten in Chile without at least one glass of wine served, Chileans are very proud about their wine production – Argentinians as well, but we’ll talk about it again).

And they made me discover Valparaíso! What a charming cute little town! It’s built upon a few hills with view over the sea and the important harbor (it makes you travel mentally quite a lot to see containers marked “Hamburg”! …which, by the way, I would see again in Ushuaia), and the whole town is colorful and full of antique cable cars. The prettiest part is the very artsy Cerro Alegre (the Happy Mount), entirely decorated by gorgeous street art works and inhabited by artists and other alternative communities (well, the influence of foreigners and tourists has also made prices skyrocket and apparently taken away its authenticity to the place, but it’s still beautiful and pleasant to visit). Every street, every house, every staircase decorated by ceramics entails its part of little artworks, and the atmosphere in the city greatly enchanted me. I also took the chance to visit another of the three houses of Pablo Neruda, which added poetry to my already very lyrical visit of this city. Valparaíso was also the opportunity to meet Teresita again, whom I had also met on San Andrés island in Colombia. A ball of positive and happy energy with which the time shared was but too short! Great night, where I not only tried the unexpected Terremoto (wine + fruit + …scoop of ice cream!) but also went out dancinnnnnggg.

After the North of the country, I directly left for the center/South, I took a bus for Osorno and crossed a great part of the country to reach the Lake region. I didn’t have the chance to see anything, but at the time I was there a huge catastrophe was taking place in Chile: its woods were burning. There were about 80 forest fires consuming the Chilean territory at the time, unstoppable and monstrous. Several people died, many were chased from their houses, it’s a serious event and the country doesn’t have enough resources to fight on its own; it had to ask for international help. And worst of all: everyone is convinced that the fires are intentional – not very clear whether it’s the government that wants to pocket the insurance money (because the US will stop purchasing Chilean wood on a Trump’s decision) or whether it’s the Mapuche indigenous (regretting a sale to their disadvantage and are taking revenge), but it’s probably not just natural and unfortunate. These are the worst forest fires in the history of the country… dramatic, isn’t it? It’s one of the main topics of conversation of the moment. By the way, talking about catastrophes, I was explained that out of 10 catastrophes happening in the world, 8 are in Chile! There’s a bit of everything in this country that runs along a fault line: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, etc…

I arrived in Osorno, a little town to which I find resemblances with Scandinavia (without having been there myself): lots of little wooden colorful houses, pretty but a little too developed, and not much to do. However, I spent very pleasant moments there, because the grandparents and aunt of Tania and Camilo welcomed me in their pretty house, making me feel like I was part of the family even though they had only just met me and I didn’t spend much time at their place. There, I discovered the tradition of las onces (which literally means “the elevenses”) – a sort of improved tea and biscuits time (with eggs, ham, etc), which is being eaten at around 8-9pm. I went for a walk around town, part of which was a German colony, and the Germans imported their architectural style of the time: little colorful wooden houses. Very cute, even though the town doesn’t have much interest aside this. I had a very good time, drunk good wine, shared tasty family meals with these very kind people.

And then I left for Chiloe, an island more to the South, sanctuary of verdant calmness. It’s located in the lake region, which I crossed and where I stopped in Puerto Montt. One of the main attractions of this little fishermen’s village is its craft market and the old traditional market turned into an area of little seafood restaurants, all painted red and made out of wood, so charming!! There I ate the mandatory local, freshly fished salmon, an absolute delight. And I watched the rain fall, for the last time in many weeks – I was very lucky with the weather, and a girl from Puerto Montt later explained to me that it always rains there, it’s quite normal I couldn’t avoid it at that point. I thus arrived in Chiloe, where Diego, a friend of Teresita (remember, Valparaíso, and the island in Colombia!) welcomed me with open arms without knowing anything about me! I slept for two nights in Chiloe, in his mum’s superb rural house. She holds an agriturismo and lives (more or less) from what she grows. Life there is very simple, maritime, and rustic. The island was long isolated and scarcely developed, for instance electrical power got there only… 18 years ago! Diego thus grew up without electricity, whereas his little brother will have known smartphones almost immediately… isn’t that nuts? It’s the sort of stories that, for me, dates back to my grandma’s times (life without electricity, no fridge nor light, nor phone).

A sunny day drew me out for a walk, admiring the calm sights of this insular and pastoral landscape made of shades of blue and green, with view on the Patagonian Andes and its volcanoes, on the other side of the channel. I also collected potatoes in the field next to the house and helped prepare them for lunch, and I also simply rested mentally, adopting the local rhythm and breathing marine air while reading a few of Pablo Neruda’s poems. The smell of fire and sea, the seafood soup, the traditional dish of mussels and meat prepared by cooking in an underground oven (using very hot stones and covering up the whole thing with leaves for a few hours, the curanto), the unexpected flight of dozens and dozens of parrots above my head have also brightened up my day. It’s fun to think of all the fish that abound underwater while we can only see a smooth surface, especially because in Chiloe it’s clear that there’s quite a lot, given that they practice the culture of salmon.

About that, it’s interesting because the culture of salmon on the island is subject to controversy. On the one hand, the development of that economy has created employment and this way people and especially youngsters don’t have to leave the island to look for jobs. But, on the other hand, the culture of that fish is very polluting, among others its feces line the marine bottom and chase the fauna away by destroying the flora. Result, the water is polluted and people must now pay for what they eat, instead of simply collecting seafood as they used to. And people love their island and wish to live there, but it might be that in a near future they can’t cultivate salmon any longer, in which case the activity will have greatly damaged the ecosystem and simply put off demographic problems. Shortly, it’s complicated. On another note I also noticed that, here, las onces is also practiced, but it’s only a sort of starter for the actual meal that’s quite heavy and follows up later in the evening… fun how habits change! We therefore had cake and apple empanadas (!), before a good old, fat salmon eaten with the family and other guests.

On that night, nature offered me one of the magical and unique shows it can put on. We went out for a breathe of fresh air after dinner and were faced with a real 3D masterwork, a night sky such as I had never seen before and won’t see again for long! The island is quite isolated and thus protected from light pollution, but that’s not all. On that night it just happened that there was no moon to be seen, nor clouds… a true wonder. We stayed for hours watching the sky (and me trying to snap a convincing picture, which is impossible without more professional equipment). And the morning after my luck was so great that Diego’s dad took us out for a little boat trip around an island where… penguins live!!! So, so, so fantastic. Thank you for everything, Chile!

It’s very interesting to cross the geography of a whole continent, it helps me more than ever to understand the impact of that topic on people everyday life. For instance, I noticed that, where Colombia reminded me Indonesia with its 6pm sunsets, the center/South of Chile lives at other rhythms with the sun setting at around 9.30pm. Fun how much it changes, right? I feel that I’ve traveled tons of kilometers, really. But about that, I’ve traveled and traveled. And, often, I didn’t take much time to stop. I’ve met people to whom I got attached and place I’d have wanted more time to explore. Each of my stops would have deserved at least a dozen days, but on the other hand every country deserves a visit, and if I should cut in something I saw to dedicate more time to less places, honestly I wouldn’t know what to give up. The time spent in Chiloe was clearly too short, but I’m happy I had time to at least go there and get an idea of the island, breathe its atmosphere, live at its rhythm even for a short time.

From Chiloe, I went back to Osorno and, after one last night with my friends’ grandparents and aunt, I hitchhiked to cross the border and reach Bariloche, in Argentina. My Patagonian adventures will be narrated to you in a coming post, in the meantime I wanted to give you an idea of Chilean Spanish, which just like (or more than) the Argentinian one is very peculiar and has lots of slang words, incomprehensible for outsiders. First, you need to know that Chileans all agree to state that they speak badly, and some of them told me they try to speak “less Chilean” because they don’t really like it. There were several of them really making sure they’d be “translating” unknown words or considerate when I was here, so that I wouldn’t feel isolated. But still, it made me laugh to realise that, whereas after a few weeks on the continent my vocabulary was up-to-date and I only rarely had to ask for the meaning of certain words, I had only just arrived in Chile that my first conversation with a group of Chileans forced me to ask what this or that word meant every 5 minutes, like a beginner! Chileans, especially those living in Santiago, tend to speak quite fast. I was told it’d be hard and complicated, but I’m pretty happy to be able to say that I managed quite well, even with those speaking particularly fast (I’m thinking, for example, of Tania and Camilo’s cousin).

[for those of you who are not interested in Spanish, jump the next paragraph!]

Other features of Chilean: they pronounce the Y and double LL like Spaniards, as an “i-sound” and not a “jee”, and many S disappear orally, such as the S in “más” (more). And that’s not all, they also often add an “i-sound” at the end of the conjugation of the second person of the singular, where the S disappears: cómo estás? (how are you?) thus becomes cómo estái? One word perfectly summarises Chilean, and it’s also the word that makes them stand out the most, it’s the word cachai? (get it?), which concentrates several Chilean features at once: the verb cachar is typical Chilean vocabulary, the S is dropped and it’s substituted by an “i”. Chileans love that word! They repeat it time and time again, a total automatism. It’s really fun, I love it! And for those of you who master some Spanish here’s a some local vocabulary, starting with those words that have marked me the most/that I’ve heard the most (imperfect, still under revision by Camilo):

• Weon: amigo (huévon), very, very typically Chilean
• Fome: aburrido
• Pololo: novio
• Ya: si
• Po (at the end of half their sentences): pues
• Harto: montón
• Re: muy
• Luca: mil pesos
• Al tiro : inmediatamente
• Pacos: policía
• Palos: millones
• Cana: cárcel
• Pituto: entrar a un lugar para trabajar gracias a las relaciones
• Peña (?): trabajo
• Denle no más: no hay problema
• Caña: resaca (hangover)
• La raja: muy bien
• Peluo: difícil
• Pelarse: salir a besar y acostarse con desconocidos (going out for a one-night stand)
• Trotar: correr
• Conchesumar: motherfucker
• Mula: mentira
• En pelotas: desnudo
• Choro: mussel, pussy, entretenido
• En qué topamos?: Porque te detengas? Porque no los estamos haciendo?
• Huaso: campesino
• Ladura?: Verdad?
• Sancuros: mosquitos
• Wata: pansa
• Wawa: bebe o auto

Next steps: my very dear Patagonia and its breathtaking landscapes between greenery, glaciers and world’s end, then Buenos Aires and the end of my travel

Where I am now: back to Geneva, Switzerland, since Friday 17 March! I take my time to publish the last articles, land mentally little by little, and will then be very happy to see those of you who live there

For more pictures of Santiago, Viña del Mar and Valparaíso, click here

For more pictures of Osorno, Puerto Montt and Chiloé, click here