Here goes update number 2! This week was definitely eventful, though in a much different way. To explain the subject of this email, I will explain the word capara, which I don't think I spelled correctly as I've only heard it and never seen it. *A capara has become a very important thing in my family. Originally an animal sacrifice to the gods (specifically a goat) replacing a human sacrifice, for us it has come to mean something lost that prevents a worser fate. A sacrifice to the gods of sorts, of anything from sunglasses to a stolen purse, that replaces any harm from coming to people. Well, I'm sorry to say, my week was full of them.
The beginning of the week went just fine, with a wonderful day on Sunday visiting Santiago. We started in the fish market where we saw all kinds of sea creatures, alive and dead, and walked through the slimy stalls with lots of fishmongers urging us to buy their fish that looked exactly like the fish in the stall next door. They were very nice, and actually posed for pictures when they saw we had cameras. One side of the market is all fish and seafood, while the other side is full of seafood restaurants. We went during a non-meal time on purpose but even so, all of the restaurants hire people to stand in front of their doors or areas and get people to sit down and eat. After a lengthy stroll through the market, a Hatian man working for one of the restaurants struck up a conversation with us that included Spanish, English, and French. It was actually really fun, and I think he just wanted to chat. We talked about traveling, Chile, Hatian politics...you name it! In the middle of our conversation he threw in a shout out for the restaurant he was working for, out of obligation I think, before launching into what he thinks about Wycliff running for President in Haiti.
After a while we extracted ourselves and continued on to the Plaza de Armas, the center square of Santiago with beautiful buildings on all four sides. It was sunny,bright, and warm. After walking around and checking out the cathedral, one of the oldest buildings in Santiago, we went back outside and tried to take a picture in front of it. A very nice older Chilean man offered to take our picture together, which he did, and then our second long conversation with a stranger started. This man also just wanted to chat, and talked our ear off for about 20 minutes before finally letting us go, with his phone number written on the back of a receipt so we could all go out for a beer sometime. He was dressed in a tweed jacket with a pageboy cap, a sweater vest, and glasses - very academic looking. When I asked him what he did, he said a little bit of everything, from teaching English and Spanish to selling food on the street. He then described how he made a sweet syrup out of sweet potatoes to make a kind of candy/dessert that he sold in places like Plaza de Armas. From there, we stopped at our apartment for a quick lunch and then headed out to meet a friend to climb up Cerro St. Cristobal again because it was so nice out. We had a great time and afterwards the three of us went out to dinner in Barrio Lastarria which is a bunch of small cobblestone streets near our neighborhood that Linda and I have come to love.
At the top of Cerro St. Cristobal
Monday would have ended just fine if I had not tried to upload my pictures with another girl's computer since I couldn't find the cord for my camera. In the process of moving the pictures to a thumb drive, all the pictures from my first week here were erased. Although she took the memory card and computer in to work with her on Monday, the pictures could not be recovered. Capara #1. So sorry - no pictures for the moment, but hopefully I will be able to post some soon! I wasn't too worried though - Linda has been voraciously taking pictures and offered to let me take some of hers off of her computer.
Tuesday is when the real trouble began. After class Linda, another American student and I had grand plans to visit the Centro Gabriela Mistral, or GAM to see the two free exhibits they have up right now. Before going, we went to a restaurant called "Oh! Salad" (that is pronounced exactly as written, because it actually is incredibly surprising to find a salad place in Santiago.) We got our salads and ate on the second level in the corner. When we got up to leave, Linda's bag was gone. We looked all over and asked the table next to us, but they had not seen it. When we went downstairs to ask the cashiers, they gave us a knowing look, asked how long ago it had happened, and immediately pulled up the tapes from the four security cameras in the restaurant. With a little searching, we actually identified on the tape the two women who stole the bag, and even saw them doing it! They were incredibly sneaky, and we didn't even notice that they had been there! Linda's bag was next to her on the ground, and the women came upstairs, sat down, put their coats over there chairs and proceeded to pull at the strap with a foot to slide the bag over to their table. Then, putting the bag under her coat, the woman who had pulled it over put on her coat and the both of them left with the bag and unnoticed. It was incredible! Linda was very upset because she lost all of her Chilean cash which she had been carrying with her, a credit card, her camera, headphones, and most importantly her Spanish homework for the next day! After calling the credit card company we went on a trek first to scope out the McDonalds where the theives apparently went to make good use of the credit card with $9.00 worth of greasy sandwiches, and with no luck finding the bag discarded, went to try our hands at making an official police report.
When we finally found the police station, and a policeman finally asked us why we were there, I tried to explain with my recently learned past tense that a bag had been stolen but the restaurant had videos of the theft and could identify the women who did it. I thought I was doing ok, but the policeman seemed confused and on the verge of giving up. Luckily, there was a Chilean man in the booth next to us who spoke very good English, and although he was mostly finished getting his declaration for his car insurance company, he stayed well after he finished to help us get through the declaration and fill out all of the forms it required. He was incredibly helpful and kind to do that! In order to relax after our harrowing adventure, we went to a really great restaurant and had an absolutely delicious meal, some much needed glasses of wine, and even got to see Chile's winning goal against Peru in the American Cup game they were playing that night.
Exhausted on Wednesday, I was glad the ordeal was over and tried my best to enjoy our outing to Cerro Sainta Lucia, which was really great. The teacher who took us told us a lot of Chilean history and a lot about the "hill" including the now defunct ritual of shooting a cannon every day at 12 p.m. They don't do it anymore because it was so loud that it would set off all the car alarms in the neighborhood and a lot of people complained. Now you can just walk up to the top and see a beautiful 360 degree view of Santiago and the mountains surrounding the city. Exhausted after our outing, I went home, made some dinner, and promptly went to bed.
But the week went from bad to worse. Yesterday, Thursday, we decided to try GAM again, this time without any petty theft. We made our way over to the center, but stopped to have lunch first in the cute little streets of Barrio Lastarria. After deciding on a cafe, we sat down, all very concious of our bags. I clipped my bag to the chair with the clips provided in many restaurants. We were sitting against the wall and I could see my bag right next to me. I had it clasped closed and checked on it frequently throughout the meal. Once when I looked down to check on it, I noticed the clasp farthest from me was undone, but I thought that maybe I had left it open and simply reclasped it and went back to eating my lunch. However, as we finished up, there was commotion when the two old men behind us got up. The waiter yelled at me to make sure I had my purse, which I did, and I didn't understand what all the fuss was about. He then said check in your purse, and when I did, I found out that my wallet was gone. (I found this out as I saw the waiter run after the taxi that had come to pick up the men, and slam his tray down on top of the cab to try to get it to stop.) I couldn't believe it! The man behind me had very subtly unclasped my purse, rustled around in my bag, and gotten my wallet out of the velcroed pocket that I had put it in. I was shocked! Luckily my iPhone was next to me on the table, my camera was in my pocket, and my Chilean cell phone was in a different front pocket of my bag, so i only lost a credit card and some money. But I was appalled that they were so good at picking pockets (or in my case, bags!). Determined not to let it ruin my day, and after the other American student, generously paid for my lunch, we went to my apartment where I canceled my card (which 30 minutes after the theft had a $100 gas charge already), and went to see the exhibits at the GAM. The main exhibit of a Chilean photographer's portraits was really wonderful. Not only were the portraits beautiful and captured the essence of each subject, they were a "Who's Who" of Latin American cultural history, with photographs of Pablo Neruda, Salvador Allende, and other Latin American politicians, writers, painters, poets, and artists. The beautiful exhibit did lighten my mood, and I was really glad we went.
Later, when we got home, Nelson, my host, took us out to dinner at a really nice Italian restuarant because he was so upset about both of us getting robbed, and Mauricio, his partner (I think) gave me a cd of yoga music "because now I needed it." :) I have been doing yoga here in the living room, and they think it's funny/cute so I thought it was a really sweet gesture. A good end to a less good day.
When we went into class this morning, I found out that another student had had her wallet stolen at McDonalds, and someone had tried to steal a second student's bag. It seems to be a bad week for gringos in Santiago! Today we went on another excursion with the school which was wonderful, to the Pre-Columbian Art Museam, and had an excellent guided tour. Afterwards, the teacher that was taking us showed us another cultural center near where Linda and I are living that has more exhibits and lots of artisan crafts for sale. You can even go during the day and learn how to do a craft - July is copper work and people were banging away at little tables making rings and bracelets - it looked fun! I will definitely go back and give it a try. Afterwards we came home to relax and get ready for our weekend trip to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, two cities an hour and a half away from Santiago. But to top off this week of mishaps, during our evening yoga session in the living room, we experienced a little earthquake. (A tremor I was later informed.) Here's hoping we've had enough caparas to last us a while.
Well this email of disasters is much longer than I anticipated! And although this week's main events were unpleasant, we did do a lot of really fun things, and saw more beautiful parts of the city. Also, as I often find when something unpleasant happens, each time something was lost, we found an incredibly helpful and generous person because of the situation, from the English speaker at the police station to the waiter who tried to chase down the pickpockets. Not to mention making a new friend in the process (Jen, the other American student) and being reminded to think about people and experiences rather than things.
With that, I'll leave you and go off to start week # 3 in the Southern
Hemisphere!!
Hasta luego!!!
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