I’m writing this on a freezing Sunday afternoon, the 17th. The weather had been excellent since I returned to Santiago de Chile from Valparaiso on Wednesday, the deciduous trees in the parks had put on a light green sheen and the sun’s penetration through the jacket was hinting that Spring is in the air.

But not today.

It’s cloudy and as cold as a well digger’s bum.

My friend Sertaç made the joke ‘Santiago de Chilly’ which sums it up well. But we catch up with Spring tomorrow, so all is not lost.

Two big things are on the go. Firstly I’ve had two 90 minute classes with a teacher whose name I have yet to commit to memory, or even to hear clearly. She is good value, and I have found that I can speak relatively fluently with her, whereas with a waiter I come over all tongue tied and keep running into vocabularial or grammatical culs de sac. I do have trouble understanding her, and the waiters and everyone else for that matter. It could be partly due to my slowly degenerating hearing, which the hearing aids can paper over to an extent, but still leave me hearing as though my ears were indeed papered over. Another reason could be that Chilenos are notorious for speaking Spanish at warp speed, while barely moving their lips…maybe they all train as ventriloquists…who knows?

Or it could be that my brain is unable to process the whole enchilada quickly enough, sad commentary on the rusting effect of time.

If I’m sounding a bit prolix (look it up if it’s a new word for you), it’s because I have been reading A Christmas Carol, in translation, with the Spanish on the left hand page, and the original English on the other…

It’s a great system which saves one from having to consult dictionaries. So I’ve been infected with the Dickensian verbal virus, which I love.

The teacher, Señora X, (formerly known as the teacher) does speak slower than most, but when she realises that she is presenting a nebulous flow of syllables to a half deaf old fart, it only takes a few ‘qué’s (shades of Manuel there) to get her to put on the brakes.

There are two public holidays, on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th, one for Independence Day where the whole place shuts down (more on that later) and the other, where the shut down continues, as the ‘glorious Army’ is feted (and more of that when it happens). So the school is shut on those days. What to do with the missed lessons? I hear you ask, and Christina, the director of the school heard me ask as well. Quite easily done…have them on Wednesday and Thursday as well as the scheduled ones i.e. 90 minutes of intensity from 10 until 11.30, then another from 12 to 1.30. I can only guess as I write, but will experience later in the week, at my state of mental mushedness at the end of that!

I’ll backtrack a little here to relate some things that I came across in Valparaiso.

I mentioned the dogs in the last letter, and there are a few of them, that live in the street sans owner. They have been given names by the residents (Eduardo reeled off a few as we walked around the streets, and here is the selfie taken soon after we were doing it…)

they leave out food and water for them, and even provide shelters…

These dogs don’t bark or bite the passers by, it’s only the territorial monsters from the houses that do.

On the 11th September the country remembered the 50th anniversary of the coup that brought Pinochet to power. There were warnings that there could be demonstrations by right wing devotees of that dictator’s philosophies, and Eduardo’s job finished at lunchtime so that they could get home before any trouble started…but nothing serious came to pass it, seems.

I visited a culture park in Valparaiso which is where a prison used to be, and where Pinochet’s goons did some of the torturing. It had been abandoned until a group of artists and creatives started to use the space for studios, then quite recently the municipality took over, repurposed the old building…

and built a swish new place as well. They have workshops, exhibitions and studios there. It’s a very peaceful place. These wind activated sculptures help…

On the walk down I came upon this muriel…

The sign that the guy is holding says ‘dondé están? which means ‘where are they?’ referring to the thousands who were disappeared during the dictatorship. The memory of that episode and the achievement of independence from Spain, 200 odd years ago, are really important in the Chilean psyche.

So what of the second big event?

We celebrated Independence Day at the school with Chilean food, a red wine and strawberries melange and a ground shaking (hence the name, terremoto=earthquake) cocktail. That started the run up to the big party. Everywhere, almost, has Chilean flags flying, and red white and blue bunting saying ‘Viva Chile’ festoons restaurants and apartment blocks.

What will happen at the big bash in the appropriately named Parque O’Higgins tomorrow ? What will the day for the glorious army bring the next day?

Stay tuned for the next blog because this one is too long already.

Enjoy the start of Spring

Hasta luego

T