The days go by and it is sunday now and I find myself in Santiago de Chile. I am not sure why, but all the sudden it seems like summer has perfectly set in. I have been told that summer is the best time to be in Santiago because the sun shines a lot and there is an almost constant breeze that blows, keeping the temperature moderated and the sky clear of smog. Or more clear than normal. I have been staying in an area called Paris-Londres, which is full of cobbled streets and historic buildings. Today is sunday and the people are all spending time with their families. I found a little cafe for lunch and then have been strolling around the Plaza de Armas where everyone goes to walk on sundays. Today I move in with my third host family and that is exciting. The last couple have been really good and so I hold my breath and hope to go three for three. With my luck lately, we shall see. I seem to be in a downswing...but I can laugh about it and I hope that it gets better, but when you are floating around on a breeze in the world, you have to be willing to take some shittiness at times. I have been thinking about the stolen journal, and have likened it to the breaking of clay jars in the zen cultures...you spend a lot of time making something as perfectly as you can, and then you destroy it. To remind yourself of the temporary-ness of our lives. When I think of it like that, I seem to have an easier time letting go of all that writing and all the addresses and info I had in there. It is kind of the playing out of a travel nightmare really. I always tell people that the only thing that I wouldn't want to lose on a trip is the journal and the photos...luckily I had all the photos saved in an account online, but the journal is irreplaceable...it is a perspective thing I suppose. Now I have the experience of losing that and realizing that everything is still ok. I explained what happend to an old man on the street in Mendoza and he said that that was too bad. Then he looked at me and smiled and said, "Maybe it's time to start writing about a new future..." I think that is just about right.
I have discovered that the food scene here in Chile leaves a lot to be desired. If you like hotdogs, however, you will be in hotdog heaven!!! (I am reminded of John Wadd and his hotdog eating contests back east...) Everywhere you look they have hotdogs stuffed with mayo and relish and all sorts of other things. Hot dog lovers paradise. Me, not such a big hotdog fan...unless I cook that bastard myself on an open flame in the woods! Nice and charred, with some spicy mustard and onions and I'm good to go...but here, I'm just not feelin' it. When I was in Curicó I found amongst the slim line of food options, a place called The House Of Chicken (couldn't make that shit up could I?) where I ate a couple of times. They serve you a few different options of fried birds, with fries and these little fried cheese dumplings. Nothing special by itself, but one of the redeeming features of the Chilean table is a red bottle labeled Aji Chileno...and that stuff is great!!! I poured that and some mustard all over my chicken and chowed it down like there was no tomorrow...and there may not be, given the amount of fried food I'd consumed in just a few days. Here in Santiago I haven't found much better. All my friends who have travelled here agree that there isn't much to be found. Some alright pizza, but mostly it is fast food shite. I did find a little cafe that serves chicken, avocado and roasted pepper sandwiches on croissants and those are good.
Bagging on the food is not really my intention here, just a quick observation. Another observation about Chile, is that the people here aren't chilly at all!! Ha ha, get it...Chili...chilly...ha ha! (Pretend I didn't write that.) I have found them to be warm and open and generally quite talkative. More so than the Argentines and Peruvians. That is not to say bad things about those other country's people, just that the Chileans seem a bit more welcoming. They talk about the wine and the mountains and the culture and seem very interested in the US. I have been asked numerous times about what I think will happen in our American election. I want to take a minute to say a couple things about the US right now, that are not really politically related at all. It is not even really a criticism, so don't worry. (Or maybe it kind of is, but it is well intentioned, if you know what I'm sayin'.)
I have been away from North America for four months now, and never before in my travels have I felt more distant than I do now. Maybe it is the degree of immersion here linguistically, I don't know. But I do know that I have never felt farther away, culturally, from the country I have known all my life. I have been keeping track of the election and some of the news, but I get a lot of questions from people down here about the way things happen in our country, and more and more, I feel amazed at what I have to answer.
One of the things people ask the most is, "Is it really like that in America?" Usually the answer is yes. I realize that this is not a very specific example, but the question is usually prompted by a news item on tv, the internet, or the radio. Do people really dress up in clown outfits to go take a shit on the salad bar at Wendy's (Thanking George Carlin for that one...) and then shoot four people? Yes. Do astronauts really mess with other astronauts and then drive across country in a daiper? Yes. Is the Terminator really the governor of the fifth largest economic system in the world? Yes. Are there people in real life that act like the ones that go on the Jerry Springer show? Yes. Do people really believe that America is the greatest country in the world? Yes. More and more, to me, the country seems like some sort of surreal carnival show. Sensationalism and individualism have created a forum for occurances and happenings that could never be approached or understood in other parts of the world. Does America still offer opportunity to people? Yes. Is there anywhere as culturally varied as America? No. Is there anywhere more difficult to pin down a behavioral norm of identity than America? No. Of course the place has its pros and cons...like everywhere else. But from out here, it truly is a scary-looking place. There is a cultural madness in America that lurks below the sheen of a life of uninterrupted plenty. This idea is supported by the amount of psychiatry in our country and also by the escalating nature of our crimes and the reaction of our correctional facilities. (Among other indicators.) No where else in the world has the strange degree of crime that we have. No where else has the same dedication to selfish ends that our country has. Our country is so hard to define in it's commonality because essentially, there are 400 million little orbits that head out the front door every morning. 400 million little me's with all the hopes and dreams and needs and wants spilling and oozing out around lattes and Mini Coopers and Prada bags. So much me, and so little perspective.
"Oh-oh, Old Matteo is getting close to mounting the soap box..."
No, I'm not. I am just observing something, from a position of distance. I am from it, but currently not of it, so I see it differently. America is a country in which there is the illusion of truth. But when you listen to the press speak, or the pundits about the election, all you hear is "safe speak". No one is really saying anything, let alone the truth. The election that I get so many questions about now for example, is just a game. It is like a great drawn out sporting event, that has some sort of artificially injected sense of importance. (I'm sure somewhere there are rooms full of old men smoking cigars and drinking cognac and betting large quantities of money on the day to day happenings of all this...quite entertaining really...) The 24 hour coverage of this grand and patriotic event is regurgitated by the masses both in America and abroad ad nauseum, until something else happens and it completely negates the media gurgling of the day before. All these predictions and observations mean nothing day to day, and even though this is a special sort of election, on the front of racial and gender issues...we can't actually talk about these issues openly without breaking the myriad unwritten laws of our strange and surreal cultural landscape. The things that were discussed on CNN and Fox News during the South Carolina primary, for example, where so safe, so polished and safe, because one can't really just speak anymore without fear. Fear of upsetting this person or that person. Fear of being scrutinized under that ever present media microscope. Fear of reciprocity, fear of retribution. Who actually takes a stand for something that they believe in these days without at least a back up plan for how to recorrect or 'spin' the course of things should something be 'misinterpreted' in a way that looked poorly upon that person? It is a culture of fear, and it is a culture of falseness. And the fact that people subscribe to this wholeheartedly is a fact that is hard to get ones head around when viewing it from a distance. People ask these kinds of questions. People out in the world have a hard time making sense of such a nation because they have only what they see and hear to form ideas and opinions from. The war, the economy, homeland security...who could understand these concepts about America without understanding that it is a country with a very distinct and unique sense of cultural madness. Is it a dangerous place? Depends on where you go. Is it a dangerous country in the world? Yes. Do people in America actually think their government's goal is to spread democracy? Yes, a lot of them do. But the common sentiment in America in regards to the questions of foreigners might be this..."Who cares what they think? If they don't like it, screw 'em. They don't have to come here then. What do I care of some Chilean questions my values?" These are dangerous answers. Answers that may deserve at least an inkling of thought before they are spewed out in the manner of the global school-house bully... And that is enough of that. It is a strange position to be in...answering these kinds of questions. Because it is my homeland, and those are my countrymen. My best friends live there, my favorite places are there. I love the country of my birth, and for that I bring this observation to the table. If we really are such a great country in this world that is so big and yet so small, then we have the maturity to know that open and honest discourse on such subjects is not only necessary, but desirable...no matter how busy our days may be. It will indeed be interesting to see how this election turns out...but I hope that we can be collectively aware of our unique position in the world...and not forget that power, like journals full of written words and jars made of clay, are temporary, and can be stolen away or dashed against the rocks in a short matter of time.
And on that note, I go to meet my new host mother!!! Hopefully she likes food other than hotdogs!!! I have no means of getting photos on here yet...I am working on that and will put some up as soon as I can. I hope that all of you are well and I look forward to being amongst you again before too long...
1 comment:
Ditto.
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