Pomaire

I've been pretty behind with posting, so here goes:

A few weeks ago, Chile and Argentina played each other in a game that would determine Chile's entrance into the...something Cup. Never in the history of Chilean soccer have they won against world-class Argentine soccer...until a few weeks ago, with the final score of 1-0! I was a little bit torn about who to root for, and I had originally planned to attend the game, but the cheapest tickets were sold out. I had originally planned to cheer for Argentina, but it was probably better I didn't go and preserved my life amongst Chilean hooligans. In the end, I became impartial because: 1) I love Arg, and if they win I'd be happy. 2) I love Chile too and they deserve at least a win on their home turf. Argentina can take a loss as they win enough as it is.

So anyway, once the game was up, out of my apartment in Plaza Italia (which is smack dab in the center of Santiago), I began to hear horns honking and people marching and shouting outside my window. Turns out Plaza Italia was where the celebration was going to take place! It was literally a 4 hour outdoor party; people threw confetti, lit fireworks, chanted, waved around the Chilean flag, drank, and straight up partied. The street was blocked off with carabineros (police) guarding it. I watched from afar and wanted to check it out. I went downstairs and observed the party, but I decided it probably wasn't the best idea for an Asian girl to wander amongst drunk soccer fans and people who urinated in corners alone. So within 5 minutes, I went back up to my apartment and observed from afar. Fans gathering. Truly crazy!

And that weekend, EAP went on an excursion to Pomaire, a dusty little town 40 minutes outside of Santiago. It is known for their artisan ceramic pottery and typical Chilean food, such as pastel de choclo and empanadas.
Marisol, our tour guide. This is where the potters heap the clay and run it thru an ancient/old school clay refining machine to make the clay, well, fine.

An unfinished piece of pottery. They put black tape on the tops so the clay doesn't dry out and so they can keep on adding clay to it.

Where the potter works. No advanced technology, it's very basic equipment making very large and fine pottery.

Chunks of clay!
The wood thing molds the profile of the pottery. So, you see from this structure that the pot/jug will have some curvy action going on.

While this pot/jug will have a straight profile.

This is one of the many potters in this town. It's not a rich town or anything; in fact, it's a very humble little town. This man told us he had not sold any of his pottery in EIGHT months...it made me wonder how the potters survive and make a living with so little income. The pottery isn't sold for a high price either; it's actually very inexpensive (~$5 for a soup pot, to give you an idea). Furthermore, being in a recession makes people even tighter with their money. *Sigh* how badly I want to support the little guys (small/mom-and-pop businesses). Too bad I can't take a huge clay pot/jug home with me...

Mr. Potter adding layers of clay to the unfinished pottery.

We took a mini hike up to the hills where the potters get their clay. This be me.

This be Andrea (UC Davis).

Also found beautiful wildflowers up in the hills. We picked some an made mini bouquets : )

Some of the beautiful scenery up from the hills.

And...of course we had to eat lunch! Our tour guide, Marisol, served us lunch at her house (hosting ~15 students!). This is homemade pastel de choclo, which you may have seen in previous posts such as Natali's Visit - Food

And what's a Chilean meal without empandas?! We had 3 varieties: mushroom (yummers), spinach (needed Tapatio hot sauce), and pino (typical--meat, egg, onion, and olive).

Miiiine!

The soda was flat, unfortunately. But the pebre was nice and spicy!

Pasteles de choclo ready to get baked in the oven!

Cynthia and I bought homemade strawberry marmelade! It is so delicious...on whole wheat bread...mmm...

I also found this hilarious Chilean food pyramid on the Internet. On the bottom is the "liquid group" which includes their soups such as cazuela, which is really not that exciting. "Grupo chocloso" is the corn food group, evidenced with pastel de choclo. "Grupo tragoso" is the drinks group, which is stuff like mote con huesillos (yummmmm...perfect on a hot summer day) and various other alcoholic drinks. "Grupo grasoso"=fatty food group. SO TRUE. Completos (hot dogs), sopaipillas (fried dough), mayonnaise. Yeah...
Aaaand, at the top is--GRUPO EMPANADOSO! :9

Back in Pomaire, we went to see another taller (workshop) of pottery making!

This guy made a hookah and an ashtray (I think) in a matter of minutes!

I tried my own hand at making a piece of pottery...and made a round piece of clay with a hole in it. And got clay on my clothes in the process.

We then wandered around town and looked around at all the little stores that sold their pottery. Here we have ladles made from clay. If I had my own apartment in Santiago, I'd definitely decorate it with stuff from Pomaire.

Dried and dyed flowers to put into your Pomaire clay pots for decoration! I ended up not buying an pottery, but I still wanted to support their economy, so I went home having bought an embroidered purse, homemade marmalade, and some almonds.

Also, I would like to add how much I love my church here...
Yesterday for Sunday service we had a missionary conference where we reported and presented with skits and videos on the persecuted church in Asia. Although it was a low-budget production, it made me think of how I need to be praying for Christians who are being persecuted and killed for their faith. I always hear in SD how comfortable it is to be a Christian there. Christian comfort does not only apply in SD, but in Chile as well. What was emphasized was the freedom we have in Chile to be Christian and worship as we please--which I'm so thankful to have as well, even away from home!
And, to top off Sunday, an elder of the church who always greets me on Sunday mornings asked me, Andrew, and the other Grace, "When are you gonna come over for lunch?" I replied, "When you invite us, of course!" He immediately went to look for a calendar and asked us what dates worked for us and what Chilean dish we wanted him to make. I didn't even know Sixto's name (I had to ask someone after he invited us over) and I don't think he knows ours, but that invitation was so kind. The extent to which he knows us is seeing our faces on Sunday mornings and knowing that we're gringos, but he still shows us hospitality. I love ICLAM. ♥

Boxing, Villa Grimaldi, y Acción de Gracias

This post is way overdue; about 3 weeks ago I should've put it up, but oh well.

Andrew and me boxing! Our friend Arturo from church is a boxer, so one Friday night we went to a park and started punching each other after a brief 5 minute lesson about boxing basics. We heard people in the pitch black park saying, "What are they doing???" Thinking that we were fighting for real. Well, Andrew and I were, at least. Jaja.

Andrew totally did not punch me in the face. I seriously couldn't stop giggling throughout the entire fight. It was too funny.

And here's me battling with Arturo, the expert. He had the height advantage over me, which stunk.

But I managed to get a swipe at his arm! Jaja!

Nicolas and Arturo, the professional boxers. Apparently Nico's dad was a boxer?

Graciela with Arturo. She's a feisty one! And a quick learner, at that!

After a wild round of boxing, Emily and I met up with Roberto to get Chinese food! This place is called Los Chinos Ricos, it used to be called Los Chinos Pobres. It's apparently the oldest Chinese restaurant in all of Santiago (in Barrio Brasil). We ordered Peking duck and sweet and sour pork. I was a bit disappointed by the Peking duck b/c it didn't have the crispy skin and it was marinated in a soy-sauce based marinade, which is all wrong! And I didn't see a single Chinese face on whom to use my Mandarin Chinese. :'(

Emily sure is creative with a pair of chopsticks!

Roberto with chopsticks. Chileans do know how to use them!

After a THREE hour dinner, we were still up for a night of carretear ("partying" in Chilean Spanish) so we went to La Casa en el Aire in Bellavista, a live music joint where they serve snacks and drinks. I had been there once before and I enjoyed the music and the chocolate milk (but not the cigarette smoke). This is Emily's tequila sunrise. Mmmm.

The caipiriña azul, which is a Brazilian drink made with said alcohol, a bunch of limes, probably blue food coloring, and sugar. Apparently it's a hard drink to make because you need the perfect amount of sugar or else the caipiriña will be too strong and make the drink nasty.

Emily and Roberto enjoyed it!

So that was a night of fatty carretear...I got home at 4 and had to wake up at 8 the next day. But it was nice to spend 6 hours just chatting about life. The next day, EAP organized a trip for us to go to Villa Grimaldi, a torture center/concentration camp during the dictatorship for people who were suspected to be against the Pinochet regime. Our tour guide was a torture victim himself but was so courageous to speak so openly about the specifics of the torture sessions he endured so that people will remember and know how humans can treat other humans as if they were inhuman. It also opened my eyes to the importance of human rights.

This is a model of how the torture center looked back in the 70's before it was destroyed by the military dictatorship as a way to eliminate any traces of torture that happened, because it was fiercely denied that torture went on during the dictatorship. Now it's been reconstructed in a memorial park.

"Old parking area. Sector where one was tortured with vehicles."

This plaque explains why the park is here. At the bottom it says, "Never again in Chile will torture be repeated."

This held the remains of a boat...of something...I forgot.

This is a wall full of names of the political prisoners who had been in Vila Grimaldi. It was a huge wall.

It was a 7 hour tour, and it ended with a visit to the General Cemetery in Santiago, where many people "disappeared" (read: kidnapped and killed and dumped their body in the ocean) and killed are buried. This guy Orlando Letelier escaped to Washington D.C. but was assassinated by the direction of Pinochet--even in the US! The bottom of his grave says, "I was born a Chilean, I am a Chilean, and I will die a Chilean."

A small hill with an image of Jesus on the cross. Lots of people left notes for God.

It was interesting that the cemetery was divided by class. The front of the cemetery is filled with huge mausoleums of the rich with statues and marble and all that, but as you walk more and more toward the back, the poor bury their dead here. It seemed more like a plant nursery than a cemetery, as it was adorned with potted plants, plastic windmills, toys, and the like.

Barely looks like a cemetery, no?

Nameless graves.

The grave of Victor Jara, a famous Chilean singer in the 60's-70's who sang of social justice and criticized the US foreign policies in Vietnam. When the military coup happened in 9/11/1973, ushering in the Pinochet dictatorship, he was kidnapped, tortured, and killed. His grave is now in the back of the cemetery with "the people" instead of the elites. His wife wanted him to be buried in this sector of the cemetery because she believed Victor Jara would've wanted it this way--to be with "the people."

The wall with all the names of people who died or were tortured during the dictatorship. It was another huge wall.

The wall's description: "Memorial of the disappeared detainees and of the politically executed people. Victims of the period of the military dictatorship."

What's sad though is that there are still people missing, who disappeared more than 20 years ago and whose whereabouts are still unknown...

On a brighter note, the next day at church we had a thanksgiving service to give thanks to Pastor Antonio, so it was 2 hours of people presenting a poem, a Bible verse, a skit, or music to show thanks. I took pictures of the gringos performing :)Andrew and Christine singing "Mighty to Save" in Spanish.

GX (Generación Extrema), the youth group I'm part of at church, performing the "Everything" skit by Lifehouse. It was very well done and powerful.

Graciela and Francisca singing "Desde mi interior" (From the Inside Out...by Hillsong).

And an amazingly cute toddler named Emilia sat in front of me, and I had to take a sneaky picture of her as she fell asleep in mommy's arms. Awww.