The New Zapato (Shoe)

                Three Sundays ago (May 15^th), while playing basketball, I put in motion a sequence of events that would eventually lead to me getting a new zapato.  The basketball was perhaps a little more physical this Sunday and growing up watching the likes of Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman play, I wasn’t going to back down.  In an effort to match the aggression of my opponents, I took the ball hard to the hoop leaving my feet for a layup.  Unfortunately, when I landed, it was on someone else’s foot.  Immediately after twisting my left ankle, I just laid face down on the court for several minutes in pain.

                Having sprained and broken my left ankle many times, I’ve always worn a protective brace for security measures.  Regardless of the brace, I was in some kind of pain and also wondering how I was going to get home.  The courts were a 35 minute walk from my apartment and a 20 minute walk from the metro.  It was then that a random Chilean that we were playing basketball with offered to take me home in his car.  I was and will be forever grateful of this act of kindness.  Pay it forward I say and so I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out in the future that this guy paid for one Snickers Bar from the vending machine and actually got two. 

                On the way home I called Katie who was actually in the middle of “Culture Day” with our friend, Hannah.  They were planning on going to several museums throughout the day and my call came after the first museum.  After spending a couple of minutes trying to convince Katie that I was serious about my ankle being sprained or broken, she advised me that she would meet me back at the apartment.  My friend, Craig, who also helped me back to the apartment, went on a quick run to the store to get some ice.  He returned with ice, beer, and chips and stating his motive behind the purchase came from hypothesizing what he would want in my situation.

                Katie and Hannah returned shortly after Craig got back and Katie was surprisingly very comforting.  Usually when I injure myself, she acts like she is being inconvenienced, but she could tell that I was in a great deal of pain.  It was now time to unveil the damage and I took my shoe and ankle brace off.  I knew how I felt so I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find out that my foot looked like a Hobbit foot from Lord of the Rings.

                Making a trip to the hospital on the weekends is almost double or even triple the price during the week.  So, I called my Chilean program coordinator and we arranged for an appointment Monday morning at 10:45.  Hannah and Craig were already over, so Katie and Hannah went to the store and picked up some more beer, chips, and also pizza and we had an entertaining day of games.  Katie let me win in Yahtzee which I thought was pretty nice.

                The next morning, following my program coordinators advice, I sought out a Collectivo (cheaper taxis) to take me to the clinic a good ways away.  Upon not finding any Collectivos and fearing that a taxi ride would cost a pretty penny, I set out on a foot to the cheap metro.  The metro isn’t but a 5 minute walk, but when you are hopping on one foot it takes a lot longer.  It was a pretty big struggle getting to the metro and I’m sure I didn’t go unnoticed during my trek.  Gringo, beard like Dumbledore, and hopping on one foot made me somewhat of a side show.

                I finally made it to the Clinic and into the doctor’s office about an hour after arrival.  After I got an x-ray, it was deemed that I didn’t have a fracture or torn tendons, but only a severe sprain.  The doctor advised that I needed to wear a walking cast for 3 weeks.  As I wasn’t even able to put the least bit of pressure on my foot, I was surprised by this diagnosis. 

                I found out that Chile definitely doesn’t short you when it comes to getting a cast.  Thoughts of stealing a Snickers Bar from the local convenience store gradually vanished the higher the doctor went on my leg with the cast.  For my sprained ankle, they gave me a cast that came all the way up to my knee.  After the doctor put this huge thing on my leg, he proclaimed, “Tu zapato nuevo!”

                                                 

  Walking out of the clinic, my pace was that of a full-blown geriatric.  It literally would take me 5 minutes to cover a 1/10 of a mile.  Considering myself a pretty active individual, this drove me crazy.  I was able to take a couple of days off of school and Katie subbed for several of my classes.  Slowly, and I mean slowly, I was able to walk faster and my walking pace was upgraded to semi-geriatric.

With my ankle healing, the cast was still greatly impeding my ability to walk and grew increasingly annoying to me.  Finally, after a week and 5 days of lugging this cast around, I decided to cut it off.  Not really having adequate tools to perform this operation, I found miniature children scissors and a broken can opener to do the job.  Similar to how MacGyver would cut off a cast but not nearly as efficient, it took me about an hour and a half to cut it all off. 

                                                   Almost finished..............

Upon shedding the cast, I was surprised just how well my ankle had healed.  Of course it was still very tender, but I was able to walk much better than I thought I would be able to.  However, I still have a ways to go until I can get to the point of running around again.  Though with the help of Katie making sure I get all of my meals in a timely fashion, I’m making a rapid recovery.

Get Up, Stand Up

As Katie and I were winding down for the night on Monday, me by doing push-ups with heavy stacks of Chilean Pesos on my back and Katie by longing for me, we heard a commotion from outside.  Peering out the window, we saw a big group of young people running frantically through the street.  Continuing to gaze upon the unruly crowd scattering like fire ants would after their mound is demolished, we noticed our eyes starting to water and our throats and noses starting to burn.  We quickly shut the window and turned on the news to see if we could find out anything.

                After turning on CNN Chile, it didn’t take us long to pinpoint the exact reason of why these people were running.  These people were protestors and they had gathered in the nearby Plaza Italia to protest the passing of the HydroAysen project earlier Monday by a count of 10 to 1.

                The HydroAysen is a project that consists of the construction of five massive hydroelectric dams in the southern part of Chile on the Baker and Pascua Rivers.  This region is considered one of the most beautiful natural areas of South America.  Drafts for this project have been in the works since 1961 to exploit the hydroelectric potential of these rivers, but Chile had yet to develop adequate technology to take on a project of this magnitude.  Then, at the end of 2004, with the availability of new technology, a serious push was initiated for the construction of these dams. 

                There has always been a large public outcry against these dams from environmental and religious groups.  Studies have shown that this project will affect 6 national parks, 11 national reserves, 26 priority conservation sites, 16 wetlands, and 32 private protected areas.  Six Mapuche communities would also be taken over, which would only deepen the Mapuche’s hatred towards Chileans whom they deem “thieves of their land”.  Mapuche are much like the Native Americans in The States.

                So, in 2007, the Chilean government appointed an environmental assessment board to analyze the impact these dams would have on the environment.  After three years of gathering findings, the report was published and was met with much controversy.  Much of the opposition felt like there were glaring holes in the findings and the report was not complete.  One glaring omission is the lack of testing of the effects of a major earthquake on the dams.  This accumulation of these incomplete findings only strengthened the public’s opposition to the project to a high of 61%.

                All of these events preceded the 10 to 1 vote that approved the building of the hydroelectric dams on Monday, May 9^th.  Needless to say, there has been public animosity building for some time and the environment was ripe for protesting.  After the approval came out during the day, protests erupted all over the country with one of the biggest protest occurring just minutes away from our apartment.  Most of the violent protesting happened down in the South, but protests in Santiago weren’t all peaceful. 

                The annoyance I experienced from being interrupted between one-armed push-up #234 and #235 quickly vanished as we were now consumed with the developments of these protests.  It was very surreal to watch the protests on the news and then look right outside our window and witness it first-hand.  On the news, we were able to watch the Carabineros successfully quell the crowd through tear gas and massive water launchers.  Through our windows, we were able to view the aftermath of dispersed protestors and also, for the first time, experience tear gas.  Our eyes quickly watered and our noses and throats burned.  The use of tear gas is illegal in the majority of countries, but in Chile…….legal.

                So, fast forward a couple of days.  Today is Tuesday, May 17^th and we have had some developments since I had last written about the protests on Friday, May 13^th.  Later Friday night after I had written about the protests during the prior week, there was a massive protest that dwarfed the previous ones. 

Looking out our window once again toward the main street, Alameda, which is 4 lanes each way, we saw a huge gathering of people that clogged the main street like William Taft’s arteries.  This continuous stream of protesters, who started their march in Plaza Italia (right by our place), would continue their march to the president’s palace in La Moneda about 2 miles away.  What started out as a peaceful protest turned into a confrontational one as we again experienced the tear gas sensation in our throats and noses.

When it was all said and done, there were over 30,000 people that participated in the march which was by and large the biggest protests against the hydroelectric dams.  This coming Friday, word on the street is that there is supposed to be an even bigger protest.  We will keep you posted on the weekend events…

http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2011/05/15/941809/miles-protestan-en-santiago-contra.html

Maintenance Update

I've heard through the grapevine that the videos that were initially uploaded weren't working.  Well, I have fixed the problem so please enjoy Katie's camera skills!

Third Time Is a Charm

                        So, we have a couple of events to catch you all up on.  Per our last blog post, you know that our program, TeachingChile, put on a mid-semester party for all of the teachers.  It was a great party filled with catered burritos, 3 kegs of Kuntsman Amber beer, and other appetizers.  We had the opportunity to catch up with many of the teachers that we hadn’t seen in a while.  A fun time was had by all.  At this party, we also found out from another couple about a paid excursion up to the ever elusive Cajon del Maipo the following weekend.  We expressed to them our troubles with reaching this destination and told them that we would love to go with them. 

The Chilean band that performed at the roof top party

            Last week, we also started doing some private English lessons for some business executives.  These executives work for a risk commission that was created to evaluate the risk of investments for the five major Chilean pension funds.  All these guys want to do is to speak business English with us for a couple of hours a week and we get paid for it.  No lesson planning was a plus.  Our financial backgrounds have helped in producing some interesting conversations with these guys.  I told my guy all about the mortgage crisis, NINJA (No Income No Job or Asset) loans, and how I used to forge borrower’s signatures to get their loan through the pipeline.  The last part is not true just in case Financial Times wants to publish me.  Katie discusses mutual funds, the financial economy in Chile, and Chilean culture with her executive.

            This past weekend was a pretty eventful one.  Saturday afternoon, I went to play basketball while Katie went and saw Water for Elephants at the movie theater.  Afterwards, we had people over to watch a basketball game and to play games.  We libated and conversed into the wee hours of the morning.  Going on a 15- kilometer (9.32 miles) hike up a mountain the next morning at 7, it probably wasn’t the smartest move to stay up this late.

Muchas Cervezas

            Even though we gained an hour with daylight savings time (Fall here), 7:00 came too early.  After we woke our friend up off our futon and told him where he was, we were off to meet our hiking group.  The hiking group consisted of our two friends, two Hondurans, a Brazilian, a German scientist, and our Chilean guide.  Everyone was very friendly and either knew a little bit of English or spoke slow enough in Spanish where we could communicate with them. 

Los Banos Morales (Where the hike began)

            The drive out to Cajon was about 2.5 hours filled with beautiful scenery towards the latter half of the drive.  We were escorted by a tour van that brought us within 3.5 hours walking distance to the glacier.  Once we stepped foot outside of the van, we realized that the whole hike up to the glacier wasn’t going to be frigid.  We shed some layers and we were on our way to the glacier. 

The start of the hike

            The rocky terrain on the way up made it difficult to hike at times.  All around us was evidence of the major earthquake that hit Santiago last February.  The boulders that were more yellow than the others had broken off the mountain in the big quake.  These boulders were strewn all over the landscape.  The first hour of our hike was relatively flat, but then gradually became steeper.  The majority of the hike was spent traversing through a valley that would eventually lead us to the footsteps of the glacier.  Along the way, we stopped for lunch, to take some pictures, and many, many breaks.

            We both had never really experienced hiking to such a high altitude and for such a long distance.  Although we have been frequently exercising since we have been here, the high altitude made us feel grossly out of shape.  However, we weren’t alone as all of the people in our group were consistently in need of breaks.  The breaks were nice as they allowed us to slow down and take in all of the huge, natural formations around us along with the multicolored rocks.

            As we neared the final destination, the air was getting thinner and colder.  The sun was starting to start its’ path on the downside of the parabola.  We could tell we were getting close as the snow accumulation was increasing.  By this time, we also knew that anytime our guide told us how long it would get to certain points along the way, we should double it for the correct amount.

            Nevertheless, we finally reached the glacier and what a sight it was!  The glacier filled a void between two mountains and then had a frozen lake in front.  By the time we had reached the glacier, it was about 3:30 and the sun was starting to hide behind the mountains.  The fleeting sun and the swift breeze coming off of the frozen lake caused a drop in temperature of about 50 degrees.  We were both layered up, but I don’t think we anticipated the cold to be this extreme.

            After the initial feeling of being awestruck subsided, Katie decided to do some amateur video taking of the glacier with our camera.  Setting her post up about 10 yards from the lake, Katie started panoramically capturing the glacier with commentary included.  About halfway through her footage, a sudden disturbance is seen on the video that can only be described as the videographer slipping on the ice and gracefully falling on her derriere.  Being there and witnessing this was pretty comical in itself, but this may be one of those rare occasions where the video footage may be even funnier than viewing the event live.  Enjoy……..

            We tried to tough it out on the glacier as long as we could, but we weren’t adequately dressed so we left after about 30 minutes.  The trek downward was naturally much easier, warmer, and took less time.  With the sun starting to set, it made the scenery even more fascinating.  Our friend, Bill, summed it up perfectly about halfway down.  He exclaimed, “Now, this is Chile”.  We both knew exactly what he meant.  Although Santiago does have its’ attractions, the real Chile is seen in nature through its’ vast array of oneiric landscapes.

These are prayer flags that people leave and they disengrate into the air along with their prayers

            With about an hour left in our hike, lightness succumbed to darkness and we were left to navigate the terrain with the limited visibility that we had and a cell phone flashlight.  I howled like a coyote a couple of times in an attempt to disinvite what other carnivores may have viewed as a succulent treat.  As we walked past the silhouettes of the giant, jagged landforms jutting out from the surface of the earth, it gave us the sensation of what walking on the moon may feel like.  We finally reached our van and we were on our way back to Santiago.

            Upon stepping foot in Santiago, we went and grabbed a quick bit to eat at a pizza joint with our friends.  We quickly devoured the pizza and then we retired to our apartment.  We were both exhausted so it didn’t take us long to shower and find our bed.  Lying in bed, soar as hell from a 9.32 mile hike through the rocky terrain, I leaned over to Katie (with all of my energy) and told her, “Now that, Katie, is how you get rid of a hangover.”

And here we found Princeton a friend while we were waiting for our tour to begin.