Chilenismos

Here in Chile, it often feels like there is an entire language apart from Spanish to learn. Chileans have a very distinct set of vocabulary words called "Chilenismos". These words are used in everyday conversation. Last week, I was having once (afternoon tea, eaten around 5 or 6 pm) with my friend, Victoria and the family she is staying with and they asked me to list the three most important Chilenismos to survive an everyday Chilean conversation. As soon as I listed the my three words, Victoria and her family burst out laughing because our lists were practically identical. Here are some important Chilenismos so you will not be in the dark when you visit Chile:

Victoria and my list:

1) pololo/polola=boyfriend/girlfriend. In Spanish class in the US, I learned that novio/novia is the definition for boyfriend/girlfriend but in Chile, novio/novia is the term used for people who are engaged. Chile is very much a couple dominated culture and you always see pololos sitting on the benches in the parks or walking on the streets hand in hand. 

2) Cachai?=got it? understand? On the TransSantiago buses, I like to listen in on conversations and will hear the phrase Cachai? about twenty times before I exit the bus. Chileans say Cachai? as frequently as they take breaths.

3) Carretear=to go out, party and drink

3) Bacan= cool, excellent

Chileans also like to add -po to the end of words. For example, "si", will be changed to "sipo", a simple no, will be converted to "nopo".

And Patrish, here is a slang word for you. The word huevón means asshole or jerk but it is often used in conversations between friends. 

This weekend I went on a trekking adventure in the Andes which made a Steve White hike look like a walk in the park. Unfortunately, my camera died on the second day of the trip so I am waiting for people to put pictures up on facebook and then steal them. Check back next week to hear about the Death March through the Andes!

Weekend in Pucon

On Thursday night (August 13^th) a group of friends and I left Santiago at 11:15pm for a ten hour bus ride to Pucon (located in the southern part of Chile in the Lakes Region). We arrived around 10:00am the next morning and found a cute hostel located two blocks away from the bus station. After settling in, we took a bus up to Los Polzones, a set of thermal baths (termas) built next to a river. The first pool was around the temperature of a lukewarm bath which would have been nice had it not been raining and very freezing outside. The next terma was the exact opposite; we all felt like lobsters in boiling water and by the end of fifteen minutes, my legs were bright red. I went and sat in the frigid river for a little bit to cool off. After spending about four hours at the thermas, we returned to our hostel where we made tacos. Never have tacos tasted so good. We even found taco seasoning at the supermercado for taco meat!

The next day we woke up around 7:00am to go skiing/snowboarding on the Volcan Villarrica. The Volcan Villarrica is an active volcano with a lava lake within its crater. Before I left for Pucon, I was talking to my cousin Sean on facebook chat and he said I had to go skiing/snowboarding in the Andes. Even though I had never been snowboarding, I took Sean’s advice and joined the ski/snowboard group and now I can say that I snowboarded on the side of an active volcano! Basically, the entire time we were in Pucon it rained, so as we made our way up the Volcan Villarrica, it was snowing pretty heavily. 

Stopping to put chains on the car was an excellent opportunity to play in the snow.

When we were purchasing our lift tickets, the cashier told us there was a significant possibility that the lifts would close due to the weather conditions. We took our chances and our gamble paid off; we were practically the only people on the runs and the snow was the freshest powder imaginable. However, for the first hour and a half on the Volcan, I was miserable. I could not stand up on the snowboard and every time I ventured forward, I always seemed to be heading close to the trail marker and into illegal territory. These were not exactly the best conditions to learn in: I could barely see the trail in front of me and strong winds turned the snow into ice bullets. So for the first hour and a half, I pretty much threw a pity party for myself. However, my snowboarding skills improved and by the second half of the day, I was carving and actually making it down the mountain on the snowboard and not on my butt. This week, I went snowboarding again and went down the intermediate and advanced runs. Progress! I would post a picture of the Volcan Villarrica but unfortunately due to the weather conditions, we never even saw the volcano that we skied/snowboarded on. 

Our ski group at Ski Pucon

On Sunday morning, we went to the Transcura canopy which is the longest zipline in all of South America. This 1 kilometer zipline was a little different than the canopy in Cajon de Maipo. Instead of Firestone tires, each individual person was their own breaking system. We were given a pair of thick leather gloves and braked using our hands. I prefer the Firestone tires because you could feel the heat from the friction when you put your hands on the cable. This activity was also done in the rain and by the time we all completed the canopy, we were muddy and soaked. We returned to the hostel, changed and went to the Lago Villarrica. 

So happy to be in Chile!

Sunset on Lago Villarrica

Scenery in Pucon

And so concludes my weekend trip to Pucon!

Words of the day: superficie=surface, carpa=tent, oro=gold, nieve=snow, lluvia=rain, debo visitar Eliz en Chile =I should visit Eliz in Chile

Life in Santiago

Today I have officially been in Chile for two months although it frequently seems like I just got off the plane. School has been in session for the past three weeks or so and I have three classes for the semester. My classes include a Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral poetry class (with a professor who is Neruda's number one fan), an environmental economics/natural resource management class and the Education Abroad Program history/politics/culture/many other random themes of Chile class with the rest of the University of California students. The Neruda/Mistral class is often referred to as the Ultimate Gringo class because it is completely filled with extranjeros (foreigners) from the United States. In addition, I also have an internship at a place called Chileambiente, an environmental corporation based in Santiago. For the next two or three months, I will be doing a research project about how solar energy from the Atacama Desert in the North could be used instead of hydroelectric power derived from damming parts of Patagonia. One of Chileambiente's main goals is to keep Patagonia sin represas or without businesses.

Other fun life in Santiago facts:

Entertainment on the TransSantiago buses is provided by numerous musicians who ride buses around the city singing and playing their guitars and then collect their pesos from fans.


Student protests are frequent at the Universidad de Chile. Last week at the facultad de humanidades y filosofia, the police force used tear gas to squash a student protest against the killing of 24 year old Mapuche by police. The student population is very politically active and student protests are very common at the Universidad de Chile.


My new nickname here in Chile is Ellie. I gave up introducing myself as Liz because Ellie is much easier for Chileans to pronounce.


Chileans do not like to eat their tomatoes with skin so all the salads with tomatoes have the skins taken off the tomatoes.


One of my friends from UCLA found a capoeira class at one of the local Santiago gyms and so we have been going every week to the class. Capoeira is a form of Brazilian street dance fighting with a lot of gymnastics incorporated into the class. From capoeira, I learned that I have no coordination and now know why my parents never enrolled me in ballet or jazz or any other form of dance class. Smart people.


Words of the day: angustia=stress/anxiety, desayuno=breakfast, almuerzo=lunch, cena=dinner

Cajon del Maipo

On Saturday morning, I went to Cajon del Maipo, located about an hour away from Santiago. A stark contrast exists between the industrialized city of Santiago and this beautiful canyon which could be considered Santiago's equivalent to the Russian River or Muir Woods. We started off the day with a hike to La Cascada de Las Animas (pictures are below). After, we went ziplining! The picture above show the zipline route across the rio Maipo. 

And this was my face as the  guide was explaining the ziplining rules....I was a little uncertain at first.

The guides did not tell us how we were going to stop on the zipline until we had reached the other side of the rio Maipo and suddenly rammed into four Firestone tires. Very efficient braking system but a little jarring.

After ziplining, we went on horse back riding/ more like horse back walking on a trail up to the top of the canyon. You can see the moon in this picture.

View from the top.

Words of the day: cantar=to sing, la parada= the stop, derecha=right, izquierda=left, caminar=to walk

Cajon del Maipo

The view from the top of our hike to La Cascada de las Animas (Waterfall of the Spirits).

(PS: I forgot to add that if you click on the picture, the image will become bigger)

The very rickety bridge (ala Indiana Jones) that we crossed during our hike. The trekking guide told us only five people are permitted on this sturdy bridge at a time....shocking.

La Cascada de Las Animas!! ¡Que linda! (How pretty!)

Even though it is currently winter here in Chile, it was a nice and sunny day in Cajon del Maipo. 

Although Chilean cities are not that spectacular, the landscapes more than make up for the lack of things to see in the cities!

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