The End is Near

I have no desire to leave Chile. I leave on the 15th of January and arrive to North America on the 16th, and the thought of my departure makes me panic. I try to keep the idea far away from my mind, but it is difficult when everyone continues to inquire because they all know too that the end is near. My mantra has become, it's four months in North America (or less if I can swing it) and I have been here for longer than that!

This is not to reject my family and my friends in North America, no. I miss them wherever I am, near or far.

Chile has become my home; I make more sense to myself here. I feel ok.

Peace and the Power of Print

A week and a half/two weeks ago I invited the kids to my studio to learn silk screening. We made posters for a peace protest. (Someday I will get to post photos. Sad, beacause I have some lovely ones from this event.) The kids then took to the school, the street, the town plaza, and then went into the city hall! Notably, I had little to do with the city hall part seeing as this is not my country and I need to remain respectful. On the way back to the school three of the girls ran over to a policeman, ran after him shouting, ''WE WANT PEACE'' and then handed him a poster.

The power of print!


(one of my happy kids, Sofi, and her poster)

Death

What a sunny title! Well, as you may have heard Pinochet finally kicked the bucket. I think by my description you can guess my sentiments. The news traveled quickly because we all knew about it about two seconds after he died. I was personally in the middle of helping Rodrigo prepare a soup of the interior bits of a sheep (lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, etc.). The soup turned out quite well. And the reaction to Pinochet's death was mixed. In the streets of my little town the teenagers were cheering in the streets. In the corner store they inquired about my politics, Pinochet they decided with my help, is a relative of Bush...cousins or something. In Santiago they rioted. The cremated him across the river and over a large parcel of land from my house. In general, the death of Pinochet irritated and re-opened the wound. The Chileans are freshly emerging from his reign of terror (him and with the help of the good boys of the USA CIA). Still, there are families here who will never know where their loved ones disappeared to, or how they died. Sad. Heavy. It is an interesting time.

(Rodrigo and heart... sheep heart)


(sheep kidney... for Amanda)

Fieldtrip to the Cities

Last Wednesday I was invited to be a chaperone. Yes, these are things I never thing about since I have no school aged children of my own. However, since I am the adopted North American, my friend Rosa asked me to accompany her son. First we stopped at Lo Vasquez, a cathedral unlike those I spent so much time visiting this summer in Italy. We traveled next to Valparaiso and visited the Naval Museum. It was very Valparaiso, in that the floors were all warped and there were no true right angles to anything. Valparaiso is a city of twisting. Later we went to the mall in Viña del Mar and ate McDonald. It was truly American in appearance and feel...only I was sitting with a bunch of folks from Navidad. We went to the beach for an hour, then to the Congress building. Since I have not visited my own nation's Congress building it was a special treat for me. And, since the building appears on the news daily, it was nice to see it live and in person. So, if you happen to see the President of Chile on the TV, she's mostly likely speaking in Valparaiso where I visited. Since the death of Pinochet I imagine she has appeared once or twice. But, that's another entry...maybe tomorrow.


(Kathy as chaperone, with the others; Rosa on my right in the jean jacket)

Illness

I was sick for a week, hence the lack of writing. So was half the population of Navidad. I suspect it was due to contamination in the river. All is well now with me. The river is another thing.

Bigger Bug

I'd like to add this about bugs. There is a new champion: a black beetle, body/shell the size of my hand, legs! Imagine my horror as I encounted the corpse of one in the street in Navidad. Imagine my amusement as I swerved on my bicycle to avoid hitting one, as if it were a large animal.