10 May 2005

Suggestions: Valparaíso, Chile

Suggestions for people planning to come study or visit here:
(1) Do. By all means, if you have a chance to come to Chile, do so without hesitation (except for the time it takes you to buy a ticket, learn Spanish, and convince yourself that the Spanish you learned will be useless). That brings us to...
(2) For those of you at LC, read the book about chilean modismos that they give you in orientation. Perhaps in lieu of Spanish classes; the people here simply do not speak Spanish. They speak Chilean. Well, in the (paraphrased) words of a Chilean, "Todos los Chilenos hablamos tres idiomas: el Castellano, el Chileno, y puro huevon (accent on the o)" loosely translated (pardon the language): "all Chileans speak three languages: Castillian (Spanish), Chilean, and pure bullshit." To try to explain what you are going to be dealing with, I will give you some examples. They drop the "s" at the end of words. They leave out the "d" in past participles, they insert "po" (pues) at the end of every other sentence, speak more slang than proper spanish, and do not recognize some of the words that you were taught to use. Aguacate? Fresa? Novio? no no, palta, frutilla, and pololo, respectively. The most commonly word, scattered throughout any conversation, would be "¿cachai?" (accent on the i). This means "do you understand?" in second person singular. but chileans often use the vosotros form of a verb and just drop the s. Example: Como estai (accent on the i) instead of como estas (accent on the a)... Okay, since it is doubtful that anyone is still reading this, moving on...
(3) Bring an ISIC card and use it on the micros, because you won't get your matriculation card for a long time and otherwise you would have to pay twice as much for bus fare. The ISIC card will also work as an ID to get into clubs, bars, etc.
(4) Bring a stash of your favorite candy or, if you are so inclined, peanut butter. It's expensive here.
(5) Get classes with mainly chileans, and try to get classes that are required of first year students, since they are friendlier and less cliquish than older chilean students
(6) Go out. Preferably with Chileans. People here go out from around 10 pm to 6 am Thursday through Saturday night. Suggestions: La Torre (near the Casa Central), and Ache Havana (on Errazuriz).
(7) Travel. Both within Valparaiso/Viña del Mar and around Chile. Suggestions: Cerro La Campana, Chiloe (Castro, Dalcauhue and Cucau), Pucon (although you will go with CIEE if you study here for the semester), Machu Pichu and the ruins near Cusco(Peru), Lake Titicaca (Peru or Bolivia), Isla del Sol (Bolivia), and San Pedro de Atacama (in the north of Chile). Trips that other people have suggested: Buenos Aires, Mendoza (Argentina), Easter Island, the Amazon Rainforest, and Patagonia (in the south - easiest to go during the summer). Within Valparaiso, you should take the O micro, which drives through all the hills in Valpo, so you can see the city. Also, Playa Ancha, the southernmost cerro, is gorgeous. Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion have a lot of cafes and are popular among tourists and students, and the flat area near the port is where a lot of the nightlife in Valpo is. The Botanical Garden (technically in Viña, I believe), is also lovely, and the beach in Viña is popular (check out the huge sand statues of animals - they change every few days).
(8) Use an ATM card instead of traveller's checks - the checks are a pain to cash and, as long as you take out money in large, infrequent blocks, you will not lose much through the fixed fee that your bank incurs.
(9) Explore the markets and ambulant vendors in northern Viña and downtown Valparaiso near Pedro Montt.
(10) Wander. Drag along a Chilean or another traveller, pick a street or a hill, and start walking. Don't get too lost, of course, and try to avoid the upper parts of the cerros, which are rather dangerous.

No comments: