Kassia Servas Report: SYLE 2019

I love languages. As a child, I dreamed of being bilingual, and was in awe of my classmates who grew up speaking a second language. I studied French in school, German in college, and Spanish after graduating whenever I found the time. When my friend Tess told me that she was going to Japan through Servas to work on her language skills, I filed the information away in the back of my brain, hoping that it would at some point prove useful. Last year I turned 30, applied to graduate school in , and quit my job. Prior to my move, I had 2 months in which to pack up my things, say my goodbyes, and fit in any last-minute adventure. With the support of the US and Chile Servas groups, I was able to travel to Chile to work on my Spanish skills, share meals and ideas with my hosts, and dive deep into Chilean literature and history. I bought a Kindle, practiced packing light, and set off to see a small bit of prior to leaving the Americas altogether. To prepare for the trip I spoke with Aneris, the SYLE coordinator for Chile. I had in mind to see as much of Chile as possible—going as far north as there were hosts and then making my way south. We settled on 9 cities that could be reached from Santiago by bus: La Sirena, Coquimbo, Curacaví, Santiago, Viña del Mar, Valparaíso, Linares, Pelluhue, and Concepcíon. I set off late August—late summer in Oregon, late winter in Chile. My SYLE trip to Chile began with a serious case of jetlag. Unable to sleep during my 14-hour flight and landing just in time for breakfast, a nap would probably have been a good idea. Instead I headed to the Centro Gabriela Mistral where I downed a fresh cup of coffee and tried a marraqueta aliada (Café Público)—a toasted sandwich with meat and cheese. Fed and watered, I made my way to meet my first host, Angela. Together we explored the central neighborhoods (cerros) of Santiago and I tried my first de pino—filled with beef, onions, raisins, black olives, and chopped hard boiled eggs. Angela, as every Servas host I encountered, was incredibly patient with me as I worked to express myself in my beginning Spanish. This visit to Santiago was brief, and I headed the next day to the coast to meet the SYLE coordinator Aneris and my next host, Paz. We gathered at a lunch that included other local Servas members who shared their perspectives on life in Chile and some of the challenges and thrills of living in Chile while calling another country home. We dined on Spanish tortilla, , and delicious fruits grown and preserved by Paz. I spent the next few days in Valparaíso with Paz and her family as well as a local day host, Carmen. I tried —hot dogs with toppings such as mayonnaise, tomatoes, and avocado—was given an aerial tour of the area in a tiny plane by Paz’s spouse, and learned a bit about medicinal plants in Chile. In the mornings, I worked on my Spanish using a work book I had brought with me and an e-grammar guide I had

1 Kassia Servas Report: SYLE Chile 2019 borrowed from the library. In the afternoons, I explored the town. On one of my last days, I visited the neighboring town of Viña del Mar where I had the most delicious salmon and caper empanada of my life and met three North Americans interested in sharing a taxi to visit dunes too far to reach via bus. We watched the sunset and observed sandboarders before heading to a dinner of Chorillana—a dish consisting of fries, meat, and eggs. My next stop was Coquimbo and La Serena, where I met with Servas member Reynaldo and his friends—a group of surfers with a love of Chilean craft beer. We tried a large assortment on my first evening, during which I was roped into a plan to get up at 4 am the following day to visit Punto de Los Choros. While the weather was too inclement for a boat ride to the nearby islands featuring penguins and other animals, I did get to see endemic fox and guanacos on the drive back to Coquimbo. In Coquimbo I was hosted by Luís and his family. I tried conger eel and scallops, visited many a beach, ate at multiple family dinners (similar to barbecue), viewed penguins from afar (finally), and was invited to end my visit to Chile with a return trip—just in time for the annual independence festivities. Luís hosted me three times during my SYLE—once in Santiago and twice in Coquimbo. His mother even rescued me from a bus station when a miscommunication resulted in my heading to the wrong stop, and his friends and family made me feel very welcome and at home. I cannot begin to thank them enough. Because a large number of Chile Servas hosts live in Santiago, that is where I headed next. I visited Joel, a cinema buff and journalist who took me to see the Chilean premiere of Yesterday, where I had the privilege of meeting two sets of Beatles. Next, I was welcomed by Javier and Christine, a couple with a house in the campo (country) near the town of Curacaví. After a few days exploring museums and practicing my Spanish with hosts and couchsurfers, I headed to my hosts’ weekend home. Their granddaughter was my tour guide, and I spent the weekend learning to ride a horse, harvesting oranges for fresh juice, having my portrait painted, and watching the sunset over the hills. Linares is a small town in the Talca valley, was next. This area is most frequently visited by travelers with a penchant for and knowledge of wine. While I claim neither of those things, I was determined to experience a bit of Chile’s south. Linares isn’t particularly far south, but an observant eye can watch the landscape change as their bus barrels down the highway. I was greeted by Vero, an artist with enviable emotional connections with her neighbors that span decades. My time in Linares was rather short, as Vero and her friends had a beach trip planned to the town of Pellehue. Pellehue in winter is beautiful and crisp. While my Spanish had certainly improved by this point in the trip, I was not yet up to the task of both following and participating in a robust conversation made up of +6 voices. I did however learn a lot

2 Kassia Servas Report: SYLE Chile 2019 about different family histories in Chile and the diversity of perspectives on the country’s recent history that persist to this day. My hosts shared wine and asado with me, and introduced me to a local dish made up of locos—a kind of abalone. I tried sours and learned the names of a few local plants from my guides. My final city was Concepción. I had hoped to find the time to head down to Patagonia, but neither the time of year nor the weather allowed that. Instead, I got as close as the last big town—a calm city featuring flora and fauna quite different from that which I had seen in Chile’s north. Here, so far south, I encountered a landscape that began to remind me of my own in northwestern Oregon. My host in Concepcíon was Andres, whose entire family happened to be visiting at the same time. We met for the obligatory Pisco Sours before heading to his parent’s house for a late dinner of ceviche. We rounded out the night with a game of Forehead Detective. If you are curious to see just how much your knowledge of famous people is culturally tied, I encourage you to play this game abroad. Perhaps, like me, you will have to embarrassingly admit that you really did think the pope was still Jean Paul. During my month in Chile, I met a long list of incredible and generous people who shared not only their homes with me but their personal passions and histories. They welcomed me during winter, which as it turns out, is a great time for hosts! As a traveler interested in wildflowers and the outdoors, summer might have been a better choice. That said, the weather was conducive to plenty of outdoor exploration, and quite a few plants were already blooming! The main challenge I encountered as a traveler was the meal schedule. Lunch is often the main meal, and is sometimes eaten as late as 3 pm. If you plan on having the midday meal with your host (absolutely worth it), it can be difficult to plan activities more than an hour from your host’s home. This really only matters if you have a slow morning—which is also common, and lovely! Chile is incredibly long, and trains are not a common mode of transit. If you buy them in advance, plane tickets can be quite affordable. I recommend the bus. If you can sleep in a moving vehicle, the overnight options are fabulous. If you can’t book the route you want online (some buses are regional—they will not go the full distance you need), go to the terminal and ask around. As long as you are flexible with the timing, you may be able to book a direct bus without any transfers. Turbus and Pullman/Pullman Sur came highly recommended. Word of warning: my debit card didn’t work with any of the online bus booking systems—make sure you have a credit card on you. Kind hosts allowed me to reimburse them, but this was not ideal. Having an e-reader was useful, though not essential. I was able to borrow Spanish learning guides from my local libraries, travel guides, and a wide variety of literature by Chilean authors. The app Libby is your friend! My favorites were My Invented Country by Isabel Allende and Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra. I read The

3 Kassia Servas Report: SYLE Chile 2019

House of the Spirits and Eva Luna by Isabel Allende before my trip, both of which I hope to read in Spanish at some point! If you live in the US in or near a rural county and are able to get a library card for that area, the hold lines will be much shorter! I use both Multnomah and Washington County libraries (Oregon), as they have a reciprocity agreement, and Washington County is by far the better county for hot items. I felt safe throughout my trip. I was however warned not to have my phone out in public places. This was mainly a struggle when I was riding the bus and trying to find my stop and the bus had no way of communicating the progression of bus stops. For both data and texts, I purchased an Entel SIM card. I paid 2,000 Chilean Pesos for 150 MB for 7 days, and they automatically extended my ‘contract’ to 30 days. I just made sure to have my phone on airplane mode when I didn’t need it. I didn’t run out of data! If you stay for longer than 30 days, you will need to register your phone. You can use Uber in Chile and there is an option for paying in cash. Be careful though, if you are off the beaten track, it can be really tough to find someone to pick you up. I waited almost an hour at a nature preserve just outside of Concepcíon— people kept accepting and then canceling. I made it home, but was worried I would use up all my data trying to find someone! I’d like to end by thanking my Chile Servas hosts one more time. For those of you who followed the news this fall, you know that it was a turbulent season for Chile politically. My heart and thoughts have been with the incredible people who shared their homes and their lives with me this summer. I hope we meet again!

4