Week One

Buenos dias a todos! Today we are sitting in a cyber café across from Católica University. The last few days have been a blur. We have spent much of our time touring the city. We have also been conscious not to miss the World Cup games, or Mundial, as they call it here. They have set up a large tent with a big screen TV in one of the courtyards of the University for students to watch the games between classes. You can imagine the crowd when Chile played. It showed here at 07:30 in the morning. It was an amazing game.

The reaction of the city was stunning when they won! Complete with confetti thrown from the buildings, chanting and cheering in the streets for “La Roja!” Hundreds of people were parading around on the streets waving flags, wearing patriotic hats, blowing vuvuzelas, horns and other noise makers. There were so many people the police closed streets and brought out what I like to call the ‘riot-mobiles’. When we left the university, they were arresting people on the streets. Though we avoided most of the activity in Plaza Italia, I saw how wild it was on TV. I tried to imagine people in the US getting so worked up about a football game.

The Alameda, a major roadway, was closed to accommodate Santiago's celebration.

We have been eating out a lot with our little adventures. Thursday night, for example, we traveled on the metro (subway) uptown to Providencia (we live in Centro, or the central part of the city) to find a pizza joint befitting of the description ‘a hole in the wall’. The Chileans description of pizza would not be the same as some from the United States. All pizzas are complete with thin crust, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, but any and all toppings are fair game. All toppings from shrimp to green olives to corn kernels were found on the menu. I have also observed that Chileans love hot dogs, ‘palta’ or guacamole, tomatoes, coffee, wine and meat, meat, meat and more meat. Much of the food is quite different from anything you consider Mexican food. The closest thing you will find to tortillas is what they call ‘pancaques’, which are usually stuffed with something (meat) and covered with sauce. Vegetables with dinner, like a salad, seem to be more of an afterthought with people here. I will tell you a little secret. I love Peruvian food. We went to a little restaurant next to Plaza de Armas, had a round of Pisco sours, a national drink, though of which country's is still unknown (this has been a long-standing debate between Peruvians and Chileans) and were then served both an aesthetically pleasing and delicious meal.

Our down time, when we have not been exploring the city or watching the world cup, has been spent meeting with the professors and students we will be working with this field season. We have been trying to create a workable schedule. This task is proving quite difficult as there are many variables to consider. Meanwhile, we have also been reading up on literature. Michael has been very helpful in assisting me with finding papers for a potential empirical study. Sunday, we plan to go to the study site so that the new members of our team can get a feel for it. I remember last year when I saw the field site. It was definitely an 'ah-ha!' moment for me. Should be fun!