Growing up in Arizona, being called a gringa was somewhat of an insult coming from the mouths of Mexican school children on the playground. So you can imagine my discomfort at being called a gringa here. (Did I talk about this in a previous blog? Days are running together) However, I have been reassured that it means nothing derogatory here. Its just an adjectives for people from the United States (Estadounidence is quite a mouthful to get out when you are talking about people. It really is much easier to say gringo or gringa). I even saw a sign for an American style sandwich it was called Lomito Gringo or something like that.
Jaime, who I told you about before, the slave driver as his girl friend and I like to call him (aprovecha Kelly! Take advadange of your time here!), invited me (pushed me, but thanks for that Jaime) to come to Santiago, which I did. It was so amazing. I spent the entire weekend speaking in Spanish with him and his girlfriend (who is American, and would you believe it, it was way easier to speak Spanish with her!) and exploring the city of Santiago. If you go to Santiago, in much of the urban areas you can't even tell that you are in South America (or at least the image that most of us picture when we think of South America, which Valparaiso fits perfectly with its corregated steel and colorful walls). It also might be the cleanest and most peaceful extremely large city I have ever seen. Thats not really the Americanization of South America that I am referring to in the title though. It really was on the outskirts of Viña del Mar where they are starting to build cookie cutter suburban houses. Its such a shame. The character is completely lost. To be honest though, they do look much more comfortable to live in than the corregated shacks. Come on Viña, at least paint them different colors.
So I said I had to pay forward what Jaime did for me and my opportunity came quicker than I imagined. This weekend, hours before I had to depart for Santiago I discovered that my host family was going to be almost double for the last week what it had been. I scrambled to find a hostel right before I left and here I am at Che Lagarto hostel in Viña del Mar. Well, the first night I met a bunch of really cool people. One is Michael from New Zealand, who yes, has an awesome accent which I like to copy from time to time. I offered to go to Valparaiso with him since he hadnt been. He was a stitch to be around and I pretty much couldnt stop laughing the whole time. We had the best ice cream and coffees ever and we decided I deserved an award for being the best tour guide ever. Two other guys are the 18 year old Canadians who were gonna leave Chile without going to Valpo! I told them I would take them if they wanted and they immediately said yes. (They had been sitting around the hostel a lot). They were a kick too, and gave me a little ego boost by flirting with me. And they made me laugh with their poop jokes and other typical 18 year old vulgarities. Fun times.
6 more days. Hard to believe. Not sure how I feel, but I am looking forward to coming home.
Besos
We're called "waegooks" here in Korea. I think for the most part it's not anything bad. It means foreigner. But, sometimes it isn't good because the views on foreigners vary; from complete and open distaste to excitement and kindness. Luckily for me I get the latter.
ReplyDeleteSounds like so much fun!! So glad you're enjoying the time there~~~~