Day to Day Activities

So, lots to say!! Monday, Paula (my host sister) took me on the metro to meet my group at the police station. There, we waited for two hours to register our visas. Actually, the first hour we all waited because their computers weren't working, and the second hour we all ran in by turns to get the registration. From there, we went to a building near La Moneda, the presidential palace, where we had our first class on the history of Chile - specifically the government of Salvador Allende and the "golpe de estado" (coup d'etat) of Augusto Pinochet.
After the class, we had small group discussions, followed by lunch. My host mom packed me a "palta reina" - avocado w/ mussles and mayonaise. It was amazing!! I am for sure that I had the best lunch of the entire group. After lunch, we went on a field trip to La Moneda. While it is usually open at all times so people can come in and take tours (which I thought was pretty cool given the level of security at our capital building), this day it was closed due to some activities or something going on inside. But, we got to see the outside and the plaza. From there we got to see the Museum, which was actually not very interesting because you had to pay to get in to most of the exhibits, which none of us really wanted to do at that point. But we did get to see some examples of folk art.
After the field trip, we watched a documentary on the "golpe de estado" of Pinochet. It was kinda dry, but still effective in conveying the extent of the violence associated with this coup. It really hit me when I left the building for the day and walked past La Moneda again. I saw a view of the Palace very similar to that in the documentary, and imagining it burning with soldiers bursting in was enough to give me goosebumps and to realize just how far this country has come since then.

Today, (Tuesday), I took the bus (on my own!!!) to class. I got stuck at one of the streets, because it was full of carabineros - the local armed forces. I found out later that they were preparing for the changing of the guard at La Moneda. They do this every two days, so I will be ready next time with my camera. We talked about the structure of Chile's government, the current political parties, and the electoral process...all very interesting!! We had another small group discussion and then a lecture on Chile's demographics (kinda boring actually). We then had lunch. I had a tuna omelet with beets and avocado. MMmmmm. After that, we watched "Machuca" - a very famous Chilean film about the last portion of Allende's presidency. If you can, I would definitely recommend watching it - it comes with English subtitles and really gives you a good glimpse at the context in which things are operating down here. And it would give me a sense of solidarity with everyone, because we will have all watched the move :)

Anyway, pictures of these last couple of days will be coming soon. I love you all!!