Week 6: Why couldn't I come up with a question in time?

The obvious answer to this question is I was too preoccupied with trying to write about my last week in Bolivia. If you have not already read Week 5's entry, please stop reading this and go read it. Another answer is I wanted to have a "Why" question, since "What" questions have been taking up a lot of my blog titles in this series, and none came to mind until after my weekly question deadline.   

While I might not have brought it up too much in this blog so far, these last six weeks in South America have been a great lesson in knowing my limits. Not only physical, but also emotional, and planning wise. At home I like to think I'm great at knowing my limits and avoiding burnout, taking breaks when I need to. But while traveling (especially in Bolivia), it's like I transform into a different person. I have more to say on this but will save it for next week's entry, since I do have a question prepared for it. For now, here is what I have been up to this past week!

After we left Bolivia on Sunday, we landed in Santiago, Chile. We only had around three days in Santiago before leaving it again, and we spent most of it relaxing at home. I of course had to work during the day, but took breaks to walk around. Last Tuesday, we went to Costanera Center, this mall with a Starbucks and a skyscraper where you could look out at the city and the Andes Mountains. 

I thought the "Exito! (Wishing you success!)" was so sweet. And yes I love Starbucks, go ahead and judge me.

Sky Costanera is 300 meters tall, the tallest skyscraper in South America apparently. I thought being 300m in the air sounded like amateur hour, considering where we were only days before. 

On Wednesday, James and I took a bus to Valparaíso, a port city west of Santiago. My original plan was to stay in Santiago for three weeks, but I talked with a friend from school who had studied abroad in Valparaíso. She told me that she loved sitting on her balcony watching the barges while she lived there. Upon hearing that comment, I immediately decided to split my time between Santiago and Valparaíso. After being landlocked way too high in the air for my sea-level lungs to bear, I knew I needed to spend time by the sea. I booked an Airbnb that I knew would have sweet views, and even knowing that, I was floored when I first walked in to what would be my home for ten days. 

On the way to the Airbnb, my eyes actually teared up when I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time in more than two years. Yes, I know I am dramatic. But I also grew up on an island seeing the sea everywhere and spending so much time around it. Being by the sea helps me feel connected to the rest of the world, more than being in any land mass or in any plane in the sky does. I like to think that part of the reason I feel so attached to the sea is that my Philippine ancestors were seafarers, and deep down, that history lives in me too. The amount of times I said "soy una chica del nivel del mar," or I am a sea level girlie, in Bolivia while gasping for air walking uphill is good proof of that.

That being said, James and I were able to spend the last few days getting to know Valparaíso. We fell in love with the city pretty quickly, with its port and arts scene. And the seafood, of course. 

There are plenty of stairs people use to get around the city, since beyond the shore the city extends into various hills. Let's just say we got a lot of exercise in!

A picturesque street

A chorellana de mariscal–chorellana is normally made with meat, but this was a seafood version with mussels, fries, and fried eggs. Loved it!!

While James was in Buenos Aires, he made a friend from Valparaíso. She told him that every Thursday, a bar called Liberty has live music. We made sure to check it out and sure enough, a group performing Chilean cueca music was performing. 

A highlight of our time exploring was the tour of the city we booked with a company called Patatours. We met up with our guide Sebastián, who has been living in Valpo for the last eight years and graduated with a filmmaking degree from a university in the city. We boarded the one metro line that exists in the city and goes along the water, and we got off at Caleta Portales to visit the fish market. It's right next to the water, since fishermen go out into the sea from around 4-7 am then sell their catch directly to the vendors. It is as fresh of seafood as you can get. At the market, we also saw the filleteros, the people who would fillet fish people purchased. After filleting, they would load up shopping carts with the fish entrails, tails, and head. A worker would then roll the cart out onto the pier, much to the happiness of the seagulls, pelicans, and sea lions hanging around the area. 

Pelicans watching on high above the filletero stalls

I was obsessed with the sea lions making a mad dash towards the cart knowing that food was being rolled out. Unfortunately for them, I think that specific cart was purely for the birds. I asked Sebastián if the birds ever bothered the filleteros or the people in the market, and he said no–they have a whole system down where they wait for the carts to be loaded up with the parts humans aren't going to eat. He said that the animals in the area were super spoiled, and I believed it. I thought this system was a super sustainable, waste-free way of doing business and loved hearing about the relationship between the animals and people in the market. 

While visiting the market, we also saw fish and other marine life we had never heard of. One such thing is called "piure," which does not have a name in English. It's a species of red sea squirt that lives inside rocks. You can get them as a bag, or you can also purchase the rock they come in. 

Bags of piure and the rock

We had the opportunity to try piure. I am by no means a food blogger, so I would encourage you to check out the blog I linked to above. But at this stall, I also learned about the difference between ceviche and mariscal. Ceviche is made with fish, whereas mariscal is made with mussels. James and I shared a mariscal with piure, and it was delicious. 

Another vendor

A sea lion chilling

After the fish market, we went to Cerro Barón to check out some street art and get more views of the city. 

The only sunny day we got was the day we arrived; the rest of our time, it was foggy and drizzling. It reminded me a lot of the Oregon Coast and Cape Cod!

A cool mural with the names of authors and books on the spines for people to check out

Many of the buildings in this area have whole murals on the side of them

There was some political art too, which I loved. Back in 2019, protests erupted in Chile after the subway fare was raised. It was the straw that broke the camel's back in an ongoing crisis of social inequality. I remember watching the events from afar and feeling proud of everyday Chileans for protesting the injustice. Our guide Sebastián took part in the protests, too. 

I love the mural on the right, with everyday people such as students, workers, and senior citizens forming the fist and fighting against the military and police

If you're wondering what that blue outline on the right is, it's the silhouette of a famous image that came out from the 2019 protests. I recognized it immediately, and you can view it here. According to the linked article, it was taken on my birthday that year 🤔 

One of the demands of the protest was to write a new constitution, since the current one was written during the Pinochet dictatorship of the 1970s. Eventually, a vote was held on whether a new constitution should be drafted. The "Apruebo" in the flag is referring to approval of this vote, and the green bandana has also become a symbol emblematic for abortion rights in Latin America. Although the vote to draft a new constitution passed, it has not been drafted yet. It also seems like many of the delegates in the constitutional congress are more right-wing, which is unfortunate.

Anyway, yesterday and today James and I spent some time walking around Cerro Concepción and Cerro Alegre, two of the more touristic zones of Valparaíso. Here are a couple more street art highlights!

We love public transportation! Too bad what we have in Boston (and the US in general) sucks.

I can't tell if the figure above me is supposed to be PSY from Gangnam Style, nor can I decipher why his hand is cut off.

This afternoon, James left Valparaíso and is heading back to the USA tonight. Thus, my three weeks of solitude commence. This will be the longest I've ever travelled and lived on my own; although I was a bit nervous about my week on my own in São Paulo, I'm pretty excited to have a full week ahead of me in Valparaíso. Not only because I speak Spanish, but also because I am well occupied with work and preparation for the fall semester and get to see the ocean everyday. I'm sure I will have more to say about it, but for now, enjoy these pictures I took from the window in my bathroom.