Remembering

As I gradually disengage myself from Chile and return to the strangely familiar environment of Toronto, I’m left with a sense that I haven’t been able to get inside Chile’s head, so to speak.  Part of this is due to the fact that I can’t speak Spanish, and part of it is due to the fact that Chileans are part of a very reserved culture.  But even though I’m on the outside looking in, it seems quite obvious that Chile hasn’t quite come to terms with the legacy of Pinochet and his regime.  There are constant reminders of both the junta and the opposition to it.  It is as if there is still a battle being waged for the memories of Chileans.

In Ancud I noticed that the main street that runs along the waterfront is named after Salvador Allende, the democratically elected President that Pinochet deposed.  The naming obviously happened after Pinochet’s ouster. 

And on the waterfront there is a simple, yet prominent, memorial to four young Ancud citizens who were killed as a result of the coup.  The sad thing is that this memorial has been vandalized and sits forlorn and apparently ignored.  Has it been defaced by Pinochet supporters or by bored smalltown youths who just have no sense of history or memory?  Either way, it’s a sad state.

In Santiago, as well, I noticed this split personality with regards to remembering or memorializing the dictatorship.  There is still a main avenue that is named in memoriam of September 11 – not the terrorist attack of 2001, but the date of Pinochet’s coup in 1973.  When Pinochet took power left wing supporters were rounded up and imprisoned, tortured and murdered.  Much of this happened in the national stadium.  This stadium is still being used for large concerts and sporting events today.

I don’t know if there is some informal, popular reclaiming/memorializing that is happening around the stadium.  I do know that there is a process by some to not let another torture centre slip into the past silently and be forgotten. When I first landed in Santiago I stayed in an interesting little barrio of old, ornate buildings, right downtown.  Just down the street, a half block from where I was staying was an attractive old building that stood abandoned and had graffiti and flyers pasted all over it.  Upon closer inspection I was surprised to learn that the building was a torture house and the flyers were photos of the 119 people who had been murdered there.  To further this act of witnessing, here are some photos of the building.

 

Meals – Part 2

Ok, just a quick note here.  The computer I am using does not seem to have an apostrophe on its keyboard, so this post might sound a little more stilted than usual.

Now, on to the food.

Puerto Varas:  Enjoyed the German influence here.  Ate the most amazing apple strudel.  It was so dense and syrupy, it reminded me of baklava.  I still have dreams about it.

Chiloe:  Seafood.  So much seafood that I actually got tired of it.  I had a few curantos, which are pretty cool.  Traditionally cooked in a pit in the ground filled with coals, but normally just steamed in a big pot, it is a big mess of food.  On a platter you get a bunch of mussels (maybe about 20), some clams (maybe about 10-15), some chicken, ribs, sausage, potatoes, and a couple of “breads” – discs of potato and flour that get steamed with the rest of the stuff.  Pretty tasty and damn filling.

Argentina:  It is all about the beef.  Argentines eat an insane amount of it.  More than any other country, per capita.  150 lbs. per person every year.  I had some of the best steak I have ever eaten.  Completely sublime.  And cheap.  For 10 bucks you get a gorgeous chunk of meat, 4 or 5 inches across and at least 2 inches thick (at least!).

Argentina has received a lot of Italian immigrants over the years, and they brought with them their expertise with  gelato, although now it is referred to in Spanish – helado.  Some of the stuff I tried was a revelation, almost a religious experience with light shining down from the heavens and angels singing.  Banana with dulce de leche.  I always avoid banana flavoured ice cream because it is usually bright yellow and completely artificial.  This was a true banana grey and tasted like sweet, ripe bananas with swirls of gooey dulce de leche.  Merengueche – dulce de cleche flavoured ice cream with chunks of meringue.  Seeing a trend here?  Dulce de leche flavours constitute a whole category unto themselves in Argentina.  I do not like chocolate ice cream – it does not really do chocolate any justice – but I had chocolate helado that was dense and chewy.  Amazing.  And while Chile is nowhere near the Argentine level of helado expertise, I did discover a great pizza/helados place in Santiago that had some great flavours.  One of my favourites was harina tostada – literally toasted flour, semolina in this case.  It was sort of like a slightly nutty cream of wheat.  A nice contrast to the sweeter flavours.

Meals I´ve Eaten – Santiago

I was going to make this a regular feature of the blog, but I guess I was too busy eating, so I´ll have to sum things up in a few end of trip posts.  I´ll cover the highlights, and a few lowlights.

Chacarero:  This is a common sandwich in Chilean diners.  It´s basically a steak sandwich topped with green beans and some mild hot peppers (fresh, not pickled).  It doesn´t sound like much, but the toppings give a fresh twist to what would otherwise be sort of ho-hum.

Lomo al pobre:  A Chilean take on steak and eggs.  Take a basic cut of steak (something you would find at a greasy spoon, not a fancy steakhouse), put a fried egg on top, and then cover the whole thing with french fries.  I´d prefer home fries instead, but that didn´t seem to be an option.  Lomo al pobre translates to “poor man´s steak”.  The idea is that they´ve piled on all this other stuff so that you won´t notice how cheap and measly the steak was.

Pastel del choclo:  A traditional corn casserole, consisting of a meat stew base with a thick corn topping.  This epitomizes what I don´t like about traditional Chilean cooking.  Bland.  It´s ironic that, given the country´s name, Chilean cuisine does not employ very much spice at all.  I´m all for tasting pure, fresh flavours, but sometimes you want something zippy in a meal.  You probably won´t find that here.  Also keep your eyes peeled for a future post about how Chileans love mayonnaise.

Espresso:  Boy, was it hard to find a good cup of coffee.  I don´t expect a nicely pulled shot in a small town, but in Santiago I thought I would have some luck.  Unfortunately, most Chileans consider Nescafe to be a damn fine brew.  A lot of places would have fancy espresso drinks on their menu, but the quality was poor. And a lot of places had a weird idea of what a cappuccino was.  You´d get a measly shot of coffee topped with a gargantuan mound of whipped cream (it would be 1 part coffee, 4 parts whipped cream!).  I have an incredible sweet tooth and even I found this disgusting.