Confirming stereotypes

Paulina, one of the matronas (a women’s health specialist—like a midwife, but also certified to prescribe birth control, do PAP exams, etc) at the clinic, has been so nice and enthusiastic about my presence at the clinic and in Chile. The very first day that I met her, she told me that I would need to come to her house some night to eat once (tea, coffee, bread, cake—night meal) with her family, and then we’d have to find a day to go to the beach. Last week she proposed a date, and so last night I found myself driving away from the clinic with her towards her house, her fiancée, and her parents for once. It was so much fun. We talked, drank tea, talked, ate sopaipillas (fried bread) with pebre (oil, vinegar, lemon juice, cilantro and onion), talked, had some cake, etc. We talked quite a bit about the U.S. Usually, that becomes a conversation topic here, because people are interested in the States and I am the local expert on the country. However, last night’s conversation had two interesting connections to the U.S. – Paulina’s dad lived in Mississippi for three years in college, and she and her fiancée want to go to the States for their honeymoon next November. There were a few mentionable highlights:

- I mentioned that when I went to a family party with Marta, the man of the house whipped out his world atlas and made me tell him what city I lived in so he could find it on the map, and although Paulina’s dad protested, their family eventually did the same.

- Paulina wants to whiten her teeth. I knew this, and asked the group if “whitestrips” exist in Chile. I was told that they don’t, and as I described them, Paulina got really excited (whitening is expensive in Chile, because you need to see a dentist to do it). We discussed approximate prices of mailing packages between countries, and I’m planning on sending her a couple of boxes for Christmas.

- I don’t even know how we got on this topic…We were talking about Atlanta, and Paulina’s dad chimed in, “That’s where all the black people are!” I just kind of chuckled, as the fiancée explained that the U.S. is really more integrated now than when the dad went to college in Mississippi.

- Somewhat similarly, we stumbled onto the topic of Chicago, and Paulina thought it sounded like a good honeymoon destination. Immediately, her dad added, “Oh, Chicago’s full of the mafia. You can’t go to Chicago. It’s just full of them—they’re everywhere. It’s way too dangerous.” This, to me, was another funny back-in-time kind of thought, but also a mindset that I’d been told is pretty common among foreigners. Since there is a lot of U.S. influence here, but in the form of movies, TV, and music, the visions that Chileans (and people from other countries) have of our cities is that all of them are horrifyingly violent, completely dominated by Latino gangs and the mob. Maybe that’s an overstatement. Actually, I think it’s just that the view is split. Some people think in the “horribly violent” stereotype, and others think in the “blissfully perfect” one. The idea that most houses do not have locked, spiked gates in front of them symbolizes the idea of pretty, completely safe cities to many people I’ve met.

All in all, it was a really fun time. I’m just pointing out the funny stories here, but they were all really nice and welcoming, and it was good to spend time with some new people!

I’m about to head to Valdivia, a city about 6.5 hours South of Conce. My Middlebury friend Amy is there for the semester, and I’m going to visit her for the weekend!

Love and Chilean sunshine,
Tiernan

P.S. Before I go, I just wanted to leave these two pictures:

Guess they’re not worried about selling to an international market…

This is a student (ESCOLAR) micro (bus) ticket. In case you can’t see it, it says “NO A LA DROGA” (“No to drugs”) underneath the drawing of the students. That reminds me of fifth grade and Deputy Dare...