Penguins and beaches, Today we drove to a beach to see penguins. They were all on a huge rock surrounded by water so we couldn’t go see them up close, only from a distance. After we saw the penguins, we all started climbing on the rocks around the beach. Some people got stuck but it was still a fun time. Then we all walked down to a small beach to swim and tan and just hang out. At the beach there was a rope swing that everyone, including Mr. Cattey went on. The water was insanely cold but we had a few people go in for a swim. Henry jumped into the freezing cold water and then quickly jumped out, screaming at the top of his lungs in a British accent for some reason. Some people worked on their tan but a few people ended up getting a sunburn instead. -Celia Sherrill Cueca Workshop, After our penguin watching excursion this morning, we met up with Natalia Weir who led our Cueca Dance Class. The Cueca Dance is the national dance of Chile. Although there is only one national dance, the Cueca attire can differ depending on where you are in the country. For example, if you practice the Cueca dance in the north, the men tend to wear ponchos and the women wear shorter dresses. But in the south, the men wear coats and the women wear longer dresses. The Cueca dance was also not always practiced with such ease. During the dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet, the dance was banned and the people were not allowed to express themselves in public places. With that being said, some people still carried on the culture of the Cueca in their homes, which was essential for the cultured dance to still exist. My experience at the Dance workshop was very exciting yet nerve racking. We first started off by inviting a partner to dance. Next, we slowly walked through the three main steps. We were taught that while you are dancing, you always need to wave your Panuelo in a circular motion. The walking step (floreo) is where you walk in a half circle. The next step we learned is the brush step (Escobilla). The final step is the stomp step (Zappitello). This is where the male tends to show off his footwork to impress the person he’s dancing with. The zappitello was my favorite step because I got to express myself through dancing. I really enjoyed the dancing because I stepped out of my comfort zone. Dancing is not necessarily my strong suit, so learning it with my schoolmates was a lot of fun. Learning about the Chilean dance was important to me because I learned how essential it was for their culture. -Harrison Day Luthiers Shop,
We had a chance to got to a Luthier shop in Valparaíso. The shop owner who makes/repairs guitars as well as violins is named Sebastian. Not only did he show us the different types of woods used to build guitars, but he gave the background about where each type of wood can be found. After learning about his workshop we got our private concert from 3 musicians in the hallway of the art community building. It was very awesome to be able to hear some different types of music including Peruvian, Chilean and Cueca music- including a song written by one of the musicians. All three were very talented and had strong loud voices. They also started playing some of their own songs and it was so cool to witness. Shortly after they started playing different musicians started opening their doors and joining in. It was a very cool experience. -Baird Atwood
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Cueca Heritage House, We begun our day joined by our magician friend Alejandro at a local Cueca Heritage House. The people there were incredibly warm and friendly. They showed us all of the instruments they used in the Cueca music style, charangos, el tormento, guitars, pandero, an accordion. Cattey and I improvised a performance with me on the accordion. One of the people there also taught me a couple songs for the guitar. They fed us lunch and performed the Cueca dance and music for us, afterwards I wanted to learn the dance and they gladly taught me. I loved learning about the traditional Chilean music style and pushing my comfort zone by playing the accordion and dancing. -Henry Lautch Sand dunes,
We went up north from Valparaiso to go to Concon. Concon is known for its sand dunes. We went on the pacific ocean rocks to overlook the ocean. The were formed by volcanoes which have erupted from under the ocean; breaking the bedrock thus making the physical geography in the area beautiful. The mountains behind the city were sand dunes! People went up the sand dunes to slide down them. In conclusion the Concon was fun to explore. -John Mcphee A Culture of Graffiti, The tour looking at the graffiti art around Valparaiso is the most unique eye-opening experience in Chile. Eddie was showing us famous artwork made by famous people from all over the world. A great example was “The Flea” was made by the 3rd most famous street artist in the world named ROA. His art is very famous; usually an auction will begin if he signs anything. In Valparaiso, there are rules when it comes to street art. Since Chile doesn’t mind street art with owners permission, people have “graffiti wars” around the city. If someone tags an area with a name, someone could go over it with “throw up” letters or could create artwork. You can go over someone’s art, but it needs to be bigger and better. If the rules are broken it could get physical or there will be a trade for art spots in return. The history of street art was rough in the beginning. The people hated the ugly looks when it came to tags and throw up letters. So they decided to lure them into a trap by saying graffiti artist could paint on their property. In the early 2000’s property owners started advertising their businesses by hiring street artists to display important messages. To this day: the problems in relation to street art are “bombing zones” where tags upon tags and bubble art are on property where people don’t give permission. Bombing zones are meant to practice graffiti art and display hidden messages. No one can do anything about it since people in the night will keep renewing their tags. Overall, street art in Valparaiso, Chile is great because of the history, famous artists and the rules. -John Mcphee Pablo Neruda, After the tour, we ate at a local restaurant and went to visit the great Pablo Neruda's house, Pablo Neruda is one of the most influential poets of all time. So influential that he won the Nobel prize for literature in 1971. Pablo’s house truly did depict his personality, what I mean by this is that his house was really funky looking and really interesting, the house was composed of 4 floors, each floor got more and more unique. The dining room only had green and red glasses because according to Neruda water was best in those colored glasses, if you were to look up you would see a glass chandelier with an exotic bird and when you thought stuff couldn't get any weirder there was a bathroom door that had holes all over it. Neruda also had a funny personality, for example he split the bathroom between the rooms because he said “my wife takes too long to get changed”. Overall his house was really interesting and it really reflected on his personality. -Joshua Orio Live music,
After we spent a long day walking through the idyllic port town, our night was spent at two different live music venues. First, we ate dinner and enjoyed a jazz saxophone quintet at a local brewery. They played a set consisting mostly of American jazz standards. At one point Mr. Cattey sat in for their drummer and played on the Sunny Side of the Street. After dinner we walked until we reached a small third story bar, where we listened to a group playing Brazilian music. Their musicianship was incredible. When I spoke to them afterwards they suggested several Brazilian artists and musical styles for me to look into, as well as a website where I could find charts for classic Brazilian tunes. It was great to experience local music and then be able to have a human connection with the artists themselves. -Henry Lautch Upon arrival in Valparaiso this morning, we promptly embarked on our first tour of the city. I was immediately in awe of the city’s vibrant colour palette, which I learned was the product of a shortage of paint during the cities boom years in the late 1800’s. The first landmark we visited was a former prison turned community park/museum. The prison was used for the internment and torture of political prisoners during the Pinochet coup years. We spent the afternoon meandering through Valparaiso’s winding hill-streets and concluded our day with a magic show at El Internado.
-Henry Lautch Every great trip starts with a ride to the airport. The Chile winterim would like to thank our trusty busette drive, Macky, with getting us to the airport safely. No issues…
The day before departure, we've spent the morning watching Chilean movies and documentaries in order to better understand the history and culture of the country. I was personally shocked to see the video of U.S. officials reacting so sheepish and remorseless when confronted with their corrupt misdeeds in Chile.
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From our students:Our students have a variety of project focuses. Here, you will find blog updates detailing their Chilean experiences. ArchivesCategories |