Santiago otro vez

It has already been over a month... wow.  The time really has flown and I have learned a lot, but I feel that my spanish has hit a bit of a plateau.  Hopefully within the next couple of months I can get over that.

Last weekend we went to Santiago for the anniversary of September 11th 1973, which is day of the coup d'état that overthrew the communist government and put in place a military dictatorship responsible for thousands of deaths and torture in concentration camps.  In Santiago we went to the Vicaría, which is the institution the catholic church set up to help the victims of torture and document their struggles.  After that we went off to Villa Grimaldi, which is a park set up on the old grounds of a concentration camp.  It was really intense to see the conditions people were forced to live in, and the tortures they endured and stand right on the same ground they did.  There was a big red tower at one corner, and apparently when people went into this tower it was the last time they were heard from.  It just really drove home the fact that this REALLY happened here in chile.  It is a little like standing in Auschwitz, just more real than reading or hearing about it.  After that we went off for a little lighter action, a tour of the plaza de armas, the central square in the capitol and a guided tour of la Moneda, the Chilean equivalent of the white house.  These were spectacular tours, it was awesome to see the inside of the building that just last week held the conference of South American leaders as they tried to deal with the Bolivia/U.S. problems.

After that we went off to the "Fundación Pinochet" to hear the other side of the story.  It was really interesting to hear this man, who was a captain in the Chilean army when the coup happened, talk about the greatness of Pinochet.  It was really interesting to see how people will gloss over the mass killings and loss of democracy because this man built a few roads.  It is also interesting to see how divided the country STILL is... I was telling my family about my trip at dinner the night after we got back and I mentioned the fundacion pinochet and my sister said "CHUCHA!" and threw her fork on the table, while Julio, a family friend, was a supporter of Pinochet.

The next day we went to the cemetery where Salvador Allende's (the communist president who was killed in the coup) tomb is located and also saw patio 29 which is the site of a mass grave and now a tribute to those who died in the dictatorship.  It was really intense to again see the actual graves of those who died.  After the cemetery we went to see Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago... it was really cool.  It was built to feel like a boat, and just filled with art.  Definitely a cool house and a cool poet.