Chilenos

"Being so far from everything gives us Chileans an insular mentality, and the majestic beauty of the land makes us take on airs. We believe we are the center of the world - in our view, Greenwich should have been set in Santiago - and we turn our backs on Latin America, always comparing ourselves instead to Europe. We are very self-centered: the rest of the universe exists only to consume our wines and produce soccer teams we can beat." (From "My Invented Country" by Isabel Allende)

I have never traveled so far away only to find myself as comfortable with the culture as I do here in Chile. On one of the first nights I was here, I met Marie and Francisco - a girl from Milwaukee married to a boy from Santiago. Marie explained to me that there is just something about Americans and Chilenos that mixes wonderfully. I now know a number of people in Chilean-American relationships and am aware of even more.

I can't quite put my finger on what makes us so similar. Maybe it is difficult because I can't fully believe our similarities given our completely different histories. The academic in me is always looking for the affects of Pinochet's still-very-recent reign of terror over this country. Every old man with a missing leg or arm... every woman with some kind of deformity... hell, anyone I see who looks 40+... makes me wonder what they've seen; what they've felt. I will say that I notice a palpable hesitance in all Chilenos. They are more reserved, more shy, more quiet, more tranquilo than any other latin american nation I have encountered before. I myself feel incredibly hesitant to broach the subject of las desaparecidas or anything related to those years and events. It's too soon, I've decided. Too soon.

Politics aside, the similarities are endless. Movies premiere here almost immediately after they do in the States. Chilenos love flash mobs (who doesn't love a good flash mob!?) and the popularity of Glee has soared to equal if not greater heights than ours. Chilenos are quick to exchange greetings in passing, throw a few luca in the hat of someone in need on the streets, live in a society where they can trust their policemen, and frequent their Saturday morning farmers markets. We share an arrogance about our countries - that we are (or should be) the center of the universe, as Isabel Allende writes in her memoir. And even though I already digressed from the history/politics side of things and labeled them as completely different, September 11th is a date on our calendars we both mourn; for Pinochet's coup and Al Qaeda's attacks. Chilenos love to barbeque, spend long weekends at the beach with their families, and of course their reputation for winter sports precedes itself.

To travel so far and feel so at home is not something I am used to feeling in my journeys. But I think I like it.