Red is the color of the blood that is spelt in Chile not that long ago, it's a color of facades in Santiago and the color of the wine floating through it. The weather is so hot in Chile. Chili is a stew made of everything above.
San Pedro is a small town in Atacama desert, after Bolivian border. Things seem to be more organized here on the Chilean side than the Bolivian. There's no shaking on the road, no problems on the border, no cold wether. It's not enough just to say it is warm here. It's burning hot. This place is full of tourists so the agencies don't have a problem offering an overpriced tours. Considering that I had seen the most of the things in Bolivia, nothing that is in the offer didn't fascinate me much. I decided just to "CHILL OUT" before I "TRIP IN" again for more than 20 hours to Santiago. Guys from the last tour, both called Nick from Canada and Wong Kee (whose name sounds like a Chinese fast food dish) from Korea were here, too. Since we had had such a good time in Bolivia, we agreed to hang out together for a while until we realized what to do next. They were also in two minds for the sightseeing. The nearest sight was two kilometers far, sun was burning so I suggested them to spend the day together, staying in the hotel. It was a done deal: I would make the dinner from whatever I had available, my husband would help me and they would bring some wine. Famous Chilean wine that I had offered to customers all the time working as a waitress but never really tried it. There was no better occasion than this one. I did some shopping: rice, squash, tomato, pepper, onion for the stew, cheese and crackers as an appetizer, chicken noodle soup and chocolate ice cream for the dessert. It wasn't anything special but nobody was very picky. I found all the necessary dishes at the hotel. They were late for a half an hour, the dinner was not ready anyway but nobody cared about punctuality when the whole situation had been improvised. There was no electricity, luckily the stove worked on gas. They brought four bottles of wine and we got to work. First, we cheered up to that pleasant moment, to life and new adventures. They are young guys, traveling a lot and seeing so many things. Mostly, we talked about our countries trying to represent them the best we could so the other side got interested enough to visit it. I talked a lot about Serbian famous rakija and the process of getting it, people so willing to host strangers, music festival, beautiful girls... They would enjoy Serbia. Also, I offered to accommodate them in New York, if they ever pass by. They got hooked very soon, so did I after hearing a lot about Canadian forests -meeting nothing but the nature over there and Koreans landscape that I had already seen in Kim Ki Duk's movies. We ate the dinner, drank all the wine, some extra too, and called it a night because the receptionist of the hotel was complaining that we were too loud. I was really happy to meet that people. The day after, we all took different routes: Canadians to Lima, Korean to some nearby place and me to Santiago.
"Dear Ivana, I've heard you're visiting South America and you're coming to Santiago. Matilde and I would like to invite you for a cup of tea, one afternoon. I am on my way to Isla Negra, stopped by for a few days just to pick up some things. I hope you will not be very busy. Our Chascona is at Fernando Marquez de la Plata 0192, Bellavista. If you have any difficulties of finding it just ask someone." Pablo
Hola Pablo, como Estas?
-I knew for better days. Matilde's appologizing, she's off for some business.
You have such a nice place here...
-Thanks, it's decorated as a yacht because I feel better by the sea. That's why I'm running to Isla Negra. I want to be buried by the sea. This house is meant to be only for Matilde at first but I wanted to be close to her so we both use it.
It's so many people here...
- They are all my friends. I have so many of them and I often make parties. I never lost any friend. I like to say I have the seventh sense for friendship.
You real name is not Pablo.
-No, it's not. Jan Neruda was Hungarian poet. I took his name to deceive my father because he didn't appreciate poets at all.
Are you a poet or a politician?
- What do you think?
You got the Nobel Prize for poetry so , I think, you should stick to it.
- I got so many prizes for peace, too. One of them is Stalin Peace Prize.
I'm a poet. Through the poetry I want to gain love for myself. And a politician. Through the politic I want to carry out love and peace for all people. I don't want the fascism happens ever again. People need to be equal. We often admire some master pieces but we forget they are the products of slavery.
Stalin is also a dictator. And you are considerd to be a Stalinist.
- Stalin helped fighting against fascists but later on, he become one. He created cult of personality, behaving exactly like Hitler. I don't aprove that.
- Do you want a glass of wine?
Yes, please. I love Chilean wine.
- This one is Argentinian. I took some on my way back from the exile. What part of the city you're staying in?
Moneda.
- Oh, you're close to Presidential Palace.
Tell me, what is left from Yugoslavia? It used to be a great country with a great leader.
Nothing. It left nothing. Your so called great idea didn't work for us. Can you believe that there was a war at the end of 20th century caused by the notion that South Slavic people should live together. And they had never wanted to live like that. The wounds from the war are still kind of fresh. It was hard to share everything with everobody. So the neighbors killed each other just to get some of leftovers.
- I'm sorry to hear that. Are there any real comrades left?
No. The politicians of new generation don't have any idea or program of what they're doing. They just want to gain some profit out of politic before their time is gone. They are able to say one thing today and tomorrow they will change it when they change their suit. The elections are just a charade. Dictators are just coming one after another over there. The last one represents himself as a democratically elected. And he wants a new elections for no real reason, just to gain more power for himself. He can't get enough of it.
- What did you manage to see in Santiago?
Yesterday, I saw people dancing cueca (traditional Chilean dance) on the street. People of all generations participated. I had never heard of it before. It was very interesting.
Today, I'm meeting my friend Gloria. She's taking me for a lunch to the fish market! She doesn't speak a word of English but somehow we understand each other.
- How did you become a friend with her?
Because of the book I forgot and she found it. And we both like your poetry.
Sorry, I need to go now.
- Ok, thank you for stopping by. Stay well and enjoy your trip. Send my regards to everybody!
I will! Thank you for the hospitality!
I met my friend Gloria and ,before lunch, she took me to the Museo da la Memoria. It was all about the dictatorship and the repression of the human rights. Chile, feeling a great deal of it on its own people participated in funding the regulations against humanity. The civil war in Ex-Yugoslavia found its place in the museum too.
1973. Augusto Pinochet, Commander-in-Chief of Allende's army, made a Coup d'Eta in Chile and started 17 years of dictatorship. It all started with the bombing of Presidential Palace in Moneda, part of Santiago where I stayed. Allende was forced to resign. I think that's what happens when the Governament relies too much on the army. Pinochet's idea was to open the market to the global trade, opposite the socialist idea of the market controlled by the state. As usually, United States, seeing it as an opportunity against the socialism, supported the Coup. Since Pinochet took it over, there was nothing in Chile but the fear, blood, detention and poverty. More than 30 000 people, considered a political enemies, were dissapeard without the trial and without the trace. The youngest among them was 13 year old boy. Despite all the effort of his family to find him, he is just another brick in the wall of dictator's history. It is belived among the people that Pinochet was responsible for the death of Pablo Neruda, receiving mistreat from the medical stuff. Finally, 1990 after the public protests against repression Pinochet rezigned. What's more interesting, Pinochet had never been taken to the court for the acts against the human rights. After the first democratic elections, he simply continued serving the army as a Commander-in-Chief until he retired. He was arrested on the accusations against humanity once, in London but released very soon because of the lack of evidence. United Nations may forget about this period but Chilean people never will.
After Gloria had showed me Chilean history we had a lunch at the fish market. It's not only a place to buy the fresh fish but it's full of restaurants. We chose one, De Agusto, and to the sound of serenades enjoyed the soup from seafruits, salmon and mussels topped in parmesan. I liked her soup more than mine so she let me have some. I was happy to see her again. I learned some new Spanish words from her.
It was a time to go on. I wanted to see more of Chile, going all the way down to Patagonia but it's the peak of the season, bus tickets are sold out and the plane is too expensive. I felt forced to exile in Argetina, just like Pablo Neruda.
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