Santiago – Fake Flamenco

Afro-Latinos, Chile, Spanish Culture and Language

Afro-Chileans Hidden in Plain Sight

The year we lived in Chile, our friends talked about their mestizo heritage; combination of Spanish and Indigenous ethnicities. I’ve read recently about heritage groups like the Afro-Chilean Alliance, Oro Negro, Arica Negro and Lumbanga. I realized I know little about Afro-Chileans. Looking at history, free and enslaved Africans arrived in Chile beginning in 1536, […]

En español, Living Abroad

9/11 Far from Home

A day the earth stood still and CNN was the only channel to watch. I wrote this post in 2018, I am sharing it today because it still holds true. In my parents’ generation, it was where you were the days that President Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Junior were shot. For those of […]

Chile, En español, Natural World, Spanish Culture and Language, travel

View of the Montañas from Here

The year we lived in Santiago, Chile, this view greeted our eyes daily from our sixth floor efficiency apartment. The Andes Mountain range was our astonishingly beautiful silent companion. Locals called her affectionately, La Cordillera*. The embracing arms of Mother Earth, named Pachamama, were a steadfast constant, a geological marvel, and a cardinal point. When […]

Chile, Spanish Culture and Language

What If Girls Rode Bikes?

What if more girls, particularly more Chilenas, rode bicycles? The question and the answer began in Santiago, Chile. Two activists asked themselves, “How can we change girls’ lives?” Their answer was simple and profound; with bicycles. María Paz Castillo and Fernanda Martínez worked together in 2018 to kick off a Santiago Cycling Event for Girls and […]

Chile, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

5 Ways to Make Your Voices Heard

Chileans know how to protest. They show up en masse and beat pots and pans, cacerolazo is their name for it. This month they’ve returned to the streets as they did in the days of Dictator Pinochet. Chilean protests are very lively and incarnate the democratic core of the country. What happened? Why are there […]

Chile, history, Living Abroad, Spanish Culture and Language

9/11/01, 5000 Miles from Home

When we began our year in Chile in late August 2001, we had no way of knowing we’d miss living in the US during a cultural touchstone of our nation. That fateful September day, Evan and I were taking Spanish classes when the first plane hit. After the second one proved the first was intentionally […]