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| 2007
Tinker Summer Research Updates |
The
following are updates filed by 2007 CLAS Summer Research
Grant Recipients.
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Santiago, with the Andes in the background. |
Bryce
Breslin
This
is a dispatch from a wintry Santiago de Chile,
where I've spent the last four weeks and will
spend exactly another four. My research is
on migration to Chile in the post-Pinochet
period, from 1990 to the present day. I'll
be entering my second year in the Latin American
Studies MA program in August.
The
whole city seems to be indignant over the excessive
cold this year; I find myself repeating the
phrase 'si, que frio, verdad!', usually in response
to a similar comment from someone else, many
times each day. We had ten days of blissful
warmth, the phenomenon known as the 'veranito de
San Juan', but we're back to the icebox and the
constant temperature inversion now. This
temp inversion is what keeps the smog trapped and
ever-accumulating here in the city. Rains
are always welcome because they scrub the
skies clean and reveal the Andes in all their
splendor. (The photo attached here was taken
the morning after an evening of steady rain.)
Despite
the chill, I’ve had an excellent
time—research on migration, but also on other
things, has gone very well. I
can report that Dona Tinita's, at the mercado de
Providencia, offers what I think are the best empanadas
in Santiago. My wife Marcia
and I bought several dozen a few years
ago when we celebrated our marriage here
- I put a ton of research at the time into
this city's empanadas, and this is definitely
the best I found! Plus, she's the daughter
of a baker, so her opinion is truly one
of expertise.
Big news stories here—apart from the normal
flow of futbol and celebrity gossip— include
the ongoing uproar over Transantiago and
its many perceived shortcomings (a key issue
for [Prime Minister] Michelle Bachelet's
popularity or lack thereof); public hospitals
overburdened with children suffering from
asthma and respiratory problems; strike by
the sub-contracted miners at the El Teniente
copper mine; the unsuccessful bid
of the Moai's (of Rapa Nui) to become one of
the 'New Seven Wonders'; and the (now solved) mystery
of a vanished Andean lake.
My two bits of advice for future visitors to
Santiago, and Chile: First, be sure to
venture into the maze of open-air markets behind
the Mercado Central/La Vega (skip the touristic
one!). And second: don’t
leave Chile without getting out of Santiago!
To talk to Bryce more about his/her travels
and research you may reach him at bryce(underscore)breslin
(at) berkeley (dot) edu.
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