Feature Photo: eschipul

I was lost, driving around Santiago attempting to find the freeway. While stopped at a red light, I looked up from the map to see a twenty-something guy standing in the crosswalk chucking knives into the air and catching them.

Forgetting about the map, I grabbed my camera and took a photo. The imprint of the knife juggler stuck, in my mind as well as my camera.

I wondered: how does someone get started as a knife juggler? Can people actually make a living doing this type of thing?

After I was able to build up the Spanish language skills and the courage, I decided to get to know some of the street performers in Santiago and find out what motivates them.

For the Cash

With low wages and a high cost of living, everyone looks for ways to make some extra luca. While some Chileans opt for selling jewelry, food or clothes, others go for a chance in the spotlight. In the case of street performers, many times this ends up being at a traffic intersection.

Photo: Herkie

One street performer I had the chance to talk to is Leo Cartagenas. He had been juggling golo (Chinese sticks) for eight years. As I watched him perform, the sticks seemed like extensions of his own hands. He held two plain wooden dowels and juggled a third that was wrapped in tape like a candy cane. Tiny bud earphones piped in fast-paced music to his ears to help him keep moving in rhythm. Leo tossed the sticks with ease, confident that he would catch them. He ended his routine holding the golo like a trophy.

Leo said he started street performing as a way to avoid the corporate world. One day he wants to have enough money saved up so that he can open his own tattoo shop.

For the Challenge…and the Girls?

Willy Cabello Urrutia and Luis Humberto Mancilla have less than a minute to give the captive audience in their cars a compelling show. The life of the street performer is all about timing: these two have 38 seconds to perform and 8 seconds to collect the money and get to the sidewalk before the traffic light changes.

While Willy threw the juggling knives into the air, focused yet seemingly unconcerned about the blades, Luis juggled with fire. What stood out to me were their hands. Luis’s hands were black with soot, yet unharmed from the flames. Willy’s hands, too, didn’t have a scratch on them.

I found out why when I ran my finger along the edge of one of the juggling knives: it was as dull as a spoon.

Photo: franklin_hunting

They told me they performed to earn extra party money, but after watching them flirt with onlookers, I have no doubt that they enjoy being able to impress the ladies with their juggling skills.

For the Family

Sometimes people don’t have a choice about taking up street performing; it may be a family affair. Such is the case with Francisco Javier Palma, who at age 11, works after school as a chinchinero, a skill his cousin taught him.

Chinchineros carry a bass drum and cymbal like a backpack. A rope attached to their foot works the cymbal while they carry two drumsticks to play the bass drum. The players dance and spin as they hammer out their percussive rhythms.

The bass drum strapped to the back of Francisco was smaller than the adult size, weighing almost 7 lbs. Francisco told me he can make over 10,000 Chilean pesos – about $20 – per day for his family. Though he didn’t know what he wanted to do when he grew up, he was adamant about one thing: he doesn’t want to be a chinchinero.

Photo by la_cola_de_mi_perro Feature by hiro008

1. There are plenty of English teaching jobs and internships.

Chile is a great place to work, especially in Santiago where there are numerous English teaching opportunities. Though many adventurers have signed up with an institute before arriving, there are plenty of opportunities to snag teaching positions once you get settled.

A few of the more well-known institutes in Santiago to consider include Norteamericano, Fischer, and BridgeLinguatec.

There are also writing and photography internships available through the English online newspaper, Santiago Times, and its sister paper, Revolver.

2. There are plenty of Chileans and gringos.

The Chileans I’ve met have welcomed me and befriended me quickly, in spite of my inability to understand them or communicate with them very well. They have extended incredible courtesies that I can only hope to repay when they come to visit me.

Photo by Diego.78

On the other hand, everyone needs a little familiarity in a foreign country, and that’s what your ex-pat gringo friends are for. They are the lifelines when Chile becomes a frustrating and intricate labyrinth of cultural cues you don’t understand. Plus, you occasionally need someone who can sing the theme song to the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” with you.

3. It’s fun learning Espanol-po.

Chilean Spanish takes a keen ear and the patience of Buddha to master. It is filled with modismos, or slang, an accent that lops off the ends of s’s and d’s, and a new way to pronounce the “you” form.

In spite of the challenges, it can delight you when you least expect it. For example, the word for boyfriend is pololo, which means a type of small fly that buzzes around your face. What a word!

4. Chile has diverse terrain to explore.

Photo by hiro008

Why visit a bunch of different countries when you can see everything in one? Chile’s got it all. Visit the Atacama Desert, ski the Andes (the longest mountain range in the world), surf the Pacific Ocean, walk the forests around the Lake District, catch a glimpse of a glacier in Patagonia, or climb volcanoes and paddle world-class rivers in Pucon.

Photo by hiro008

5. Chile’s hot…and cold.

The Andes run down the eastern side of Chile and are home of some of the best skiing in the world. From Santiago, you can take a weekend trip to Portillo, the practice site for many professional skiers.

Two hours outside of Santiago to the west are beaches. There are some of the biggest, most uncrowded points for surfing on the whole Pacific coast, as well as chill beach towns.

6. Santiago’s art and culture.

Photo by Claudio.Núñez

Not only does Chile’s capital have an incredible set of museums like Bellas Artes and the Pre-Columbian, it has a vibrant street art scene withnew murals and graffiti as well as events like those put on by Mamut Collective Theater. I highly recommend their Teatro de Gorilas, an improv show much like Whose Line is it Anyway?

7. Who can resist an Independence Day celebration that lasts a week?

Photo by >Voj>

Chileans celebrate September 18, their independence day, by staging a week of fondas (street fairs), where you can play games, eat lots of food, and watch the cueca, Chile’s national dance.

After the fonda, you will most likely head to someone’s house for a fiesta that lasts until the sun rises. Then, you’ll go home to sleep it off and get up to start it all over again.

8. Chile has a stable economy and government.

Chile’s stable economy and government make it a good choice for solo travelers, especially women looking to move to a South American country on their own. Certainly, there are dangerous areas of any country, and Chile is no exception, but a gal on her own can get along very safely here.

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9. Ice Cream.

Places like Emporio la Rosa and Bravissimo can become a favorite corner of the world for the foreigner in Santiago. With flavors like nueces (walnuts), miel (honey) and manjar, you won’t want to return home.

10. For all the familiar, Chile still feels foreign.

For all its safety, Chile is still a foreign country. From having to throw your toilet paper into the trashcan by the toilet to the water heater that must be lit every day to take a shower to the stray dogs wandering the streets, Chile is nothing like home. And that makes it all worth the adventure.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Headed to Chile? Read up on the country’s 8 Natural Wonders, or check out this guide to Trekking Torres del Paine.

Feature photo by ricardo.martins. Photo above by Patrick_coe.

Wilderness

Chile is home to some of the longest stretches of pristine wilderness anywhere in the world. From the Atacama desert to the rivers of Patagonia, the massive glaciers of Tierra del Fuego to the long Pacific coastline, Chile is full of natural wonders that make for world-class outdoor adventuring.

Photo: magical-world (Flickr creative commons)

Amazing people

In your attempts to master Spanish, you will meet many friendly Chileans who will encourage you and help you learn the best (and worst) words in Chilean Spanish.

Even better, once you finish your stint in Chile, you can head to any other Spanish-speaking country with surprising results—they’ll be easy to understand!

Photo by P_R_.

You’ll learn a lot of swear words right away.

Chileans pepper their speech with colorful phrases and plenty of swear words. Anyone under the age of 35 adds huevon or huevona to the end of almost every sentence. Huevon is the Chilean equivalent of dude, but literally derives from huevos, the word for testicles.

Slang.

Chileans use a shortened form of the word pues– “po”– to add emphasis to certain words. The most common are: si po,obviopo, and no po.

Destinations

Community Connection to Chile

Much like po, cachai and other forms of “cachar” (to get or to understand) find their way into most conversations with Chileans.

It is the English version of “You know?”

If a Chilean is explaining something to you, you will eventually hear “Cachai?”

Often, a rhetorical “You know what I mean?” and a nod of the head (if you do know what the person means) is enough to keep the conversation going.

When you adopt po and cachai into your vocabulary, you are officially on your way to speaking Chilean Spanish.

You’ll learn to mumble like the locals.

Chileans are notorious for speaking fast. Chilean Spanish is also marked by a lack of clarity of speech. The “s” is hardly ever pronounced; the “d” in nouns and adjectives (like estado and complicado) are skipped, making the endings sound like “ao” instead of “ado.”

Plus, the entire tu form is pronounced differently than you learned in high school Spanish class. Como estas? becomes Como estai? and Que quieres? (What do you want?) becomes Que queri?

You’ll learn Mapuche words.

The Mapuche were indigenous people living in Chile before the Spanish arrived. As the two cultures mixed, the Spanish adopted many Mapuchan words: cahuín (gossip or party), guata (belly), and malón (potluck).

These are words won’t be taught in a university Spanish class—it’s only when you come to Chile that you are exposed to them.

You’ll learn about your own culture and language through Chilean Spanish.

Learning Chilean Spanish (and trying to translate English into Spanish in your head) will help you gain a new perspective on your own culture and language. Chilean Spanish has made me realize just how many American English phrases make absolutely no sense.

Try translating and explaining “Junk in your trunk” or “You’re the bomb.” Even phrases like “No way!” or “Sweet!” do not have direct translations. Certainly, there are similar phrases in Spanish…it’s just a matter of discovering them.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Planning to learn some Spanish? Check out the Top 10 Spanish Schools for Waves, Wilderness and Buena Onda!

Or, check in with some Matador members who are currently tackling the language: read How’s My Spanish? by member jgbrandt, or “Perdon, habla poquito castellano” by member laurenkearns.