Nos Vemos Chile!

Ahhhh so much to write about…

The last weeks in Chile were absolutely amazing. Partly because I had two great friends from GWU visiting me, and partly because I got to re-visit all the places I’d done my first phase of research at.

So here is a bit of a recap of what we did:

Santiago: Ildi and Adrienne land at 6 am- I had one of my last meeting with my supervisor before starting Phase 2 of research (more on that in a bit)… then I go wake them up and we go on our drinking tour of Santiago. We had some awesome Chilean sushi for lunch (and beer), then headed to get some famous ice cream right by my apartment, then off to Bellavista for wine, met up with my ‘family’ for  some more wine and empanadas, and then well lets just say our drinking tour ended at 4 am with us losing our key to the apartment and having to spend the night  at a friends (Thanks Henrik!), and none of us felt that fantastic(well– I felt alright) the next day when we had to make our way to Valpo.  However, we made it and after a couple hours of sleep and Chorrillenas we were ‘Fit for Fight’ for the upcoming New Years!

New Years 2011- Valpo/ Viña: Can we say — Synchronized Fireworks. Yup they exist. From Valpo down to Concón we viewed fireworks on the roof-top of the apartment we (Me, Ildi, Adri, Henrik, Thea and Martin) rented with lots of other friends and neighbours. It was amazing and a lot of champagne was consumed… We stayed in Viña for a couple more days, spending time in Reñaca on the beach, going to the dunes, eating mariscos, and playing kings (in the middle of a bar).

El Quisco/Algarrobo/ Isla Negra–  I obviously had to take my friends to the places  to where I’ve spent most of my time outside of Santiago. We hung out on the beach in Algarrobo, met up with Karen in El Quisco for some lemonade, made it to Isla Negra and Pablo Neruda’s house (pretty but not worth the 3 luka for the tour), and I also had time to interview 4 different presidents for phase 2 of my research, while Ildi and Adri spent some time on the beach. Good work girls.

Cajon de Maipo– Hiking in mid-day in 30 (celsius)+ degree weather is not my favourite activity, however, making it up to the top was well worth it. Fernando – our guide , and now good friend, let us stay at his family’s house and we had a BBQ at about midnight after our hike. Mmm good!

In the mix of all this fun, I also had to complete my research. aka Phase Dos. Which meant interviewing the 8 presidents of all the Sindicatos that I’ve been to previously. And well, yes, my spanish has improved, but having in-depth conversations about views, strategies, etc., in Spanish was going to be nearly impossible ( I mean it would be difficult in English and Swedish as well…), but luckily my friend, Paulina, helped me with everything. We made it back to El Quisco, Las Cruces, Algarrobo, Maitencillo, Quintay, Montemar, and Los Molles! The interviews were very interesting and a good way to get a different perspective of how these organizations work.

After finishing my research, I spent the last couple of days  in Santiago getting together all my stuff, a wine tour at Concha y Toro with friends, having a final meeting with Stefan, and lastly a lovely birthday party for Thea/ goodbye party for me. Sangria and friends- wonderful combo.

There are also a few things I’m going to miss a lot when back in Europe:

1. Palta. It’s number 1 because there is probably nothing more delicious than avocado on toast (this combination is completely competing with ice cream right now…)

2. Men saying (under their breath) “Que Bonita” or ” Que Hermosa” etc…. It was a nice little ego boost everytime I walked anywhere…( and no- there was no obnoxious whistling actually…. well at least not until I dyed my hair back to blonde… )

3. Guys with long hair. (Not the ‘I haven’t showered or shaven in weeks’ look, more like ‘ I can pull this off and somewhat look like Johnny Depp’ look. Swedish guys need to get on that).

4. Awesome hippie imspired fashion. Colours everywhere. Wearing black all winter is not happening this year.

5. All the AMAZING people I met along the way. You are all missed.

6. The ocean and everything that comes along with it.

7. Good cheap wine.

8. CHILE

Now I’m back in Sweden, where it is cold, and dark. Fortunately I have a ton of stuff to do, such as moving back to Stockholm- SÖDER (wooohooooo!!!!) , starting my data analysis, and in about 10 hours going to visit my sister  in Vietnam. So although I do miss Chile, being back home is not that bad either.

I’ve also decided to keep up with the blog, but from now on it may be about more things than just research related, but don’t ya worry- I’ll update ya’ll on that as well.

Much love,

La Sueca

p.s. Nos Vemos Chile- June perhaps?

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Las Cruces- check! Almost…

Hellllo Rockstars!

Soooo this past week I spent getting to know the women´s fishing cooperative of Las Cruces. This also meant spending a lot of time on public transportation aka buses, collectivos, local buses, and hitchhiking (thank you Paulina).  We went for a meeting and interviewed the majority of the members, but I had to go back  a few  days later to interview some more…. this involved me meeting up with the president  and walking from house to house to interview the remanding members- let´s just say- Women are very helpful. After this I also had to track down the president of the men´s Caleta.   Interviewing for this Caleta starts Tomorrow!!!

Overall, everything has been working out really well. Everyone has been perceptive, interested and willing to participate and voice their opinion (of course some more than others). Only 3 or 4 more to go! Woop woop!

Besides the interviewing- well I got food poisoning  for a couple days. I spent last Friday in El Quisco and Las Cruces with my supervisor, and two others to help with a game theory project they are doing. Let´s just say- mussles, oysters and red wine are not a good mix. I spent all night Saturday and Sunday and most of Monday with my head in the toilet (lovely I know) or in bed. Oops. But hey- that’s not  does not stopping me from eating sea food. Just toooo damn good.

Other than that- I went to concert with my friend, Henrik. We saw Theivery Corporation and Massive Attack- the place was pretty cool and so was the concert, however in Chile they have an AWFUL system for buying drinks. Everyone has to stand in the same line to pay and then afterwards go with their receipt to pick up the drinks. All good and dandy- if they have more than 1 line to pay- obviously this was not the case. Aka massive lines when buying beer. But hey- this is why you buy more than 2 at a time right? Right.

Friday I also went out ( I swear I work too…) We went to some crazy place in Bellavista. Besides the fact that I was exhausted- it was fab. Adri and Ildi- we are going here when you get here. It’s a must.

Oh yes- I´ve also made some more observations:

1. Po. Sí  po. Ya po. po po po? WHAT? Hello Slang- I love you. Let´s just say if you add po at the end of sí you might not be as much of a gringa /tourist. Sí po.

2. PDA (not just hand-holding)  It. is. everywhere. Literally.

3. They have Pâté. I almost felt like I was back in Sweden with my knäckebröd (hardbread), pâté and cucumber. Me = happy.

4. Brazilian bikini waxes still hurt. Even if you are closer to Brazil. (I´ll update this opinion when I´m actually in Brazil)

That´s it for now loves. Tomorrow, I´m off to St. Croix – my dad is getting married. Yep.  And yes a bit sad I will not be able to be in New Castle for the annual Thanksgiving Eve ridiculousness and Brighams big 25 (I LOVE YOU). However, Caribbean- eh not that bad of an alternative.

Besitos until next time! xo

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and stuff I listen to on repeat as of late:

El Quisco- Success!

Wooohooo!

34 Fishermen interviewed and Caleta El Quisco is almost complete for round one of my research (Going back soon to do interviews as well)! The first day was a bit hard …Let’s just say my Spanish needs a lot of work especially when talking to 70 year old fishermen without teeth— it’s a bit hard to understand everything they say. However, I had help from two AMAZING ladies- Francisca and Paulina. Don’t know what I would have done without them, and Celia as well- more for comic relief and moral support. The weather was fantastic and we stayed at Francisca’s apartment (beautiful). The fishermen were overall very recepetive and willing to participate.

Tomorrow I’m off to another location- Las Cruces (there is also a marine biology station here- went to the opening last week), and then spending the weekend in El Quisco with my ‘family’— which involves good wine, amazing food, sun, kittens, and knitting. Yes- relaxing weekend on the coast,  some work, and hanging out with fishermen does not sound too shabby.

Abrazos!

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Vino, Dominos, Knitting- Not Necessarily in that Order…

So now its October in Chile— this usually means warmer weather and sun. However, this October has been anything but… it has been colder than usual and its been raining. So instead of feeling that I’m in Santiago and it’s SPRING, it feels like I’m in Stockholm  (or Pennsylvania) and it’s FALL. Not Okay.  But besides the ‘not so fantastic’ weather, Chile is getting better and better.

This past week I’ve spent finishing up a questionnaire I’ll be using in the field, which hopefully, in about a week or two, I’ll  actually start doing the real ‘research’.  For those of you who need a little bit of an update or refresher for what I’m actually doing in Chile, here ya go:

I’m  here to research/understand how these fishing organizations, Caletas (check the pictures), actually work internally.I’ll be using an approach called Social Network Analysis (in one part of the study)- this simply means I’ll be trying to understand different networks within these organizations. Networks based on communication on the Caleta level (issues, problems etc), Ecological Knowledge between members (what they know about the resource), Trust (who do you  go to if you have a problem) and lastly Occupation Dependency- ( who you depend on or does someone depend on you for things…gears, boats, supplies etc)…. and from these networks key individuals will become more apparent.

Another part of the study (also part of the questionnaire) involves asking members about satisfaction, attitudes, perceptions &  views about the Caleta, and rules &  sanctions. All of which somehow tie into the idea of Social Captial. Social Capital involves aspects of trust, rules and sanctions, and connectedness within groups. This idea is found to help organizations coordinate and cooperate to a common mutual goal or benefit.  Thus I will also be evaluating and understanding these perspectives within the Caletas.

Lastly,  I will go back and interview these key individuals which may be formal leaders such as presidents or vice-presidents of these organizations or they may also be informal leaders- or people that members go to or trust with different issues. And speak to them more specifically on their views, ideals, and goals for the Caleta as well as other things (still working on the details… ).

I hope that makes a bit more sense 🙂   Its a lot of work, but I am learning a TON!

This weekend I spent celebrating a friends birthday, and then going to El Quisco with my ‘family’ aka Karen, Sergio, Grandma, and Stefan’s family–where I drank wine, learned how to play dominos and pokemon, ate fish eggs with butter, learned how to knit (well knit and pearl stitch– I’ve actually started on a hat!), and read. Overall a pretty great weekend, even if the weather was so so.

Besos!

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