I sometimes wonder whether we are the victims of having little time to visit this country or rather they are the victims of being so isolated by mountains and Pinochet. Differently than most people who might have loved this country I feel rather bored by it. Sometimes it feels it is very  non Latin America, people don’t speak much, or sometimes someone is open to speak to say they wish the  destruction of the Mapuche. They speak of their terrorism, they speak about how correct was their taking of Bolivian exit to the sea. So then they seem like colonisers. So, though I was asked to have tales to tell about Chile, and Chileans all I have to say it is a country that feels apathetic to it all.

Sometimes I stopped and though it could be simply the amount of mountains, rivers, that made it feel so slow but then immediately came to my mind how the Himalayas have never taken away the personality of those lands around them. How could you forget being in the Himalaya. Here I can support the statement that the wine is good, the mountain is beautiful, and it feels peaceful but unfortunately I cannot say much more. It feels I will forget most of it entirely.

I might be the victim of having seen too many places in the world so I expected more. We have spent more than 16 hours in a bus to cross this country by day and night and still was not enchanted by it at all. I would advise my friends who love mountains to go to the Himalayas. To those who want to see Latin America to go to Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia,  Brasil  etc…but not really here……

So the tales I have are not from Chileans…. those tales were boring. Were racists…. I thought the tales that came from Colombians and from Indians were more interesting.

The coffee here is always burnt. So I went to Juan Valdez. I learned the story behind Juan Valdez which is not a person. It is a common name in Colombia. The coffee in Juan Valdez  comes from many farms in Colombia. There I met Pablo, who is gay, and came when he had broken up with his boyfriend in Cali. His homosexuality was never a problem with his family. But latin american as he is, he explained, the end needed something radical. So he moved to this country and found a Chilean gay lover. But  even while I was here he was bored by his apathy. Pablo’s father is a coffee farmer who also sells coffee to Juan Valdez. He told me a lot about how it is that it works the organisation of Juan Valdez. And then I met Andres from Medellin who told us he  also came from a coffee farming family and answered to me a lot about Escobar.

As it had been told to me by another Colombian, Escobar was still admired in Medellin by people who came from poor families. Today that was confirmed to me.  Escobar did a lot to people in Medellin. And then I also met Indians. First I met a whole family in Puerto Varas that thought Chile was rather boring. Yesterday in my eternal attempt to return to India I took Andre to Saffron, the indian restaurant closed to where we are staying. I am also in the house of a Indian Brazilian , who has been my dear friend for many years. As I entered this gorgeous restaurant I had more feelings than being days here. My senses were immediately touched. Strong incense, many people coming towards us to speak and to ask what we needed, Indian music, food with lots of flavour. Lots of colours surrounding us all over. It was wonderful food, amazing tea, flavoured dessert, perfect plates and the right to eat with your own hands 🙂

Those are my tales….. The nicest people I have met here were Colombians, Indians and Argentinians. The Chilean do not seem to be that interested in talking to us. Did not seem to be interested to know their indigenous people. It feels like a great place to be retired in. Sometimes it feels like you are in America. Not Latin America. This does not feel like any country I have been in Latin America. I know this is a poor tale. Violent tale but I do not even wish to ever return here. There so many beautiful mountains all over the world. So many nice countries in Latin America. To those who search total peace and silence this is the country. I rather go to places where there are many tales… but that is just me and luckily Andre also wants to go there.

Love,

Jules

ps: There are still some days…. maybe it could all change 😉