Trompo: Give it a whirl!

Ever spun a top? A real one made of wood, wrapped in string, and thrown to make it spin? In Chile it’s called a “trompo” and is popular with men of all ages…and certainly not as easy as it looks!

A spinning "trompo" or top at a typical Chilean fonda

The  sense of Chilenidad—Chile’s national identity—the collection of all that makes up a spirit of being Chilean—is composed of many different aspects, one of which is games, and one of the oldest is the trompo, a simple wooden cone-shaped yet rounded toy with a metal tip that is thrown so that it spins upright. Once you get the basic tossing down, you start with tricks, such as picking it up to spin on the palm of your hand or even throwing it so that it lands—spinning—in your hand without ever having touched the ground.

September: the month of Chilenidad

September: the month of Chilenidad

Chilenidad. What a great word. It means “Chileanness,” and Chileans take it very seriously indeed. And September, the month of Independence Day on September 18 (also taken very seriously) AKA “El Dieciocho” and Fiestas Patrias (ditto) and especially this one, the 200^th 18^th, makes for some pretty good reasons to think just exactly what Chilenidad is all about.

A small Andean town deep in the Elqui Valley prepares for "18" with Chilean flag banners

Wikipedia (c’mon, admit it, we all use it!) says Chilenidad is:

Cuasimodo a la Chilena

Cuasimodo… you’re thinking Hunchback of Notre Dame, right? (and I bet you’re spelling it with a Q, but that would be Latin, and I’m thinking in Spanish here)… Any idea WHY the Victor Hugo character was called Quasimodo?

Fuente de Soda: Schop, Cortado, Completo, Cueca Brava & Buddy Richard…

Quick: where was this picture taken?

It’s a pretty safe bet that there’s only one country on Earth that this picture could have been taken.

Do you know?

There are plenty of clues here… Keywords like Fuente de Soda, Schop, Completo, and Buddy Richard are a dead giveaway to the country…
Cueca Brava even provides clues to the city.

Is it clear yet?

Chile of course… that was a no-brainer. But congrats if you named the city as Valparaíso—and quadruple points if you knew the street! (O’Higgins!)

So, for those of you still in the dark… What were the clues? Let’s go through them one by one:

Fuente de soda: a literal translation of the North American “soda fountain,” although in practice, they tend to be more of a type of sandwich shop, rather than the typical ice cream and soda shop that was so popular in the US in the 50s and 60s. For example, I have never seen them serve an ice cream soda (or a banana split or even a sundae), but they do serve beer (schop).

Escudo: One of Chile’s favorite national beers.

Schop: Draft beer. Places that sell schops are often called “schoperías.” As far as I know this is pretty standard Chilensis for a frosty (or not) mug.

Café (express / cortado): Most Chileans tend to drink instant coffee at home (Nescafé, sometimes referred to by purists as “no-es-café” (it is not coffee), has a definite corner on this large market) When they go out, they drink “café café” (coffee-coffee) and say “vale la redundancia” (it bears repeating) to explain that this is no regular coffee (which would be Nescafé) but rather REAL coffee.  And it will probably come in a very small (demitasse) cup and often includes a small glass of soda water and a couple of little butter cookies on the side.
The whole coffee vs Nescafé thing warrants an entry of its own… it’ll happen one of these days.

In the meantime know that if you go to a coffee shop they’ll ask if you want “express” (espresso), cortado (café con leche), or capucchino (don’t be fooled by the name—this version comes with a ton of whipped cream).

Completo: Chilean hot dog topped with an abundance of mayonnaise, (see A Hotdog is Not a Completo).

Menú: You might think that a menu is a list of everything a restaurant has to offer. But you’d be wrong. If you ask for the menu, the waiter will be happy to recite the list of daily specials. If you want to see the full list, you’d better ask for the carta.

Colación: When it comes to lunch, Chileans seem to make a very clear distinction between almuerzo, which is the word we all learned in Spanish class for the midday meal, and colación. The term colación is used in relation to the quick-ish lunch that is eaten at school or work, while almuerzo is the leisurely meal eaten at home.

Cueca Brava: Also called cueca chora or cueca urbana, this is the more bohemian side of the traditional Chilean cueca (the national dance, by the way). Valparaíso vies for the title of king of the cueca. (See Choro el Piernal de la Cueca Chora, and while you’re at it, go ahead and take a look at September-style cuecas at Chile’s Fiestas Patrias: Fondas for September).

Buddy Richard: Chilean singer-song-writer and early pop star Ricardo Roberto Toro Lavín created his stage name by from Buddy Holly and the “Englishification” of his given name Ricardo. Born in 1943, his heyday was in the 1960s and early 1970s, but as this sign shows, still performs on a pretty regular basis.

So how’d you do? Did you know the inside tips to Chile?

Bicentennial Chile Dog: And we have a winner!

Chile has a thing about its dogs, especially its quiltros!

Dog representing Central Chile on mural outside old Diego Portales building on Alameda

Love ‘em–or not–they’re part of the national culture and landscape and will have their place in the limelight during Chile’s 2010 Bicentennial celebrations.

Remember the government-sponsored search for the Bicentennial Chile Dog ? The National Mutt photo competition? Pitching for the perfectly pictorial pooch project? The hunt for the Quiltro del Bicentenario? Well the results are in and the winners declared.

The judges (members of the Bicentennial Commission, the Photographic Heritage Corporation, and several photographers) poured over the 700 photos of canine candidates to find just the one that represented the concept of “quiltro” in Chile, guided by the DRAE definition: a dog of mixed breed… and have found their mutt of the hour:

And the winner is…… Cachupín!

1st Prize: "Si para ser felices" by Oscar Fuentes, Chillán

Oscar Fuentes of Chillán won first prize (a Nikon Reflex Digital Camera d-40 w/ 18-55 lens) with his image “Si para ser felices” of a dog he calls “Cachupín” and its master, both of whom appear a bit down and out, but the judges appreciated the shot for the story it seems to relay: the pup’s cocked head and perked ears showing attention to his master, who appears to be counting change, while the dog waits patiently for a bit of attention. Fuentes explains that “the dog is not observing the money, but rather the intentions of being fed… and his only means of payment are faithfulness, happiness, and in cases like this one, the enormous need for companionship.” He goes on to say that “among the many facets of this particular chapter in our culture, it is important to emphasize this other side of the exacerbated contempt of street dogs.”

The runners up:

Second Prize

2nd prize: "Sensei" by Gabriela Manríquez, Temuco

Photo Title: “Sensei”
Photographer: Gabriela Manríquez
City: Temuco
Prize: Nikon Coolpix L-15 Camera

Third Prize

3rd Prize "Gótico" by Carlos Agurto, Santiago (Recoleta)

Photo Title: “Gótico”
Photographer: Carlos Agurto
City: Santiago, Recoleta
Prize: Nikon Coolpix L-14 Camera

And 3 Honorable Mentions, who received $100.000 (Chilean pesos) each:

Honorable Mention: "Alambrito" by Gianinna Schade, Maipú

Honorable Mention: "Libertad" by Alvaro Hoppe, Vitacura

Honorable Mention: "Julio come en Julio" by Catalina Illmer, Las Condes

Congratulations to all the winners and the corresponding pooches!

The public commentary–pro and con–is already starting to flow in (See, for example, Cooperativa’s “Si para ser felices…” ganó concurso de fotografía del “Quiltro del Bicentenario,” where the comments range from congratulations, happiness, and pride, to indignation and criticism).

And YOUR opinion?

Like the photo?
Is this a shot that should represent Chile and Chileans in its bicentennial hour of glory?
Should we be celebrating its street dogs?
Should Chile be spending money on this kind of project?
Got something else on your mind?

See other dog-related posts on Cachando Chile:

Lost Dogs: Quiltros  & Hero Dogs (November 25, 2009)

In Search of the Bicentennial Chile Dog (October 30, 2009)

Chile: It’s a Dog’s World (April 14, 2009)

** All images are reproduced here with permission from the Chile Bicentenario Commission.
For more information on the competition, see ChileBicentario: “Si para ser felices...”.

Concón, Chile: Lookin’ good after 468 years! (Part 2)

Concón, one of Chile’s popular beach resorts, goes all out with murgas, comparsa, cueca, cumbia, ranchera, diablada, and bailes pascuenses to celebrate its 468 years of history.

Candy Vendor, Concón, August 2009

Sunday, August 30, 2009.  The party continues. Last night Concón celebrated its 468^th anniversary with influences from Brazil (samba-esque Comparsas), Colombia (cumbia), Mexico (rancheras and Marco Antonio Solis impersonator), but today it’s all about Chile, with dances from the north, south, center, and even Rapa Nui (which you may think is called Easter Island). (See part 1 of Concón Celebrates here).

But first a bit about the motives behind all this festivity and pageantry. Yes, you knew it was coming… just a little bit of history.

468 years. That’s a long time in the New World. As a point of reference, New York City’s disputed founding date centers somewhere around 1625. Here’ we’re talking about August of 1541, which is pretty impressive considering Pedro de Valdivia had only claimed the territory for the Crown a few months earlier, in February of the same year! It seems they were extracting gold from the Estero Marga Marga (which is now in Viña del Mar) and set up a shipyard in Concón to build a brigantine (a fancy 2-masted sailing ship) to get the haul back to the homeland. Good idea; not so good results… it turns out that there was a mutiny of sorts and the ship got hijacked along with the gold and that was the end of that, but the shipyard continued to operate, along with the Hacienda de Concón there in what was known as Puerto Concón.

Other highlights in its long history include the bloody Battle of Concón in 1891 during a Civil War—approximately half of the 8000 men were killed or injured. Happier times lay ahead, however, and it was named a comuna (municipality) under Limache in 1899 and later switched to fall under Viña del Mar, and only recently, in 1995, did it become the fully independent Ilustre Municipalidad de Concón.

Concón has been a popular seaside vacation spot since 1917 and expanded greatly after the coastal route from Viña to Concón was completed in 1930. The most recent census (2002) showed a population of 32,273 people, pretty much divided miti-miti (half and half) men and women.

Want to know more? You can find plenty more information at the city’s website: www.concon.cl

Ok, so now for what you’re really here for… the pictures!

The show started in the late afternoon with a group of seniors dancing traditional folkloric huaso-and-china style cueca

Señoras preparing to dance cueca in Concón, August 2009

Dancing the Cueca, Concón, August 2009

Next came the Grupo Folklórico Here-Taina, which celebrates the culture and dance of Rapa Nui, the Chilean island territory better known elsewhere as Easter Island.

Grupo Folklórico Here-Taina performs dances from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Jaime Olivares of the Grupo Folklórico Here-Taina

This is a dance group from Concón that performs dances based on those of northern Chile.

Unfortunately I do not know their name (If you know, please tell me so I can give them their due credit!)

Dancers from Concón

As night fell, the guest group Fantasía Folklórica Chilena de la Comuna de Maipú performed a “Diablada,” a traditional dance of Andean cultures in northern Chile as well as Peru and Bolivia. In Chile it is best known in association with the celebration of La Tirana on July 16.

La Diablada (northern Chile), Fantasía Folklórica Chilena de la Comuna de Maipú

The show wrapped up with a lively round of cueca and blasts of chaya (confetti).

The grand finale with confetti, Fantasía Folklórica Chilena de la Comuna de Maipú

Choro el Piernal de Cueca Chora

La Cueca is cool.
Forget the whole huaso bit and the women in the silly square dance type dresses, we’re talking la Cueca urbana, la Cueca brava… la Cueca CHORA!

Quilombo Ediciones 2009

After years of having gym class-style dancing shoved down their throats at any and every cultural event, there’s a quickly growing movement among Chileans to take back the “real” cueca. The cueca that always existed.
The cueca that the  “rotos chilenos” proudly danced in the chinganas, fondas, and ramadas where people from the city and the port went to let their hair down, swill some chicha, hoist a few pipeños, sing a bit, and dance a lot. And that dance was the cueca. A dance that can take flirting to the edge of social mores—without touching—and that when done well, eye-to-eye and with just the right whisk of the pañuelo, turn of the head, tilt of the hip, and stomp of the foot, can bring a flush to the cheeks and set the heart aflutter.

The problem is that until just recently, that spirit of the pueblo cuequero was all but lost, buried under a 1960s wave of imported rock and then appropriated (and toned down) by the military right in the 1970s-80s in an attempt to impose, instill, and imbue “true national values” with an official and state-sanctioned version that involves a manly poncho-wearing huaso patrón who flirts with and wins over a demure and oddly dressed woman called a “china”… Yeah… exactly… No wonder no one I know ever wanted anything to do with it!

La cueca chora, step by step. Illustration by Alberto Montt

But there’s been a movement of late to take back Chile. To take pride in the real Chile. To take a stand and raise the pañuelo.
¡Éjale compadre!, put those hands together chiquillos, clap-clap, clap-clap, and tiki tiki tiki…
Get a guitar, a pandero (tambourine), and a voice and you’re good to go.
Find an accordion and there are definitely some hot times ahead. And there you are…. The cueca is hot and Chile is cool! ¡Chile es choro and la cueca es más chora aún !

Okay, so there’s a lot more to be said about how I feel about Chile in general and the cueca in particular… but all this has been a long-winded wind-up to the real topic of this post, a new book on how to dance the cueca chora.

Editor Camila Rojas (left), author Araucaria Rojas (right) © MSnook 2009

Araucaria Rojas, daughter of the Gran Guaripola himself Dióscoro Rojas (drawing a blank? You’ve got homework: go study up at the Guachacas web site) and who is now finishing up a degree in history, just launched her book “Piernal de Cueca Chora” a guide to everything you need to hold your own amongst the choros, from the color of your pañuelo to just how high to hike your skirt.  ‘Piernal,’ in case you’re wondering, is one of those words invented by necessity because a ‘manual’ refers to something done with the hands, but in this case it’s the legs (piernas) following all the steps that are so explicitly described in words and images (illustrator Alberto Montt of “Dosis Diario” fame weighs in with his signature style). Cousin Camila Rojas edited the book for her newly-formed publishing company Quilombo Ediciones and came up with some pretty clever touches like resolving the twisted spine problem (English books write the title down one side of the spine and Spanish books, the other) by wrapping the book—along with a nifty stamped pañuelo—in a box that allowed her to print the spine in both directions! (¡Bien hecho Camila!).

Chilean journalist /Guachaca Queen Mónica Pérez

The Santiago launch was held last night (Sept 1) at the 100% chileno bar Piojera (could there ever have been any other option?) with a dedication by the paternal Guaripola and the reigning royal Guachacas Queen Mónica Pérez and King Ricarte Soto, among others, followed by a few patitas de cueca, and a healthy round of terremotos and pichanga. Be sure to check out Eileen’s  bearshapedsphere version of the evening—she can even show you food & drink pictures because by that time I was much too busy sipping and munching to take pictures. An excellent way to kick of this month of fiestas a la chilena!

Araucaria and Dióscoro Rojas dancing cueca

Araucaria and Dióscoro Rojas (© MSnook 2009)

Chilean Spanglish Spoken Here: A Rooster from the Glue

Spanglish is a funny language. Spend enough time here in Chile and you end up pretty fluent in the Chilean variant, which I call Spangli-shilean!! (Get it?) See? Right there you need to be on the inside track to cachar la onda…

At our most recent Chilespouses dinner, our resident comedian Eileen Shea had the Spanglishilean speakers roaring with laughter—and many of the newcomers scratching their heads—with a story about a guy from work.

I asked her if I could post it here at Cachando Chile, and we ended up getting our chuckles while playing linguistic ping-pong with it for a few days until we finally came up with this version. Test your own level of Spanglishilean (and have a little bad translation fun) with this doozy:

****************

There’s a rooster of the glue who told me his worse-is-nothing had improved herself and brought a baron to light at 3 in the morning.

The uncle said his creature may not have arrived with a hard roll under the arm, but he waits he was born standing up, like he was. What it will be, always that he doesn’t convert to a bad duck or a spear. He hopes he will finish at least his medium learning and perhaps make himself a frog, like his co-father, helping the microphone operators who drive like testicles.

The wedding was very happy they had a man for the end, since they already had 3 women. His wife doesn’t have any hair on her tongue and said that now that they have a man, she’s going to close the factory and go back to selling broken underpants on the microphones in the center of James, where they live in their half water.

Maybe it was big-footed of my part, but I asked the crazy man what wave, and he said his half orange and the snotty were passing it pig. I’m going to take her some cardinals—they enchant me because they are meat dog.

****************

So, how’d you do? ¿Lo cachaste al tiro? Congratulations!
Consider yourself a fluent Spanglishilean speaker (I dare you to put that on your resume!).

Didn’t quite get that? Don’t worry… take a deep breath, and let’s walk through this together.

If you speak Spanish, take a moment to translate it and see what you come up with. Los que hablan chilensis lo cacharán rapidito…

If you don’t speak Spanish, feel free to just skip down to the end for a Spanglishilean to English translation… the rest of us will catch up later.

OK, Spanish speakers… Got that translation ready? Is it making sense now? No? Looks like you’re not up to speed on your Chilean!

Try this:

Hay un gallo de la pega que me dijo que su peor es nada se había mejorado y dio luz a un varón a las 3 de la mañana.

El tío dijo que capaz que su criatura no haya llegado con la marraqueta bajo el brazo, pero espera que haya nacido tan parado como él. Lo que sea, siempre que no se convierta en un pato malo o un lanza. Espera que termine por lo menos su enseñanza media y quizás hacerse sapo, como su compadre, ayudando a los micreros que manejan como pelotas.

El matrimonio estaba muy feliz por haber tenido un hombre por fin, porque ya tenían 3 mujeres. Su mujer no tiene pelos en la lengua y dijo que ahora que tenían un hombre, iba a cerrar la fábrica y volver a vender calzones rotos en las micros en el centro de Santiago, donde viven en su media agua.

Quizás fui patuda de mi parte, pero pregunté al loco qué onda y me dijo que su media naranja y el mocoso estaban pasándolo chancho. Le voy a llevar unos cardenales; me encantan porque son carne perro.

Huh? You speak Spanish and you still didn’t get it? This, dear friends, is pure Chilensis.

Need an interpreter? Let’s go!

Some of these terms are regular Spanish, others are pure Chilean:

Gallo (rooster) = a guy

La pega (the glue) = work

Peor es nada (worse is nothing) = wife, in this case, but also used for husband

Mejorarse (improve oneself) = literally, to get better, though here, to have a baby

Dar luz (give light) = to give birth

Varón (baron) = man (Chileans use this term for a baby boy) Note: varón is not really baron, but since v and b are pronounced the same, it sounds the same.

Tío (uncle) = guy

Criatura (creature) = baby, child

Nacer con la marraqueta bajo el brazo (to be born with a hard roll under the arm) = to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth or to bring luck to the family

Nacer parado (to be born standing up) = to be lucky, born under a lucky star

Pato malo (bad duck) = hoodlum, thug

Lanza (spear) = pick-pocket or purse-snatcher type thief

Enseñanza media (medium learning) = high school

Sapo (frog) = person who lets the bus drivers know when the last bus along their route passed. They get the name from jumping on and off the buses all day.

Compadre (co-father) = literally god-father to your child, but often used to refer to a close friend

Micrero (microphone operator) = bus driver

Manejar como pelotas (drive like testicles) = to drive badly. To do something “como pelotas” is to do it badly.

Matrimonio (wedding) = a married couple. In Spain a wedding is a boda, but in Chile the term matrimonio refers to the ceremony as well as the couple.

Tener un hombre (have a man) = have a boy / son

Tener 3 mujeres (have 3 women) = have 3 girls / daughters

No tiene pelos en la lengua (doesn’t have hair on her tongue) = to be outspoken

Cerrar la fábrica (close the factory) = stop having babies

Calzones rotos (broken underpants) = typical Chilean fried dough pastry

Las micros (the microphones) = the buses (for some reason “micro” uses the feminine article la)

Santiago (James) = San Santiago in Spanish is Saint James in English

Media agua (half water) = a very basic, simple house

Ser patuda (big-footed) = to be overly forward, cross the line, push the limits

Loco (crazy man) = guy

Qué onda (what wave) = what’s up

Media naranja (half orange) = wife (or husband), like referring to one’s “better half”

Mocoso (snotty) = kid, young child (like saying “rugrat”)

Pasarlo chancho (pass it pig) = have a good time

Cardenales (cardinals) = carnations

Carne perro (meat dog) = this should really be carne de perro, but the “de” usually gets dropped out when spoken. It generally means tough, resistant, impossible to kill. In this specific case, flowers that are easy to grow.

(You can see more terms like these in the Cachando Chile Glossary).

Got that? Want a real translation now? How’s this:

There’s a guy from work who told me his wife had had a baby boy at 3 in the morning.

The guy said his son may not have been born wealthy, but he hopes he’s as lucky as he is. Whatever, as long as he doesn’t turn into a hoodlum or a pick-pocket. He hopes he will at least finish high school and maybe become a bus assistant, like his buddy who helps the bus drivers, who drive like idiots.

The couple was very happy that they had finally had a boy, because they already had 3 girls. His wife is really outspoken and said that now that they had a son, she was going to stop having kids and go back to work selling pastries on the buses in downtown Santiago, where they live in their little house.

Maybe I was out of line, but I asked the guy what was up, and he said both his wife and the rug-rat were having a great time. I’m going to take her some carnations—I love them because they last so long.

Many thanks to Eileen Shea for coming up with this great word game and letting me play too!

If you enjoyed this, take a wander over to see what Abby’s been up to (More word games on Abby’s Line).

And be sure to have a look at what Eileen at Bearshapedsphere  has to say about “Dead men knocking at the door.“

Annje also takes the bait. Check her story out at “Annje Speaks Chilensis.”

Anyone else want to try? This could make for a great group blog… give it a shot, post to your blog, and let me know so we can cross link!

Update:  Also see the related  “Gringas die Laughing” post to see the reaction to this one!