Cool artwork underground |
Coming
from a non-Metro country and having lived in the
totally-unsophisticated-when-it-comes-public-transport city of Cusco
for 18 months, I admit to feeling just a little trepidacious when Chris
suggested I use the local Metro to get to my first tourist destination on my
own in Santiago .
But,
armed with a magical plastic card that opened the gates to another world, and
with Chris’s trusty handwritten instructions and his ‘Tourist Map, Santiago on
Bus’ guide to the public transportation systems of Santiago, I set off – not into the wild blue yonder, but rather
into the dimly lit depths of the underground.
Miraculously, I managed to navigate two Metro
lines and a change of stations, and found my way in almost the blink of an eye
to my destination, Cementerio General,
Santiago ’s main
and very large cemetery. A strange destination, you might think, but cemeteries
can be fascinating places and offer a real insight into local culture – you can
learn a lot about the living from how they treat their dead.
It was Saturday and the cemetery was crowded, not
just with the enormous numbers of deceased but also with an abundance of the
living, come to pay their respects, to visit family and friends, to tend and
tidy the graves of their loved ones, and to attend funerals, as well as with
the workers who clean and maintain the graves and grounds.
There were two main types of grave – the
frequently large and often opulent tombs, and the small oblong cells, stretched
several rows long and high, like mini apartment blocks.
And what did I learn about Chileans from visiting
their cemetery? They seem to have a genuine respect for the departed, who
remain a part of their lives – I saw entire families gathered around graves,
enjoying a little get-together and, no doubt, gossiping about the latest family
news, almost as if the deceased was listening. Little ‘Happy Birthday’ and
‘Merry Christmas’ messages bore witness to visits by family at those special
times and, in general, the graves were also very well cared for.
I learned that there is a huge gulf between the
‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’, between the grand architecturally designed tombs
of the wealthy and the stacked tomb blocks of the less well off.
I soon realised that Chileans love their quirky
little gizmos as much as the next culture, with fake butterflies, flowers,
teddy bears, buzzy bees and ladybirds, and various kinds of plastic
wind-catchers featuring amongst the flowers adorning the graves.
I was reminded that florists do well out of
death, in every country – the flower sellers’ stalls outside the cemetery gates
were bursting with particularly lush and vibrant blooms.
I learned that the dollar comes first – on many
‘street’ corners within the cemetery, a place I would have thought commerce
would be banned or at least considered disrespectful, there were people selling
drinks and snacks for the living, as well as grave ornaments for the dead.
I also learned that Chileans, though perhaps less
effusive than other Latin Americans, can be incredibly friendly and helpful.
Two separate old men, both workers tending the graves, approached me, asking if
I needed help, wanting to know where I was from when it was obvious I was a
foreigner, and then offering information about the cemetery. Unfortunately, I
couldn’t understand a lot of what they said, though one pointed me in the
direction of the memorial to those lost during the terrible years of
oppression, terror and death under General Pinochet’s regime. He explained that
he had been 22 when it first started and had seen much bloodshed – he kept
mimicking guns shooting and people dropping to the ground, and several times
used the word amigos so I assume his
friends were among those lost.
Amidst the thousands of deceased that the Cementerio General must contain, that
memorial was the saddest spot for me. The reign of terror here in Chile began
on 11 September 1973, when tanks rolled in to the streets of Santiago, marking
the beginning of a US-funded and supported military coup to overthrow the
left-wing socialist government of Salvador Allende – US Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger infamously declared that the US should not stand by ‘and let a
country go Communist due to the irresponsibility of its people’! Within a
couple of years, Pinochet rose to head a dictatorship notorious for the
torture, murder, persecution and oppression of hundreds of thousands of Chilean
people, and this dark period in Chile’s history did not truly end until 10 March
1990, when a democratic government was once again elected to power. It was a
sobering experience to sit and contemplate the thousands of names of the dead
and missing who had suffered during that horrible time.
Chorrillanas |
I
needed cheering up and I was hungry – the two frequently go hand in hand for me!
- and Chris had mentioned a restaurant immediately opposite the cemetery’s main
entrance so I headed across there to check it out. It is called El Quita Penas,
which means remove hardships or remove suffering! Apparently, that’s what
happens when you drink too much of the local alcohol. It most certainly does
not happen when you eat too much of the local food – in fact, the opposite
would happen: your suffering (from bloat and/or indigestion) could quickly
increase, your cholesterol levels would almost certainly soar to alarming
heights and you could quite easily end up in one of the graves across the
street. Maybe the restaurant owner has shares in the cemetery!
I
ate little, drank nothing but Pepsi, and escaped with my health intact!
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