Una ventana abierta: An Open Window

The View from Butto's Upstairs Bedroom, Puerto Montt

Grandma Sherian and I arrived in Puerto Montt this afternoon where were greeted by the very gracious Paulina Chavez Butto and her hijo (son), Benjamín.  Paulina took us to her family's home which is pretty close to the center of the city.  You can even see water from their kitchen and from the open window of her parents' bedroom where they have us staying these two weeks.  Immediately she asked us if we had eaten and she fed us, insisting that we didn't touch the dishes afterward.

As a testament to Chilean hospitality, dinner, or the light meal we had around 5:15 included general conversation and also questions about how we do things in the United States.  When do you get up?  8?  That's early.  You can sleep as long as you like here.  What do you eat for breakfast?  Lunch?  What time is your last meal?  Do you eat after that?  We usually just have tea and toast around this time; is that okay?

After we were told that we don't have to help with anything, we insisted on helping out with the school that the Butto family is associated with and we were then given tasks for tomorrow.  Mr. Butto told us that we can work in the mornings like him and then come home for lunch (large meal around one) and have the rest of the day off.  Paulina then made a joke that we had to have explained.  She said that her father was a "pharoah," or as we might say a "slave driver," but only as a joke.

After dinner, Paulina took us out in her car for un pasillo (a little pass through) of the city, showing us their two beaches, the stadium, their two BEAUTIFUL volcanoes, the port, the area where they bring in and process fish, and explaining a lot of other things.  Every corner we rounded was another breath-taking sight.

Thus ends day one in Chile.  Much conversation, a lot of listening, and a lot of trying to catch everything.  It is really helpful to have Paulina who speaks English very well to help fill in her father on what Grandma Sherian says, or to put something I say into "Chileanismos," or more Chilean terminology, and I do a lot of filling in from when Paulina explains something to me in Spanish to Grandma.

People keep telling me that I speak very well, and I guess it just takes taking the plunge to try and say everything I can to pull that out of me.  I still have SO much to learn, but listening helps so much.  The funniest thing is talking with Benjamín.  He's six and he thinks that English is a secret code that Paulina uses with me and Grandma Sherian.  He'll beg us to speak in Spanish so that he understands, but he doesn't really understand that Grandma doesn't speak any Spanish and that I can't quite catch everything he says, especially when he says it very quickly.

I really do feel so welcomed and so free here.  Yes, I'm constrained a bit by the initial language barrier, but I can definitely communicate better than when I first went to Mexico and the talking outside of "How much does this cost?" that I did for the group most of the time we were in El Salvador.  Not only do people here trust me to speak (Marta always seemed to forget that I spoke and understood while I was in El Salvador), but they count on it, and, I'm understood!

My time in Chile is an open window.  I can see winding city streets that head up hill and then mysteriously dodge out of sight, feel the vastness of the things beyond me as I gaze at the sea, and still, I feel a part of my surroundings as the breeze blows through the window, touching me where I'm comfortable, and stirring something in me.  I long to join in, to explore the source of this new breeze, to dive deeper into the culture, and to become attached to this place.