Hey guys, so….
Got to Temuco yesterday (way more south then Valpo/Vina del Mar) and I’m here for two weeks to study Los Mapuche. The Mapuche are an indigenous group of Chileans that pre-date the Spanish conquistadors. They live in communities/reservations but also have mixed into society. They are (similar to the US 
) often ignored or discriminated against. Our directors said that we were 2x foreign. Being from the US and from big cities. The directors themselves are foreign to the Mapuche, and they’re Chilean! Temuco is a city, but the Mapuche live in the surrounding areas away from the city. Tomorrow we go to Lago Budi and will study the Mapuche philosophy/world view/beliefs.
Today we learned a bit (basic words) of the Mapudungun language of the Mapuche. We had traditional Mapuche food for lunch; quinoa being used in almost every dish, with a honey-ish juice. It was great!
We then had a class on traditional instruments, music, what the music represents and how the instruments are played. We played txutxuka, pufulka, kull-kull, txompe, kultxun, kaskawuilla, and wada/waza. They were cool ( please google image because explaining these instruments is a bit difficult) (oh but a drum is a kultxun!) We learned some basic (and really really simple) step-dancing as well.
We then played palin (spanish word for it) which is basically a derivative of lacrosse/field hockey with wooden sticks carved like hockey sticks and a wooden ball. (Traditional Mapuche sport). Was super fun and un poco peligroso.
That’s my update for now, will try to be better about this whole blogging thing as time goes on!
Pics to come eventually, but my internet is SOOOOOOO slow here.
Oh, and I have to make a post about the student protest I went to a while back as well!
So much to do!
Miss you all!
Peace!