A world of Sport

The sport is very important for individuals and nations. The importance of sports is that we could have less stress and feel better (at personal level) because we have more resistance and, obviously we improve our body state. For a nation, the sport is important because it is a way of having a common identity, for example the Brazilian case because all people use to think that Brazil is the country of football since Brazilian have won several world football cups. That helps to the population cohesion. Currently I don’t practice any sport because I dedicate my free time to other things; my only physical activity is walking from university to house around 20 minutes and dancing when I party. The great benefit I get from it that I feel less stressed, especially dancing.
The status that sport should have in a country is of a daily topic. I mean, having a Minister of Sports and Recreation. With this, it is pretended to give a real budget to promote it and make that every person in Chile has the right of sport and a free access to.
Every time I see people angry or stressed I wish I could invite them to run or dance. I would say them: “Don’t prefer to smoke, don’t prefer to eat, don’t prefer to get angry. Just prefer sports.”
There are some sports which have been stated as cruel and I hold it. For example “rodeo a la chilena” is just the demonstration of the habit of having fun damaging to someone else. It is like when a child makes fun of other one and the rest of friends enjoy that. While more suffers a cow, more points we gain.
Some other activities which should be eradicated is free fighting and All worth (Todo vale) where just one part takes benefits losing stress because of winning and the other one just has to go home bruised at all and with the defeat stress.

What to do and where to go in Santiago de Chile

What to do and where to go in Santiago? That is the question when we arrive for the first time in San Borja or Los Héroes terminus. With the little time I have lived here, I would recommend visiting places like La Moneda, Fantasilandia, Huelén and San Cristóbal hills, to the Zoo and many other places which aren’t in a native city. Obviously, what a tourist should do in Santiago, depends on where is he or she comes from. If a tourist is from other Chile region, he or she should travel by Metro, go to La Moneda, Farellones or El Cajón del Maipo, etc. Also a tourist should go to the tomb of a recognized Chilean, etc. If it was up to me, I would take a tourist to:
• Parque O’higgins to show them where is the place of Military Parade and where “ramadas” and “fondas” are in September.
• Fantasilandia, a place where we can have amusement with mechanic games and we can distract our minds.
• Huelén Hill, a beautiful place full of nature and peace. The exact spot where Pedro de Valdivia and Inés de Suárez arrived to conquer Chile. Also it is possible to see a good part of Santiago from the top of the hill.
• La Piojera, a place where you can happily celebrate drinking “Terremotos” (Earthquake, a cold drink that erases you from he world for five minutes, it is made of wine, pine ice cream and grenadine) and where it is also possible to relax and forget problems. A very popular place.
• Universidad de Chile, a place full of knowledge and with a very important space in Chile History. Beyond of being the best Chile university, this is which helped to get Chile independency in many ways, giving it professionals to the country. The Andrés Bello house is not to give it up if we do not know Santiago de Chile.

The role of Music

Music plays an important role in my life. First all because without it, life would be very sad; to me it is an escape way… a ticket to heaven. I like singing everywhere. Particularly I like listening to folk music or trova, I don’t have problems with other styles of music, but they both are my favorites. Usually I get my music from internet or from my friends compact discs. Also I like Chilean and Latin music, for example Silvio Rodríguez, Violeta Parra, Mercedes Sosa, Los Jaivas, etc. In general, I like music with social sense and if it is about love, it is of my preference that lyrics are deep: ¿Qué he sacado con querete? (What have I gotten loving you?) by Violeta Parra or El breve espacio en que no estás (The brief space where you are not) by Silvio Rodríguez. Everytime I am studing I play Silvio Rodríguez or Los Jaivas. When I am sad I make an exception and then I play Metallica or Guns and Roses. When I am very angry my favorite is Maldigo del Alto Cielo (High Heaven Curse) by Violeta Parra, the mother of Chilean music and the first Chilean rock star! But when I am happy I like whatever, every song is a good choice to smile. I have always thought that music is and must be an accompaniment, we also have poems, pieces of arts, etc., music is just a way of getting art, but it is not the only way. If we become it in a unique mode of art, we will forget the other ones.

Transantiago: before and now

My opinion about Transantiago is that it’s a good Transport System compared with which I used in my region. Usually I’ve seen that Santiago citizens use to complain about it. When Transantiago started operating I wasn’t here, but I was watching by T.V. that the anger of population was taking levels of the highest caliber. However, when I came here on March I realized that compared with Copiapó Transport System this was very cheaper and convenient. I am so glad that near of house there’s a Metro station and when I have to go anywhere, there’s always a road. As far as I’ve seen and felt, the Transantiago fails on mornings; that’s why Metro collapses. Many times I’ve had to wait around of three trains to get one because they’re always crowded.

By television I watched that people were complaining for a low frequency of busses and by the way, the driver did not stop because it was impossible to transport any ant else. Now, I see more frequency. In this way I think that Transantiago has improved. When Transantiago started it was worse than before because it was a heavy change in the transport system and it wasn’t well implemented. Now it has been more implemented as with many kind of busses as with money. If on me it depended, I would write at every bus stop all the next and previous ones.

I’d like that the same money invested on Transantiago was invested on the regions transport system. Santiago is not Chile, and that’s why every Chilean deserves to pay two travels for one. The Bip Card is very useful and if it was inserted along Chile, all our system transport would take a big step.

A country I woud like to visit

I have always dreamed of visiting Perú or Cuba, but if I had to choose one country of them both I would visit Perú, exactly the Machu Picchu ruins.

I had a biology teacher who traveled to there and she told us she could feel a great sensation of magic and freedom there. When she came back to Copiapó she was full of energy and humor. According to her it was as if the own Incas people were there working or laughing.

Other things which excite me to be at Machu Picchu are the poems by Pablo Neruda, sung by Los Jaivas in the record Las Alturas de Machu Picchu. I think that Spanish invasion harmed a great advance in the Inca culture because it stopped a pure race and it showed the dark side of globalization: the predominance of one culture and lifestyle over other one.

I know few things about this place, but they are good enough to want to go there. Machu Picchu means in Quechua Old Mountain. This place is near from Cuzco, the capital city of Inca Empire. It began to work as a urban center once discovered by Pachacútec, first Inca Emperor. He saw the physic and climatic character of the place and decided to become it into a religious and civil center.

Currently, Machu Picchu is one of the Seven Modern World Wonders. I wanted to be there to feel that magic on the air, maybe feel the rituals mystical, feel how the Inca people thanked to Pachamama (The Land Mother) for the land fruits or feel them thanking Her for the good hunting times.

I would like only visit Machu Picchu because I don’t think it is for living. As far as I know that place is only for tourism and not for remaining a lifetime. But if I could live there, I think I would not because I’d miss Chile a lot.

To know more about Machu Picchu visit: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu
http://www.machupicchu.perucultural.org.pe