Sad Mendoza
I can't stand small towns, they bug the hell out of me. Mendoza is a small town, and despite being on the Argentinean side of the border it's gotten fucked over by the Chileans; Mendoza is more expensive than Buenos Aires.
Blame that on the overweight family I met one time on the bus, they were from a Santiago slum called Puente Alto and by all their new digital cameras (2x the US price, like all technology here) it looked like they'd just discovered the Credit Card. Argentines don't get as much credit extended to them as do the debt-diseased Chileans, but their time will come soon as their economy "recovers" just like Chile's has.
Mendoza is totally lost and empty and isolated between the sprawling plains of Argentina and the second tallest mountain range on earth. Tall trees grown close together drape the city center with a leafy, foresty mystery mixed with concrete prison block structures from which colorful, oversized advertisements jut out on awnings above plastic tables and chairs and unfurled umbrellas.
One place we went to drink at had a nice vibe near closing time and a friendly, if overly-drunk patron emphatically engaging us in conversation, adding life where there was no life. On our own upstairs the conversation flowed as the Fernet-Cola numbed, dizzied and stimulated my brain, the happiness of alcohol flowed through my veins. That said, the room was drenched in the sadness of summer, unlit except for the orange sodium light spilling in from outside divided in thin lines of venetian blinds. That impression of summery decadence and loneliness was so strong to me, despite the fact that I was bundled up in three layers and could see my own breath.
It's amazing what a border can do. Mendoza also has huge plazas of marble and fountains and statues and Christmas lights and an old-world grandeur unseen in Chile. The people are charming and loud and obnoxious and kind. The food is superb, and it's not as expensive as Chile. A small but delicious juicy hamburger for about .66 cents is still good.
Andes Cerveza is a weak lager but it's palatable and you'll find it on tap (schop) in Mendoza. You'll do better with a liter bottle of Eisenbecks or Stella Artois. For a micro brew go to a place called Lúpulo (i think that's what it's called) on the main drag where all the bars are.
It's just over the border, a 5-hour drive (7 hours on bus) from Santiago. Depends on Holiday traffic and the weight at the mountain customs check point Santiago to Mendoza on Tur Bus costs about $15 USD (8.000 Chilean Pesos). Going back it's the same, 40 Argentinean pesos. You can buy cheaper tickets on small-time operators in precarious vans. One time I took a bus back on this racket called Radio Movil with a big crack in the windshield and toward the end of the trip we had to stop like 8 times as the engine cooled.
On bigger operators like Tur Bus you'll invariably be subjected to b-side loosely-disguised pro-iraq war propaganda flicks that I didn't know existed until after hopping on a bus in South America. Or other movies equally violent and badly produced. All this distracting you from some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet. Talk about a buzzkill.
Taking a bus between Santiago, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina, be careful. During the winter snow can close off the passage and restrict travel indefinitely, leaving you stuck there unless you're willing to bail out via a pricey last-minute plane ticket.
posted by Chileno @ 1:54 PM
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11 Comments:
Poor Will! Not a pleasant experience to be sitting so close to an overzealous chunkie family for a 7-hour bus trip across the Andes. Last time I was in Chile(this past March)it really schocked me the increased amount of over-weight people, especially young girls. Seeing some 8-year-olds with "boobies" and drooppie tummys really startled me. It must be that they are also picking up on all of the bad habits of the US by eating so much of that hormone injected "comida chatarra". The last few years the population has abandoned the old ways of eating which were much healthier.
Many of our old-world grandeur buildings in Chile meet the wrecking ball shortly after communist party came into power. They were deemed "elitista".
Crazy how Chile got so tired of its third-world problems (poverty, corruption, institutional dysfunctionalism etc) that instead of fixing those problems it just picked up a bunch of first world problems (or at least United States problems) like debt and obesity.
In terms of architecture now elitista is approximated by new-rich bourgeoisie's Santiago construction blocks a la Paz Fromovich which entirely lack grace, style or comfort.
They never tried to fix their social inequalities because they love escapism. The press does makes the situation worse by printing these surrealistic news stories. When someone in good faith tries to do something constructive they are quickly hammered down. Nothing wrong with trying to learn from another country, but don't learn the bad habits like overspending above one's means and overeating.
The "Nouveau Riche" in Chile is mostly made up of the relatives of the Military personel. One thing these people never learned was that no matter how much money you have; One can not buy class. They lack any taste and are culturally inferior. The act in such a arrogant manners towards others. Their new McMansions reflect their garish sensabilities. Many came from a lower social background with modest educations; Unprepared to deal with the effects of having money. Pre-1970 the military and their families were not highly regarded by the oligarchs. Even regular folks did not take a liking if their young daughters were courted by a bototo.
Here's a good question:
Would you say the term Nouveau Riche is interchangeable with the Chilean term Cuico?
Like, Nouveau Riche is global and Cuico is the local Chilean manifestation of it. But apart from "Chilean Nouveau Riche" are there false pretensions at aristocracy among Cuicos that aren't seen in other parts of the world? Was Pinochet a Cuico?
What does Cuico mean?
Wills
To a certain extent, yes I would say so! In reality a "Cuico", "Pituko/a"or a "Pepe Pato" really means a social climber or an arriviste who has money but does not come from a good family! They do exhibit a great deal of false illusions of grandeur. Monsieur Pinochet was the biggest social climber of all, his father was a fireman in Vamparaiso. As a young man he harboured a great deal of resentment towards the old elites. When Allende was in full swing the remaining members of old upper class were the ones(along with the CIA)who helped him overthrow the communist goverment. Once he took over, he "overthrew" them and created a new upper-class. A high society full of brash and ostentatious people. The classy old-money people are called "burges" by the ones who have that word in their vocabulary. And for those who don't, they would probably would say something down the line like . . .
"Uyyy, que elegante la vieja"
When I was in Santiago, did noticed a great deal of people being immensely preoccupied asking each other how much they make or boasting about their millions. When they turned their attentions to size-me up; I would simply undercut them by saying it's not polite to talk about money with mere aquitances. Then did they realized how banal and pretensious their conversations really are.
Yeah Pinochet was a social climber as well as a traitorous rat.
I didn't know that classy old money people were referred to as burgués or bourgeois -- interesting because I normally associate that word with Middle Class, not aristocracy.
For example, I've also heard the new consumerism in Chile described as a phenomenon caused by the sueño burgués, or bourgeois dream, the lust for a mediocre suburban comforts (although it's obviously just a dream after people realize they're living in highrises so poorly constructed that they mirror their previous población experience in their lack of privacy and spaciousness.)
Anyway, what's fascinating to me, this switch in power between aristocracy and new-rich, is how it affects the poor.
Isabelle Allende describes old Chile as having more castes than India, and everybody knew their place. But in new chile the ruling upper class is totally class-less, yet they seem to retain the snobbiness of the aristocracy.
What are the poor to make of this? Still treated as untouchable dirt yet given credit cards and the opportunity to imitate the bad taste of their masters. Sounds like the USA! Except the difference is that in the US we've had probably some 500 years of the illusion of classlessness. Even black people, to a certain extent, since the end of slavery. Or at least since the 1960's. In Chile, this illusion of classlessness is hardly two decades old.
How will it evolve?
The time frame from the 1880's to the 1920's is know as the era of the "La Republica Aristocratica." or "La Epoca de la Burgesia." Chile's equivelant to the American Gilded Age or the European Belle Epoque where titled aristocrats mingled with the wealthy burgeses.
Isabel Allende was right about all the different subclasses in one particular class. The old olgliarchy in Chile was made up of a few different subgroups. Within the highest caste you had the aristocrats who were related to the European aristocrats. Some were blood relatives of the House of Wettin, Farnese, or de Rostchilds. Then you had the industrious merchants who eventually became very powerful magnates. They kept close ties with the Americans and the Europeans. At the same time making arrangements to secure the highest-ranking mate for their pretty children from either Chile or abroad. French was widely spoken since it was then the diplomatic or social language of the day. These socially advantageous marriages were viewed as alliances to benefit diplomacy and trade. Eventually over time they all more or less became related to one another.
For example surnames like Bittencourt, Braun, Bru, Edwards, Errázuriz, Gossen, Leighton, Letelier, McClure, Merlet, Subercausex, Tricot or Wendover were labeled "Burgeses" since they were wealthy for multiple generations and shared the same cultural finesse of the Aristos. Also worth mentioning are the Arab and Yugoslav immigrants who immigranted around 1900. They rose up pretty quickly from peons, to white-collar workers who eventually broke into the elite class after the first World War.
The present day American ruling class kept their status unlike the Chilean who left with Allende. I'm from the American South and can tell you the old southern gentry still enjoys their perks. The St. Cecilia Society in Charleston still excludes anyone who is Black, Mixed, Catholic, and Jewish. Even the preppy Wasps up north maintain their status by snobing people who are culturally inferior. Darien CT is often reffered to "Aryan Darien" since until the early 2000's they would politely not let blacks or other undesirable minorities buy properties. The so-called classless US you mentioned are mostly "blue-collar working folks" who don't care about the finer things in life. In Chile they do care and that is the big difference my dear. Most modern day Chilenos try to ape the habits of the old-elites. They end up looking foolishly because you can not buy "class". Until the 80's credit cards where reserved for the wealthy. Things changed from the mid 1990's when big-business saw a gold mine by handing out the plastic to the masses. Now these people are more broke then they were before, since they were not thought money management. Yet it makes it ok for them since they have a 40inch flatscreen plasma TV. That's the false sense of reality people need to wake up from. It should evolve by Chilenos becoming more savvy and loosing the "Herd mentality". More individuality is always a good thing.
Quick (perhaps) correction. I was talking about it and according to one Chilean you can be a cuico even if you're not nuevo rico. It's more an attitude, way of dressing, talking whatever. Is that true? Are there old rich and new rich that mix together into this thing called "cuico"? Two recommended books to learn more about what Cuico is, by Alberto Fuguete:
Mala onda and Sobredosis
No that is a way for wannabes "who c@gan mas arriba" to justify themselves into believeing they are part of the elite. When people realize a person has no money to make a blindman sing. They call you a "el gueon posero". Trust me posers are quickly filtered out, since they don't have the necessary funds to roll in that expensive crowd.
Cuico can be new rich or old rich according to my scientific study of the Chilean people (a question to my husband and some of his friends).
"Cuicos culiados," are those who have money and look down their noses at those who don't. Si o si.
I fucking hate Paz Fromovich buildings. They are ridiculously hideous and overpriced.
Actually there is a BIG difference between Burges and Cuico. Anyone with class can tell you that.
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