Santiago con la Tribu

So this last week I’ve been happily settled back in Santiago, with what has become known as “la tribu”  - the tribe – so named by Denise’s brother Christian when he was impressed by how often all of us left over residents from Villa Alegre are in contact with one another.  And it’s been great having a crew of mates to call on and hang out with.

Mostly by day I’ve been working on video editing, writing, going for the odd run and catching up with all you lovely folk back home, and by night usually getting up to some adventure or other with la tribu!

There have been some brilliant moments over the week, so here are a few of the highlights:

Thursday 28th: After the thought-provoking Sibila documentary in the park we headed to a Salsa bar where a wicked live band had the crowd jumping around maniacally (until I had more booze on my clothes than in my belly from all the drinks flung in the air!) and where we danced yet again until the wee hours!

Friday 1st March: Headed to Pablo's house with the intention of heading out on bikes, but seeing as the lads had continued after the Salsa bar til 9am poor Rocket had a bloodshot eye and barely any voice so we spent the afternoon relaxing and I had the pleasure of meeting some of Pablos flatmates including the lovely Pedro.  Pedro is a writer who has spent years living in New York, so we spoke in English (a happy relax amongst all the Spanish chat which is great and I love, but is definitely tiring from the extra effort in understanding!) and had a brilliant chat about books, particularly ones with non-linear structures, taking me back to my love of the "multiplicity" in literature that I was obsessive about at art college and based my thesis on.  It was great, Pedro and I exchanged a good few reading recommendations, and he also really kindly offered to put me in touch with friends of his in Ecuador.

Another delight of Pablo's house was tasting the home-grown tomatoes from their garden.  The atmosphere of the home reminded me a lot of my old home at Omega, Unit D, particularly because it is filled with artwork (including this map created by Pablo with his neighbours flagged with names and positions of local fruit trees) and also because this afternoon it had a stream of folk passing through, the five who live there and visiting friends.  One friend who turned up, Caco, mentioned that she had just been at a workshop of happiness - another of those "how small is this world" moment, because this is the workshop that Angelica is leading at the moment, so Caco was surprised and delighted to find out Angelica was also on her way around.  This vortex sensation of crossed paths is also something familiar with Omega, and seems to have intensified around our tribe in these post-residency days, including Maria from Nerven and Zellen contacting me in response to my post about their videos then chatting with Pablo who she's only just met! Happy days and a positive sign that things are as they should be and we are heading in the right direction, as Pablo said. :-)

Saturday 2nd: Rocket's karaoke-on-the-metro artist intervention and the night that I met up with good old friend from London Denise Galvac, yay! :-)

So Rocket put his ever-versatile amplifier to great use yet again by bringing karaoke into the tube carriages of Santiago's metro, with Kristina singing and inviting fellow commuters to join in and Panda and I filming.  What an exciting experience! The reactions of the folk were of course fascinating, and though many wore confused or blank expressions, there were also many who's faces lit up with smiles, and the folk who joined in and sang were left elated... brilliant! :-)

And in return we left on a high... as you can see here from Kristina's gorgeous expression. 

Thanks Rocket! :-)

So from karaoke-tubing I headed to another of Santiago's free events - this one a live band called "los Tres" performing free in Parque Aviación, and more importantly, where I met up with Denise and her brother Christian.  What a delight to see her, and what a great shared hug, a real friends-connecting-afte-time hug!  Although actually it was only just over a month ago since we saw each other, but to be meeting here, in Chile, and unexpectedly, was a real treat!

I know Denise from our Kids Company course, and it was actually Denise who gave me the map marked with suggestions of places to go and things to see here in Santiago that was a treasure map for me in the first few days in the country.  Denise herself is Chilean, from Santiago, but has been living abroad now for 5 and half years, without ever having some back to Chile.  Her reason for returning now is problems with her visa back in the UK, which is also why this meeting was a surprise - she only knew two weeks ago she would be coming, so it's great that I'm still here and had this chance to see her.

Coming back to her home country after such a long time is obviously an emotionally charged experience, and got us talking about the issues migrants face around feeling "at home".  I'd been chatting with Pedro about exactly this, in asking how his experience was when he returned to settle back into Chile after New York.  The subject has fascinated me ever since my return to the UK from the nine months cycling through Central America, and these conversations brought me back again to three of my favourite books on the subject: Greg E. Madison's exploration of the pschology of chosen migration in "The End of Belonging",   Amin Maalouf's discussion of the personal and political implications of multiple heritages in "On Identity" and Milan Kundera's emotional and poetic response to returning to the home country after years of living abroad in "Identity".  All brilliant, I'd recommend them to any of you who's interest is triggered by the subject.

Sunday 3rd: My first experience of the Mexican Temezcal ceremony, invited by Nayarett and Angelica to accompany them Sunday morning, and what an incredible experience.

Led by a group called Raíces del Sur, this temezcal ceremony is conducted every Sunday in this eco-community at the foot of the mountain range on the outskirts of Santiago.  The ceremony of songs and prayers giving thanks to Mother Earth and our ancestors is conducted within the pitch black of a canvas dome tent, where we sat in tight huddled rings around a central pit where water thrown on stones heated by the flames of a bonfire at the tent's entrance create the intense heat of a sauna.  The stones are called "abuelos" meaning grandparents, and the sweat triggered is considered an offering handed over to Mother Earth along with the songs and prayers.

Conducting in four parts, marked by opening up the doors of tent to allow in air and freshly heated stones, the four parts focused on are: la Naturaleza (Nature), including earth, wind, sun and water; ancestors and family (here I was so touched by a song whose lyrics as I understood them were "we are our family, we our our roots" that I had tears in my eyes); friends and enemies; relationships and love.  In this final section there was another song that really moved me with it's words "This is family, this is unity" referring to the circle we were within, all included, and reaching out to all humanity.  Angelica said afterwards with a huge smile, and hugging her body warmly as she spoke, that these ceremonies make her feel the potential of all communities living in peace and harmony. :-)

In the time we spent there there were three temezcals conducted and a fourth underway as we left.  The newcomers were invited to enter first, but there were so many of us first-timers that I entered the second.  Angelica and Nayarett entered the third, so after mine I had plenty time to sit and relax and reflect in the shade of a makeshift shelter.  I was left feeling incredibly peaceful and with the unusual (for me!) experience of an incredibly still mind, leaving the body open to sense more fully the surroundings and appreciate them directly.

In the car on the way back to the city I was surprised when I accidentally glimpsed my reflection in  the wing mirror to notice that a simple smile I was unaware of having was curling the sides of mouth. What a tranquil experience.  A big huge thanks to Angelica and Nayarett for sharing this experience with me, and their tales of the Vision Quest that Nayarett supported Angelica on recently.  Ever since reading the Journey by Tom Brown when I was traveling I have been hugely interested in Native American spiritual connection with Nature and so it was hugely exciting to hear Angelica talk of her lived experiences of these practices, including a powerful vision she described as having after her first Temezcal ceremony in Mexico, where she experienced changing her form into a white buffalo. And for any of you sceptics, these experiences are all entirely drug-free.  Another writer who writes brilliantly on these spiritual practices is Bear Heart, a Muskogee Creek Indian who trained traditionally as a medicine man as well as studying for a graduate degree in psychology.  His book "The Wind is My Mother" was a huge learning tool for me at the beginning of my Therapeutic Communication training with KidsCo as it holds many profound insights into human nature and relationships, based in the spiritual understandings of Native America teachings, which I appreciate for their very direct approach to connecting to the Earth and life forces.

After the very calming temezcal morning Sunday night was again spent connecting with la Tribu for Rocket's despedida, and happily meeting up with another friend from back home, Camilla Brendon.   We actually met back on the And'Art Casablanca residency in September last year, which Camilla happily pointed out means we've now spent time in each other's company in three continents, although we've only known one another six months! Both of us recognise the impact that that residency had on our work and perceptions of what is possible with art and travel and in fact Camilla is also now at the beginning of a long-term art based trip called 34 South/ 61 North.  Camilla's plan is to journey the full length of the Americas, from here in Chile where she's just arrived, all the way to Alaska, in what she reckons will be about 2 years, doing residencies and putting on exhibitions everywhere she goes, with five growing map records of her developing journey back in London and Manchester.  Impressive!

A final happy moment came when we were sat having some drinks to celebrate Rocket's leaving, when this Guatemalan magician stopped off for a light and showed us a few coin tricks that had us giggling like kids.

And a final observation: the Santiago street dogs are very quick to make friends with you and hugely protective.  We'd stopped off in a park to finish our drinks after closing time and a couple of dogs that had befriended us barked madly and incessantly at a homeless man who walked by us.

Thanks for a great week mí Tribu!

:-)