Roberto Matta

Before this weekend, I was only aware of one Chilean Artist, Alfredo Jaar, who I was exposed to almost two years ago at his Telefonica exhibition. That exhibition was one of the most interactive and powerful exhibits I have ever been to (mind you I am not expert on these matters, and I do not go to that many exhibitions). Below is an example of one of the works:

This week I had the opportunity to go to both the MAVI and Museo de Bellas Artes and I saw Roberto Matta, who is another impressive artist. I am almost embarressed that I have lived in Chile for over two years and had no idea who Matta was. He was born in Chile and in his twenties moved to Paris where he mingled with the likes of Salvador Dalí.

I was very impressed by his art, as well as his sculptures. All of his work seems to emit energy and power. Here are some of his works:

Any of you that are in Santiago should stop by the MAVI and check out the current Matta exhibit!

Surprise, surprise- Unrest in Bolivia

Not surprisingly, Evo Morales is having problems in Bolivia. Has Bolivia ever not had economic and political problems? This time its with the United States. Most recently, he has told the US Ambassador to Bolivia to leave the country. While I understand very little about this, I do know that the US provides Bolivia with millions of dollars to fight the drugs in the country, mostly cocaine. I do not agree with the production of cocaine, however, I have been to Peru and the north of Chile, and I personally like cocoa tea. Chewing on cocoa leaves got me through the Inka trail up to Macchu Picchu. So part of me understands why the locals are upset. Cocoa leaves are not always used to make cocaine, and the plant is an integral part of their culture. However, I also do not like cocaine and think it needs to be controlled. I am not sure what the right answer is, but hopefully some kind of balance between controlling a dangerous drug and preserving a local tradition can be found.

Most "Powerful" woman list

I am usually not this focused on women, or politics, or women in politics, but it just seems to be everywhere right now and I can´t help but to comment. Recently, Forbes Magazine published its 100 most powerful women list. Here are my initial reactions.

1. Cristina Fernadez Kirchner is #13 while Bachelet ranks #25? Are people not taking into consideration the economy of these countries? Chile is much more powerful than slowly dying Argentina any day. (Not to mention that Kircher is a much worse president than Bachelet, who is pretty bad herself).

2. Sarah Palin did not make the list (Hilary is #28 though). This explains the shock factor of her VP candidate selection

3. Oprah and Melinda Gates are #36 and #40, respectively. I honestly think that if there was a throw down between Oprah/Melinda Gates vs. Kirchner/Bachelet, Oprah and Melinda would win.

Fashion in Politics

For women, both in politics and in business, it is difficult to decide what is appropriate for the office, or for the White House in some cases. No offense to Hilary Clinton, but her fashion sense was horrifying. To be powerful in politics does not mean you have to dress like a man, or even keep with a short, man-like haircut. We are women and should show off what we got, in a respectful manner.

In Chile, there is Bachelet. Who is a bit better than Hilary, since she at least puts on skirts. But she will not bare much skin and could definitely be done up a bit more and add some variety to her closet of jacket-skirt suit combinations.

Next door we have good 'ol Crisitina Kirchner. While I don't think her political style is anything anyone wants to copy, at least she has the guts to put on a dress. She looks great and she shows it off. Being the President of Argentina doesn´t mean you have put on old and boring clothes.

Finally, we have America's new beauty queen gone PTA gone VP, Sarah Palin, who I have to say, dresses extremely well, as noted in this LA Times article. She is beautiful, but also doesn´t put too much effort into her look. She´s not afraid to show off a little cleavage or leg either.

While all four of these women are great in their own right, I have to applaud Palin and Kirchner for proving that you don´t have to dress like a man to be in a mans world. Everyone has the right to choose their own style, however, I can´t think of a single woman I know who willingly wears around suits. We have the right to be sexy and amazing, and I am glad there are politicians who feel the same way.

US Political Circus... coming to a town near you!

The 2008 presidential elections in the United States have become quite the soap opera. Between Obama's acceptance speech before 80,000 people in Mile High Stadium and now McCain's Vice Presidential candidate, its hard to guess whats going to happen in the next episode. Most interesting is a Chilean's view on this whole political process. I have been asked too many times, why are they still campaigning? Why has this been going on for so long? Many people thought that when Obama beat out Hilary, that Obama was then going to be the president, little did they realize that that was just one small part of our election process. Now with all the media spin around Sarah Palin, which even makes nightly news here in Chile, people are just laughing. It seems that its ridiculous to a Chilean that in the US we would have a woman as a VP candidate who has a 17 year old pregnant daughter (and... out of wedlock!... gasp) and a woman who supposedly had a DUI back in the day, and she was a beauty queen on top of it.

Since I am from the US, but have not lived there for more than two years, its hard for me to determine if the whole thing is ridiculous, or if the Chileans are being ridiculous. But what I do know, is that this year the whole political process in the US has turned into a circus show.

Chilean salmon regulation

This article from the New York Times follows up on their quite controversial report on Salmon farms in Chile from a few months ago. As a result of their initial report, major supermarket chains in the US, such as Safeway, stopped carrying Chilean salmon. This of course infuriated most Chileans and have made them hate the New York Times.

However, in a positive light, it seems that the government is doing something about regulating these salmon farms and the amount of antibiotics they can push into these over-fished farms. Not surprisingly, there is little regulation on the matter in Chile, and of course the Chilean regulations are not up to par with those in the United States. I don't know if this is Chile's problem, or the US'. How many years have they been importing Chilean salmon? And only now, after the New York Times investigates, does anyone realize that these salmon are not up to regulations? I say this is a problem of the FDA and the United States and Chile has taken a hit for this.

On the other hand, this has made me reconsider buying salmon in the super market. It has almost made me question exactly what I am eating down here? The regulations on food are definitely more relaxed here, and for that exact reason I don´t buy Paraguayan meat. ( What is that anyways?). But I love the cheap, delicious, fresh salmon here so I guess I will keep on eating it, with or without regulations, and if I die, at least I will die happy with a fully belly.