Desert life, and Chilean women

I am now in one of the driest deserts in the world... the Atacama. I was in the desert in Iquique too, but it doesn´t feel so much like it when you´re flush against the ocean. The sun is HOT. I´m in the town of San Pedro de Atacama, hoping to do some sightseeing and sandboarding tonight and then head out on a tour across the salt flats to Bolivia tomorrow morning.

I have been meaning for a while to make some observations about Chile.

Sexism is the first thing I´ve got to talk about.

In 2005, a woman was elected President of Chile for the first time. That´s wild in a country where divorce was legalized only the year before. In her term in office it seems she's made some striking changes in the realm of equal rights, but good lord is there ever a long way to go. Chile is a very, very traditional, religious society, as many Latin American nations are. But sexism seems to coat things more than I had anticipated, and I was ready for quite a bit of machismo.

I think what makes the blatant sexism so... blatant... is that Chile looks a lot like home in some ways. The cities here are modern, the people advanced. These are not people who have just never been in contact with the outside. (although for many years Chile was rather isolated) They have a thriving mall culture.

And yet, I wore a skirt that reaches my knees, and the sky could have been falling in Santiago. I have never received that kind of attention, especially in a modern, metropolitan city. Cat calls, hisses (also a cat call), kissing noises. To an extent I couldn't believe. And I was totally prepared for attention, given the red hair. It´s young boys right through to 70 year old men. And they don´t pursue anything, I don´t actually feel unsafe, but they will stop anything they're doing to cat call.

The message I have gotten from Chile, and what I've heard from other travelers, is that a woman here has a role, and she should be sticking to it. I've also heard that while Peru is more traditional and old fashioned, there´s less attention, perhaps because Peru is a country more accustomed to tourism and foreigners.

Someone was also telling me the other day that it looks like Michelle Bachellete will lose the upcoming 2010 election, not because she has done anything wrong, or that she hasn't delivered on her promised (although i am not an expert here), but because she is a single mother in a position of power, and that makes the men here uncomfortable.

If you want to be modern, choose based on something more than gender.

And now I cannot remember what else I had saved up for a rant, but I will continue later. Back to wandering around this desert town!

s.