The other side of the south: Puerto Montt, part 2

On Monday, I wrote about visiting Puerto Montt, a medium-sized city in southern Chile. I only had a few hours, but I enjoyed walking around the downtown area beside Reloncaví Sound. But, as I alluded to at the end of Monday’s post, there is another side to Puerto Montt.

Far away from the tourist area where I was sits a somber memorial in the shape of a mural:

Google Street view photo of a memorial to the Puerto Montt Massacare. A rainbow commemorates the 10 people killed

The mural commemorates La masacre de Puerto Montt (The massacre of Puerto Montt), a tragic and influential event in the history of Chile. In early 1969, a group of about 90 homeless families settled on empty land in the neighborhood of Pampa Irigoin in Puerto Montt. (I haven’t been able to find the exact location where events took place, but it seems safe to assume it was at least near the current site of the memorial.)

The families built temporary accommodations on the site, with the intention of using squatters’ rights to apply for ownership of the land based on occupancy rather than payment – a procedure which was legal in Chile at the time. Nevertheless, the nation’s Interior Minister, Edmundo Pérez Zujovic, ordered the national police (Carabineros) to tear down the encampment and evict the settlers. For four days, the police and settlers were locked in an uneasy standoff.

Early on the morning of the fifth day – March 9, 1969 – the police moved in. The police hoped to catch the residents asleep and evict them peacefully, but the residents had set up a simple alarm system consisting of tripwires connected to tin cans that would shake loudly when disturbed. The residents were awake, and angry.

And thus transpired what so often transpires when a crowd of angry but unarmed people meets a well-armed official force. Police fired rifles and threw tear gas containers into the crowd. When the dust settled, 50 residents and 23 police officers were injured. And 10 residents were dead, including Róbinson Montiel Santana, aged 9 months.

One end of the memorial is shown here – the names of the 10 victims, forming a rainbow.

A visit to the Deep South: Puerto Montt, part 1

It’s time for another virtual trip through our Amazing Earth. Unlike previous entries, I’d like to show you a place I’ve actually been. Let’s go south – as far south as I have ever been. Welcome to Puerto Montt, Chile.

The map below shows where to find it (click for a larger view), on the Pacific coast about 60% of the way down the length of Chile:

A Google Earth screenshot of South America, showing the location of Puerto Montt on the Pacific coast

Although the map shows that there is a lot of Chile still remaining to the south, Puerto Montt is the only even-slightly-large city until you get all the way down to Punta Arenas. Thus, it acts as the gateway to the beautiful wilderness of Patagonia to the south. It also acts as a gateway into Chile. In the late 1800s, while millions of European immigrants were coming to the United States, they were also coming to Chile. Puerto Montt acted as Chile’s version of Ellis Island, the entry point for the largest number of immigrants. It’s even named after an immigrant: Manuel Montt, President of Chile from 1851 to 1861, was born in Catalonia.

The city has about 200,000 people – similar to Providence, Rhode Island – and it lies about as far to the south of the equator as Providence does to the north. This zoomed-in map shows the area around Puerto Montt more clearly (click for a larger view).

A map of the area around Puerto Montt

The city lies at the end of a large bay, offering a sheltered harbor on the South Pacific. The island to the southwest is Chiloé, home of one of Chile’s most famous national parks, as well as the ancestral home of the potato.

I had the good fortune of visiting during a recent trip to the Chilean capital of Santiago, itself a lovely city that I could write about extensively. I had an extra day after my work event ended, so I looked at a number of possible destinations for a quick one-day trip. Puerto Montt had the best combination of affordable plane tickets and “that looks like a cool place,” so I went there. By the time I rented a car and sat in surprisingly elaborate traffic to get from the airport to the city, I had only three hours to visit, but it was well worth it.

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures, because my camera was out of charge and I left the charger in a different hemisphere. But once again, Google Earth comes to the rescue and shows me a view of the city similar to my own view (click for a larger version):

A satellite image of downtown Puerto Montt, with a photo looking back toward the city

This photo also marks the approximate location of my Terra Ultima Australis – the farthest south I have ever been.

Puerto Montt is a lovely city, and I highly recommend it as an unexpected tourist destination. But it has another side, because it was the home of an important and tragic episode of Chilean history. More about that on Monday.

Bullwinkle’s Corner: When Spring Comes

Welcome to a new occasional feature of my blog, named after a segment of my favorite moose-related classic TV series:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBRZGU95aA&w=560&h=315]

The poetic performance I embedded above is funny enough on its own, and might be the topic of a future post. But the point today is just this: I like moose, and I like poetry.

Bullwinkle the moose and Rocket J. Squirrel read a book titled "Weather and What to Do about It"

Sometimes I find a poem that deeply speaks to me in some sense, and the purpose of this new Bullwinkle’s Corner series is to share them with you. You’ll find that quite a few of them are in foreign languages, because I love the sound of other languages. And today, with tools like Google Translate, it’s easier than ever to know what the words mean.

The first in the series is a particularly powerful one, from Portuguese poet Alberto Caiero – who didn’t actually exist, because he was one of several pen names used by famous Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935). (Thus Caiero might be eligible for one of my Except They Weren’t posts, an author simply using a pen name is not that exciting.)

Here is the poem: the original words in Portuguese are on the left, my English translation is on the right.

Quando vier a Primavera

Alberto Caiero
(Heterónimo de Fernando Pessoa)

Quando vier a Primavera,
Se eu já estiver morto,
As flores florirão da mesma maneira
E as árvores não serão menos verdes que na Primavera passada.
A realidade não precisa de mim.

Sinto uma alegria enorme
Ao pensar que a minha morte não tem importância nenhuma

Se soubesse que amanhã morria
E a Primavera era depois de amanhã,
Morreria contente, porque ela era depois de amanhã.
Se esse é o seu tempo, quando havia ela de vir senão no seu tempo?
Gosto que tudo seja real e que tudo esteja certo;
E gosto porque assim seria, mesmo que eu não gostasse.
Por isso, se morrer agora, morro contente,
Porque tudo é real e tudo está certo.

Podem rezar latim sobre o meu caixão, se quiserem.
Se quiserem, podem dançar e cantar à roda dele.
Não tenho preferências para quando já não puder ter preferências.
O que for, quando for, é que será o que é.

When spring
comes

Alberto Caiero
(Pen name of Fernando Pessoa)

When spring comes,
If by then I have died,
The flowers will bloom the same way
and the trees will be no less green
than they were last spring.
Reality does not need me.

I feel a tremendous joy
at the thought that my death has no significance at all.

If I knew I would die tomorrow
And the next day it would be spring,
I would die content, since it would be spring the next day.
If it was time for spring, when else would spring come?
I enjoy the fact that all is real
and all is right;
and I enjoy the fact that it would be so
even if I did not enjoy it.
For this reason, if I died now,
I would die happy,
because all is real and all is right.

Let them say Latin prayers over my
coffin, if they wish.
If they wish, let them dance and sing
around it.
I have no preferences, when I have
no more preferences to have.
Whatever will be, whenever it will be,
it will be what it is.

I love this poem. I find it strangely comforting, because it reminds me that the world will go on without me when I’m gone, and that the world will be OK. All I can do is to do the best I can while I’m here.

Just Do It: Interrupt your posting cycle to post about controversial breaking news

I had a whole post written and ready to go. It was beautiful – personal, deeply emotional, and hopefully even a bit insightful. But, oh, then I saw this tweet.

In case you’ve been living under a tea tree plant — or just don’t follow American Rules Football — here’s the backstory. Colin Kaepernick is a former player who ignited a huge controversy during the 2016 preseason by kneeling during traditional pregame performance of The Star-Spangled Banner as a protest against racism and police brutality in the United States. Some saw it as a brave stand against injustice, some saw it as disrespectful to the sacrifice of U.S. troops.

Of course, the protest has spread far beyond Kaepernick, with more than 200 players joining in at various times. So it’s not just about one person, and it hasn’t been for a while. But Kaepernick has always been the public face of the protests, and the flashpoint of controversy. If you want to see rageful opinions flying from all directions, especially from conservatives, go to an NFL fan forum and just post “Colin Kaepernick” and nothing else.

After the 2016 season, Kaepernick elected to forgo his contract and become a free agent, eligible to be hired by other teams – and no other teams hired him. In November 2017, he filed a grievance against the NFL, claiming that owners colluded to keep him out of the league. On August 28, 2018, an arbitrator ruled that the case could go to trial.

Today’s announcement means that Kaepernick will be the new face of Nike’s ad campaign. He won’t be the only athlete featured, but he’ll be the most prominent. I think the campaign’s tagline is particularly poignant:

Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.

But of course, Kaepernick’s opponents would counter that “sacrificing everything” can mean more than a career as a football player.

The first image of the ad campaign. Transcription: Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.

So how should we react to today’s announcement?

First, let me be clear: I have supported the player’s right to protest, and I believe the issues they are protesting against are real and troubling to this country which I love. My thought today is:

In my mind, it all depends on exactly what Darren Rovell means by “Nike has been paying Colin Kaepernick all along.” Do they mean since it became clear he would not be signed by another team? Since the protests came to national attention? Or… do they mean since before the first time he kneeled?

This is either an incredibly brave stand by Nike… or it’s the most cynical PR stunt in the history of PR. And right now we don’t have enough information to know which it is.

I’ll update this post as we learn more.

Malba Tahan: The exciting conclusion!

A photograph of three camels in EthiopiaLast Wednesday, I continued my series on People Who Are Not What They Seem with Malba Tahan, the Islamic intellectual and writer who was actually the fictional alter ego of a Brazilian math teacher, created to help his students learn word problems.

That post ended on a mathematical cliffhanger (bwahahahaha!). Our heroes, Tahan and his friend Beremiz Samir, happened upon an argument among three brothers about how to divide up their father’s inheritance. Their father left them a herd of 35 camels, with the following instructions (as reported by the eldest brother):

According to the express wishes of my father half of them belong to me, one-third to my brother Hamed, and one-ninth to Harim, the youngest.

Samir’s solution was clever, but it required some risk – he added into the herd the camel that Tahan was riding, making a new herd of 36. He then divided the new herd according to the father’s instructions: one-half (18) to the eldest, one-third (12) to the middle, and one-ninth (4) to the youngest. All three brothers were satisfied with this arrangement, which left two camels remaining. One, of course, was Tahan’s that had been added at the beginning. Samir requested the other as his payment for arranging this solution – and since all three brothers were satisfied, they agreed. Samir grabbed the strongest, most beautiful member of the herd, and the pair rode off together into the sunset.

It’s a happy ending. Everyone is satisfied, especially our heroes. And you have to admire Samir’s Raven-level trickeration in getting something for nothing. But how did he solve the problem?

When faced with a word problem, often the best first step is to write down what you know and what you want to find out. Before Tahan and Samir arrive, here is the situation the brothers face:

  • What we know
    • Total camels: 35
    • Fraction to each brother: eldest: $latex \frac{1}{2}&s=3$, middle: $latex \frac{1}{3}&s=3$, youngest: $latex \frac{1}{9}&s=3$
  • What we want to find out
    • How many camels should each brother get?

In theory, this should be an easy problem: for the eldest brother, divide 35 by 2, and repeat for the others. Thus, the eldest brother should get 17 $latex \frac{1}{2}$ camels — not too pleasant for the camel! And besides, half a camel is not that useful anyway. Clearly a better solution is needed.

Tahan and Samir arrive, Samir offers Tahan’s camel for the herd, and the problem changes. Now we have:

  • What we know
    • Total camels: 36
    • Fraction to each brother: eldest: $latex \frac{1}{2}&s=3$, middle: $latex \frac{1}{3}&s=3$, youngest: $latex \frac{1}{9}&s=3$
  • What we want to find out
    • How many camels should each brother get?

Now we’re getting somewhere.

36 divided by 2 is 18, 36 divided by 3 is 12, and 36 divided by 9 is 4. Thus, the three brothers get eighteen, twelve, and four camels, all of which give them full camels instead of useless fractional camels.*

Adding up all three brothers’ camelshare gives 18 + 12 + 4 = 34 camels, with two remaining from the herd. One was Tahan’s, one is now Samir’s. Everything is A-OK.

But where did that extra camel come from?

Re-read the father’s instructions again, carefully:

According to the express wishes of my father half of them belong to me, one-third to my brother Hamed, and one-ninth to Harim, the youngest.

At this stage, there are two ways to approach the problem. The slightly easier way is to convert the fractional shares. You can always multiply the top (numerator) of a fraction by any number, and the bottom (denominator) by the same number, and the fraction will be the same. One-half ($latex \frac{1}{2}$) is the same as two-fourths ($latex \frac{2}{4}$). So, let’s multiply each fractional camelshare by the number of camels, which is now 36. Thus, the father’s instructions now read:

According to the express wishes of my father $latex \frac{18}{36}$ of them belong to me, $latex \frac{12}{36}$ to my brother Hamed, and $latex \frac{4}{36}$ to Harim, the youngest.

Or, if you prefer, you can convert the fractions to percentages (rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent):

According to the express wishes of my father 50% of them belong to me, 33.3% to my brother Hamed, and 11.1% to Harim, the youngest.

Either way, it quickly becomes clear: the father’s will was incomplete! The percentages don’t add up to 100%, so no matter how many camels were in the herd, some would be left over after the division.

Cool, huh?

*Useless Fractional Camels is the name of my They Might Be Giants cover band.