Definitely looking forward to meeting you and discussing further.

In the norte grande there are Atacameños more visible, but certainly not at the levels that you’d see in Northwestern Argentina or nearby Bolivia and Peru. And to be honest? Most Chileans are just fine with that, which (to me) is the creepiest part of it. I just saw a sort of documentary called Las Pioneras (I beleive) which interviewed European pioneer women who arrived in and were raised in and raised families near the Carretera Austral. Mention of indigenous people was never made, though at least one of the interviewed people could probably have traced her roots without too much trouble.

Also, I agree that in Argentina there are more glimpses into what’s missing re: museum displays. In Chile it seems even these are absent.

We can talk about that and more, so much more when we finally make your acquaintance in Santiago. Let me/us know if there’s anything we can do to make that cozier for you re: aparthotel, etc.

@Chris: Excellent.  Sounds like a fascinating book.  Consider it added to our (growing) desired reading list.

The Mapuche language is Mapudungun, and Chilean Spanish uses a good number of words from it, like guata (belly), pololo (boyfriend/girlfriend), … also place names ending with “che” (like Pehuenche, Bariloche in Argentina), “hue” (Manquehue, Curahue, Copahue) and “gua” (Rancagua, Colchagua). There are also a lot of words from Qechua (the Incan language) like choclo (corn) and guagua (baby).

Hope this helps a little bit!

@Chris: Hi!  Great to see you here.  Yes, we remember you and Susan from the boat.  

We had hoped to visit the museum, but left it for our last day in Ushuaia and it wasn’t open unfortunately.  Your description of it convinces me that we should have made a better effort to have seen it.   In the meantime, we’ve had to do a bit of research (even in writing this piece) and I’m hoping that a book recommendation or two might come out of the online discussion related to this post.

It is indeed critical to remember.  We owe it — if not to the people who came before us, then at least to ourselves.

@Dermot:  We visited Recoleta Cemetery.  We’ll probably write about it at some point in the future.  As I write this, I’m not aware of Julio Argentino Roco (I’ll have to do some research).  Regardless, it is forever interesting to note which individuals and “heroes” a country chooses to honor.  Our history is as much about what happened as it is about how we choose to view it.

@Leigh: I’m glad to know that what we believe we are seeing is not some figment of our imagination cemented by long-term travel dementia.  The fact that it’s often difficult to meet someone from these destinations makes them feel temporal, sort of like a resort, which I suppose is the design.

I agree generally that places that become too well traveled can lose something.  But there are discernible differences between those places where the locals have chosen to stuck around and those where they’ve either fled or have never been in the first place.  I think the tipping point is when the people originally from the place begin to exit en masse for economic reasons (either to sell their homes to property investors or to leave because everything has become too expensive).  Speaking of which, I just had a back-and-forth with a reader about another place that obviously experiences animosity between locals and relocating expats, in Ecuador:
https://uncorneredmarket.com/gringo-monologues-conspiracy-theories-in-the-valley-of-longevity/

Anyhow, after having visited Chile and Argentina, I think we are just beginning to understand the cultural geography of South America.  And we’re expecting that as we get closer to Peru and Bolivia again (in places like Salta and Jujuy), we’ll see and feel something a bit less colonial.

As for the languages, Aymara or Quechua maybe?  Or possible Guarani?

We spent a week in San Martin de los Andes last July, and I don’t think we met a single person from there. I met many who worked there, lived there during the winters but went to Europe for ski season when it’s summer in Patagonia.

I’ve found that any place too well traveled loses something. The original people are tired of outsiders coming in, often disrespecting their space. People set up walls. And the colonial nature of Argentina in general is felt very strongly all over.

As you hit farther north, it’s not quite as touristy. People are much more open, and there’s a pride in the Andean culture, history and language (I’m blanking on the name of the language, but it’s still spoken here) that I haven’t seen as strongly in other parts of Argentina.