Dreamland Visions

Hello everyone! As you probably know by now, my name is Maria. I’m on my late 20s and I live with my husband and my two lovely kitties in Wisconsin, USA. As a way for me to stimulate my mind (and increase my english proficiency) I decided it was a great time to start my personal blog. Very random, I know. However, this is something that has crossed my mind more than once in the previous months. Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved reading, writing and imagining fantastical worlds. I also enjoy watching movies, painting and drawing. I like (or need at this point) to seek for deeper meaning in the works of art that I see, hear or touch. So ever since I can remember I had an intense interest in the arts and how we use it to express something that might be almost impossible to explain otherwise. Through my years living in this earth I’ve also come to appreciate art during times of grief, trauma and deep sadness, as it has shown me a healthier way to turn sour moments into important insights about myself, other people and life in general. Growing up, I’ve encountered many ways in which stories can be told, wether using a brush and paint or your pen and a piece of paper, and I’ve found that reading and writing has opened my mind and helped me process my thoughts better than any other art expression. As one of my dear friends told me recently, writing feels like detangling a ball of wool.

Even though I’ve always been highly artisticly inclined, it’s only recently that I decided I wanted to share my writing with a greater community. You see, I’m extremely shy when it comes to expressing my most inner thoughts and feelings, and can panick a little when I expose myself to others in that way. However, I’ve come to terms with it and the fact that being vulnerable might help someone else who is going through a similar path. “Sharing is caring”.

So to start I’d like to write something about my own story…
It feels necessary to me to talk a bit about the country where I was born, since that’s where I spent the first 25 years of my life in. I was born in Chile during the late 90’s, in the Bio-Bio region. Chile is usually best known for its wine, the deserts in the north and the Patagonia in the southest part of the country. Some people call us “el país en el fin del mundo”, the country at the end of the world and I think that’s beautifull. Some of you may not know this, but Chile’s geography is quite interesting and unusual: we’re a a very long and very narrow country. By east Chile borders the Andes mountains and by west we have the Pacific Ocean. The northern area of my country is very dry, very sunny and almost everyone lives near the coast. There, the main source of employment are the copper mines. You may have heard about the Atacama desert and the spectacular night sky that attracts thousands of tourists and scientists alike from everywhere around the globe. I can attest that it truly is breathtaking. Some of the most important cities in this area are Arica, Iquique, La Serena, Coquimbo and Ovalle. If you enjoy desert-like landscapes and a warm weather all year long, this is the place for you. Personally, my favorite places from northern Chile are La Serena and the Elqui Valley, because they have an intriguing and mysterious energy, from the windy beaches during the day to the dry desert nights near the mountains. In one of my trips to La Serena I was invited to get a women-only free tarot reading around a campfire and under the full moon. What’s more mystical than that?
Continuing down south we have the country’s capital: Santiago de Chile, in the Metropolitan Region. This is where most of the country’s population lives and it’s also the first place many tourists arrive at when they visit our country. For me, Santiago is one of the most chaotic places I’ve ever visited in Chile. There are tall buildings, lots of traffic and everyone seems to be running late. However, this is also where we receive many international artists and other important cultural events, so if you ever want to attend these shows you know this city is your go-to! In this area you can already start to see more and more trees around and on sunny days you get to appreciate the Andes mountains. Other important cities around the Metropolitan area are Viña del Mar, Valparaíso and Rancagua.

As we keep moving to the south we’ll find the a: Concepción. But I’ll go into more detail about it later. Near Concepción other important cities are Talca, Chillán and Los Ángeles. Further south, the country keeps extending almost indefinitely and it gets more and more rainy, more and more green. Some of the most important cities in the south are Temuco, Pucón, Valdivia and Puerto Montt. As you get to Puerto Montt, the land starts to fragment and it is necessary to move using ferrys or even boats in the more rural areas. This area is also frequently visited by many tourists during summertime, since there’s many amazing national parks and small towns around. Frutillar and Puerto Varas are often considered some of the most beautiful towns around. A few hours away from Pto. Montt there’s the Chiloé island, which is known all across the country for its rich folklore legends and the warmth of its people, as well as their interesting gastronomy. From Pto. Montt you’ll get to the start of Carretera Austral, a road that extends up to 770 mi, from the aforementioned city to Villa O’Higgins (Read more about the Carretera Austral here).

Now, back to Concepción (aka Tropiconce). It is located in the coast of the Bio-Bio Region and it is best known for our local music scene, specifically rock (see Rock en Conce), the Universidad de Concepción campus and how rainy it is all year long. I would say Concepción has a very bohemian vibe and I had the pleasure of experiencing it during my college years. Around Concepción there are other towns, such as Talcahuano, Penco, San Pedro de la Paz and Chiguayante, just to mention some. I was born in the coastal town of Talcahuano, a place that’s known for its seafood restaurants and the beautiful (and chunky) sealions that like to sunbathe near them. I lived there until I was about 4 years old and then I moved to another town in the area called Chiguayante to live with my grandparents. After a few years we were able to get our own house, which is where I grew up and spent my teenage years and early adulthood. Since I’ve spent so may years of my life there I would say I feel more emotionally attached to Chiguayante. Growing up, I collected many beautiful memories of my hometown, such as the sight of the Manquimávida hill, which can be seen from my old bedroom’s window, going on walks on the Bio-Bio river bank, visiting my grandparents everyday during my lunchbreaks at highschool and overall going through my formative years on this place.

During my college years, I went to Universidad de Concepción to get my Bachelor in Science degree. In Chile, our college programs are pretty long and exigent: they usually last between 5 to 6 years, but since the course load is quite heavy we tend to finish them at least a year later than expected. In my case, after 4 years of college I got my BSc and then I obtained my Bioengineer professional diploma after almost two years of undergrad research. Even though I did enjoy my college years a lot, I still feel like a part of me wants to dedicate more time to the arts. It’s still a work in progress. Anyway, right after graduating I moved to the United States with my then-boyfriend and got married. We’ve been living in Wisconsin ever since. As time has gone by, I’ve lived through both the excitement and the grief of moving across (almost) a whole continent away from my family and the place I used to call home. Also, add to that the new adventures of married AND immigrant life, so sometimes it hasn’t been easy. After moving here and getting married we started my paperwork to get my greencard aka legal permanent residency, and the good thing is everything moved relatively fast and I finally got my residency on november 2025. After almost two years of not being able to work or study, I am finally on job-hunting mode and opening myself to the possibilities awaiting for me in this new place.

As I’m finishing this post I’m feeling hopeful for the future…

Summer is around the corner, we’re travelling back to Chile for two weeks in May and I can’t help but feel excited and ready to start packing. I don’t think I’ve been able to wrap my head around the fact that it’s been almost two years (!!) since the last time I was in my home country. I know for many immigrants in the US that might seem like a short period of time, considering many of them come here to study or work knowing they might not be able to go back to their families in many years (if ever). But I think it’s important to validate one’s way of processing their own history and circumstances as we validate other’s experiences too. That’s how we survive, heal and create new communities that help us move on. So, I would like to finish this post with a message to all my fellow immigrants: you guys are very brave for getting out of your comfort zone, persevere and miss not only your people, but the safety of your home, your languge and your culture. So keep going forward and let’s live a fulfilling life as much as we can!

xxxx Maria