A word on Natives of Futaleufu

This film festival that I mentioned is attended by purely non-Futaleufinos, with one exception. In other words, of the 9 people who generally attend, 8 of them are from other parts of Chile but now live in Futa. I have noticed the same trend in my English classes. Of the 17 adult students who are completing the course, 8 are actually from Futaleufu. The rest are professionals who arrive from other cities and now work in the municipality or the school or the hospital or a tourist lodge. It is a sad phenomenon that the natives of Futa don’t take advantage of such opportunities (many started the English course but stopped attending) and from what I’ve gathered from conversations with people who have lived here long enough to know, there are many different factors.
With the huge success of tourism, many Futaleufinos became accustomed to making easy money without investing much work or time. The result? Complacency.
When they want to improve their tourist business, they ask the government for granted. The result? A mentality of receiving for nothing.
When landowners, whose parents were colonists who crossed the mountains on horseback and worked hard to establish a faming lifestyle with sheep and cows, when these landowners die, their children (also Futaleufinos) are now selling that land for large amounts of money to foreigners who want a vacation home in the Patagonia. Again, quick money.
And so it goes that the generations of Futaleufu are changing rapidly, and the source of that river of change is undoubtedly foreign influence. For better or worse, I have yet to decide. The impact on the locals’ work ethic has certainly not been positive, and in fact I’ve tired of hearing stories that support that notion. However, there are those who use their financial success to promote a better education for their children. Some send their children to board in Argentina for schooling; others make large sacrifices so their children can attend a high-quality school in Puerto Montt. The value placed on education is increasing, and this can be viewed as nothing but positive.
The grand irony in this emphasis on education is that the children in Futa are encouraged to get a good education so they can leave Futa. When Eva says to her students, “See those mountains out there? Think outside those mountains,” she’s encouraging them to expand their thinking horizons. Sadly, this is often mistaken as “You can get out! Education is your ticket out of this small town.” Locals have yet to discover the benefits that could be of getting a good education and bringing that wealth back to Futaleufu. Non-natives, on the other hand, on catching on quickly.