yesterday and today

Yesterday I bought our bus tickets for Temuco in the south and then met up with Vickie and Dur and Gaby in Patio Bellavista, where they were doing some last-minute shopping (well, not Gaby) for people back home. We walked around for a while, I got a delicious frozen ice cream-type-thing made from frozen raspberries and confectioner's sugar and a big frozen bar of chocolate all smashed together into the consistency of frozen yogurt. With sprinkles and chunks of honeydew, to boot. Delicious. Then Dur and I split off (Vickie had to go pack and Gaby had to work on college apps) and went to another feria so she could get her last two presents, which she did, and then we went to Emporio La Rosa and I got a chocolate milkshake and all was right in the world. Luz María's niece was here when I got home, and we chatted for a while and she recommended a terrific-sounding seafood place near Viña that maybe we'll get to when MDLJ are all here. We (the shoppers plus Vale, Tim B and his ex-boyfriend Raúl) went to the whole-wheat empanada place for dinner (verdict: deeeeeelicious) and then got a bottle of wine at another Barrio Brasil place for Vickie's last night in Stgo! This whole goodbye thing is the weirdest of my life to date, because in high school I knew I'd run into people when I came home, and could keep in touch with the knowledge that I'd see my friends again, and in college the vast majority of my friends are my year or younger, so I knew I'd see them all again when I came back (not the seniors, which was sad, but I have so many OTHER friends at Michigan that it wasn't as big a deal), but here I'm saying goodbye with the knowledge that the soonest I'll see ANY of my friends here again is hopefully Rosie, next summer, and after that I might not see anyone again for years if at all. Well except hopefully her.

Anyhow, today I woke up, ate breakfast, lazed, wrote various emails to Mom, ate lunch, ran (wonderful wonderful wonderful), stretched and showered, and now I'm here writing this. And in just a little bit more than 12 hours, I'll be meeting Lincoln in the airport! And in about 26 hours I'll be saying goodbye to Rosie and Durham and Tim B! Shit! The next 24 hours are gonna be nuts.

i hate turbus.cl

Chileans still have not figured out how to make online reservations easy. North American companies like Orbitz or NWA have easy to navigate websites that make sure you register before you start trying to make reservations, that make it easy to change plans within the reservation process, like for example if there isn't space on your first-choice flight, it's easy to just look at the next one. The lovely people at www.turbus.cl do not provide such graces in their website, and as a result instead of being relaxed and ready for bed with five round-trip bus tickets from Stgo to Temuco, I'm feeling just "Sinnerman," which I'm listening to, and have no tickets. Fuck it, I'm just going to the bus station tomorrow. Ugh. 'Night.

david's party

So the party last night ended up being really fun. I got back from giving Rosie her computer and going to get bus dinner for her and her mom around 9:30, and no one was there yet (the party was supposed to start at 8). David said, "They're musicians" and that pretty much explained it. People did arrive eventually, and it was a little awkward at first for me because they all know each other and they're Chilean, so it was kind of hard to find a way to insert myself into the conversation. But everyone had a couple of drinks and we moved outside and sat in a circle and they started talking about English/North American music, and I thought, "Ha! My chance." And I seized it, with gusto, with a well-timed joke about the fact that Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, named his daughter Apple and is married to Gwyneth Paltrow, and therefore doesn't deserve anyone's respect. The musicians found this hilarious, and I was in. Good job, Luke. Anyhow the conversation ebbed and flowed and I talked to various people over the next six hours (we didn't eat until 1 a.m. and I finally called it a night around 4:15. The Chileans left at 5, after I'd fallen asleep. I ended up having a really interesting conversation with a guy whose name I'm blanking on at the moment about Chilean culture/identity or lack thereof--this topic seemingly never becomes boring for me; it's as if I'm having it for the first time every time it comes up with a Chilean because they all have different ideas about it and are fascinated by North American and English culture. He invited me to the Chilean soccer club championship this week at the Estadio Nacional (Colo-Colo vs. Audax Italiano) but I'm not sure I'll be able to go because I think it's after Lincoln gets here, and even if it's not, all the COPA kids are leaving on Wednesday and I'm never going to see them again, so I'll probably be hanging out with them. They get back today from Rio, actually. (By "all the COPA kids" I mean "all the ones I care about.") Anyhow, it's breakfast time in the Ilabaca household, and I'm hungry. Bye!

Actually, it might be kind of cool to take Lincoln to that game. If he wants to go.

golem

Yesterday, I woke up and went to Rosie's apartment to pick up her computer for music-sharing purposes and see her and her mom off to Viña. I hung around for a bit while Rosie got ready for the beach, then said bye to the two of them and Gilda, who had woken up at some indeterminate point after we got there. I went to the COPA office next, to see Janet, the housing lady, about my family next semester! There was a steady stream of host family representatives when I got there, picking up their last check of the semester, including David Andrés, which was funny. Vale and I went into to the hall while I was waiting and chatted a bit, and with David, who invited me to a concert of a band that he knows (more on that in a bit). Finally, it was my turn to see Janet, and I went into the little room of the COPA office and said hello.

She's very nice, and had out her notebook of all the families' profiles. She'd read the email I sent to Isa a few weeks ago, so had a few suggestions, and we eventually got it narrowed down to two: one family of mom, dad and university student daughter a few blocks from Pedro de Valdivia metro (the frontrunner) and another of mother and 13-year-old daughter about 8 blocks from Los Leones metro. What I'd really like is to live with Durham's family, but I guess they don't take male students. I'm not sure I would, either, with two attractive daughters. But anyhow, she gave me their addresses and phone numbers and I'm going to go visit them before I make a final decision (by the end of January). Exciting meeting.

I left COPA, bought a napolitana empanada, and went to Gaby's, where we watched ER and then went down for a few hours of sun/pool time. It was beautiful yesterday, not too hot but hot enough, and super sunny. The pool was the perfect temperature, to boot. We played a little ping pong, too, although it's not Gaby's strongest sport (still, when she concentrates, she can be really good). I left and came home, read more East of Eden and then the power went out. It was out for 45 minutes or so before coming back on. No explanation given. As I write this, the power is out in my room but not the rest of the house. Odd. Anyhow, David called me around 8:30 to say, "Are you coming?" and I said, "Sure" and after some confusion about how to get to where he was, I walked to the metro and took it to Vicuña McKenna, got off and went upstairs. I had told David I'd call him when I got to the metro stop so he could tell me where to go. I started to do that as I walked towards Mall Plaza Vespucio, where the concert was, and heard, as I so often do walking out of metro stops, "¡Oye, huevón! Huevón, ¿dónde vas? ¡Oye, huevón!" This is what people trying to hawk shit to you or get you to take their taxi say to you, so I ignored it as usual, but on the last "huevón" I turned around and it was none other than David Andrés, laughing. He'd come to meet me, to reduce confusion. Problem not solved. Anyhow, we went to the concert, he took me upstairs to the tech booth and introduced me to all the employees and the band. The act playing when we got in was an unabashedly No Doubt-esque band (and by that I mean their second-to-last song was a No Doubt song), but they wrapped up soon enough and Golem came out. David does lighting, so he left me to stand and watch from the balcony of the concert hall, which was pretty nice, actually while he did his thing. It was a really fun show and afterwards we went and hung out with the band for a while, drank some beer, ate some chips and they all talked about plans for the party that's to be at our house tonight for the band and crew and some other people. Then we came home and I went pretty much right to bed. Long day. And now I'm off to Gaby's again for a few more hours by/in the pool. And, yes, Mom and Dad, I wear sunscreen. SPF 30.

delicious dinners

Today I did nothing of note at all. Honestly. It felt terrific. Except when I was trying to take a nap and the girl next door played "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira five times in a row at top volume and belted along with the lyrics. Then my slow-burning dislike of Shakira turned into pure hatred. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised I lasted this long. She sounds like Kermit the Frog, for crying out loud. Why does ANYONE like her? I don't understand. I mean, to each his own, but seriously. I hate her.

I finally got off my butt and left my house around 8:40 to meet Rosie and her mom for dinner. I did this on Tuesday, too, and neglected to write about it then (sorry, Rosie!). We went to R on Lastarria on Tuesday and I had a really good stuffed-pasta-with-ham-alfredo dish and then tonight we went to Los Corrales, the same Argentinean place that Ian took Izaak and Karla and me a little while ago. I had the rarest steak I have ever eaten--practically raw--and it was delicious. Too rare, though, I'm going with "a punto" instead of "inglesa" as my cooking time from now on. Thanks for two delicious meals, Mary Lou! Tomorrow I have to get up and go pick up Rosie's computer from her so I can take her music and add some of the music that Paloma gave me to her library. After that I'll go to the COPA office to talk to Janet (the new housing lady) about where I'll be living next semester! I get to choose my family! Very exciting. Anyhow all that entails an early start because Rosie and her mom are going to Viña/Valpo tomorrow, so it's bedtime for bonzo. 'Night!

colo-colo lost

Went to the fire station tonight to watch the finals of the South American Cup, Colo-Colo (Chile) vs. Pachuca (Mexico). Not sure why a Mexican team was playing for the South American Cup, so don't ask. Neither was anyone else that we asked (we being me and Gaby and Vale). Anyhow it was a good time, but Colo-Colo lost, 2-1. It should have been at least 2-2, but the ref made two absolutely atrocious non-calls in the penalty box that would most likely have led to Colo-Colo goals. Not that it would have mattered at 2-2, because Pachuca's two road goals would have beaten out the one that Colo-Colo scored in their tie in Mexico two weeks ago. If they'd tied 1-1 it would have gone to penalty kicks. So that was kind of a downer, especially since like any good mildly dedicated United Statesean soccer fan, I hate Mexican soccer. Anyhow now i'm super tired. Tomorrow looks to be another relaxing day. I love vacation...

i am woefully out of shape

'Nuff said. But i'm working on it, as of today.

new music

Yesterday, I woke up, ate breakfast, watched SportsCenter, showered, ate lunch, watched Pinochet's funeral, read a bunch of New Yorker and NY Review and news, and finally around 7:15, left for Durham's family's apartment to pick up my iPod, which I'd left there last weekend before Dur left for Rio. I got there about 7:45 and her family invited me to sit down, eat some pan de pascua (Christmas bread, a lot like coffee cake) and drink some cola de mono (monkey's tail, a little like Bailey's but not as thick and a lot tastier), both of which the mom had made. I ended up talking to the older host sister, Paloma, for like two hours, about school and classes and what we'd like to do with our lives (she's 25 and a teacher, but is trying to create an organization for feminist teachers as well and also dances on the side--busy girl) and politics and other kids in the program and, in the end, music. My knowledge of Chilean and Latin American music is still pathetically small, and so she ended up making a stack of about 30 CDs for me to upload and get to know. I only took 11 home because I already had stuff in my backpack, but as soon as I get these up I'll take them back and get more, the two albums I've loaded so far are really good. They are "Grandes Exitos" (Greatest Hits) by Los Prisioneros, which is one of the most important Chilean bands of the 80s, and "Esquinas" (Corners) by Djavan, a Brazilian singer, which consists of a lot of soothing love songs. Good stuff, especially Los Prisioneros. So today, my activities will include uploading a lot of music, and going to the Colo-Colo vs. Toluca (Mexico) game that, if Colo-Colo wins, will make this the biggest party week in recent Chilean memory (Pinochet dying, a Chilean club winning a huge international soccer match). I'm going to try and watch it at the fire station that Rodrigo, Katty's boyfriend, works at. I'm pretty pumped. And now, onto breakfast and my day. One more thing: If it's nice this evening like it was yesterday, I'm going to run. I gotta start getting back into shape. Okay, that's it.

funeral

Sixty thousand people went to see Pinochet's body in state yestserday in the Escuela Militar, and thousands are there right now for his funeral service, which is wrapping up. Meanwhile the communists and socialists and everyone else who hated Pinochet are rallying downtown for speeches and all that. There's no violence today that I could see in the hour or so of news coverage I watched, which is great. Walking down Diagonal Paraguay yesterday Rosie and I passed shop after little shop with shattered windows, and thought, "What the hell is wrong with people, that they would take someone's natural death, no matter who that someone was, as an excuse to break their neighbor's windows?" That's where those people have to make a living, you stupid kids, that's where you go to buy your empanadas or your cigarettes, that person might live next door to you, might be your uncle, and you've decided that your id, your stupid selfish desire to break things and go wild is more important than others' livelihoods. Get the fuck over yourselves. It's the same way I feel about the kids in College Park rioting after the Final Four in 2001, or the Black Block people in the WTO protests in Seattle a while back, or the dumbasses who threw a rock through the window of the locally-owned Subway franchise that opened on Carroll in Takoma Park a few years ago. There's no need to break things, throw rocks at the police, light cars on fire, tear down street signs. No need at all. It's just senseless, stupid vandalism that accomplishes nothing and damages many people. And so it was a relief today to see that same group of people that came close to rioting yesterday because of the actions of a disgraceful few--those people whose politics are closest to my own of the two deeply divided groups here--marching peacefully rather than embarrassing themselves with another display of senseless violence. I can't make any judgment at all on the anger of people here, I don't know anything about it, I have no perspective that might allow me to say anything other than that it appears just. But destructive, pointless vandalism like the kind that happened over the past couple of days here is just wrong.

this is how bad it's gotten

Just saw this Back in Black clip from the Daily Show and wanted to share it. Click here

good bye, pinochet

Well, Pinochet died yesterday of a heart attack at the military hospital in Providencia. I was sitting in Plaza Brasil around 2:45 with Rosie when a guy who had been sitting near us came over and said, "Are you from here?". We said no, and he shrugged and said, "Pinochet died. Cause for celebration," and walked away. It took us both a second to process what that meant. Almost immediately afterward, people started driving around the Plaza honking their horns and shouting. We went to lunch then, but on the way to Gaby's apartment in Las Condes, we passed through Baquedano, which is one of the centers of any big demonstration, and a TON of people got off the metro as we got on, waving huge flags and honking horns and banging on drums. There were demonstrations all day, and it was fascinating to watch the news coverage of the pro-Pinochet demonstrators outside the hospital and the anti-Pinochet demonstrators in front of la Moneda and in Plaza Italia (where Baquedano is). The police were in riot gear at both places, but by the hospital they were just standing around, as were most of the people after a couple of hours of screaming and throwing bottles and whatnot at the cops. But downtown, the "encapuchados" had made their presence known by starting fires, repeatedly running up to the armored trucks and throwing bottles at them, beating them with sticks, etc. They wrap tshirts around their faces (hence their nickname) and really look like they're just playing. A lot of them laugh and run around and make the whole thing seem like a game, which is probably is to them. It's a shame that they did it because it ruined what could have been a peaceful and powerful demonstration of solidarity against the regime's legacy (the marchers convened around the monument to Salvador Allende behind la Moneda in the Plaza de Ciudadania). The same guys (and they're almost all young men) wreaked havoc during the "Pingüinos" protests this past winter (summer up there in the other hemisphere), which were led by very passionate high school students against the injustice in the education system here, but which often drew ludicrously disproportionate police responses because of the small group that just likes to fuck shit up cause throwing things at cops who are just doing their job is a bit of a rush. Bastards. Anyhow, today I'm going to eat breakfast and then go help Rosie pack(!), and hopefully there'll be enough still going on down around there (she lives three blocks from Plaza Italia) that I can snap a few photos but avoid getting tear gassed. Wish me luck!

everyone left for rio

Yesterday afternoon I went over to Rosie's to meet up before heading over to Durham's for some trip-story sharing and to gather the troops for a trip to the whole wheat empanada place in Barrio Brasil. But at Rosie's the visit turned into a full-blown asado lunch, complete with multiple kinds of meat, rice, pisco sours and salad. Her host mom's ex-husband was over and had whipped all this stuff up--it was delicious! I'd eaten lunch at home not long before, so I didn't have a whole lot of room, but man I wish I'd had more. Oh well. We went to Dur's, shared some stories, the best by far being "Tim fell of a cliff." Solid gold, that one. Dur almost crapped her pants, she laughed so hard. Vickie came over and we hung out a little while longer before heading to Barrio Brasil. The empanada place was, of course, closed, for unexplained reasons. But we had met up with Vale and she knew of another cool place, so we went there and got some really good pasta and sandwiches and whatnot. Amalia was there too, and Tim B and his friend Gretchen came a little later. The Rio kids (Vickie Dur Amalia) left around 10:30 to catch their flight, and Vale left early to go be with her sister, who's in town from Concepción to visit her. But me and Rosie and Tim and Gretchen hung out a little while longer, paid and went to Barroco, a cool and cheap bar that's right on Plaza Brasil, for a drink. We didn't linger too long, though, cause everyone was tired. Got home around 1:30, just minutes after Luz María got home from her lunch at her friend's house (yes, I did say lunch, and yes, that was 1:30 in the morning), and promptly fell asleep. And now, the un-boring part of this post: a few highlight photos from the trip south.


Volcan Osorno


Me with the 700+ year old Laurel


View from our restaurant the first night in Castro


Palafitos in Castro--little houses built into the sides of hills so that they look normal from the street but actually rest mostly on stilts in the water.


View of Castro from the Mirador Ten Ten

tim fell off a cliff!

I got home around two hours ago from an amazing, wonderful, fantastic, insert-laudatory-adjective-here vacation with Rosie and Tim B. Really it could not have gone much better than it did. We saw beautiful and interesting places, ate great food, did a ton but still managed to relax, and took about 500 pictures. About 482 of them are of Volcan Osorno, but more on that in a bit. Here comes the day-by-day breakdown, which I will write over the course of the day in pieces, so the two hours in the first sentence might turn into ten by the end:

Saturday night, I left for Baquedano, where I was going to meet Rosie so we could ride the rest of the way to the bus station. I left plenty of time, which turned out to be a terrific idea because I left my ticket on my desk. Realized this around Los Leones, started to panick, called home, got David on the line and told him what had happened. Before I even suggested anything or asked him, he told me he'd find it and drive it to me, and to get off at Baquedano and come up to meet him on the street. This host family...unreal. Wow. So anyhow, Rosie had gone on ahead to the bus so she wouldn't miss it even if I did, David and I met up without a hitch, he passed me the ticket through the window and I more or less sprinted down into the station, got on the metro, got out at U de Santiago and again sprinted to the platform, where they were just closing up the luggage doors and Rosie and Tim were about to get on. Made it, but with zero time to spare. So, that little melodrama past, we settled in for the overnight ride to Puerto Varas.

Sunday morning, we arrived in Puerto Varas, which sits on Lago Llanquihue across from Volcan Osorno, which is almost a perfect cone, around 9 and walked downtown to find our hostel, which wasn't hard because Puerto Varas is small and compact. Upon arrival, we found out the electricity was out in the whole town, so our room wouldn't be ready and they couldn't even confirm our reservation until 3. But we left our stuff there and went looking for breakfast, which we found in the form of apple empanadas (delicious) and yogurt and such. We sat by the lake and ate and watched a bunch of men fish with line wound around cans. Afterwards we went back to the hostel, moved our stuff into the triple they decided they could give us, and went for a walk with the goal of climbing the hill, topped by a huge steel cross, that overlooks the town and the lake. After a little wandering we found our way up and then kept going, a little trail started behind the cross and then led into a meadow with what was less a trail and more a narrow path of beaten-down grasses. We wandered along it for a while, stopping periodically to look at the gorgeous views of the lake and volcanoes (Osorno and another one whose name I forget but is also across the lake) and admire the plants and allow the gigantic bees to pass. We sat in the shade of some trees for a while and Rosie made some nature art before heading back into town. We found a bus to Puerto Montt, which is the biggest town in the area and the main port to all points south in Chile, ate lunch at a little place under a hotel and walked around. It's not a very lovely place, but some of the craft stalls we walked by had cool things and Rosie and Tim bought some stuff. Back in Puerto Varas, we got dinner at a REALLY nice place (it was expensive as HAIL, but almost worth the price) called Sirocco, went back to the hostel, where people were playing guitar (well) and trumpet (badly), and crashed.

Next morning we got up, ate, paid for the night, and caught a bus to Saltos del Petrohué, which are spectacular and crawling with retirees near the end of their Patagonia cruises. We found a secluded spot down the river a ways, though, and sat separately for a while before walking a little farther back into the woods to find a spot to eat the stuff we'd bought in the grocery store that morning. It was all delicious and pretty and we were all in pretty high spirits when we headed farther down the dirt road to the "town" of Petrohué, on Lago Todos los Santos. This lake, my friends, is stunning. So gorgeous. It was windy enough to whip up whitecaps on the lake, but I really wanted to go kayaking, so we got three kayaks for 7 bucks an hour and put into the water. Rosie and Tim were game but not as prepared as I was to have a good time regardless of the circumstances, which ended up being soaked and exhausted from battling the wind to get back to shore. I had an absolute ball, and Rosie had fun enough, too, but Tim was not happy. Still, the day was warm and we went to the black, volcanic-sand beach and sat for a while. Tim laid out while Rosie and I threw rocks and pushed each other around like 8-year-olds. It was fun. The bus back to Puerto Varas would have been more fun if we weren't all still wet, but it wasn't so bad. Back in PV, we got on a bus pretty much right away to Frutillar, a tiny hamlet (I can't believe I just used the word hamlet) 20 or 30 km north on the lake. Checked into our hostel there, which was run by a very cute old lady who Rosie decided we should refer to as "Nana." And we did. Found a restaurant as it was getting dark and realized just how German the whole place is. Tons of good beer, German words on the menu, etc. Rosie and I got an amaaaaazing crab dish and Tim got locos, for which I forget the English name. Little shelfish of some kind. Anyhow Tim and I got a little microbrew called...something. But it was good. Tim and Rosie kept the labels from the bottles.

Slept like rocks that night, but Rosie's and my room faced the sunrise and we had white curtains, so we were up reeeeal early. But that was all right, Nana's breakfast was probably the best we had the whole trip and afterwards Rosie went to finish writing one of her finals (yeah, she wasn't done and still isn't, poor girl) and Tim and I went to the native forest preserve run by the U de Chile that's right on the outskirts of Frutillar. It was really impressive, lots of interesting foliage and a great map/guide to the trail through the park. And a 700+ year old laurel tree. We found Rosie sitting where we'd left her, on the beach, having mostly wrapped up her writing, and went to catch the bus to Chiloé. Sat in the bus station for a while, I went in a colectivo (shared cab, like a bus but in a car) back into town and got some sandwiches and drinks, got on the bus and were on our way to Castro. The ride was, as all our rides were, spectacular. Once in Castro, we parted ways because Rosie's and my hostel didn't have enough room for Tim, checked in and were very disappointed in our hostel, which had gotten high marks in one of the guides we read. If you're ever in Castro, do NOT stay at Hostal Kolping. Just don't. Then we met up again to explore the city a bit. Which brings me to the title of this post. We wandered down to the water and saw a muddy little path that some Chilean kids were walking out of, and decided to walk along it. It was very wet and slippery and I, who was in the front, paused at one point to examine a particularly treacherous-looking spot before going across it. Tim said something along the lines of, "It doesn't look that bad," and I crossed the spot. Next thing I knew Tim said, "Oh, no!" and burst out laughing as he went backwards-somersaulting over the 85 degree drop for about 12 feet! Once we made sure he was okay, Rosie and I could barely contain our laughter. Especially her, who had seen the whole thing. I'd only heard and caught the very end of it. It looked like he was stuck, too, surrounded as he was by overgrown foliage and an almost-vertical, muddy slope covered in shallow-rooted grass unfit for handholds. He found his way out eventually and was miraculously practically unhurt, but quite muddy. Good story. We walked around Castro a little more, found a place to eat that was in Lonely Planet as having the best curanto (local seafood specialty) in town, but didn't actually have it. Still, it was a good dinner, and we parted full and happy for the hotels.

The next morning, I called another hostel to make reservations there, both so we could all be in one place and because all three of us were unhappy with our current hostels. We paid and moved our stuff to the other place, which is run by a super-nice woman, is clean and well-lit and has a kitchen you can use and very comfortable beds, none of which were true of the first hostel. It's called Hospedaje or Hostal Cordillera, I forget which. Anyhow if you're ever down there, DO stay at that place. It was great. Rosie went to an internet cafe to type up her paper and email it to her professor, and Tim and I went for a walk around Castro, which was nice. He's really an interesting guy and I wish I'd had more time to talk to him about things; we don't see eye-to-eye on everything, as I found out in Bs As a few months back, but we both seem to have the attitude that pretty much anything is interesting and worth talking about. We bought tickets back to PV, because that's where our round-trip bus tickets were for, and went to the cafe to check our email and Rosie. Then we found a delicious-smelling lunch place, got some food (quarter chicken and fries for me, deep-fried hot dog and fries for Tim) and then picked up a little more for Rosie and met her by Castro's main church. She was relieved to be done but exhausted. We found the rural bus station (which has big vans that go all over the island and actually the whole Chiloé archipelago) and found one to Dalcahue, the point of departure for Isla Quinchao, which has on it Chiloe's oldest church, Santa María de Loreto de Achao. I don't think I mentioned this before, but it's worth mentioning now: Chiloé is famous for its churches, 15 or 16 of which are UN World Heritage sites. They're wooden and covered either in shingles or painted corrugated steel, and they're unique and beautiful across the board. Anyhow, Isla Quinchao was nice, and we came home and went to the store and got stuff to make dinner with in the hostel. Bowties, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, oregano, sausage, avocado, cucumber and tomatoes, for pasta with meat and a salad and beer. The kitchen was great and we were a good team, the dinner turned out delicious. We were all tuckered out and ended up in bed pretty early, after Tim and Rosie got some time in watching E!...not my favorite channel. Oh well.

The next morning, Tim had to leave bright and early to go meet his friend, who had been studying in Argentina (but not Bs As...Mendoza instead) and traveling around Chile a little, to take the bus back to Stgo together. Rosie and I got up to say goodbye to him and eat breakfast, but we were exhausted and went back to bed after he left. We lazed around a little and then took the long walk to the Mirador Ten Ten, which has a great view of Castro and the Castro Bay. It started spitting before too long, so we headed back down and back to our hotel, where we lazed around some more while it poured all around us. The rain had slowed up a bit by the time we went to eat dinner, around 8:45, at Años Luz, a really cute little restaurant around the corner from our hostel, which is also in Lonely Planet (along with our final hostel and the first place we ate in Castro, Sacho). Lonely Planet was spot-on in Chiloé. We had a bit of an argument at dinner, but cut it off before it got out of hand or dragged on too long, which our arguments tend to do (drag on, that is). Back in the hostel, we turned in early again, anticipating our 11:45 departure for Puerto Varas.

We got up at 8 on Friday, ate breakfast, and I went to go withdraw money for both of us and get some lunch food for the bus ride while Rosie showered. Somehow that took until 11:30, and we paid the dueña (owner) quickly and hightailed it to the bus terminal, which thankfully was exactly one block from our hostel. We had a few hours to kill in PV, so we ate lunch at a little VERRRRRY German restaurant (tri-lingual menu) and found an internet cafe and Rosie discovered she'd lost her wallet. Sucks. We went back down to the lake for a while, where Rosie sat and journaled and I wowed the little Chilean kids with my rock-skipping skills. There was a black lab stray that tried to chase down my rocks when I threw them! It was cute and kind of sad, someday I think I'd like to have a black lab. We got a little more snack food for the overnight ride home and went to the bus station and caught our bus. Things were going without a hitch, except that I was having my typical trouble sleeping in moving things because you can't lie down, until our bus stopped by the side of the road about 2 a.m. and we were told to get off. Apparently it broke down or something, I was a little too groggy to tell or make much of a fuss. Most of our bus got on the next one that passed, another Ejecutivo, but Rosie and I and a couple others had to wait for the next bus, which was a Salon Cama! So I finally got to lie down, and the bus stopping was a blessing in disguise as I got six solid hours of sleep.

Got into Stgo only an hour later than we'd thought to and went home. I showered, checked my email and facebook and so on, and started writing this bad boy. And now I'm done. No meditations or thoughts or anything on the trip, methinks, I'm too tired from typing this much and this post is already super long. A few pictures will also come, but later. Those with facebook can check out my new album, and sometime soon I'm going to get a photo site account so I can share my photos in large volume for free. Blogger is just too hard to upload to. Anyhow, I'm going to cut myself off and go find some lunch, I'm starving.

going south in two hours

So I finally got all my shit together and in a little less than two hours I'll be printing Rosie's paper (she doesn't have a printer and the COPA office is closed), putting it in my bag and dipping out to meet her and Tim at the U de Santiago bus terminal, from which we will depart at 9:30 for Puerto Varas. Not sure how much I'll be posting in the next week, so here's a few thoughts before I leave:

-Lunch today with Julia was wonderful. First of all, we met up without a hitch. Second of all, the food was delicious. And third of all, it was really great to talk to her, however briefly, just give and get the rundown on what's been going on for each of us, how we're feeling about the semester being over, and everything. She's a really good friend and I'm lucky to have her.

-Right now, Chile's Teletón is going on, the 48-hour continuous spectacular, hosted by the incomparable Don Francisco (Mario Kreutzberger), who is Chile's greatest and most famous TV personality. It's so different from telethons in the US because everyone is so together about it. The goal is to raise money for physicall and mentally disabled children, and pretty much anyone who's anyone in Chile makes an appearance, whether to give a speech or sing a song or whatever. I saw Bachelet give her talk last night right after a segment about a super-energetic, ebullient 8-year-old girl named Kelly whose legs don't work normally, and she got choked up, along with everyone else in the audience (parts of it are live from a theater somewhere). It's really a wonderful institution, the solidarity is so evident in a way it's often not here; taxi drivers paint "Teletón 1 y 2, con todo el corazón" on their windows and people all over wear stickers and pins with the Teletón logo. Plus everyone, but everyone, gives money. I wish there was something like it in the states, but I'm not sure we're together enough as a country--too big, too many divisions.

-It is hot as blazes in Stgo at the moment.

That's all for now, I think. I'll post when I can, but at the very least, by next Saturday. Wish us a buen viaje!

it's alive!

The internet started working again, so here's a super-short post:

Tonight I will watch the third and final movie I have to write about (Hero, after Kill Bill vol. 2 and The Seventh Seal), and then write about them until I'm done or pass out on my computer. Then I will wake up, finish what I haven't finished, print upstairs and meet Julia for lunch at Patagonia. Figured out that the problem with meeting up on Wednesday was that she thought I'd told her to go to U de Santiago when I'd told her to go to U Católica. Oh well. Tomorrow things are super-duper clear (fingers still firmly crossed against mishap, though). Then I will turn my blasted final essay in, take a shower, pack and hightail it down to the bus station. Beautiful south, here I come!