Well, it's been a little while since my last post. As I'm sure that there will be many things to write about at the end of this month (my friend, Mikey, coming to visit; our going to Buenos Aires; and a tentative Thanksgiving at our place), I'll write some updates here.
This weekend (October 28th-November 1st) we had a four day weekend as Monday was Reformation Day and today is All Saint's Day. Man, Chileans sure love their holidays. It seems like we get a three day weekend (or more) once every few weeks! I was talking to a South Korean couple last night, and they were bemoaning the fact that they only get two or three holidays per year in their native country.
In the most uncustomary Halloween fashion, I went to a BBQ on Thursday night, went to the beach, and didn't wear a costume. I guess that's what happens on the other side of the equator! It's the first time I haven't worn a costume in a very long time. I just wasn't feeling it! I was thinking about going as Angus Young from AC/DC, but ultimately decided against it.
My friend, Luke, had a BBQ in which we made octopus and chicken shish kabobs which were fantastic. On Saturday a big group of us went to a concert that was made up of cover bands playing music by popular 90s alternative rock bands like Nirvana, The Foo Fighters, and Pearl Jam. It certainly brought me back to my youth! Some of the bands, especially the vocalists, were so good at the impersonation, it made one wonder how much time they had spent in front of the mirror and watching tapes of the bands playing live.
On Sunday, I went to a place on the coast of Chile called Algarroba. It is a couple of hours away by bus and little ways north of Valparaiso. I went with my two friends, Andrew and Adam. Andrew is from New York and has been in Chile for a few years teaching English. Adam has taught English abroad for several years in South Korea, Spain, and now Chile. I am envious of him because that's what I want to do for the next few years (at least), so I've been asking him his advice about such a career path and learning about his travels.
Andrew insisted that we did not need to reserve a place to stay, because one of his students that is from Algarroba told him it wouldn't be a problem. This sounded like a bad idea to me, because I like to plan everything, but I let it slide. Turns out we should have.
When we got there, we spent about three hours walking around trying to find a place to no avail.
While walking around, Andrew created a constantly shifting worst-case scenario for us. At first, the worst-case scenario was, "If we can't find a place, we can stay with my friend in El Quisco." El Quisco being a separate, less affluent town nearly connected to Algarroba. When we couldn't find a place to stay in Algarroba and he couldn't get a hold of his friend, the new worst-case scenario turned to, "If we can't find a place in El Quisco, we might just need to take a bus home." Then, we got a call from Adam who said he had found a place. Our worst-case scenario is that "We have a great time in Algarroba, yeaaa!"
Once we met up with Adam, we saw that he was accompanied by a wild-eyed, squat, middle-aged Chilean man. The man came up to Andrew and I and help a silver key to our eyes. He said, "Look at the lion! It's the key with the lion!" As we caught a whiff of alcohol perfuming his breath, all Andrew and I could do was just helplessly look at each other. I guess the key had been found only after looking through a big bag chalk full of keys.
Our hostess was an elderly woman of around 80 years of age. We suspected that the man who approached Adam about the lodging may have been his son, but we never found out. Adam and the man had been on their way to make a copy of the key, but the key-copying store was closed for the day. No matter. Andrew, Adam, and I were going to be together the entire night anyway.
We went out to a great seafood restaurant and this was maybe the only time I've splurged on a meal here. I ordered a fried fish with rice, split a bottle of white wine, and Adam ordered garlic buttered shrimp and parmesan-covered oysters for us as appetizers. It was a great, filling, reward for us at having found a place. We certainly had worked up an appetite walking around.
After dinner, we grabbed some drinks and played some video games. I know that sounds ridiculous, but there was a huge line of businesses that had nothing but electronic gambling and arcade games. So we just spent a little time doing that. Then we walked around a bit more, enjoying some hot dessert rellenos stuffed with caramel. Then we finally got a hold of Andrew's friend (conveniently enough) and we went to his apartment to hang out until he dropped us back to our place later that evening.
The next day we informed the elderly woman that we would not be staying another night. According to Andrew, she had a deeply disappointed look on her face. At the last minute, though, Adam decided he would stay another night, but Andrew was still going to spend the night at his friend's place. Adam told the elderly lady that he was going to stay there another night and handed her the money in advance for his own stay that night. At that moment, the lady said something like, "You also still need to pay for last night." The thing was Adam had paid for the three of us the night before and we had paid Adam our portions of the lodging. Adam said, "No, ma'am, I paid you yesterday evening. As you requested, I paid you up front and put the money directly in your hand." (of course, this is all in Spanish). Well, things just escalated from there and it ended with the elderly woman calling us liars and questioning how we do things in our country. We felt bad, because the woman truly thought we hadn't paid, but we all knew that we had. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the woman was just too senile to remember that we actually did pay her.
I took the bus back alone because Andrew and Adam wanted to stay another night. Last night for Halloween, I went to my roommate's hostel for a party, where I met a South Korean couple that had been traveling around the world together for almost a year. I asked them about South Korea and their travels. I think there is a good chance that South Korea is my next destination for teaching English!
Other than that, here are some updates:
- I've been hiking around Santiago a couple of times in the last month. One has been a place outside of Santiago called Cajon del Maipo and the other was a park within Santiago's borders called Parque La Mohuida. I have caught some great views. I'll post pictures!
- I witnessed my first Chilean protest. It was a combination of students, labor unionists, and teachers. It was one of the more civilized protests in recent times. Somehow, word has gotten around to all of my friends that I have been in the middle of riots. Not true, as all the riots have been quite far from me! I'm safe, family!
- A couple of weeks ago, I visited the General Cemeterio, which is an absolutely humongous cemetary where most of Chile's presidents and generals are buried. There are an estimated 2 million people buried there. It was probably the size of 4 square city blocks. It was quite surreal. There were some really cool tombs. I can't imagine walking around there at night and alone. That would be the most frightening experience ever!
That's really all I can think of for now. I'll try to add more as it comes to me!
