I survived chilean fiestas patrias. we all went up to la serena and dined (almost exclusively) on barbeque and beer. aside from the two kilos of tangerines that i brought, we had basically no fresh produce among us. Well, there's stories to tell in the paragraph, but we've all heard party stories, so i'll leave it at that. on the trip i also went to coquimbo with ursula and roxanne and we got the whole caravan to go to valle elqui... check out the photos on my photobucket album. with the rest of the break i went with gabi and her family to valparaiso and vina del mar.
sunday morning i experienced my first semi-violent mugging. i got up early to do some homework and get a coffee. unfortunately, no coffee place was open- it's hard getting used to a country in which catholic traditions really are more sacred than morning coffee. there was one guy in the empty streets with a nescafe bicycle/kiosk, so i got a cup of coffee and sat down on a bench with my laptop in my lap... ok- i know what you all are saying: dude! don't walk around some giant latin city alone with a laptop, especially if you're tall and blonde! well, usually i'm really conscious about stuf like this, but it was early on a sunday morning in a 'nice' part of town and there was hardly anyone around. i noticed some kid whispering something to the coffee guy who was kind of nodding. that was a sketchy red flag, so i decided to finish up my coffee and clear out. just then this other kid appeared infront of me, snatched the computer and started running down the street. i ran after him and after a block and a half chased him down, grabbed my computer back, and started running back the other way. unfortunately, the first kid i'd seen jumped me and all three of us started wrestling and punching in the middle of the street. i had a box-cutter in my pocket, but my better judgement overrode my masculine pride, so i decided to leave the situation with no stab-wounds on either side. I walked back to the corner where the coffee guy was and called the cops, who promised they'd send someone out immediately to make a report. the coffee guy started saying that he was gonna leave, but i put my foot infront of his kiosk wheel and obliged him to stay and talk to the police. In the meantime a couple prostitutes came up and started advising me as to which black markets i should scope out to buy back my computer. then this guy in a suit drove up with an open bottle of wine between his legs and started talking to the prostitutes, who told him about my ordeal. he started trying to give me advice, also. seeing as i wasn't in the best of humor i mumbled some comment about how stupid he looked driving around in a suit with an open wine bottle on a sunday morning. he started to get all pissed off, pulling the 'what did you say?!' card, so i cleared out. as a general rule i don't deal with angry drunk pimps... especially not on sundays. whatever. in the words of the great Jamie Bentz, 'I'm over it.'
that all happened before 7:30 in the morning... all told i actually had a pretty good day. i went to a kick-ass art exhibition with gabby and her brazilian friend and went to dinner at LeAnna's house. While I was over at LeAnna's eating a great dinner with a bunch of friends i considered what those dirty street waifs might have been eating for dinner and where they might've been sleeping that night... with that perspective it's pretty hard to hold a grudge.
i went to a bassoon repair guy to check out a couple pads that weren't shutting all the way and an A flat that's been super low. it was crazy seeing all his different tools and methods. i liked the way he talked about the instrument as a living creature that responds to environment changes and decides to play better some days than others. we hung out in his studio for two hours going over all kinds of stuff and he didn't even charge me. i might take it back to replace the string with cork.
pardon my not writing much... stuff does happen down here. i just don't get around to documenting much of it.