1. avocados
2. tomatoes
It is 7:42pm somewhere in God knows where Chile and I am in a sleazy motel eating avocado & tomato sandwiches. A bottle of wine is one my right and a 6 pack of beer is on my left and on the TV in front of me is John McCaine talking
about who knows what because today is my 5th month and 27th day of being out of the United States. God bless! Before I got to Talca (the wine country of Chile) I was in Valparaiso staying with someone I met on the streets. This was not my original plan. At first, I was going to stay with this artist/vegan couple I met on couchsurfing. They seemed like the kind of people I could spend hours with talking about the symposiums of Plato, how ironic it is that the water in our bodies is the same as the amount of water found on earth, how heartbeats mimic the rhythm of Mozart, and the scientific reason behind rainbows.
I was in one of those kind of moods.
But when I got off the bus from Santiago and tried to call them for directions there was an old woman on the other end which led me to believe that I either wrote down the wrong number or they just don't exist. While I waited in the bus terminal trying to figure out what to do, this girl I met in La Paz, Bolivia came strolling in. We used to eat pancakes together and talk about politics and the confusion we both face in bus terminals. She was great!
Agnes.
That is her name. She was supposed to only be traveling for 10 months and ended up being gone for 1 year and 7 months. When I saw her in the bus terminal I asked her what she was doing here and she told me that she had fallen in love with a boy from Valpo and had been living here for 1 month & 15 days, but she needed to buy a bus ticket to Buenos Aires because her flight back to Sweden was leaving in 10 days. I thought this was hilarious since she told me over pancakes in La Paz that she
had a boyfriend in Sweden and also that she has fallen in love in each country she has been to. Hahah, 21 yr old women....
While we were talking, however, this girl overheard that I didn't have a place to stay and invited me over. It turned out that she was on couchsurfing!! I ended up saying goodbye to Agnes (for like the 3rd time) and left with Tati the girl in the bus terminal) and her friend. Tati spoke a little bit of English, her friend only spoke Chilean Spanish, and I am now bilingual in two languages-- English and Mississippi Spanish.. Wanna know what the problem is with Mississippi Spanish?? It is even more difficult to understand then Mississippi English.
So off we go through the streets of Valpo.. I thought we were going to Tati's house for me to drop off my backpack, but instead, I found myself in a gymnasium amidst a girl's basketball game. Hallelujah!! It has been years since I've been to a girls basketball game. Tati told me that her friends played for the University of Arequippa and she promised them that she'd come to all of their games that weekend since it was a big tournament. I can't express how much fun it was watching girl's basketball. For nearly 7 years I played competitive basketball for too many leagues to count so it was a blast watching them. It was a little unusual, though, because in the US girl's college basketball is ferocious. Here, even though it was college basketball, it felt like I was watching a high school game at best. It is just a vastly different pace then how games are played in the United States. Tati's friends team was clearly the best, though. They slaughtered every team they played against. One game, the score was 112 to 33. It was murder!!
After the game, I hopped on a bus to Vina del Mar to Tati's apartment. I took a nap and then awoke to the smell of black tea and baked bread. She then asked me if I wanted to go to a gay bar with her and her friend Sebastian.. I thought I had awoken in one glorious dream.
First, I had no place to stay,
second, I have a place to stay and am now watching girl's basketball
third, I awake to tea and bread
fourth, gay bar!
Sure! I'd love to go, I told her.
30min later her friend Sebastian was knocking on the door. He spoke perfect English and looked like a cross between Ben Aflick and George Clooney-- strange combination, but seriously an attractive guy.
He poured all three of us one stiff glass of pisco and cola and then we hopped in his car and went to the gay bar.
Generally, I hate gay bars, but this one wasn't too bad. The music was awesome and the drinks were cheap. The people, however, were a bit unspectacular.. But hey, I had a great time!!
The following day I just walked around Valpairso. I took the bus to the port and walked everywhere imaginable. The city was reminiscent of like a condensed version of San Francisco or Seattle or something. It was a city built on a bay. Vibrant colors. A plenitude of suburbs carved into the rolling hills. Loads of street graffiti and a large gay scene. I wanted to stay more time in Valpairiso, but I really need to make it to Patagonia before the weather conditions get too bad for me to travel there, so I only got to stay 2 nights:(
Which leads me to where I am now.
Talca, Chile.
Where is Talca?? I don't fucking know...
But even though the place I am in is a bit shady, my room has a private bath, which is awesome since the last place I showered was somewhere between Bolivia and Argentina... Gross, I know, but when you are sleeping in bus terminals you are a little limited when it comes to luxuries like faucets and hot water..
Tomorrow I'm getting the hell out of here and making my way south to the Patagonia. Can't wait to climb glaciers and camp next to polar bears
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