Adieu, Arica

Recent weather: 70s and sunny every day.
Recent reads: 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain

Happy to say that this work exchange was a great success! Batting .666 aint half bad...But, after 3 weeks here in Arica, it's time to continue on my way.

Some highlights from the past couple of weeks:
1) Surfing. I have attempted previously in San Diego last summer but it never fully came together. It seemed I couldn't really keep my lanky limbs in check and I usually just flailed about on the board for a bit like a baby giraffe learning to walk, before somersaulting into the water awkwardly.  But after 3 lessons here in Arica with the legendary, quintessential "surfer dude" Yoyo Sepulveda, one day it all just came together and clicked! Since then, I've been trying to surf as often as possible. The waves here in Arica have been great for learning, small but long, so once I pop up, I can ride the wave practically all the way to shore. Of course, when I triumphantly ride the wave for as long as possible, I am humbled by the task of paddling all the way back out. Fortunately, after a good ride, I'm so stoked that I can't wait to get back out there and ride another! It's hard not to be in a good mood when I'm sitting on my board in the middle of ocean waiting for the next set of waves with sea lions playing on the rocks nearby, sea turtles popping up here and there, just watching the sun set off the coast of Chile!

2) The Circus. We noticed some activity going on in the empty lot across the street and it turns out the circus has arrived in Arica! I went to El Gran Circo de Ruperto on opening night with the two boys. I haven't been to a circus in forever so I was pretty entertained. My favorite act was the hula hoop girl who lit her hoop on fire and then lifted herself up in the air and back down, all while keeping the hoop going! The circus was hosted by, of course, Ruperto. The character Ruperto portrayed the typical drunk Chilean with an intoxicated stagger about stage, slurred speech (which made it even more challenging to understand what he was saying), and a goofy laugh. During the comedy bits, I would say I generally understood what he was talking about but missed a lot of the punchlines. Overall, the circus was a huge success in my book!

3) Festival de Independencia. Last Saturday night I went to a music festival where 3 groups performed. The music was mostly pop with a little bit of rap tossed in. The headliner seemed like a big hit with the teenage girls. Or maybe they were just jealous of his bedazzled jean vest. I wouldn't say they are my new favorite boy band (can you have a favorite "boy band?"), but I enjoyed the energy and was certainly entertained. The headliner was a 2 man duo that went all out with 5 dancers, 3 backup singers, and 5 band members. Throughout the performance, they blasted confetti, glitter, clouds of fog, had 2 guys in glow in the dark suits on jumping stilts doing flips, and for the last and final attempt to win everyone over, the lead singer brought out his infant daughter dressed in a pink leopard print outfit with a matching headband. I don't think the baby had any ear protection but I applauded the overall showmanship nevertheless. Or maybe that was just the pisco sour talking.

There are definitely a few things I will miss about Arica:
1) Mornings with Magdalena. Señora Magdalena and I leave the house everyday at about 10am to do computer repairs in clients' homes for a few hours. We do a lot of walking about town so we have ample opportunity to talk about pretty much everything including, but not limited to: futbol, painting, did you see what that girl was wearing?, books, ugly dogs, international travel, why she only has 2 kids, life goals, what's up with Bolivia?, religion, taxes, how our grandparents died, nuclear power plants, rap music, etc. There was one day when I told her that my stomach didn't quite feel right and I needed to go home immediately to use the bathroom; I think we bonded because I felt strangely close to her after that. Magdalena is open to talking about pretty much anything and regardless of the topic, she'll usually make some kind of irreverent joke at the end and we'll share a good laugh.

2) Siestas. After lunch I usually take an hour snooze and it's amazing. Traveling, I usually leave my hostel late morning and don't return until evening time since I'm seeing all the sights non-stop. But my love affair with naps has now been rekindled.

3) Someone else cooking for me. I guess the last time I had someone making all my meals for me was high school? And even then I ate lunch at school. While the portions here have been ginormous and meals are generally carb-heavy, I've gotten pretty used to someone else doing all the work in the kitchen.*

4) Francisco/Francesca. Franny is the neighborhood tranny. He/she stops in the store here pretty regularly to use internet for a few minutes. Then, he/she will spend twice the amount of time that he/she was on the computer asking me how much services cost (photocopying, scanning, etc.) but never actually needs anything photocopied or scanned. Sometimes he/she goes all out on her look and really tries to sell it and some days she just throws on the same pair of white, super tight booty shorts and calls it a day. But considering Francisco isn't supposed to be into me, he/she is strangely friendly to me in particular, and almost always buys me a Fanta or brings me cookies or mangoes.

My next stop is Iquique, Chile, as I make my way to Bolivia in the next couple of weeks.

*Note to self: Must hire personal chef.

Happy Mothers' Day from Arica, Chile!

Recent weather: 70s-80s and sunny all week.
Recent reads: 2 Samuel, 1 Kings; "The Right Wrong Number" a short story by Barbara Delinsky

I arrived in Arica, Chile, on Sunday and have spent the last week living here with a family. Arica is almost as north as you can possibly get in Chile, right on the border of Peru and Bolivia so Arica is a cultural melting pot. The mother runs a local computer repair/internet/printing business and the father is starting a non-profit volunteer program in Huarmey, Peru. Their home is behind the computer business.

Every day I go with Magdalena for a few hours to visit clients in their homes and diagnose/fix their computer issues. Once you finish laughing at the idea of lil' ole me fixing computers, continue to read on. These in-home visits are usually pretty simple. Mostly we just reload ink cartridges or install anti-virus software or do basic diagnostics. For example, I diagnosed that a client's printer wasn't working because there was a barbie shoe stuck inside it. I removed the pink pump and it printed perfectly. 2000 pesos please. These visits have given me the inside scoop on Chilean houses. My biggest observation is that Chileans like stuff. Their homes are packed full of useless gadgets, old clothes, things they don't use or need but for some reason still continue to hold to. And yet the markets and stores are still full of people every day wanting to buy more. This goes along with what Magdalena has said, that Chileans are obsessed with buying things and buying them now and that the introduction of credit cards has changed the middle class forever.

For an hour each day, I teach the 12 year old English. This was something the mom just sprung on me the first day but I felt like I certainly couldn't say no. However, it's definitely more difficult than it sounds. Teaching kids is challenging enough but keeping this kid interested in English (which he is not at all interested in) has been really, really challenging. I've definitely stretched my imagination in thinking of ways to make the the longest hour of our lives go by faster which include a hand-drawn board game, Simon Says, and, of course, bribery. (We learned directions and I told him if he gave me proper directions in English to the ice cream shop, we'd go there and get a cone.)

My little board game invention, patent pending.

While Arica isn't on most people's must-see list, it's been a pretty great spot to chill. Magdalena making me 3 home-cooked meals every day doesn't hurt. I had to build up a few days' worth of courage to politely ask her to cut my portions in half. The highlights here have definitely been my time at the beach. Every other morning I run on the beach and use the exercise equipment conveniently located right on the sand (genius!) and every afternoon I take a walk on the beach too. There are always tons of people out running, walking, working out and Arica is very safe. I also had a surf lesson with local legend (everyone knows him or at least of him) Yoyo Sepulveda.

You say there are no sharks, but this makes me think otherwise!

You know what they say, "Let sleeping dogs lie..."

No membership fee but the pool's a little cold.

Watching the sunset.

I spent Mothers' Day climbing the Morro in downtown Arica which has an amazing view of the whole city. I spent the rest of the afternoon at a sports bar downtown, sipping beer with the local men as we yelled and screamed and chanted "Chi chi chi le le le" at the futbol matches going  on.

Just thought it was a pretty church.

The flag marks the Morro which juts out into the ocean.

Quite a hike up... 

But worth the view.

Arica

Me and Arica

From the Morro

Cristo de la paz at the top

From the top.

 My stay here in Arica is open-ended so I'll probably leave sometime this week. Gotta love the spontaneity of backpacking!

A Peso For My Thoughts

Recent weather: low 60s early in the week with light rain, mid 70s later in the week and sunny.
Recent reads: 1 Samuel, "The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain, "Waking Up Married" by Mira Lyn Kelly, "Beyond Anger: How to Hold On to Your Heart and Your Humanity in the Midst of Injustice" a Shambhala Publication.

I started this week in La Serena, one of the big little towns of central Chile. The more time I spend in smaller towns, the more I notice what Chileans mean when they talk about the growing disparity in Chile. While on the surface Chile is one of the more advanced countries in South America, deep down, many Chileans feel like individually their lives aren't getting better. While big cities like Santiago can hide it, La Serena exemplified this contradiction. For every new BMW on the road (and there were many), there is a neighborhood built out of metal sheets. And in some cases the line of demarcation between the upper class and everyone else is actually a deliberate line, with skyscrapers, paved roads and green lawns on one side of the tracks and dilapidated shacks on dirt roads on the other.

My afternoon snack overlooking the fish market.

In this case, the grass really is actually greener on the other side.

After two days in La Serena, I tried to leave but couldn't. Seriously. I checked out of my hostel and waited at the bus stop for over an hour but my bus never came. Turns out it was a holiday of sorts and either my bus wasn't running or ran less frequently. So I retreated back to the hostel for another day. I continued my unofficial beer tasting of Chile by enjoying a delightful local pale ale made in the nearby Valle del Elqui.

An overcast day at the beach.

Anima Pale Ale made in Valle del Elqui

On Friday morning I left early on my 2 hour bus ride through Valle del Elqui to the sleepy town of Pisco Elqui.

Pisco fields

Pisco Elqui is, of course, famous for Pisco so I had to go on a pisco distillery tour. When in Rome!

I continued the pisco tour by indulging in a private tasting with me, myself and I at dinner. Perhaps it's the shorter list of sights to see in my Lonely Planet Guide for these towns and the more free time to just think, but I was slightly more bitter to say, "table for 1 please" than usual. At dinner, where I had a tasty pisco sour and a hearty bowl of bean ceviche, the cutesy couples and happy families dining around me seemed especially nauseating. Don't get me wrong, I have actually really enjoyed traveling alone but this was one of those inevitable moments, days, weeks that I felt like this all would have been a whole lot more fun to share with a PIC... Okay, let's be honest about the real issue here: I was undecided between the bean ceviche and a pizza and it is socially unacceptable to order both but if there were two of us, this wouldn't be a problem. There. I said it.

But if dinner wasn't enough time to wallow in self pity that I am "stuck" traveling South America alone (first world problem?), then the 22 hour bus ride Saturday and Sunday from La Serena all the way up north to Arica, Chile, should really put everything in check.

I don't know if it was epic or if part of my soul died from sheer laziness, but on that bus ride, I watched the sunset and sunrise from the exact same seat.

And now to spend some time in Arica, Chile!