Saturday, June 6, 2009

¿a que le dedica?

Bogota, Columbia -

As we sat in the plaza a lady was milling about yelling ¿hormigas, hormigas? and as she approached we inquired about her goods. She was selling smoked & salted ants of which I rudely replied ¨bleh!¨ and Nate replied by pulling out his wallet and buying a bag. After eating only 1 Nate was instructed to get rid of his bag upon arrival in Chile, unjustly.

"Valpo" Chile -

Upon getting our room key at 8:30AM we promptly feel asleep for a 4hr nap. When we awoke we set forth to explore the town. It was overcast that day but the sun wouldn´t have made the town any better. Despite the hype it was nice to get lost walking up and down the jammed packed hills amongst the maze of deteriorating houses and stairways. We spent all afternoon wandering. Unfortunately I had a ¨completo¨ for dinner and I will never have one again. They are hot dogs drowned in tomatoes, guacamole & mayo. Bleh.

Santiago! Chile -

As we walked from the bus station in search of our hostel we happened through a street market which came out of nowhere filled with stands of fruit, fish & enormous vegetables. The market ended and we broke into a quite residential part of the city and found out hostel soon after - and it was an enormous, beautiful old mansion filled with activity as soon as we walked in. Our room wasn´t ready so we stored out bags and didn´t return until around 10pm that night. We spent hours exploring the city. Ate at the mercado, walked through a protest through the plaza where the government had sent in troops to spray the crowds with mustard gas as apparently you have to inform them of when you´re going to protest, explored every possible church, climbed the Santa Lucia park getting our first view of the snow-peaked Andes, and just wandered. As the sun set we sought and found whiskey and sat in the plaza where a live orchestra was playing a free concert. For hours we sat amongst the chess players playing cards, getting drunk & enjoying the moment. A woman sat by us and began chatting with us for a while - or more like chatted with Nate. I decided I was going to ask her something, whipped out my phrase book and asked ¨¿a que le dedica?¨ of which she replied and Nate looked at me and told me she was a prostitute. Back at the hostel a group of kids were up playing cards and drinking so we joined them. They taught us a new card game which I was thrilled about. At quiet hour we went down to the bar in the basement and played foosball until 4AM. We awoke hung over and just in time to check out.

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