We rang in the New Year with much ablomb and general weirdness. Here`s the story:
We pulled into the bus station in Valparaiso, Chile at midnight the night before New Years. Having skipped dinner in order to make it through Chilean customs in under 3 hours I was a bit grumpy. As we start to head toward some Lonely Planet reccomended hotel, this weird guy in a velvet jacket comes up to us and keeps saying "you reservations?" and finally I´m all "hablamos español" in this snotty, stop-talking-to-me-in-bad-english voice. Which is funny, porque no hablo español. Mucho. Entonces....
We start to figure out at this point that we may be in a place where a lot of people go for New Years. Turns out, yes. Yes, we were. As a matter of fact, had we bothered to read the "special times of years" section of any of our guide books we would have learned that Valparaiso boasts the biggest party in South America for New Years and the town has, on average, a million tourists descend for their fireworks extravaganza. Yeah. So we decide that it´s time to start talking to weird velvet jacket guy.
He has some fliers that say "Hostel!" on them so we figure he´s safe to follow. Keep this in mind. If you want to be a mass murderer, all you need to do is print some fliers that say "Hostel!" and tourists will follow you anywhere. So, we start walking with him and the neighborhood gets progressively sketchier. And, mind you, I´m still starved and cranky (Matt is much more mature and doesn´t get cranky without proper snack times). As we start to walk up a really dark hill we pass a lady sleeping on a mattress in a corner of the street... and then we pass some graffittied houses that say "if you have bread, help your neighbors"
You can see the photo here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/underunfamiliarstars/2173051732/in/set-72157603648426454/. Apparently the author followed that same logic, and decided that if you have spray paint, you should share it with your neighbors house.
By the time the hill ascent begins, I´m giving Matt looks that are intended to say "I am going to kill either myself, you or weird velvet jacket guy." Do these looks stop us from following a stranger into a seemingly bad neighborhood at 1AM? No. Of course not. You can see what the neighbors house looks like here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/underunfamiliarstars/2173053074/in/set-72157603648426454/
And then we get to the house. Which he shares with his mother and the whole place is pretty sketch, and has structural problems like the ceiling caving in but I don´t really want to leave since I don`t want to go back into the neighborhood from which we had just emerged. So we stay. And the velvet jacket guy, Carlos, brings me delicious white nectarines and water since I´m hungry and all... and the view is incredible... and the beds are comfy. See view here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/underunfamiliarstars/2173039436/in/set-72157603648426454/
The next morning, the mom (whose name I was never able to understand) demands that Matt and I have tea and cake with her and she explains to us the Valparaiso mess of New Years (because we still didn´t know at this point, we just knew there seemed to be no hotel rooms). And she says they will cook dinner for us and have a party with us, their relative and 4 other "hotel" guests and we should stay through the New Years. So we do. And it´s totally strange.
We have a processed lunch meat turkey and some lamb and sausage and mayonnaise (Chileans really, really, really LOVE mayonnaise) for dinner. No one spoke English. At all. And I have a long conversation in Spanish with a nice lady about metaphysics. The fireworks were nice, the city was a massive party for three days prior to the actual New Years extravaganza and the dancing in the streets and drinking entirely too much was a lovely, although liver debilitating, time. Anyway. Here is a photo of Mom, Velvet jacket man and their relative:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/underunfamiliarstars/2172263685/in/set-72157603648426454/
I think this sums it all up. Mostly. Weirdly, I feel that we got very lucky with this experience... We found a place to stay in a city where park space to sleep was limited. We met some incredibly kind, although incredibly strange, people. We most definitely had a "cultural experience." And these are not the sort of things one does everyday.
We start to figure out at this point that we may be in a place where a lot of people go for New Years. Turns out, yes. Yes, we were. As a matter of fact, had we bothered to read the "special times of years" section of any of our guide books we would have learned that Valparaiso boasts the biggest party in South America for New Years and the town has, on average, a million tourists descend for their fireworks extravaganza. Yeah. So we decide that it´s time to start talking to weird velvet jacket guy.
He has some fliers that say "Hostel!" on them so we figure he´s safe to follow. Keep this in mind. If you want to be a mass murderer, all you need to do is print some fliers that say "Hostel!" and tourists will follow you anywhere. So, we start walking with him and the neighborhood gets progressively sketchier. And, mind you, I´m still starved and cranky (Matt is much more mature and doesn´t get cranky without proper snack times). As we start to walk up a really dark hill we pass a lady sleeping on a mattress in a corner of the street... and then we pass some graffittied houses that say "if you have bread, help your neighbors"
You can see the photo here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/underunfamiliarstars/2173051732/in/set-72157603648426454/. Apparently the author followed that same logic, and decided that if you have spray paint, you should share it with your neighbors house.
By the time the hill ascent begins, I´m giving Matt looks that are intended to say "I am going to kill either myself, you or weird velvet jacket guy." Do these looks stop us from following a stranger into a seemingly bad neighborhood at 1AM? No. Of course not. You can see what the neighbors house looks like here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/underunfamiliarstars/2173053074/in/set-72157603648426454/
And then we get to the house. Which he shares with his mother and the whole place is pretty sketch, and has structural problems like the ceiling caving in but I don´t really want to leave since I don`t want to go back into the neighborhood from which we had just emerged. So we stay. And the velvet jacket guy, Carlos, brings me delicious white nectarines and water since I´m hungry and all... and the view is incredible... and the beds are comfy. See view here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/underunfamiliarstars/2173039436/in/set-72157603648426454/
The next morning, the mom (whose name I was never able to understand) demands that Matt and I have tea and cake with her and she explains to us the Valparaiso mess of New Years (because we still didn´t know at this point, we just knew there seemed to be no hotel rooms). And she says they will cook dinner for us and have a party with us, their relative and 4 other "hotel" guests and we should stay through the New Years. So we do. And it´s totally strange.
We have a processed lunch meat turkey and some lamb and sausage and mayonnaise (Chileans really, really, really LOVE mayonnaise) for dinner. No one spoke English. At all. And I have a long conversation in Spanish with a nice lady about metaphysics. The fireworks were nice, the city was a massive party for three days prior to the actual New Years extravaganza and the dancing in the streets and drinking entirely too much was a lovely, although liver debilitating, time. Anyway. Here is a photo of Mom, Velvet jacket man and their relative:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/underunfamiliarstars/2172263685/in/set-72157603648426454/
I think this sums it all up. Mostly. Weirdly, I feel that we got very lucky with this experience... We found a place to stay in a city where park space to sleep was limited. We met some incredibly kind, although incredibly strange, people. We most definitely had a "cultural experience." And these are not the sort of things one does everyday.
To 2008, may it continue to bring surprises.
3 comments:
Love the awesomely weird experience, also the adorable main pic. :)
Mary Matt!!!
Hey you too- I can't believe you are still on the road!!!!! How are you? It looks like you are having a great time and Mary a 100 km hike, I'm impressed, but it looks like you loved it!? wow!
I did send you an e mail around xmas time and was very sad not to get a reply but hopefully this will get to you .
I am ok, still with the parents but in two weeks I am going to Russia - Moscow to be precise. I have a job in an International school until July!
write soon clairewagh@hotmail.com
Five years late, but I have to say--Mary, you are hilarious.
Post a Comment