Return to my Valley and other things (?)

Clever title is failing me, not sure I have had one yet though, so if I hadn't written this sentence no one would remark on it. Too late now.

So I am now back in Viña after basically three weekends of traveling. First back to Pisco Elqui where I taught for three months three years ago, then to see my old host mum Shakti in her new house near Olmue, then this weekend back to la serena and Pisco Elqui again but with the giant group of gringas (those who know my traveling style know how much I love giant green tour buses)

So my weekend in Pisco Elqui was really beautiful. Except I was sick, surprise surprise. Apparently my body does not appreciate sitting in tinned air and bacteria for ten hours. Despite the sickness, I arrived in Elqui late on the friday night, and spent a beautiful saturday morning working in Luchito and Lucho's mum's Tienda de Artesanal. They sell the necklaces that Luchito makes, hippie clothes, other jewellery, propoleo (know idea what this is in English but whenever I am sick someone makes me take it and it tastes like dirt but miraculously cures me) honey, and pisco. The pisco they sell is special because it often is bottled with strawberries or walnuts or papaya and tastes even more like heaven. So I spend the morning there, and then afternoon swimming in the river with Lucho's brother and his girlfriend and child.  We drove down the road away from tourists and then walked down a dirt path to a hidden oasis of running water with the andes jutting up on all sides and sun glinting through the trees. Hard life innit.

Most of the rest of the trip was spent reading an incredibly dirty story by Chilean Antonio Skarmeta. Basically all about sex and communism and used so much Chilean slang that it actually took seven chileans discussing the various possible meanings to help me understand what on earth they were saying. Let me just say that I will never look at cauliflower and a horse's coat the same way again.

I was absolutely miserable on monday and furious that I had to return to the (AAAHHH CLASS< TO BE CONT>)

cont. the oceanside resort that is Viña and leave the soul and sun and stars of my valley. But that's life.

For update on School life. It's been a joke so far. Albeit, an annoying, time-consuming, thoroughly confusing joke (I have just figured out how to fotocopy, the only way to get some texts, and in order to get mine I had to help the old man organize the whole place). We had basically a week off for the Semana of Mechones, freshers week. During this week the freshman have to walk around barefoot and barely clothed covered in egg and flour asking for money from the people. When they get 5000 or so they can get their clothes back. Other fun hazing activities include dune surfing drunk (occasionally people break arms) and having to do water races in their clothes. Obviously important enough to require a week off of school. All of this means, that I have a class Danzas Folklore (yes, not kidding) that I have been to ONE time. Let me repeat, one time, in about 7 weeks of school. And yet, I don't think I am behind. All of this school up in the air-ness means that I still don't feel like I am at school. It is more a bothering gnat that won't go away rather than the intent of this trip.

I will write more on this subject, and probably demonstrate my obnoxious liberal arts privilege, but the joke that is La Catolica, did decide to give me really interesting homework (I walked 15 block and took photos of gas stations, car shops, and other signs of globalization) so I now have to go slap together a powerpoint. (Dear Father, the powerpoint presentations here are actually more tedious than watching paint dry, the Chileans use the powerpoint tactic of as much information as possible on the slides, and then you read off of them, or even just point to the words.) I then have to write one page on my opinion of the 2nd amendment. Obviously this vast quantity of work is going to require an all-nighter. So off I trot.


Oh I have pictures!

Oh I can't figure out how to add them. Another time...