Why don't I have my Chilean ID? ... because I'm not Chilean

So 2 days after April took off back to the land of cheap peanutbutter, coffee grinders, and electric toasters, I was struck down on my way to school. A chilean woman was rushing a book to her daughter at school and tried to pass me, only lift me off the ground stuff me on to her hood, Throw my helmet through her window, and finally skid to a stop, bouncing up onto the curb, and trowing me off her hood, onto the ground by the sidewalk. Here's photos I had an onlooker take.
That's the bike slayer there on the left in the flowered get-up.

I'm the tall one
This is the whepon

There's the bike, along with her, her weapon of mass destruction, and my life saving bike.

She hit me at a speed of 35mph. When she hit me, she hit me from the rear, hitting my rear wheel first, then my left side. The wheels on the bike (29ers) were big enough, so that when she hit me, it simply lifted me up onto her hood, and I rode it out on her hood, until, due to breaking forces, I rolled off onto that grass you see in the last photo. I was lucky. The bike was fine, absolutely NO damage, and I had a bit of a scraped up left leg, some ripped shorts, and a broken helmet. The Carabineros were facinated by the fact that I didn't have a Chilean ID card. I guess I'm starting to look the part... What do you think?

She doesn't want to pay me for my helmet and my shorts, so, I think I'll just let karma take care of her, either that or the Carabineros (Chilean police).

It was nearing up on the end of the program. Everyone was frantically going around, and making sure to say bye to all their new friends, before going back home. Steve Mac and I went to La Vega Central one more time, mainly because it's a rad place... and to drink a drink called a "terremoto" (earthquake) at a famous bar called "La Piojera".

A terremoto is a drink made of wine, and pineapple ice cream. They are OUTRAGEOUSLY sweet, and pretty good, and smooth, but pretty strong as well.

We then went to La Vega, where we discovered these genius signs.
Yah, you guessed it, spinach is labeled "Popeye" and garlic is labled "Viagra", and no, those arn't the Spanish words for them.

We then moved on to a "completo a lo pobre" which is a hot dog covered in sauteed onions, a fried egg, and cheese. It was crazy.


The following weekend I was invited to Valpariso with Mac, and her "host family" (her host family are really just really good friends whom she lived with here).




Valpariso was a blast, then it was back for the last week of school.

A visit from Gringolandia

So for those of you that don't know, I am dating a beautiful girl named April. For those keeping up with the life of Wayne, you may recognize her from an earlier photo of the 'rents, her and myself.
Well, she came to visit.
No, I did not piggy back her all the way back from the airport. Believe it or not, Chile has cars which can be used for transportation.
We went to La Vega Central with Francis, and had some Pastel de Choclo.


I tortured April with one day of classes, this is lunch of that day.


We got the opportunity to meet up with the family she stayed with when she did "Un Techo Para Chile" which is like a Chilean version of Habitat for Humanity.
Ok, this is the appartment that we rented for the time she was here, and yes, I did find that shopping cart in the elevator.

One night we threw a sort of party.
This is Will trying the mystery fruit that I bought at the grocery store.
This is some of the crew.
More of the crew.
It was a light night, we just shared a bottle of wine, and ate some caviar, and talked about finances, and our futures.

The next day we hit the town for some more exploring.
This is on top of Cerro Santa Isabel.

We went out for a nice dinner, in Bellavista.
Yes that's right, "Los Beetles", and they sang in English. ...and yes EVERY chilean that was within earshot was singing along, but not in English, not in Spanish either, it was just this sort of noise making to the beet of the music.

The next day we hit Valpariso, a town on the Chilean coast, close to Santiago.
This is April with a whole plate of death in front of her. I'm not saying that because I'm afraid that those clams, shrimp, urchins, muscles, or whatever else had feelings. I'm just allergic.

This section is called "Fun With Poets". Just down the street from "La Sebastiana" (one of Pablo Neruda's 3 houses in Chile) was the Plaza of Poets, where they had these metal statues of some famous Chilean poets.

This is April hanging out with Vincent Huidobro. He's a pretty friendly guy.

Or so we thought...

A swift backhand from Huidobro.


As for friendly poets, Pablo Neruda... who knew?


Now Gabriela Mistral looks all calm, and tranquil, but a bottle of wine or two, and she's a party animal.

April in front of the Neruda House.
Outside of the Neruda house.

OK, you want to play game now?


Now that you know the rules...
I know, "This is hard, even for a monster"
I'll give you a hint, it's the one in the middle.

Now I wasn't going to put anything too mushy up here, but I have good reason for this one. Whenever you're out in public, anywhere in Santiago, you ALWAYS see Chileans just making out like no one was watching, in the busses, in the parks, in the streets, in the classrooms, but most commonly the metros. So...
It's just a little taste of their own medicine. If this photo shocks you at all, I had to break it to you some time. Me and my girlfriend... we kiss.


That night, we had dinner at my host family's house. We took a group photo.
Staging for the group photo.

The group photo. April, the host family, and myself.

The next day April headed back to the land of change.

Update #2

Try to keep up here, I'm trying to catch everyone up.

After the Patagonia adventure, it was back to Santiago, and some smog.

After 2 days in the city, my eyes started to burn all the time, and I could notice it was harder to breath. As it turns out, I have an allergic reaction to the smoke and the smog in Santiago. So, my weekend adventures outside of the city would continue.

The next weekend Steve, Francis, and myself hitch-hiked from Santiago to Cajon del Maipo, a nice canyon with a river or two right outside of the city, it's easy and cheap to get to. We were picked up by some construction workers, we went for a pretty good hike, then when we were done, we met back up with the construction workers, we were served wine and empenadas, and given a ride back to the city. Really nice people.

The next weekend I was invited by a buddy of mine that I play some occasional disc with to join him on the "ridge hike". Essentially it's a hike from the road up to the ski resorts on the north east side of Santiago, to the same valley that Steve Francis and I hiked the previous weekend.

We started after class on Friday, there was a group of 10 of us, but by the end of the first day, we were down to 8, Steve turned back to help another guy down that wasn't feeling well.
Friday Hike:

Hiking up Cerro Providencia, that's fog behind me.

A view up the canyon from Cerro Providencia.Santiago By night
Timed photo gone wrong... or very very right?
That's what I was trying to do.


Saturday Hike: From Cerro Providencia (elev. 8900 ft.) to Cerro San Ramon (elev. 10300 ft.)

Refugio #1 on top of Cerro Providencia in the morning.

A view of the Andes from the hike that day. Beautiful isn't it?

A view of Santiago from the hike that day, and yes that's smog... lots and lots of smog.
The crew inside refugio #2 on top of Cerro San Ramon.

Niko making use of his climbing skills, a padded floor, and the refugio.
Sunday, down to Cajon del Maipo:


Big group photo

That's where we were headed, Cajon del Maipo.

This is everyone realizing that they hadn't packed enough water.

Beers at the end of the trip.
It was a good trip, and I got the chance to meet some pretty rad people.

That week we had another Critical Mass. This time I persuaded a bunch of the USAC gringos to join us. Nico (from the ridge hike) works at a local city bike tour place, and got them all hooked up on bikes, FOR FREE. Thanks Nico and Bicicleta Verde.
The mass
Max, Jaron, and Steve sharing just some ordinary peach juice.
Ryan
Max this is before his bike got dominated, the thing wasn't exactly road worthy, but that's OK, because Max is a little guy.
Steve, Lia, Max, Jaron, and Ryan

The next weekend, it was to Cajon del Maipo again for one night on Friday night.

Steve in his natural habitat: wilderness, hatchet, and beer.
Suzie, Laura, Max and Will on a tarp, in the shade all day long.


Cajon by night,


This is Mike, he's not a little guy, he's probably like 6'2" or maybe a bit bigger. that tent measures 5' long. Sleep well mike?

April came to visit Sunday morning.