Reislog Archief:
| September |
| Geplaatst door: Felix |
Tijd in Nederland: 00:20 20/05/10 - Tijd in Valparaíso, Chile: 18:20 19/05/10 |
Itīs a cool day in Valparaíso.
I will explain why. The air is fresh but the sun is shining bright, as (almost) always.
This afternoon I had a phone conversation with my mom, Josje.
She went to the travel agency today in Amsterdam.
Through email messages I have made arrangements to change my flight.
Scratch june out of your agendas, I will not be home!
1 september is the new adventureflight to Brussels. Also I changed the departure spot.
No more Lima, Peru. I will be heading for Bogota, Colombia!
Now of course there are more sides to this story, I will miss some people big time this summer.
But more importantly, I know how I feel. There is more to this place then I have yet discovered.
And I just need more time to do that. Work on my Spanish, continue with the somewhat strange jobhunt.
Now I have bought myself some more freedom, which you must know, I love.
I was waiting for confirmation and all, before I wanted to say anything here. It has been a bit quiet, yes.
Valparaíso is a lot of fun, and beauty, and great weather, fantastic surroundings, and what not.
And more importantly, I feel like I have a real family here, I could never stay this long away without their comfort & love.
Antonio, Fresa, Carmen, Carlos, Lucila, Felix (chico), Muchas gracias!
This weekend we went off on a little adventure. Parents, kids, and me, in the Volkswagen Combi, off to Santiago.
And adventure we got. Just about 40kmīs out of town, on the highway, we heard a weird noise.
Antonio made his way to the īstreetī on the right, and we discovered we had a flat tire.
Luckily we also had a spare.
Great to discover the extra tire didnīt have any air! Oops. Antonio went off to look for help, we stayed with the car. In Chile
they have this interesting phenomenon, shops next to the Autopista. We happened to have a flight literally right next to one.
This creates more fun than you could ever imagine. Right there on the emergency part of the highway, big trucks pulled over and
īparkedī next to us, to buy a Coke, and cookies of course! The upside was that with big trucks next to us, we were a little more safe
from other traffic.... I guess?
Antonio found a mechanic and he had air on his truck available, 5 minutes of work and we were happily on the road again.
80km/s steady, some trucks passing us, but no problema, this way we can enjoy the landscape much more, it was a beautiful day
and we stayed out of real trouble.
With a little GPS guidance we made our way to Alto Las Condes shopping district. This place makes you feel like America. (North America)
Funny detail is that in reality I donīt know how that part of the world feels like, but it must be somewhat like this I imagine.
Cars everywhere, parking places bigger than soccer fields, and shops, shops, shops, and did I mention the shops? Not to forget they are Big.
Why did I say Big? I mean.
Enormous.
Youīd think that enormous shops got everything. And most of the time I guess you would be right. Not so here.
They just got more of the same. No Doritos Pizza. Incredible. What a disappointment for me and my smaller counterpart.
Nothing serious I know.
The good part is still coming. In the supermarket we met Rosita. Fresaīs sister.
Itīs saturday, and it happens to be... her Birthday!!!!! Feliz Cumpleaņos Rosita!!!!!
Wine, Pisco, Cerveza & Snacks were bought, to get the party started at her house later tonight.
But not yet.
Driving out of that ...place, Antonio asked if Fresa would look out the window, to see if the tire was alright.
It was. Then Antonio opened his window, and discovered part 2 of today.
The other tire at the back was flat. Oops 2.
Of course now we didnīt have another lying around in the van. Time for Fresa & Rosita to hop into a taxi.
An hour or so later they arrived with a īnewī tire, Antonio got to work for a couple of minutes, and within no time, and just before
real dark, we were on the road. Again! With Rosita! (And all the groceries!!).
Rosita lives with mother Veronica and nephew Ivan. In a beautiful hilly neighbourhood, once īfarī away from Santiago, now ījust
another barrioī. I love the place, itīs calm as long as the dogs donīt go wild, itīs right at the start of the mountains. July, August (winter), you can
ski at a 30 minutes drive up the hills.
A lot of Pisco, wine, guacamole, chips, music from Los Jaivas, friendly people, and a lot of kids running around! Made for a special
and really good atmosphere, only no dancing but we got other places for that.
The weekend before last, Fresa and I went to Santiago together, by bus.
We met Rosita and headed for Estacion Mapocho. An old trainstation, now used for all kinds of big events. Tonight for a special concert.
First some Chilean girls singing, the warm up the crowd a little bit.
Then the band of Joe Vasconcellos, a famous Chilean group of bandits (about 10 guys on stage with all instruments I know).
But I only came, for the grand finale:
Los Jaivas !
Many people reading this probably have never heard of them.
But here they are worldfamous. Josje told me stories all my life. We listened to the CDīs (& vinyl! tapes, etc!) since I was little.
Here I was, reunited with my heroes, some of them I had last seen when they were recording a new CD close to Paris, France. Many,
many years ago. Before they started we went backstage! Fresa & Rosita are daughters of one of the founders, Eduardo Parra, a good
friend of my mom. He now lives in Paris, and therefore is not an active member of the group at this time.
When I was little the original drummer, Gabriel, lost his life in a road accident in Peru.
Seven years ago the singer, musican, writer of the group, Gato Alquinta was taking a bath in the Ocean, until his heart stopped.
For the band, and all friends and family, this was a huge loss. Too young and still with many projects in his head...
But with time the band found new members, and they are playing again, not as much as they used to but right now they are in Argentina,
where they will play along the festivites of the Bicentario (200 years independence).
Lucky for me, that I was here in Chile on the date of the event.
Incredible to see them, in a really big old building, almost completely full of Chilenos, a lot of families! Small kids, parents, grandparents, and all of them dancing, singing, clapping with all the tunes I love.
Wonderful. Unforgettable. And also heavy, because most of the tunes are full of feelings, the losses of the band, me being far away from home, far away from so many people, who I would really like to hold very close.
Itīs getting dark outside. And I am getting emotional. Not good! Or...
I will let you know what my plans are, whenever I discover them, for now, I am learning.
Abrazo,
F |
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