Where is David?

I received a sad e-mail from my friend Dave Wadsworth in Santiago.  Apparently, someone stole his bar.  Note, someone STOLE his bar.  Ok, I know that sounds wierd, but the bar was totally his, he built the thing from the ground up. (ok, he converted it from a Liguria….but you get my drift)  His ex-girlfriend had all the stuff in her name, so took over the bar when they broke up.  No more business partnership, no more capital, no money for Dave, nada.  She screwed him over, and her shrivy (is that a word?  it should be) lawyer friend called Natalia (hi Natalia, I always knew you were evil) helped.  Natalia was also a ‘friend’ of Dave’s, so there’s some real soap opera shit going on here (sorry for the cursing, is this a family blog? (i kind of hate that blog word now too…any alternatives?))  Anyways, the funny thing is, Carola tried to sell it back to him for a bunch of money.  Dave had already offered her about half that before to buy her out.  Then, the landlord ends up kicking her out to put a bank in there or something, and she still is trying to sell it to him.  Luckily, he found out about all this and didn’t buy it.

Anyways, point of this story is…….nothing really…..just be careful out there people.  Oh yeah, sorry, the point was, Bar Sepia is the bar you’ll see in almost all of my Chile photos, and it’s gone now…..just gone.

Hey All, just want to say Happy Birthday to my buddy Jake.  Best bud from Chile.  Jake, if you’re reading this (don’t get caught at work, or they’ll put you in the basement and take away your stapler), just wanted to say Happy Birthday.  I guess I’ll have to give you an IOU on a drink for next time we’re in the same country.  One day you’ll make it out here to Asia, I can tell.

We got lots of good memories and other pretty hazy ones.  You can read about them in some of the posts below. I don’t think I wrote about this one already, but do you remember when we took that crazy drugged out taxi from Las Condes to Providencia that one night, and he said he was just about to go back to jail in a week or so?  Man, I’ve been in some scary taxi rides, but that pretty much takes the cake.  K, keep it cool amigo, and remember, I don’t care what anyone says, salsa class is not just for gay dudes.

To all my friends in Santiago,

Obviously, I can’t top Pablo’s tearjerker of a farewell email that he sent out recently, but as sure as ratdog loves a good piece of raw meat, I’m gonna try.

Basically, I’d just like to extend my thanks and appreciation for all the friendships I’ve gained this past year. Santiago was great BECAUSE of all of you, and it wouldn’t have been the same without any of you.

I will definitely miss all of you in Japan, but hopefully one day our paths will cross again.

I know that I’m leaving because it’s what I need to do, and I hope everyone is able to do the same in his/her life. If I had to give any parting advice to anyone, it’d be ‘don’t settle. In the future, never accept complacency for anything in this world, whether it be your situation in love, work, or anything else. Always strive for your goals and your dreams.’ I hope I can live up to my own advice and one day look back and admire what I’ve accomplished.

On the other hand, if 20 years from now I’m a complete bum living at my parents house (don’t worry Mom and Dad, it won’t happen, just a supposition), feel free to disregard this advice (and laugh at me in the process).

Other than that, I’d just like to reminisce a little bit about our times, hopefully give everyone a little laugh, as well as remember things for myself.

Pichilemu - It was an awesome trip. Our cabin totally kicked the other cabin’s ass, hands down. I thought the party and dinner were supposed to be in different cabins. Good steal on the hamburger Pablo. What, was Mike saying something? I thought I could hear him from Tokyo. Ultimate on the beach, fondas, chicha. good times all around. gay-ass picture at the end though.

Ratdog (the real Pichilemu ratdog I mean) - A true inspiration. You may have been the butt of our jokes, but you amazed us with your survival instincts and sheer tenacity to cling to whatever miserable existence you had left. Hopefully, one day I’ll never reach your level, but if I do, I hope I have the same determination to survive that you have. Bow-wow my friend.

DC United game - can’t believe they blew that f’ing (sorry, my parents read this) game! a 2-0 lead, blown in the second half? That was painful to be at, but at least La Catolica lost to my new favorite team in South American soccer, Boca Juniors. We’re lucky they weren’t playing Colo Colo, or we would have gotten killed in that section. The afterparty was cool though. Dude, I heard you guys were the most talked about band at CMJ.

Boca game - Wow….that was a lifetime experience. Awesome, thanks for arranging that Tim. Have you guys thought about the fact that there were no police in sight in our section? Cheech and Chong probably wouldn’t have minded. I’m thinking of getting a tattoo of Maradona holding a trophy on my right arm, what do you think?

Chileno - It’s almost Spanish, I swear, just put a bunch of marbles in your mouth and speak, add ‘po.

That one party that I can’t remember what it was for, when Patty slept on Dave’s couch and that whole drama started - Man, not much to say about that one. Sepia long island’s are pretty strong. Oh yeah, Patty won poker that night. And even though she was claiming the contrary, she didn’t LOSE her rockstar status that night, she GAINED it.

B.A. - Awesome trip everyone. Couldn’t have gone with a better group (yes Pablo, we wish you were there too) and couldn’t have had better stories. Jake’s camera loved it so much it decided to stay. I think I’ll have a craving for that steak for the rest of my life. Glad we got a chance to ratdog it on the street. Q: Excuse me sir, could you imitate a Chilean accent for us? A: Where the f**k is Chile?

The Strokes - Awesome show, and awesome chorrillana after. Who says Chilean cuisine sucks? Obviously, they’ve never had a chorrillana? Or maybe they just don’t consider that ‘cuisine’. What about completos then?

Tigres - I consider that concert like our version of cricket. I’m told that people go more for the atmosphere than for the actual performance. Hey Jake, how ’bout the Barros Luco, huh?

Halloween - I can’t decide which image is gonna stick in my brain the longest, Eric’s pink bunny, Tim’s nana, or Pierre’s whatever the hell he was. Good times.

People (in alphabetical order) - ‘nice to meet everyone’ and ‘wish you the best in the future’ should be considered standard with everyone listed here in case it’s not written below. Nothing here is really too private or sentimental, just some small thoughts about the good people I’ve known in Santiago.

Annie & Pia - hard to find cool people like you anywhere, much the less in Chile. You’ve got very open hearts and I appreciate everything you did for Jake and I. (work permit, beds & furniture, etc.) Annie, it was awesome living with you, too short in fact. It was always fun to hang out with both of you!

Chris - you’re the balancing stability for Pablo’s crazy life, you guys make a great team. It’s been awesome knowing you, and I was glad to see you at my despedida.

Dave Sepia - Dave, you were a great help to me, first person I knew in Chile, and I’ll always remember that. This year might have been a little rough business/relationship-wise for you, but I hope that was overshadowed by all the good times we all had, the good friends you’ve made. You know we’re there for you if you need anything!

Eric - Awesome living with you, man. You’ve got a great energy for life and a positive attitude, keep it up. I hope to hear good things from you in the future.

Jake - bro, awesome being your roommate. Tons of fun times. You’re a great guy with a good heart, and I wish all the best for you in the future. Let me know when you’re gonna hit up Thailand! We got tons of memories/crazy times….every one listed above in fact. Remember, we met playing basketball.

Jimmy - Another awesome roommate. We had a great apartment and all of you guys will be missed. Jimmy, you’re definitely a creative guy and an artist, and I wish you tons of success in the future. Keep me updated with what you’re up to! What’s your email address?…….oh yeah, I remember now.

Mike - you were a driving force in our group, always planning events and leading the pack. Keep up the hard work.

Oscar - hey Oscar, it sure was fun to smoke those Chileans in basketball, right? Thanks for hanging out, man. Best of luck in Chile, keep me updated with what you’re up to!

Pablo - Of all the people I think might come to Asia, you rank highest on the list. You’re a great friend and it’s been awesome hanging out with you. Thanks for driving us everywhere, and NO, I don’t want to go to Sala Murano this weekend!

Patty - As stated earlier, you ARE a rockstar. You’ve proved that a countless number of times. Also, you were our needed influence of feminine reality to keep us from fratting out too much, and we all appreciate that. I hope to see you sometime in the future, whether it be arizona, l.a. or wherever. (by the way, I’m not really a cat guy though)

Rafe - glad to see you finally found a cultural anomaly that worked out for you! Best of luck with that. Next time I’m in Thailand, I’ll look your brother up!

Reinhart - it was awesome hanging out with you. keep up the good work (whatever that is, I’ll never understand), and I hope that one day I’ll have a life similar to yours. If you ever come out to Asia, let me know!

Tim - Last but not least……ratdog! Dude, you’re the first southerner (but never forget your socal roots!) that I am able to call a friend, which actually means nothing now that I think of it but sounded good a minute ago. The point is, you’re a good friend, and it’s been awesome to meet you. I know you’ll be a big-shot CEO in the future so I hope you’ll always have a managerial position handy for a ratdog like myself, just in case. Ok, I better stop writing cause Pablo will get jealous that you got more words than he did.

Anyways, I’m tired and gotta start unpacking my stuff in my 13 square meter (that’s everything, including bathroom and kitchen, for 900 bucks!) apartment in Tokyo. Basically, these past words for everyone weren’t meant to be emotional masterpieces, but rather simple words of thanks and appreciation for all the good times I’ve had in Santiago. I truly wish the best for everyone, and if I can help you in any way, please let me know. Best of luck to everyone, and until the next time we meet……sayounara.

david

Ok, so maybe NEW isn’t the correct word.

Click here to check out some pictures from a weekend getaway to Pichilemu, a small beach town 3 hours south of Santiago, that I had with my friends.

AND, click here to check out a few pictures from Halloween in Santiago.

I’m back from my trip to Buenos Aires. I’ll have pictures soon. I got to go to a soccer game of the Boca Juniors, former team of Diego Maradona.

Saw a tango show, ate some great steak, drank some great wine. I’ll write more info about that later.

david

hola people in whereisdavid.com land. Just a quick smidgen to say that I’m off to B.A. (Buenos Aires for those who couldn’t guess).

Apparently, it’s a land of beautiful people, huge egos, steak, and outgoing personalities, so I should fit in great there. I’ll have a full report, and photos, when I return. Until then,

ciao.

Tonight I’m going into the abyss that they call Chilean futból (soccer). A friend of Jake’s is visiting and his brother happens to play for the MLS team DC United. DC United happens to be playing a very important Copa Sudamericana match against a local Chilean team, and we’re going to the game.

We’ll be in the side rooting for DC United, I believe, so I hope they have plenty of police protection there, because I don’t think there’ll be many other DC United fans there. I’ll give you guys a full report on my first experience at a South American soccer match when I ‘hopefully’ return safe and sound from the match.

I apologize for the long absence in writing. I can’t really say I’ve been busy, not in the traditional sense of the word at least. I’ve been wrapping up my sabbatical here in Chile and am ready to undertake a new chapter in my life.

I just got back from a great trip to Pichilemu, a quiet beach town about 3 1/2 hours south of Santiago. We went for the weekend of September 18th, from Friday to Monday. For those of you that don’t know, the 18th is Chile’s independence day. Chileans like to celebrate by going to fondas, which resemble a huge tent-covered area with a dirt floor, basically a huge dancefloor with sometimes tables to sit at in part of it, and always a bar taking up the whole wall of one side of the fonda.

It was a lot of fun. I can’t say I’m a big fan of ‘chicha’, a traditional wine that Chileans drink during the celebration. It tasted ok to me, but packs a hell of a punch in the drunkenness factor. After a single glass, I felt like my brain had shrunken by at least a centimeter on all sides.

Luckily that effect wore off when I woke up and I had a good time drinking a moderate amount of beer the rest of the weekend. It was still a bit cold down there in Pichilemu, but nothing a nice sweater couldn’t handle.

I did attempt to dance the ‘cueca’, the traditional Chilean dance that I’m told has its roots in an imitation of chickens doing some sort of mating dance. I thought it resembled people looking as if they were dancing on a bed of hot coals, but I’ll let you decide on that one.

I took a bunch of pictures, and promise to put them up soon, as well as pictures from my Asia trip that I’ve forgotten to post. Stay tuned, I’ll write another blurb once they’re up.

Speak of the devil. Just as I write about graffiti on churches, 2 Chileans get busted for spray-painting on a historical Inca monument in Cusco, Peru (a UNESCO World heritage site. I believe the wall they painted is over 1000 years old.)

Little did they know, there were security cameras there and they got caught. Now, they face up to 8 years in a Peruvian prison. In case some of you don’t know, the Peruvians don’t necessarily like the Chileans, so their experience is not going to be a pleasant one in prison (but is it ever I ask?) It’s a bit of a big deal here, especially given the animosity between the two countries. As a neutral observer (Ok, partially biased since I live in Chile) I think they guys are dumbasses, but 8 years is a bit much.

An interesting twist in the story is that one of the Chileans is studying to be a lawyer, the other works for a city government. The case is still developing. I haven’t seen anything about it in English-language news outlets, so you’ll have to check Spanish-language outlets like El Mercurio if you’re interested in following it.

Here are some pictures:

the damage:

Other graffiti that resembles this, but there were no cameras at this location, so they can’t prove it.

The accused:

Just a funny little story here about a language barrier problem I experienced when I first came here. As some of you very well know, I’ve spent a lot of time in other countries. As happens in other countries, they speak languages other than English. I’ve never mastered a foreign language I’d say, so I’ve always run into some kind of language problems whever I’ve lived.

At the grocery store, whenever I was paying for my goods, the cashier would always ask me a question that I had no idea what he/she was saying. I developed varied methods for answering this question with an assortment of nods, grunts, ‘no’s’, or some other half-hearted muddled response that I use when I don’t understand what someone’s saying but also don’t feel like engaging them in any attempt to find out either (it’s always better to ask for clarification but when people are waiting in line behind you they don’t want some gringo taking up time trying to get a Spanish lesson).

One day eventually, the cashier pointed up to the cashier screen where is said ‘Hogar de Christo’, and while this gave me a little more information about what they were talking about, it still didn’t help me because I had no idea what ‘Hogar de Christo’ was anyways. Finally, I got around to asking what ‘Hogar de Christo’ was and a friend of mine told me it was a charity. I assumed the charity was using the grocery store as a collection point (similar to what we have in the U.S.) and I felt that if I was ever feeling generous I could give a small donation at the grocery store, but I also don’t like to feel pressured into giving donations (kinda takes away from the whole ‘goodness of the heart’ aspect, don’t you think).

Still, now that I knew what they were talking about, I could say ‘no’ to the cashier with a little bit more confidence. I imagined they were saying (I still couldn’t really understand them, because they speak so fast here in Chile), “Sir, would you like to donate any money to Hogar de Christo today?” And I’d reply with a “No, Thanks.”

About a month of this goes by, and I’ve seen other people give an unenthusiastic ‘yes’ or grunt to answer this question in the positive. The cashier doesn’t ask them for an amount, but I notice that they type in something, as if they know how much even though the customer didn’t say anything about how much to give. I was a bit confused.

Finally one day, I actually understood what they lady asked me. She said, “Sir, would you like to donate 3 pesos to Hogar de Christo?” Because my bill came out to some odd number like 4,357 pesos, (about 560 pesos to the dollar now) and say perhaps I paid with 4,500 pesos, my change would be 143 pesos. All along, the cashiers were just asking me for the small change because it really has no value and it’s just a hassle to deal with. 3 pesos are worth about half a penny. Homeless people won’t accept anything less than a 100 pesos, and here I was requesting my 3 pesos in change for the first couple of months I was in Santiago. I guess that didn’t leave too good an impression on the cashiers and people in line seeing this gringo (who people think are rich anyways) demanding the 3 pesos instead of donating it to one of the largest charities in Chile.

Since this has happened, I’ve run into other stores that do the same thing. Sometimes the charity is for kids with cancer, other times I don’t even understand what they’re saying, but I know what they mean. And now I always answer with a heartfelt (overly emphatic at times, depending on my mood) YES. Because even though someone’s asking you to do something, it can still be a good deed if your heart’s in it.