As you well know, I spend the entire of 18 de septiembre, Chile independence day, on a bus. I strongly wish I could have spent it in Valparaíso, the best place in all of Chile for the festivities. On regrets, you can't do anything about it. In our case, we were stuck without bus tickets, so we made the most of it, and I am glad for the amazing experience in valle de la luna, which would have been missed otherwise.
And when I got back, guess who was here? Michael! The same travel companion of Easter Island and returner of the prodigal wallet. He was visiting Valpo and staying with GThomas (or if you prefer, Thomas el Vecino, as my family calls him). I was finally able to thank him for the favor, as I forgot during our chance encounter in Valle de Elqui, so overwhelmed I was by the sheer chance of it. I learned more of the Tale of the Prodigal Wallet. The night that the taxi driver returned it (half an hour after I had left) he came back and proceeded to push the button for every apartment in the building in search of an Ellen. So everyone in the building went down to the front door at the same time and there was mass confusion. Essentially, I indirectly evacuated the building. This is the second time in my life I have done that, though this time was infinitely less hazardous. I accompanied the Germans to Plaza Victoria for a cueca festival. I might never get tired of cueca, as I have seen it at least 5 times and dance it every week in my class, but still love it. We checked out Pablo Neruda's house, la Sebastiana, briefly as well, but did not go in as it is double the price on the weekends; they only give a student discount on weekdays.
Aside from the previously described celebrations in San Pedro, I did watch the parade in Santiago at home with Dani (if I had known I would have just gotten off the bus there and stayed). Wow that sounds lame, I watched the parade on TV. Well for the record it was great. And for the evening, we went to playa ancha for La Ramada, a huge carnival festival thing at Playa Ancha in Valparaíso. Now this is actually worth talking about.
La Ramada is not like the carnival in Hamburg [PA]. Not at all. It is about 6 times the size, with stands that are infinitely more interesting and about 3 times as tall, and it is packed. Like packed to the point where you could not walk through it. And it was awesome. If the scale of the place does not overwhelm you, the array of activities will. Included are an extreme number of food places where you can get just about anything, rides and games, shops, and discotecs, including a transvestite one that had curtains concealing the entire sector. It was full of the smell of everything BBQ, loud noises, lights and more lights. Just walking around to take all of this in, to say nothing of the people who were also perusing around, was quite the experience. We ran into several Chilean friends, some of the monitores, Caroline (who I know from MU as well), Cristian, and Maria, but we had plans to meet up with other friends after so we parted after a short while.
We hopped on a rather violent micro, with turns so abrasive that everyone standing was projected to the floor or seats, multiple times. The kids in the VIP seat up front love it though. Dani opted for more nighttime adventure, but I opted for bed, as I was finally out of travel energy. I was still awake when Dani returned home though, with bad news; she had been attacked, but was ok. She had been walking in Bellavista with a friend, and a guy ran up and tries to yank her purse. However, the purse was around her shoulder, she held on, and smacked the guy in the face. Kudos for reaction time! Her friend kicked the guy, but the flaite pushed him over, and bolted, without the purse. No one was hurt. So this happened next to a plaza, where there were lights, a lot of people, and police. As the flaite ran, police car(s?) were in pursuit, sirens and all. I hardly ever carry a purse, but now I will be sure not to. She was targeted specifically because she had a purse, no other reason. Petty crime like this is common, especially near the port area at night, though you are usually pretty safe with a group. I am not discouraged from visiting this highly interesting part of Valpo, but I will be careful.
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