Tango in Plaza Bellavista

I was sitting on a bench, reading the novel House of Spirits by Isabel Allende. The vivid descriptions of post WWI Chile gave life to the dry political and economic history I had been reading, and I was completely immersed. My revere was broken as the sound of accordion and strings, the unmistakable sound of the tango, burst from from a tinny boom box a few feet away. I looked up to see a stunningly gorgeous couple begin to dance.

I had started my day with my spirits low. After a burst of activity and meeting people when I first got to Valpo, that momentum has been lagging. I often feel like an outsider and the place where i´m staying, in large part because so often I can´t understand what people are saying, especially when its a big group of old friend talking fast and joking around. Though I keep hearing of interesting social projects, I have not yet find something to get involved in, so I end up with more free time that I would like. On top of that, I dearly miss my baby, who will be arriving in Santiago very soon, but never soon enough.

So as I watched dance after incredibly beautiful dance and happily threw few coins into the old derby they passed around, I was grateful for a reminder of why I travel.

Valparaiso

I´ve been back and forth to Santiago a couple of times now, but most of my time has been in Valparaiso, or Valpo.  Supposedly Chile´s cultural capitol, Valpo is jam packed with artists.  There are murals everywhere, street theater all over the place, and jugglers at every stoplight.
I´ve been hangoing out a lot at Casa TIAO, an "okupa" or squat.  Its been going on for about 2 years now, has water, electricity, and a pretty public image, they have shows there all the time that are widely advertised.  they have huge ceilings, rigging for 4 different aerial aparatus at once, space to juggle, etc etc. its great, someone will be randomly walking through the living room, jump up to the trapeze and bust out some moves, then hop down and continue ontheir way.  in some ways its amazing how similar it is to scenes in portland, the bay, etc; the partially shaved heads, the circo-punk style, but in other ways very latin amreican.  it is more diverse than scenes i´ve seen in the states.  the jugglers here are pretty amazing.  its a way to make
money, juggling at stoplights, so they learn it early and get good fast.

Threre was just an independent theater festival, mix of street theater and independent venues (like the okupa and a converted factory among others), i ended up with a bit part on one of the street peices which was really fun.  I got pulled into one of the shows, and played a crazy doctor in El Mimo Tuga´s street show.  

I´m staying on the other side of town, in Taller El Litre, a metal fabrication shop and hangout of traveler/circus types.  Its run by a crazy guy called Tio Willy and his wife.  I´m living in a theater set peice, halfway up a hill.  Its on a strip about 12 feet wide, with a 15 foot retaining wall above and another below.  Did I mention Valpo has a lot of hills?  Really steep ones too.  There´s about a dozen "ascensor"s, or elevators, built at the turn of the century (starting in the 1800s that is) that take you up the side of a hill on railroad tarcks.

Now, i'm off to the okupa to practice some acro and aerials with folks I've met here.

Hitchiking in Chile

I've been in Valparaiso for about a week.  I dedided to head in to Santiago (1 1/2 hours away) to see a couple of shows, part of a huge international theater festival going on the month of January.  I was with a new friend, Jackie, a contortionist from Portland, and her friend Morgan.  It didnt take long for a car to pull over and give us a ride into the city.  The driver, a very nice clean cut man about 30, turned out to be a prison guard returning from work.  We kept a good converstaion going and when we got to the city he invited us to join him for lunch.  We stopped at his house for a drink, then drove around the corner to the Police Officer's Social Club.  In the restaurant, we had to rearange our seating arrangements so that those of us with sandals (not allowed in the restaurant) would not be visable to those entering.   After our lunch, our guide continued to drive us around the city, to the museum, to the internet cafe, to the park.  Finally he got tired (he had worked the night shift the night before) and dropped us off and went home.

Our return trip was not as unexpected, but quite friendly.  After being passed by a funeral procession (the hearse driver gave us a huge goofy grin and hand signals something like "normally i´d pick you up, but i got this guy in the back..."), we got a ride in a vegetable truck, straight to the market in downton Valpo.

Santiago de Chile

I arrived in SCL at 5:30 AM after nearly 24 hours of traveling. Aside from customs finding my trail mix (and having to sign a total of 5 statements acknowledging my failure to declare my dried fruit, authorizing its seizure and destuction, and agreeing that i´m damn lucky that they didnt slap my ass in jail) my entrance to Chile was smooth. I made my way to Hostal Don Santiago, my new home for 5 days. I found this place on couchsurfing.com; Pato, the manager of the hostal invited me to stay there free of chage.

I passed out for about 7 hours, and got up in time for the new years eve dinner hosted by Pato and Diego, an employee at the hostal. Then we went out to watch the fireworks and celebrate in the street with thousands of chileans. I almost went to be after that, but instead I ended up at a bar with some germans, drinking with Pato back at the hostal, then catching a cab to a club at around 4, dancing for a couple hours, and finally returning to the hostal to pass out.

I spent the next couple days recovering. Finally, I feel like myself again. I bought new juggling clubs here, after leaving my old ones at my friend´s place in Oakland. They´re pretty sweet, and cheap too, about 9 bucks each.

I´m sticking around for juggle club tomorrow, then on to Valparaiso on monday.