Damn, first time online since I was in La Paz. I left the following morning, the bus ride home was a fucking nightmare. Actually, it wasnīt that bad, it was just a whole lot worse than the flight that I should have been on had that barcelonian not fucked me over on the ticket. The 8 hour trip from La Paz to Arica left at 6:30 in the morning and I was all kinda relaxed and kicking back when the little girl sitting on her momīs lap next to me began throwing up on mommy and the seat. I was half asleep and I heard the gurgling sounds and kinda laughed about it because what can you do? The mom was already doing her half ass clean up job before I really came to and had the chance to open the window and toss the kid out. Mom didnīt mind the puke smell too much, so I guess none of us did either, so no bother changing clothes or anything as the bus reeked of second hand pepto bismal and breakfast for the next seven fucking hours. I made it to Arica about 2:30 in the afternoon and fortunately there was an open seat on the bus leaving for Santiago a half hour later so I jumped on that. Now, Iīd been told that the route between Arica and Santiago was also known as the screaming child bus which certainly held true on the way up, but man this was ridiculous. I was in the second to last row sitting next to this chilean guy and we just kinda laughed about it the whole way there, eventually becoming delirious from lack of sleep. I had my seat back during the night and the kid sitting on his parentīs lap behind me kept kicking me in the back of the head. Parents on this bus kinda earn my respect because they just donīt seem to give a fuck, nevertheless they didnīt care too much when I asked them to get the kid to stop. He did finally, the next morning when the folks woke up, and then he busted out the gameboy at top volume and accentuated every good maneuvre with an excited kick to the back of my seat. This is on top of the all the kids who had the most erratic screaming habits ever. perfectly calm, then AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!! Oh well, Iīm not in prison right now for tossing kids out of bus windows or giving them swirlies in the bus toilet so I guess all is well.
We had midterms this past week, or as much as you can really have a test in the USAC program. Conflicts with my burnout economics professor came to a head when Theresa walked out and my friend Liz finished her test and then took twenty minutes to tell him all about how much his class sucks. I made some comment about physical intimidation which I think he heard so heīs probably pretty scared of me now too. Where do they find these guest professors? Poor Vince is in the art history class that I fortunately dodged, man everybody hates that lady who teaches it. She speaks spanish like Peggy Hill, well, almost that good. My guest botany professor from last semester seemed pretty cool, albeit a plant biologist, and then there was the time when he told us about the first time he smoked opium. I think Iīm gonna apply as a guest professor for the USAC program when Iīm older, maybe I could teach a class that I know nothing about and then invite all the girls over to my house for drinks like Gabriel the ecotourism teacher did last semester. Scumbag, scumbag, scumbag.
So that was this past week, half assing assignments and running around town gathering all I needed for Torres del Paine. Where am I now? Iīm in Puerto Natales, the town outside the entrance to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, way the fuck down here in southern Chile. I flew down yesterday after my stylistics class that almost nobody else showed up to, running through the airport to catch my flight. I sat next to, you guessed it, a lady and her baby on her lap. The kid only started screaming once but really thatīs not too commendable on a 4 hour flight, besides there were plenty of other kids to fill the screaming void while the younginī was asleep next to me. Heīd have looked cool getting caught in a jet stream after being tossed out the hatch at 30,000 feet. LanChile airlines kicks ass, I asked for the vegetarian meal and they handed me this plate with aluminum foil on it and I was expecting to take it off to reveal as big cheesy mess and was dumbfounded when I saw spinach, carrot puree, and motherfucking couscous. Hats off to LanChile for making me the first couscous Iīve eaten since I left Reno. Landed in Punta Arenas the town where you take the boat to get to Tierra del Fuego, then on another bus 3.5 hours north to Puerto Natales where I am now using a computer with no return key. The connection is slow as fuck too, but hey, itīs the internet. Nature pulled a big Fuck You Steve on me this morning as the very first big storm snuck up on the park and now a bunch of it is closed. Iīd originally planned to do the Circuito Paine, a 5 or 6 day jaunt past all the towers in what is pretty much South Americaīs best national park. Thatīs out the window now that the stormīs fucked up my time frame, so Iīm doing the W trail instead. The W trail is not named after our glorious retarded president, but rather follows a W shaped trail past a bunch of trails and ends up at a big glacier. Itīs 3-4 days, so Iīll definitely finish it, I just really fucking wanted to do the Circuito Paine. Next time, next time. So todayīs all about gathering food and the rest of the goods Iīll need and eating at the vegetarian restaurant here that Andrea told me about. And of course, getting my last internet fix in for a while.