... Well look who it is, little old me in little old Chile... a new day a new continent... my head is a bit soft and fluffy today after a BBQ and beers, and wine, and vodka... so maybe this post will also be a bit soft and squidgy but bare with me, this slight hangover is testament to a nice little hostel... When I first arrived I felt truly overwhelmed and a bit lost... South America already seems like one of the toughest tests of travelling thus far... Russia would have been difficult but for my knowledge of the language and the fact that that was part of a tour so we had guides in each city... here, I slaped myself down in a new continent, hugging my Spanish phrase book like a comfort blanket as I suck my metaphorical thumb... I´d not slept for a day and a half when I arrived, I got to the hostel OK but the city and the country was really overwhelming to my dozy head... people milling about and the English language nothing but a passing notion in the back of heads... the streets were familure but different, with the feel of a photo that´s been left out in the sun, everything was a bit more beige... I couldn´t even find comfort in KFC, even that felt unusual and foreign... I had to go back to the saftey of the hostel from the overwhelming world... don´t get me wrong, it isn´t really bad its just if you´re short of sleep or are hungry you can become easily overwhelmed, and that was the case with me... but in this lovely little hostel I found an escape and a friendly place... the staff in the hostel are great at getting everyonbe together drinking and socialising, I made friends, I got travelling tips for this continent and had a nice little drink with nice people... and suddenly the world didn´t seem so scary... then after a good 12 hour sleep the staff organised a BBQ for us this sunday, they took us to the local market to get out meat and veg we had slap up steak, pork, chicken and salsa and salad... beautifully tastey as we all sat around with beers and conversation... so with all this I have calmed and settled into this country... no longer overwhelmed... no longer scared... it seems like when ever you are scared or alone when travelling, there is always someone round the corner ready to calm you and befriend you... now I know its nice to be back on the travelling trail, in a new culture which binds us travellers together and gives the unique feel that gives rise to transient friends as well as a fast forwarding of the befriending process which can comically lead to some startling cases of ´travellers tong´... ;)
... in the market I was struck by the thought of how similar all the places in this world are... but for a few details the market could just have easily been in Ukraine, Cambodia, Mongolia... but for a flag, and the fact that the cafes have a man playing Spanish guitar in... stray dogs were looking well fed, sitting around waiting for the stray pieces of meat from the butchers... ... I remember when I was in Battenbang in Cambodia with Khadija and she was really struck by how similar the market in Battenbang was to those back in Morocco... and I felt that here in Santiago... the world is small and similar... nowhere is ever as scary or as different as your imagination will lead to believe if you walk around alienated by language and with a fluffy head from lack of sleep... ... ... but a hostel and good people helped me realise this... ... ... so I´m sorry if this post is a bit discordent but booze will do that to you the next day!
... so now I´ve waxed lyrical about the hostel I´ll tell you one of the not so good things, the showers... the showers are in the toilet opposite the sinks and the mirrors... they don´t have frosted glass, they just have transparent green plastic screens... so if you walk into the bathroom while people are showering it is like walking into a kinky green gay peep show... you´re washing your hands and behind you are a couple of nude guys in your peripheral vision having a wash... and all green and flourescent... it makes me uncomfortable... it definatly stops me washing my hands so much here!
... the other thing I´ll mention (it´ll probably stimulate epic yawns, but I want to be able to read this nonsense back myself) was the plane journey here... I didn´t watch the in flight entertainment but looked at the screens in the back of other people´s seats... watching many different films all at once, all silent... it felt a bit scitzophrenic looking into all these different films at once... and then there was the couple in front of me... a British or Irish lad just randomly next to a Brazilian girl... he went with the chat up line of ´do you want to play a game of battleships?... (a classic line)... she played and then they flirted and then I whiled away the hours mentally willing the boy on to kiss her... like a guy watching a horse race I was thinking ´go on my son´... you´ll be happy to hear he did kiss her... it was so romantic (ahem!) ... and it was a bit weird and akward watching them swap facebook details when the flight landed and he went to Chile and she connected onto Brazil... they kept giving each other thumbs up as they swaped details... so next time I meet a girl I like I´m definatly gonna whip out my Battleships (not a euphamism) and hopefully I´ll earn some thumbs up... ... I guess I can but dream...
... anyway, this post seems a bit fluffy and cloudy like my head... so I´m gonna sit in the sun with a glass of OJ and my Russell Brand book... then later a girl who works in the hostel is gonna show me a cool area of the city... ... ... ... Do you want a game of Battleships? ... ;)
Keep well, keep happy.
Lots of love,
Matt
P.S. I can´t spell check this post sorry... I pressed the spell check button to highlight all the spelling mistakes and the whole post turned yellow... My spellings not that bad... turns out the computer´s set to Spanish... ... sorry to all you grammar fetishists!
... in the market I was struck by the thought of how similar all the places in this world are... but for a few details the market could just have easily been in Ukraine, Cambodia, Mongolia... but for a flag, and the fact that the cafes have a man playing Spanish guitar in... stray dogs were looking well fed, sitting around waiting for the stray pieces of meat from the butchers... ... I remember when I was in Battenbang in Cambodia with Khadija and she was really struck by how similar the market in Battenbang was to those back in Morocco... and I felt that here in Santiago... the world is small and similar... nowhere is ever as scary or as different as your imagination will lead to believe if you walk around alienated by language and with a fluffy head from lack of sleep... ... ... but a hostel and good people helped me realise this... ... ... so I´m sorry if this post is a bit discordent but booze will do that to you the next day!
... so now I´ve waxed lyrical about the hostel I´ll tell you one of the not so good things, the showers... the showers are in the toilet opposite the sinks and the mirrors... they don´t have frosted glass, they just have transparent green plastic screens... so if you walk into the bathroom while people are showering it is like walking into a kinky green gay peep show... you´re washing your hands and behind you are a couple of nude guys in your peripheral vision having a wash... and all green and flourescent... it makes me uncomfortable... it definatly stops me washing my hands so much here!
... the other thing I´ll mention (it´ll probably stimulate epic yawns, but I want to be able to read this nonsense back myself) was the plane journey here... I didn´t watch the in flight entertainment but looked at the screens in the back of other people´s seats... watching many different films all at once, all silent... it felt a bit scitzophrenic looking into all these different films at once... and then there was the couple in front of me... a British or Irish lad just randomly next to a Brazilian girl... he went with the chat up line of ´do you want to play a game of battleships?... (a classic line)... she played and then they flirted and then I whiled away the hours mentally willing the boy on to kiss her... like a guy watching a horse race I was thinking ´go on my son´... you´ll be happy to hear he did kiss her... it was so romantic (ahem!) ... and it was a bit weird and akward watching them swap facebook details when the flight landed and he went to Chile and she connected onto Brazil... they kept giving each other thumbs up as they swaped details... so next time I meet a girl I like I´m definatly gonna whip out my Battleships (not a euphamism) and hopefully I´ll earn some thumbs up... ... I guess I can but dream...
... anyway, this post seems a bit fluffy and cloudy like my head... so I´m gonna sit in the sun with a glass of OJ and my Russell Brand book... then later a girl who works in the hostel is gonna show me a cool area of the city... ... ... ... Do you want a game of Battleships? ... ;)
Keep well, keep happy.
Lots of love,
Matt
P.S. I can´t spell check this post sorry... I pressed the spell check button to highlight all the spelling mistakes and the whole post turned yellow... My spellings not that bad... turns out the computer´s set to Spanish... ... sorry to all you grammar fetishists!
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