Thursday, 21 June 2007

DAY 5 - DAY 8.
Los Angeles (Chile)
On the 14th of June, I few to the 'South of Chile' to a city called Concepcion. My destination was Los Angeles, a small city on the Southern Highway on the way to the far south regions, which include the region of Patagonia. Anyway, I flew LAN for the hour, but was 3hrs late for my friends waiting for me. Change of schedule from the time I brought my ticket and finally flew. The other issue was that at the last moment we were asked to change gates at the airport, due to technical issues. This added about 30mins to the lateness of my flight.
Upon arrival, I was met by my friend Jessica and her Dad Antonio. I hadn't seen them for about 7 years and it was like no time had passed. Yes, we were all a little older and time had physically changed us, but we were still the same people.
On the right here is a little photo of Jessica and I. As usual my eyes are half closed. Initially it was difficult to communicate, as my Spanish was still rusty and Jess doesn't get to speak English with a native speaker all that often. I just told her to relax and we'd get through it with a load of laughs. She then produced her best friend for the next week, her Spanish / English Dictionary. The drive from Concepcion to LA was great and the three of us chatted for the whole 2hrs. It was a good test for me and made me work my 'Spanish' brain.
Jess' home town of Los Angeles has a population of about 200,000 and is a local hub for tourism and farming, both crops and lumber. Lumber is required for the local paper mill, which, I think, is about the 5th largest in the world. So nut bad for a little town. Jess lives is a 'suburb' of LA known as Villa Santa Fe, which is located to the North West of LA, as indicated in the Google Earth photo, with the yellow box.
The houses here remind me a little of Europe, where there a rows of houses that are basically identical, only the tree in the front yard and the car in the driveway is different. That said, it is a very comfortable neighbourhood where a security guard rides his bike around just to make sure all is going well. I think he may be a little slack at times, as people still have their homes broken into. To the left is a photo of me in front of Jess' house. The Lounge Room, Kitchen, Bathroom, Dinning Room and Master Bedroom downstairs and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.
I met loads of Jess' friends and those of her parents. One guy, Matthew, grew up in Sydney and is employed as a translator at the mill when foreign guests are looking over the plant. I also had d
inner one night with some of Jess' family's friends. One of the couples is involved with Jewelry and I'm not sure about the other, but they had their twin daughters with them. I think I did ok during general dinner conversation when you can explain the events at Cronulla last year. Not bad when you have a limited vocab. One thing I found too is the stigma of hanging out with your folks and with your friends is not here either. I suppose that it is something I am used too, but it's not the norm in Australia. One night Jess, her boyfriend, an old school friend, her Dad and I all chilled out chatting, eating, playing Jenga, etc. It was a great night, until Nicholas (School friend) spilt the drinks over the table. I guess that happens when you tell stories in a very animated way, specially ones about 'Chillian Rodeo', where you are the local champion.
The days were very restful, as the nights were jam packed in LA. On Saturday night
Jess and I drove out to her friend Nicholas' house. It was just going to be the three of us, which was good, as I think that 1 girl and 3 guys would have been strange in dynamics. Anyway we shared stories of both current and x-girlfriends, school holidays, trips abroad, etc. Jess didn't say much about x-boyfriends, maybe it's just a girl thing. It was a wonderful night in front of his open fire and I had finally started to feel warm again after a week of being cold. To the right is a photo of Nicholas and I, sharing a moment for the boys... At about 12, I got my second wind and convinced the others that it was time for the Disco. Arrrrh, I think now I will highlight the night by saying, I had a nice chat with some of the girls who serve the drinks, more chatting with Jess and Nicholas and had a great time dancing with Jess, South American style. Ask me about it some day, that's if I don't (guys only...!!! hehehe). Well Jess and I returned home at 6am, knowing that we had to get up get going soon for lunch at a friend's house for Father's Day.let's just say that I think Jess and I made the family a little late for lunch.
I must say that people here in Chile know how to eat. I don't think I have stopped since getting here. I wake up and have breakfast, then an hour later I have a cuppa tea with bread, cheese and cold meets, then an hour after that it's Lunch. Lunch is at about 2pm, so we have a light snack at 5 or 6 and then main dinner at about 9pm. I don't think that I ever stop eating. Anyway, Lunch on Father's Day was no different. The spread of food was huge. Jess and her family (4) plus couple 1 and 4 Daughters...(poor Dad) and then the host, his wife and the twins. Oh...me makes 15. I was still a little tired from last night, as was Jess, so we didn't say much during lunch and I was told to 'eat, eat. take more...' The food was lovely, I just couldn't eat. Plus the red wine with lunch was just perfect. They heat the red by the fire until it is warm and better to drink. I was so tired I kept zoning out and I think that Jess realized this, so suggested that we go to the other room to get warm by the fire and chill a bit. I think she was feeling the same. It was a great start to the my last night in LA. Jess and I chatted the night away. I spoke about my recent trip to Africa and she asked to see my photos, which I have on my external HDD. We also spoke about our dreams of the future and about life and family in general. She asked about my x-girlfriends and I told her the stories. She and I have similar stories and I think therefore a special bond. It was great to chat with her like this, but also sad, as I knew the next day I was leaving to go further south to visit Paul's Dad, just south of Gorbea.
My belief, that two people from different cultures, who speak completely different languages and can communicate with patience and laughter, can still be Very Good Friends, has been strengthen, once again... Siempre Jess, yo pienso tambien! Muchos Gracias por tu tiempo cuando yo viva en tu casa! Un beso para ti y tu famalia! Mucho amor. Leigh

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