It's about dinner time here on Sunday and we just wrapped up some shopping and whatnot. The progress on the hostel here is super quick and we're putting together quite the nice little place. I've been learning a lot about construction (laying down tile, mixing concrete and tile cement, cutting and installing aluminum sheeting, woodworking, etc) and partying at night. Marcelo has a neighborhood full of characters and we've been meeting a new bunch every other day. His nextdoor neighbors, Christian and Roberto, are total maniacs and they party WAY harder than the average person. They're super nice and live there with the whole family. Another house on the block, occupied by these two mechanics named Osvaldo and Alfonso, is a great spot as well. They have a hammock and four super small four-wheelers that we can ride pretty much whenever we want to. One night while we were drinking some very tasty hard liquor called Aguardiente (100 proof!), Osvaldo talked Andy and me into letting him cut our hair. So we now both have somewhat wild haircuts. Good thing mine's short and it'll grow back into something that's easily trimmed again.
Our Canadian friend Carl just left two days ago, so now it's only Marcelo, Loreto, Pat, Andy and I living in the big empty hostel. Marcelo closed the place down for our renovation, so we can leave construction messes all over the place and be as loud as we want. It's a great place to be. The pace is MUCH slower than it was in Salvador, so the days are just flying by.
Within about a week or so, we'll likely be leaving for another city or another country. We hear Bolivia's super cheap, and so is Perú, so we'll probably head there. My best friend, Martin, has family in Perú, so we may look them up if we can get in touch with them and stop by for a little visit. Who knows. Our plans are about as loose and day-to-day as they can possibly be. It's great. We just do some work in the daytimes, go swimming in the sea when it's too hot to work, eat randomly, pause daily for a two hour ciesta, and rock out at night. BUT, a little change of pace is due, so I'll give more news on that as it develops. Gas is about $3.35 a gallon here, a bunch of bananas is about 50 cents, a huge fresh empanada is $1, and an hour of internet is around 80 cents. It's cheap, hot, dusty, rugged, and very relaxed.
If you want to find approximately where I am, it's called the Hostel Mosaico. I'm trying to get a Google Map photo uploaded to the blog, but the computers are sort of old. Working on it. The nightclubs here are fun, too. I don't understand any of the songs there, but the environment is good and the drinks are cheap. People here are much friendlier than in Salvador. Everybody's ecstatic that I speak Spanish, which of course incites them to pelt me with their heavily-accented Chilean Spanish. Good as my Spanish is, I can't understand HALF of what some of them say to me here, especially when there's alcohol involved. I personally think they speak kind of lazily and they clip their speech, even when speaking to a person that obviously needs all the help he can get, but it's just the way they do it here. No judgment allowed!
Not much more to say really. There's less important and exciting stuff happening, so y'all aren't missing much in terms of stories. But it's all good. This is the vacation part. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy it. I'll try to pack up some sunshine and smuggle it back into the country with me for all of you. :)
Until the next post, then. Take care, friends and family.
Brad
