I FELT LUCKY!

The bus turned, causing me to fall out of the seat, jolt into the unfortunate state of awakened uncertainty, and glance around. I was alone. Literally the only person on the bus other than the driver. It was 6 in the morning. When last awoke it had been a completely packed bus. I had been dancing at a disco with friends until about 5...I think.

Anyway, when I woke up the bus was turning and I was about 5 blocks from my house. I felt lucky. Last night I walked about 30 blocks before finally catching the bus that I needed. Only after walking about 3 blocks tonight did I realize that my watch was gone. I quickly checked every other valuable. WOW! Everything else was still in place. I don´t even know if I got ripped off on the bus or in the disco earlier in the evening/morning! I think it was on the bus. It couldn´t have been that difficult. I slept through about 30 people exiting the bus!

So all I lost was a watch. Thank goodness - an ID, credit card, or cell phone would have been much more devastating.

Rewind - So to start the night I went to the final evening of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour with my friend John. Not only was every movie in spanish and impossible to understand, but they were all horrible. And I didn´t even win the raffle to next year´s real Banff festival in Canada.

The movies were very poorly shot, lacked good commentary, and many were simply watching rich people ski or do other "extreme" sports. I was sorely disappointed. John left early, and I finally walked out during a film about the Patagonia region of Chile and Argentina that I was hoping to enjoy - it turned out to be complete crap.

After that I caught up with some friends. We went to a pre-party until about 1 in the morning and then headed out to a disco. It was a blast! I danced like crazy - and not that badly either...at least in comparison to other males at the club. I finally walked 3 female friends back to their apartment in central Santiago at 5 in the morning before catching a bus.

It was a good night overall.

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Last night (Friday) was fantastic. John, Gina, Melanie and I went out in Nuñoa, which is a very Bohemian area of southern Santiago. After a few beers at an outdoor bar we went to El Club de Jazz de Santiago. It was freaking amazing. This little hole-in-the-wall joint hosted some fantastic jazz. The band, consisting of 3 guitarists, a bassist, percussionist, and clarinetist, was simply wonderful. I hardly talked all evening because I was enjoying the music so much. I even recognized quite a few of the songs. The lead guitarist was easily over 60-years-old and still had it going like crazy. I stood up and clapped in the middle of many songs following some incredible solos that he churned out.

It was a great night. I ended up delaying the ski trip yet again because I discovered that the super price I found had to be reserved about a week in advance. I plan on it in 2 weeks. Next weekend in the anniversary of Allende´s death, which should be interesting. (Quick note - Salvador Allende was a socialist in power until he was overthrown by Pinochet in the early 70´s. Pinochet was helped by the U.S. and then committed horrific human rights violations. The thousands of people missing due to Pinochet are called "los disidentes," or unidentified. They´re also known as "los desaparecidos" or the disappeared. Pinochet now walks free in Chile. They say he is too old and "unstable" to be brought up on human rights violations and they are now trying to get him on tax evasion, something like $25 million that he supposedly took while in power.)

And the following weekend is Independence Day down here. I´ll let you all know a little more about what that means when I figure it out!