MEMORABLE, EVENTFUL AND NUMEROUS ERUPTIONS

Quite the exciting weekend. Thursday evening I introduced myself to Chilean soccer. Two major rivals played at the National Stadium, so a few friends and I decided to enjoy the game. Colo-Colo sports black and white while Universidad de Chile wears blue and red. I felt most comfortable in green and orange. I also decided to leave all valuables at a friend´s residence because of the many shocked looks I received when telling people that I was going to the game.

Luckily I sat on the U. de Chile side. It was CRAZY. Nothing I say can do it justice. Maybe "Naked grandmothers practicing acrobats while spitting on one another." That´s a bad example, but it´s the closest thing I can think of.

ERUPTION 1: About midway through the first half we scored on a free kick from a little outside the 18-yard box. I say "we" because I was sure as hell cheering for whichever team´s side that I was sitting on. This was a simply decision based on fear for my life. Unfortunately, I later found out that one girl was shot and killed at the game. I don´t know who she was cheering for or anything other than that.

But the game was great overall and U. de Chile won 1-0. By the end of the game the Colo-Colo fans had lit over 25 fires (I counted) on their side of the stadium. The riot police were hosing huge amounts of the crowd, and we were chanting rather obscene things. Colo-Colo fans were let out first, and we had to wait for over an hour to exit.

ERUPTION 2: One of my friends was quite drunk and didn´t realize that we were locked into the stadium. He proceeded to lead us toward the exit, where we became several in a group of hundreds waiting to exit. The happy U. de Chile fans started trying to teach to gringos some of the cheers and it was a lot of fun. Then the chants became slightly different and it wasn´t too fun to be cornered with no escape. A few of the gringos with us didn´t understand that the fun chants had turned into things about our mothers and what we could suck! So we simply tried remain low-key although several from our group were still dancing and chanting along with all the Chileans. And it wasn´t all the Chileans, just 30-50 or so who were actually joining in on the negative chants.

Finally the gates were opened and we got out of the uncomfortable situation. There were 7 of us and we were among the thousands of lemmings leaving the area. Tony and I needed to catch a taxi to the bus terminal because we already had tickets for a bus that was supposed to head to the south about 30 minutes after we left the game.

ERUPTION 3: While walking at the front of our group, I notice that one guy is keeping step with me about 5 feet to my left. I continue to notice it. I suddenly slow down dramatically and so does he. I glance behind me in time to see about 6 guys coming up from behind our group. I yell "Watch out" and jump into the middle of the main crowd. The same guys who had led the chanting about us try to rob us. They had also been standing about 2 rows behind us at the game and saw a few digital cameras that my friends brought. They ganged up on 2 guys, Tony and Yurgen (a German whose name I´m probably butchering). After realizing that I wasn´t a target I shoved one guy off of Tony´s back and checked behind us to see if more were coming.

In the end, only Breanna lost anything: her keys and some ripped pants. We were quite lucky overall. However, I think the initial adrenaline rush still hasn´t worn off.

So Tony and I missed our bus to Los Angeles but luckily caught another one the next hour. I had only taken $4,000 pesos to the game, or $7 dollars. So it was a damn good thing that they didn´t get Tony´s wallet during the attempted mugging, because he had to cover me for the rest of the evening!

I slept the majority of the 6 hour ride to Los Angeles in the south. Tony and I met up with Scott and Mike and we set out for the weekend.

Eruption 4: After a bus ride and hitchhiking with a nun (Hermana Serafine) and her friends, we arrived at Volcano Antuco in Parque Nacional Laguna del Laja. Volcano Antuco dammed the River Laja hundreds or thousands of years ago with an explosion, leaving Laguna del Laja. It was a fantastic stay. We spent the day riding in the back of our new-found freinds´truck and seeing the area. We were helpful, too - digging, pushing and adding weight to the truck as we got stuck in snow time and time again.

Sister Serafine said that we were their guardian angels. But we thought it was more applicable to them, considering they provided: transportation, lunch, an attractive Italian girl our age, and a snowball fight that Sister Serafine started. A hillarious moment occurred during lunch when Scott asked Sister Serafine if she wanted more fries and then spilled about half a plate down the front of her. When the other 4 took off we had the restaurant and accompanying moutain to ourselves. We spent the night in a small refugio at the base of the Volcano. We were the only visitors that night, because skiers don´t usually come until the weekend and we stayed up late playing cards.

Early Saturday morning I went for a long walk along the lake before the others woke up. It was incredibly beautiful. The lake is now used for tons of hydroelectric purposes, but the section I was around was pristine. An interesting story is that only a month or two ago about 40 Chilean military members died in the park when they got lost in a storm while training. The commander was blamed for obviously poor judgement about facing such difficult terrain in the heart of winter without proper preparations.

This was an old refugio at the foot of the volcano and edge of the lake. It had seen better days, but I´m sure at one time it was a very cool little stop.



We hitched a ride back to Los Angeles Saturday afternoon after a little more exploring when the others got up. The second hitch couldn´t beat Sister Serafine, though.

Eruption 5: The bar was shut down except for us in Los Angeles. We asked if they wanted us to leave, but the bartender and his two friends were having a good time as well. After a few drinks I switched to water because I wasn´t feeling the stamina for a long night. However, when we tried to leave around 11:30 the bartender insisted that we take a shot because we had tipped him and been enjoyable patrons. It was an odd mixture of alcohols and it proved difficult to swallow. No problem, though, because I was already out the door heading to the next bar. However, they called me back for yet another shot at the bartender´s expense. Oh dear me. It went down and within 30 seconds was all over the street. I immediately knew it was coming so I casually walked outside, made my way to the other side of the street, and exploded with one single projectile vomitting show that was more impressive than disgusting...at least in my opinion.

We made our way to the other bar and enjoyed the rest of the evening while Tony and I watched Scott and Mike further intoxicate themselves. At one point Scott approached another table with 3 ladies who he proposed to dance with - they stood up and left the bar. It was great.

This is the dog and lemon tree outside our room in Los Angeles. The dog was too nice and kept coming over for attention - making it difficult to get a picture.



We slept until late Sunday morning before catching a bus to a different section of the River Laja.

Eruption 6: Saltos del Laja are described as a miniature Iguazu Falls (which are one of the world´s largest waterfalls located on the border of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). It was an awesome waterfall further downstream from the National Park. We spent an hour or so walking around the falls and getting soaked from the spray. There are 2 huge, separated falls that curve around the lower stretches of the river and create amazing drops of 70 feet or so. There are also innumerable smaller falls after the main cascade.



When I finally got back to Santiago I walked for about an hour beforeI finally caught a bus. The center was empty. September 11 is the anniversary of the Pinochet´s coupe over Salvador Allende in 1973. There are always marches, demonstrations and protests. There was one large fire downtown, and I could see the smoke as I walked home. Nothing unusual for the 11th. And next weekend is independence day. So hopefully there will just be more to come!