Misfortunes & Adventures in a Far Away Land

Christian is now married

2005-11-06T03:27:00.000-03:00

El sábado pasado Christian se casó con Daniela en Santiago (lo siento chicas :P). Llegó de vuelta a Punta Arenas el miércoles y hoy en la noche nos juntamos en su casa a celebrar y yo aproveché de presentar a María Elena al grupo. Ella y su prima Mª Concepción fueron a mi casa como a las 22:30 y de ahí nos fuimos caminando hasta la casa de Christian, donde nos encontramos a Christian (claro), Robinson, Ivan y otros compañeros de la U de ellos; y después llegaron Mª Graciela, Sandra, Connie e Ian.

Last Saturday Christian got married to Daniela in Santiago (sorry ladies! :P). He arrived back in Punta Arenas on Wednesday and tonight we got together at his place to celebrate and I got to introduce María Elena to the gang.
She and her cousin Mª Concepción went to my house at around 22:30 and then we walked to Christian's. There we joined Christian, Robinson, Ivan and other classmates of them; and later Mª Graciela, Sandra, Connie and Ian.

My 29th Birthday

2005-10-23T05:13:00.000-03:00

22 de Octubre: ¡¡¡el día de mi Cumpleaños!!! :P

Hice una pequeña fiesta en mi casa y lo pasamos la raja. Después fui al Brown's con Maribel y me junté on Robinson, quien no había podido venir porque tenía que asistir a un matrimonio.

October 22^nd: My Birthday!!! :P

I had a small party at my house and had a great time. Afterwards I went to Brown's with Maribel and met with Robinson, who hadn't been able to come because he had to assist to a wedding.

Más fotos en mi MSN Space.
More pics at my MSN Space.

Frescolín

2005-10-22T18:25:00.000-03:00

Chupe de Centolla

2005-10-16T23:51:00.000-03:00

En la casa de Alexis Cynthia nos preparó unas exquisiteses con centolla.

At Alexis' place Cynthia cooked us some exquisite dishes with Centolla (King Crab).

Chile vs Colombia

2005-10-08T19:21:00.000-04:00

Hoy los penúltimos partidos de la clasificatoria al mundial de Alemania 2006 se llevaron a cabo. Chile se enfrentó a Colombia en un encuentro decisivo para determinar al 5º lugar del grupo sudamericano, el cual luego debe ir a un repechaje por un cupo al mundial contra Australia.

Nos reunimos en casa de Christian a ver el partido por TV. Christian, Robinson, watch the game on TV. Christian, Robinson, Alexis, María Graciela y Cynthia fueron la barra de Chile mientras que Sandra y Ángela María alentaban a Colombia. Yo era neutral ya que todos son mis amigos y no quise ponerme en contra de nadie :)
El partido estuvo bastante emocionante a ratos, especialmente al final, pero eventualmente terminó en un aburrido empate sin goles. Viéndolo por el lado positivo, seguimos siendo tan amigos como antes ya que ninguno de los equipos le ganó al otro :P

Today the semi-final matches of the World Cup Qualifiers took place. Chile met Colombia in a decisive match to determine the 5th place of the Southamerican group, which has to play next versus Australia for a place in the World Cup.

We got together at Christian's to watch the game on TV. Christian, Robinson, Alexis, María Graciela and Cynthia were the supporters for Chile while Sandra and Ángela María were cheering for Colombia. I was neutral since all of them are my friends and I didn't want to take sides :)
The match was quite exciting at some times, specially in the end, but eventually ended in a very dull tie without goals. On the bright side, were all good friends as ever since no side beated the other :P

Pichanga Caliente

2005-10-02T15:16:00.000-04:00

"Pichanga": modismo chileno para una comida consistente en pequeños trozos de carne cocida, usualmente acompañada de papas fritas y cebolla frita. También se le llama así a un partido de fútbol informal.

POR OTRO LADO, en Colombia "pichar" significa ehmm... bueno... "copular", ¡por lo que "pichanga" a nuestras amigas cafeteras les sonaba como una orgía a gran escala! Tsk, tsk, colombianos(as) califas... :P

Entonces, nos juntamos anoche en la casa de Sandra para disfrutar de una deliciosa Pichanga (adivinen de cuál, jeje) y luego fuimos a Kamikaze donde bailamos mucho mucho mucho. *pfiiuu*

"Pichanga": Chilean slang for a meal consisting of small pieces of cooked meat usually accompanied by french fries and sometimes fried onion slices. Also an informal football match.

ON THE OTHER HAND, in Colombia "pichar" (the verb) means ermm... well... to "copulate", thus "pichanga" sounds like a full-scale orgy! Tsk, tsk, horny Colombians... :P

So we gathered last night at Sandra's for a nice Pichanga (you guess which type, hehe) and then we went to Kamikaze where we danced danced danced. *pheww*

Motos!

2005-09-25T23:27:00.000-04:00

Robinson, Ian y Bessié participaron hoy en una carrera de motos. Aquí hay algunas fotos:
Robinson, Ian and Bessié participated on a motorbike competition today. Here are some pics:

Viva Colombia!

2005-09-19T18:49:00.000-04:00

Viva Chile también, claro ;)
Empezamos el 18 el viernes con una visita al Rancho. Nada extraordinario, lo pasamos bien con Maribel, Mª Graciela y unas amigas y amigos de ella y nos fuimos como a las 4.

El sábado unos amigos de Faifi prepararon anticuchos en la casa de ella. Maribel y Cynthia estaban allí y también Sandra, Ángela María y Marta, una chica de Colombia que está de vacaciones visitando familiares acá. Una vez satisfechas nuestras guatitas nos fuimos al.... Rancho otra vez, jajaja. Esta ocasión fue diferente eso sí, ya que estaba cargado de espíritu dieciochero. Bailamos MUCHÍSIMO (¡¡estas colombianas nunca se cansan!!) y lo pasamos la raja. Llegué a mi casa como a las 5:45 con los pies matándome (todavía me duelen).

El domingo fue algo nuevo: fuimos a una fonda en el gimnasio Fiscal. Esta vez contamos con la presencia de Christian y Alexis, y ya que mi hermana me prestó su cámara pude sacar fotos ¡por fin!

Viva Chile too, of course ;)
September 18th and 19th are Chile's national holidays, a great ocasion for celebrating with friends, family, lots of food, chilean music and booth.
We started on Friday with a visit to Rancho. Nothing extraordinary; we had a good time, went with Maribel, Mª Graciela and some friends of her and left at about 4.

On Saturday some guy friends of Faifi made "anticuchos" (small pieces of different meat, sausages and onion pierced on little wooden sticks) at her place. Maribel and Cynthia were there and also Sandra, Ángela María and Marta, a girl from Colombia who is spending some time here visiting family for holidays. After satisfying our stomachs we went to... Rancho again, lol. This time was different though, as it was filled with the national festivity spirit. We danced a LOT (these colombian girls never stop!!!) and had a great time. I got home around 5:45 and my feet were killing me (they still are!).

Sunday was something new: went to a Fonda, sort of a big traditional public party for all ages (still had to pay to enter, though) with traditional chilean food and music, with a band playing. Christian and Alexis went with us this time, and since my sister lent me her camera I was able to take pictures finally!!!

Verónica's B-Day

2005-09-11T16:20:00.000-04:00

En realidad su cumpleaños era el viernes. Llamé para saludarla y me dijo que había estado enferma con bronquitis desde hace un par de días así que se corría la fiesta para el sábado en "Los Brujos". Yo no la había visto en varios meses, por lo que tenía que ir para ponerme al día y así lo hice.
El lugar queda un poco lejos, fuera del radio urbano, I como no iba a ir en auto le pedí a John (un amigo que tenemos en común) que me llevara. Me fue a buscar a las 23:00 y fuimos de los primeros en llegar. A medida que pasaba el tiempo más y más gente iba llegando y eventualmente el lugar se llenó, con la mitad de la gente que era de la fiesta de la Vero.
Tuve la oportunidad de ver a algunos amigos que no había visto en mucho tiempo y fue bastante refrescante el compartir con otras personas para variar un poco.

Actually her birthday was on Friday. I called to congratulate her and she said she had been sick for a couple of days and she moved her party to Saturday at "Los Brujos". I hadn't seen her in months so I had to go to catch up and so I did.
The place is a bit far away and I wasn't going out in the car, so I asked John (a friend in common) to give me a ride. He picked me up at 23:00 and we were some of the first people to arrive in there. As the time passed more and more people arrived and eventually the place was full and half the people was from Vero's party.
I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in quite a while and it was quite refreshing to hang out with other people for a change.

Booooring

2005-09-10T03:46:00.000-04:00

¡Dios mío! Esta noche fue defeinitivamente una de las más aburridas que he tenido. Fuimos a la Kamikaze donde hubo un desfile de modas. ¡Qué weá más fome!... Me dio vergüenza ajena y me dio mucha lata por la animadora porque casi nadie estaba pescando.
Aguanté hasta como las 3:30 y de ahí me vine para la casa.
Ahora me voy a la camita... :(

OMG! Tonight was definetely one of the most boring nights ever. We went to Kamikaze where a Fashion Show took place. It was soooo lame... I felt sorry for the hostess of the event because very few people were paying attention to the show.
I managed to stay until 3:30 but then I was just too bored and came back home.
I'm going to bed now... :(

Sushi!

2005-09-04T05:06:00.000-04:00

Hoy nos juntamos en la noche en la casa de Faifi (¡sus papás andan de viaje por un mes! ¡yupi!) para cenar. Cynthia preperó una comida de Sushi con salsas especiales y todo el asunto, incluyendo palitos chinos para acompañar. Debido a un ligero malentendido llegué re-tarde, pero aún así pude probar un poco del sushi: estaba sabroso, pero no del todo de mi agrado. Como sea, los chicos dijeron que estaba super rico, así que muchas gracias a las chicas por alimentarnos ;)
Después de eso algunos nos quedamos conversando por harto rato. Recién como a las 4 y tanto nos fuimos (Mª Graciela ya había desaparecido hacia sus aposentos).
Lamentablemente, no tenemos fotos porque Robinson el fotógrafo oficial se olvidó de su cámara otra vez... hmmm :/
Ya chao, me voy a dormir... zzz.

Tonight we got together at Faifi's house (her parents are gone for a month! woohoo!) for dinner. Cynthia made a Sushi meal with sauces and everything, including the chinese sticks. Due to a misunderstunding I got there kinda late, but I was still able to try some of the food: tasty, but not completely of my liking. Nevertheless the rest of the guys said it was very nice, so thank you very much for feeding us ;)
Afterwards some of us stayed and chatted for a long while. It wasn't until 4 in the morning that we left (Mª Graciela had already dissapeared in her room).
Regrettably, we have no pics because Robinson "the official photographer" forgot his camera again... hmmm :/
Ok, I'm off to bed now... zzz.

Courtenay back in Canada

2005-09-01T23:14:00.000-04:00

¡Hoy Court me llamó desde Canadá! Luego de 6 meses en Chile por fin está en casa.
Hablamos por 1 hora más o menos, sonaba relajada y feliz. Obviamente volver a estar con su familia después del largo tiempo acá tiene ese efecto. Me sentí contento y aliviado al escucharla y saber que está bien y a salvo.

Extraño a mi primita... :(

Today Court called from Canada! She's finally home after 6 months in Chile.
We talked for about an hour; she sounded relaxed and happy. Obviously reuniting with her family after the long time here had such an effect. I felt glad and relieved that she is well and safe.

I miss my "primita"... :(

Karaoke in the after hours

2005-08-28T15:31:00.000-04:00

Ayer en la noche fui a Mr Brons con Mª Graciela y Sandra, donde nos juntamos con Alexis y disfrutamos de unos traguitos por 2 horas más o menos. A la 1 decidimos ir a bailar así que fuimos a probar suerte a la Kamikaze. Afortunadamente estaba Fabián (el administrador) en la puerta y me dio cuatro free-passes, por lo que no tuvimos que pagar nada, yujuu :) Adentro no había mucha gente pero luego de una hora estaba lleno. Tomamos, bailamos y nos divertimos por un buen rato hasta que de repente, cuando estabamos descansando en una mesa, Robin y Christian llamaron; habían estado en el carrete de una compañera y querían seguir carreteando, nos dijeron que continuaramos con un "after hours" donde Christian.
Nos encontramos en su casa y después de algunas dificultades técnicas pudimos hacer funcionar el sistema de Karaoke. Los chicos se consiguieron una uena cantidad de Karaoke CDs por lo que tuvimos hartas pistas para cantar. Uno a uno, Alexis luego Sandra y finalmente Faifi cayeron rendidos en un profundo sueño; la diferencia estuvo en que Fifí trató de emular a nuestra amiga Court durmiendo tirada inerte en el suelo jejeje :)

Yesterday night I went to Mr Browns with Mª Graciela and Sandra, where we joined with Alexis and enjoyed a couple of drinks for around 2 hours. At 1:00 we decided to go dancing and so we tried our fortune at Kamikaze. Luckily I got 4 free-passes at the entrance with Fabián, the administrator, so we paid nothing. Inside there wasn't many people but after an hour the place was full. We drinked, danced and had fun for several hours until, while we where taking a break, Robinson and Christian called; they had been at a classmate's party and told us to continue with an "after hours" at Christian's place.
We met at his place and after a few technical dificulties we were able to set up the Karaoke equipment properly. The guys had quite a stash of Karaoke CDs so we sang lots of tracks. One by one, Alexis then Sandra and finally Faifi fell exhausted into a deep sleep; the difference was that Fifí was emulating our friend Court by lying inertly on the floor hehehe :).

Bikes and Temple

2005-08-27T13:47:00.000-04:00

Anoche estuvo un poco fome. No he dormido bien los últimos días así que estaba super cansado a la hora de la cena cuando me llamó Romina para invitarme a su casa con los demás chicos. Yo no estaba muy seguro qué iba a hacer dado que había quedado de acuerdo con Mª Graciela en hacer algo y ya se estaba haciendo tarde y no llamaba (fue al cumpleaños de una colega). Al final llamó cuando me estaba quedando dormido frente a la tele, pero y aestaba en el Rancho y no se iba a quedar hasta muy tarde, así que mejor me fui a la casa de Romina.
Llegué como a las 1:45 y había una buena cuota de gente ya presente: los Motoqueros (Chino, Vladimir y Sata), Ian, Bessié y Connie, Robinson, Alexis y Christian. Estaban mirando un video del nacional de motociclismo, donde participó Chino. Después de como una hora, Robinson, Alexis, Christian y yo nos fuimos hacia la Templo a buscar *ahem* diversión ;) Cabe recalcar que este lugar es medio peligroso y de bajo perfil... Como sea, los detalles de aquellos acontecimientos son clasificados y top secret.
¡Chao!

Last night was somewhat dull. I haven't been sleeping well so I was quite tired at dinner time when Romina called me and invited me to her house with the guys. I didn't know what to do since I had agreed with Mª Graciela to do something and it was getting late and she didn't call (she was at a colleague's b-day party). At last she called while I was dozing in front of the TV, but she had gone to Rancho and wasn't staying for long, so I went to Romina's place.
I got there at about 1:45 and there was quite a crowd already there: the bikers (Chino, Vladimir and Sata), Ian, Connie and Bessié, Robinson, Alexis and Christian. They were watching a video of the motorcycle Nationals, where Chino participated. After an hour or so, Robinson, Alexis, Christian and I left and headed to the club "Templo" looking for *ahem* fun ;) Should be noted that this place is kinda dangerous and of very low profile... Anyways, details of those events are classified and top secret.
Bye!

Colombian dinner and a Baby

2005-08-21T14:17:00.000-04:00

¡Ñam, ñam! Sucede que la semana pasada Sandra prometió cocinar comida colombiana para todos este fin de semana ¡y así lo hizo! Nos juntamos en su casa como a las 10 de la noche. Debió haber sido como a las 9 pero de alguna manera todos llegamos tarde, ¡ups! SIN EMBARGO, la cocinera se atrasó con la comida también, así que filo.
Mª Graciela y Cynthia estuvieron ayudando a Sandra con la cena; Bessié y Connie ya estaban cuando yo llegué, igual que Alexis. Robinson y Christian llegaron apenas unos segundos después de mí y Maribel fue la última como media hora después.

El veredicto: ¡Muy weno! Me esperaba alguna salsa de sabor raro con cositas desconocidas por todos lados ¡pero NO!, estaba todo muy sabroso a pesar de la falta de sal para algunas personas (yo estoy acostumbrado porque en mi casa se come con poca sal). La comida se llamaba "Arepas con Ropa Sucia". Eran como panqueques gordos (no enrollados) con una preparación especial de carne, tomates y otras cosillas que mi ojo inexperto no pudo distinguir. Bueno, comida es comida, ¿o no? :)
Debo admitir que cené más temprano también (a las 8) en caso de que no me gustara la comida y así no morirme de hambre. De todas formas igual tenía hambre a las 10. Gracias a Dios que me gustaron las Arepas :)

Posteriormente procedimos al consumo social de brebajes alcohólicos para facilitar el proceso de la digestión (ya), tiempo durante el cual Bessié y Connie anunciaron oficialmente que ella tiene 2 meses de embarazo y van a tener una guagua. ¡Felicidades muchachos! Algunos de nosotros ya sabíamos, pero no todos por lo que fue una grata sorpresa para los que no sabían.
Después que se fueron ellos, uno a uno se fueron yendo todos y como a las 3 y media sólo quedábamos Fifi, Sandra, Cynthia y yo, pero queríamos seguir carreteando así que fuimos al pub People (donde habíamos ido la noche anterior) por alrededor de una hora, hasta que cerraron y de ahí cada uno para su casa.

Yummy, yummy! It happens that last week Sandra promised to make some traditional Colombian meal for everyone this weekend and so she did! We gathered at her place at around 22:00. Should have been 21:00 but somehow we all managed to be late. However, the cook was late too so no big deal.
Mª Graciela and Cynthia helped Sandra with the dinner; Bessié and Connie were there when I arrived, as well as Alexis. Robinson and Christian got there just a few seconds after me, and Maribel was the last one some 30 minutes later.

The veredict: Very good! I was expecting some weird flavoured sauce with unimaginable stuff all around but NO, it was all very tasty, despite the salt deficit (which I am used to at home due to my Grandad's hypertension) for other people. The meal was called "Arepas con Ropa Sucia". It was like a fat pancake with a special preparation of meat, tomatoes and some more stuff unidentifiable to my non-expert eye and taste. Food is food anyways, don't you think?
I must admit I had already had dinner earlier (at 20:00) just in case I didn't like the food so I wouldn't starve, but somehow I was still hungry 2 hours after that. Thank God I liked the Arepas :)

After that we proceeded to some social consumption of alcoholic beverages in order to aid the digestive process (ahem), time in which Bessié and Connie officially announced she is 2 months pregnant and they are going to have a baby! Congratulations guys! Some of us already knew but not all, so it was quite a surprise for those who didn't.
After they left, one by one the group was being disbanded and at around 3:30 it was only Fifi, Sandra, Cynthia and I, but we wanted to do something else and went to People's Pub (the new one where we went the night before) for an hour or so, and then headed home for a good sleep.

My birthday?

2005-08-20T14:22:00.000-04:00

¡Wow! ¡Feliz cumpleaños a MÍ! Jajaja, bueno... en realidad no ;)

Pero vamos en orden. Los primeros días de esta semana fueron los más fomes que se puedan imaginar (excepto para Fifí quien aparentemente tiene una cierta debilidad por los uniformes, jeje). La Court se fue a Buenos Aires el Miércoles y me la encontré por casualidad en MSN esa noche. Estaba fascinada porque un argentino con quien iba conversando en el avión la confundió con una chilena por su acento. Estos seis meses de aprender español finalmente dieron frutos :P

El viernes en la tarde (ayer) Mª Graciela vino a mi casa y salimos a andar en bicicleta. Chuta, no había andado en años; estuvo entretenido pero igual me cansé un poco. En la noche fuimos a cachar un pub nuevo llamado People. Esta vez el grupo era bastante grande: Mª Graciela, Sandra, Cynthia, Maribel, Robinson, Alexis, Romina, Cano + 2 amigos y yo.
Un rato después de haber llegado una señora de otra mesa se subió al esenario (uno chico, pero igual cuenta) y empezó a cantar. Al cabo de unas cuantas canciones preguntó si había añguien celebrando algo y ¡voilà! Los chicos me señalaron y dijeron casi al unísono: "¡¡Su cumpleaños!!". Así que me cantaron "Cumpleaños feliz" y después la señora quería que subiera al escenario a cantar... ¡ni cagando! Siguió conversando con nuestra mesa hasta que alguien tuvo la brillante idea de decirle que Romina era mi ex-polola y habíamos peleado porque yo la engañé. ¡¿¡Que onda!?! Jajaja, debo admitir que fue divertido pero pasado un tiempo se tornó cansador, especialmente cuando la señora quería que yo le cantara algo especial a Romina para disculparme, ¡¡WAJAJAJAJA!!.
En mi opinión el lugar estaba Ok pero a los chicos no les gustó tanto, así que nos separamos y Robinson, Alexis, Romina, Cynthia, Sandra y yo nos fuimos al Mr. Brown's donde estuvimos como una hora y de ahí para la casa.
Así con mi cumpleaños poh' ;)

Wow!! Happy birthday ME!!! LoL, well... not really ;)

But let's go in order. The first days of the week were the dullest you could imagine (except for Fifí who apparently has some weakness for uniforms, hehe). Court flew to Buenos Aires on Wednesday, and I met her by chance in MSN that night. She was delighted with the fact that some argentinian guy whom she was talking to on the plane mistook her for a chilean! Those six months of learning spanish have finally paid off :P

On Friday afternoon (yesterday) Mª Graciela came by and we went for ride on bicycles. Wow, I hadn't ride on a bike for years; it was fun although a bit tiring. At night we tried this new Pub called People. This time the group was big: Mª Graciela, Sandra, Cynthia, Maribel, Robinson, Alexis, Romina, Cano + 2 friends of his, and I. Some time after we arrived this lady from another table went on the stage (not a large one but a stage none the less) and began singing. At some point she asked if anyone was celebrating anything and voilà! The guys pointed at me and said almost in unison: HIS BIRTHDAY. So there was some bit of chanting Happy Birthday for me and then the lady wanted me to go sing on stage... no way! She kept on making conversation with our table until someone had the bright idea to say that Romina was my girlfriend and we had had a row because I cheated on her! WTF!?!? LoL, I must admit it was fun but after a while it got tiresome, specially after the Lady wanted me to sing something to Romina in order to apologise, HAHAHAHA.
IMHO the place was ok but the guys didn't like it that much, so the group split and Robinson, Alexis, Romina, Cynthia, Sandra and I went to Mr. Brown's where we spent about an hour and then called it a night.
So much for my birthday, eh? ;)

Alexini is back

2005-08-16T20:33:00.000-04:00

Alexis got back from his business trip to Canada and gave me some pics to share.

Strange weekend

2005-08-16T11:51:00.000-04:00

Not much happened on Friday: had a baby-football match that got me quite exhausted. Mª Graciela called me later that day to go out to Ollie Joe Pub with Sandra and Robinson, but I (and my wallet) gently declined. The day didn't turn out to be a total waste as I talked to Court on her last day in La Serena for 3 hours (!). She was a little tired (I called past midnight) but as there was some sort of event next to her lodging with loud music we kept on chatting.

The next day (Saturday) she took a bus to Viña del Mar, and as she hadn't had time to get a place for her to stay (some of her friends there were out of town) I arranged for her a place where I knew for sure she would be safe and have trustworthy company, and it wasn't expensive at all. At last minute she got a call from another friend that had just arrived in Viña and invited to stay at her place, so she took that offer instead. I was a bit dissapointed but I knew she would be ok there too, so no harm done.
At night Robinson called me to say that Félix (a friend from college, and for him from high school as well) and her wife Carola invited us to his new place for his birthday. I had planned to go out with Fifi and her cousin, so I brought them along after checking with Robin. Ian also went (albeit late). Quite a night, I had a good time. The funny highlight was that one of the girls had to leave early because of her *ahem* bad disposition to the mixing of Rum and Pisco. Biologists should know better, don't you think? ;)

Sunday was slow, I had a late lunch, late shower, and didn't do much all day long. Mª Graciela called me to see if we were going to do anything that evening (Monday was a holiday) and we agreed on meeting at 11:30 and going out somewhere, yet we had no idea yet where. We ended up going to Kamikaze along with Cynthia, Maribel and Cano (a friend of Fifi). Not much of a night, except for Fifi who met some sailor/pilot dude from the Esmeralda (the School Ship from the Chilean Navy), which had arrived at port that morning and was staying for 3 days. Oh, we certainly did not let pass this opportunity to tease her, hehehe.

Yesterday was a bummer, not much to say about it. The girls went out with the sailor from the day before and friends of him, and I called Court but only got her kinda late and she was very tired, so we just talked for a minute. I hope I can chat with her before she leaves for Buenos Aires :/

It is a bit odd... my subconscious is starting to realize Courtenay is gone for good, yet my heart and mind are unwilling to accept this fact... not just yet.

I didn't use to talk on the phone for so long

2005-08-10T23:57:00.000-04:00

Today started out slow. My dad left for Santiago yesterday so I gotta help my mother with their cybercafé.
While I was on guard duty of the place, I logged into MSN and chatted for a while with... a girl friend of mine (I won't say who she is 'cause she was at work and is not supposed to: ... yes! work) and also caught a glimpse of Courtenay. She arrived in La Serena yesterday night from Santiago.

I went to play our regular Wednesday night match of baby-football and got a call at my cell during the game! I automatically went to my bag and answered it while my friends were quite pissed at me for doing so and started yelling and whistling at me. It was Court (I told her earlier I would call her at night and now she was calling me back to give me her hostel number because it's cheaper for me to make long distance calls than calls to cell phones).
AAAAnyways, after the game I had dinner and called her back. We talked for about 2 hours! Had a nice chat about several very enlightening topics (*ahem* yes, some were sex-related, what did you expect?!? :P ) and that lifted my spirit. Have you ever watched "Bowling for Columbine", by Michael Moore? You'll love Canada after that :P

*NB (language rant): I really hate english when it comes to talking about friends. See, English has no gender, so a "friend" could be either male or female, and clarifying by saying "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" can lead to a confusion as you're not saying he/she is your actual BF or GF, just a friend that is a girl but that is way too long!!!. Dammit.

Job Opportunity?

2005-08-05T22:01:00.000-04:00

Last week I emailed my resumé to LG Electronics Chile for a job opening as a Regional Salesman for the regional division of the company. Yesterday I got a phone call telling me I had an interview for the job. Yesterday the psychological test took place and today was my personal psychological interview. It went rather well, too well maybe, as the doctor stated I was overqualfied for the job and would probably get bored soon. Meh.

I went to play baby-football (indoors football) with my friend Martín, same as on Wednesday so now I'm battered and need to sleep. Oh, also I got a msg from Courtenay that she had a great time at Pucón and was now heading for Santiago. She'll probably be there tomorrow by midday.

*yawn*

"Muebles" gone but not forgotten

2005-08-03T18:26:00.000-04:00

Last 2 days have been odd: she left and I'm sad but since I've been in phone contact with her it feels like she's just at her house. I guess the real difference will be noticeable this weekend, as I don't expect we'll be going out that much now.
Anyways, Court left Puerto Montt today heading for Pucón. I hope she likes it there, however, it looks much like Canada so I guess it won't be as fascinating for her.

On the local side, Robinson, Christian and Maribel are overloaded with college stuff, and Mª Graciela is getting ill. Along with Ian they've all been calling me everyday (well, not everyone everyday, but at least 1 per day, get the idea?), and I really appreciate it. Nice gesture guys :)

She's gone... :(

2005-08-01T08:30:00.000-04:00

Had to happen. This morning Ian, Mª Graciela and I took her to the airport where she would take a plane to Puerto Montt, first stop in her "ChileTrip".
We were a bit late because Court wasn't ready yet when I went to pick her up at her house, so the goodbyes were a bit hurried and short, as well as lacking a bit of emotion due to the long weekend and early time (07:15). No pics, not much of anything, not even (many) tears, as most of them were used up the days and hours before; just the void left by her departure.

I'm off to bed now, I'm sad and depressed... :(((

Carnaval de Invierno 2005

2005-07-24T23:53:00.000-04:00

"Winter Carnival", Punta Arenas' special event of the year.

This year was different and special for us as we had 3 friends dancing in one of the carnival groups: Mª Graciela, Sandra and Ángela María.

Farewell to Team Germany

2005-07-03T11:42:00.000-04:00

Team Rum is disbanded :(

The farewells started on Thursday night at Madero Pub, where some little friend from North America got a little too red... ;) We then went downstairs to Kamikaze Club for some Thursday College Party. Woohoo! drinks for $1000 ( US$1,7 ; €1,25 ).

On Friday we had a special farewell dinner at Mª Graciela's, then went to Kamikaze again.

Finally, we had a loooong farewell party last night at Christian's place, with farewell speeches and everything, up until 09:00 today when we went to have some breakfast at Lider (a supermarket/mall place).

Afterwards we took them home at about 11:30, only an hour before they had to leave to the airport.

Bound to happen; however, I expect to see them in a few years. Not a goodbye but a see you later guys! (I'll be knocking on your doors when you least expect it AND you'll have to lodge me and FEED me :P )

Black Thursday

2005-07-01T19:12:00.000-04:00

Terrible news :(
Last night we went out to Madero Pub and then Kamikaze Club. Robinson picked Maribel up at the first place and later we found out that they talked about their relationship and stuff and... they broke up. This completely appalled me, as I I had known them together since day 1. Anyways I didn't learn about that until today (although I had an accurate suspicion and feared the worst).
The other sour event was watching two friends make out in the heat of music and rum. Specially since I (had?) trust in him and have strong feelings for the girl. I have it quite clear that our relationship is merely friendship (albeit a good one), but still... it hurts like hell.
I got home with a knot in my stomach and she called me when she got to her place. I couldn't resist the tears and we talked for a while.
F*CK.

Turbio Trip day 1

2005-06-24T23:52:00.000-04:00

Today was the first day of our trip to Río Turbio, a small mining town in Argentina, about 30 Kms northeast from Puerto Natales and 17 Kms from the Chile-Argentina border. Robinson, Jan, Julia, Maribel, Courtenay and I are spending the long weekend skiing and enjoying the incredibly convenient exchange rate there. (Lost? check out this map. Río Turbio = El Turbio).

Things didn't start so well, as our bus to Puerto Natales was supposed to leave at 13:00, but due to bad weather conditions, we left with a 2 hour delay. Due to this, we lost our connection to Turbio so we had to find another way to get there. We spent two hours waiting at the bus terminal until Maribel got us a minivan to the chilean border and two taxis would take us from there to Turbio. The reason for this is that chilean rentals are not allowed with tourists into Argentina unless they come back with same people.

So we arrived in Turbio at about 22:00, but since we changed timezones, it was 23:00 local time. Quite late.
We had reservations for a cabin for 6 run by a very nice guy called Oscar, and given the price it exceeded our expectations by far. It's big and cozy, with room enough for at least 10 people (although only beds for 6).
We are now settled in and off we go for some direly needed dinner.

Sandra's Birthday

2005-06-12T19:33:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's was our friend Sandra's [undisclosed]th birthday, so Court, Fifi and I went to her house to celebrate with her. She was already accompanied by her friend colleague Ángela María, also from Colombia, also very beautiful ;)
We were inmersed in a game of Kings with the unusual twist of playing with "challenges", which varied from dirty dancing to kissing and making love proposals (!). As the night progressed, we were joined by several other friends, namely Ian, Maribel, Robinson and this strange fellow Rodrigou (who during the day is better known as "Christian").

A little while before sunrise the party was coming to an end as the hostess was quite exhausted, but some of us were still with some energy to keep on going. We continued with the afterhours at Alexis' place but that was just overdoing it. I went home at around 10:30 and the guys went to have breakfast at Lider...

Courtenay's Surprise B-Day Party (last night)

2005-06-05T14:29:00.000-04:00

Well... not so surprise :) She knew something was going on, though we managed to surprise her with the decorations (I think).
Also, we had it on Saturday night 'cause her actual birthday lands on a working day, and nobody wants to (or will be able to) get up early the next day, right? ;)

The girls in the kitchen.

Night at Mr. Browns & Club Habana

2005-06-04T16:02:00.000-04:00

Last night (Friday) we went for a wine and sushi degustation at Mr. Browns Pub.

It was quite nice, except for the fact that I don't like wine, nor sushi :P
Later on and for some reason yet unknown to me (or forgotten) we wanted to go sing Karaoke, so we ended up at his place called "Habana", which someone had heard about having Karaoke nights.
It did, but we got there about 4 hours late, so tough luck. We stayed though, and enjoyed a night of flashes, drinks and old music.

Last night's gang: Robinson, Julia, José, Maribel, Danny, Natalia, Mª Graciela, Jan, Courtenay.

Why? What? When? Who? Where? HOW?

2005-06-02T16:38:00.000-04:00

So... what's my real inspiration to do this?
Well, some of it is a discipline exercise, to see if I can keep on writing constantly. Also, there's the fun of it and the future fun. Imagine reading something like this in 5, 10 or 20 years!
I'm pretty sure I'll laugh and hide my face in embarrasment at lots of entries, LOL.

What is this? Well, an annotated record of happenings within my social circle of closest friends. Or simply said: a diary :P

Where is Punta Arenas? Heck! Where is CHILE?
Chile is a long, looong country right next to Argentina, in the southern cone of America.
Chile is divided in 13 regions, Magallanes being the southernmost one and also the largest in extension. Some of its famous landmarks include "Torres del Paine" National Park, "Tierra del Fuego" Island (half of it at least, the other half belongs to Argentina), Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan. It is part of the geographical region known as Patagonia, shared by Chilean and Argentinian territories.
Punta Arenas is the capital city of Magallanes, with around 125.000 inhabitants. It is located in the western shores of the strait of Magellan, in the middle
Some links:
Map of Magallanes in the Chilean Patagonia, Touristic info, Map of Magallanes in Chile, Detailed map, Info on Chile

Moving on...

Who compose this chronicles? Mmm, let's see... a little background:
there's me of course. Danny. I'm currently 28, Computer engineer (still missing my freaking thesis though), very nice, charming, blablabla :)
Then there's Robinson and Maribel. They are boyfriend and girlfriend. They are former classmates of mine from university and very good friends also; I met them in 2001. They are currently extending their engineering studies and one of their current classmates, Christian, a Navy officer, is also in our group of friends thanks to them. They work at Methanex's Cape Horn plant near Punta Arenas, place where they met Alexis, another Comp. Engineer and brought him into the group. Also there, at the beggining of the year, Maribel met this cool student from Canada, Courtenay, who is working on a 6 month internship at the plant.
Ian and María Graciela are friends from childhood of Robinson and Maribel; I met Ian a couple of years ago through another group of friends, and Mª Graciela just this Summer. Very nice people, friends worth keeping as they say.
Jan and Julia are two german students (also friends from before) working in a 2 month internship at the Instituto de la Patagonia (belongs to Universidad de Magallanes) here in Punta Arenas. They are staying at Mª Graciela's house and will be leaving at the beggining of July.
Bessié is and old friend of Ian and Robinson, boyfriend to Connie, and work coleague of Sandra. She is a language therapist from Colombia currently living and working here for over a year.

Where am I currently at? I'm good friends with the guys, and I have a *oh surprise* crush on Courtenay. But that is going nowhere since we agreed to stay friends (good friends btw) and she's leaving in a couple months. I guess in the end it's better this way considering she has a completely different life back home, and did I mention the fact that she doesn't see me as more than a friend? Bummer. She has a special someone waiting for her... lucky bastard :)
Ok, enough wallowing in self-pity, I gotta put some order to the mess in my life before thinking about women.

And so it begins...

2005-06-02T14:05:00.000-04:00

Well, after waking up this morning with a sore neck, a sore back and a very cranky mood I took a shower, skipped my daily excercises and read my email.
Fantastic news! After several days of trying to arrange a Paddle match with my friends finally we can play today (Paddle Tennis is like tennis but with walls, and a beach-like racket, or paddle).

Then I grabbed some I-net magazine (yes, made of paper... REAL paper) and saw an article about blogs, so I decided to make my own.
Thus, we are HERE.

Welcome
Bienvenido

Why write in english even if my native language is spanish? duh! Isn't it obvious?

Mmmm, I only know spanish and english (and trying to learn japanese) and I think about 80% of the people on the internet understands english, if not more (and it's much simpler to write in english :P hehehe)