Forward HO

Going for the rare double post, but I think I got sidetracked in the last one and felt like it had settled into a Pichilemu as a whole thing. I think I had set out to write about the things that I love and will miss about Pichilemu and the things I´m looking forward to in the coming weeks.

Pichilemu has been a perfect place for me to hang out at the beginning of my trip. It has combined the two best things possible. Good surf and a good spanish school. I really wasn´t planning on staying here for as long as I have but I´m glad that it´s worked out the way it has. It´s got such a good vibe down here. The school is really cool because the people that run it are friendly and do a very good job taking care of the people there. A perfect example of this was when Chris was going to an asado to watch the Cavs/Spurs (Chris is the only sports junkie in town, so I usually talk baseball with him. Being from Ohio his teams are the Browns, Cavs and the Indians. Interesting contrast to my Dodgers, Lakers, No football team. Wait LA doesn´t have a football team, what the hell?) game at a house of one of his english students. It turned out that we were going to leave relatively early, because the game didn´t show up on television. I realized that we were a ways from my house and it would have been a puzzle with no lights to see the streets, so I asked Chris if he´d give me a ride back to my place even though it was out of the way. He responded with ¨Breene, I´m from Ohio.¨ I was a bit puzzled as this was not an answer I was expecting. I was looking for something more along the lines of ýes´or ´no.´So I tried to clarify with Chris, ¨hey, Chris...uh, that´s great...but, really, I have no idea what that means. I just wanted to know if you would give me a ride home.¨ Chris just says ¨Being from Ohio means I won´t leave you hanging.¨ ¨So that´s a yes, right?¨ ¨Yeah.¨

Val´s great too, and she´s now starting to live up to her nickname of the pelota (spanish people pronounce Val as ball and it just evolved into pelota, the spanish equivalent to ball) as she is pregnant. It´s kinda funny because she is, even by Chilean measure, petite and so seeing this little belly pop up on her is funny. She and Chris have created a really cool atmosphere at the school, made it so it´s more than a school but a hang out. They have an english teacher who lives in the school (it is more of a house than a school anyways) and the entrance is right next to the living room where you are more than likely to see a handful of people just hanging out, going through old surfer´s journals, playing chess or watching a movie. It´s definitely the traveler/surfer´s hangout.

Brian is their resident english teacher/crazy man. He is the leader in nicknames (Slater, Hungry Man, B, and the Lion*), but a really good guy. He is perpetually stoked and you are likely to see his big grille out in the water at Infernillo (always less crowded, rarely as good as Puntilla though). He loves to talk about surfing feelings involved and if you are down to just hang out/play guitar/chess/shoot the shit, he´s your man.

Tati is the local spanish teacher. She handles the whole load of spanish students (seeing as there are quite a bit fewer since its mainly travelers), and does it well. Everyone enjoys their lessons with Tati, as she does a good job about making things relevant and interesting.

She´s also a really cool person and has had asados at her house a few time. Not surprisingly, like most Chilean girls she hits the disco...and hard, leaving at closing time frequently (about daybreak). This makes hanging out with her a lot of fun, although, to be honest I don´t have the energy to do the all night clubbing thing. I´m accustomed to getting up early and surfing a lot so by the end of the day I get pretty worn out, but it´s fun trying.

Tati will be leaving for a bit though. She just got her Australian working/holiday visa and will be taking off for Brisbane to study english and teach spanish. She´ll be missed here.

Then there have been the smattering of all the other travelers. There was Ike, my first hick surfer that I´ve met. Really cool guy and made the southern drawl fit with the surf crew. Craig was an older version of Tom Mcmahon (a friend from home), just as curmodgeonly, same surfing style, it was weird how much he reminded me of Tom. Magdelena, Craig´s wife, super cool girl, the yoga teacher always in a good mood. Simon, the resident budgee (a small bird) expert, he built a cage for these birds out of a shoddy old bathroom in the backyard of the school. Brad, a friend of Chris and Vals from their time in Monterey, who does one of the best australian accent imitations of anybody I know, and he has definitely got the gift of gab. The Matts, and aussie duo of destruction, one being from Margaret River, and he is just a complete psycho (but in a good way, not like the duckwoman). Jordy, the monstrous 16 year old kid that made Pichilemu his home more than anybody else. He had a ton of chilean friends and just seemed to get along with everybody. Peter, who is the king of garabatos (what chileans say for bad words), and was the center of attention in my house just because the family consistently found him shocking. Marcelo, the brazo that stayed in the house too. The family, Pati, Pati Su, Pati Paz, Pato Andres and Claudio, they were crazy just like any other family and a lot of fun being around.

I´m going to miss everyone, but I´ll be back.

Next up, Easter Island. I´m amped. Belly button of the world, here I come.



*self given nickname so it´s debatable, but it´s comedy factor is good considering he has the Slater shaved/bald head that makes him the antithesis of Lion looking