Archive for December, 2006
Friday, December 22nd, 2006
Pinochet is Dead Movie
I made a movie of the days events after the Death of Pinochet. These are the demonstrations in downtown Santiago de Chile in the hours following 14:15 on the the 10th of December 2006.
No Comments » - Posted in Politics, Travel by Damon
Monday, December 18th, 2006
Waiting for Mechuque
The bus dropped me off at Quicaví, the end of the line, where I was promptly told by the bustling storekeeper that there was likely no accommodation to be found in town, nor, for that matter, any restaurants or place to have a snack. I though perhaps she might be persuaded to invite me in for tea or something light, but there was no hospitality in the offering at this tiny port village.
No Comments » - Posted in Travel by Damon
Monday, December 18th, 2006
Aucar: What a Bridge!
When I got up this morning, late morning again, the weather was still refusing to cooperate. Everyone had said that this kind of multiple days of rain was extremely unusual for this part of December only a few days before the official onset of summer. It’s been not only fervently raining, but cold as well, with all the sailors wearing gumboots and wooly caps, jackets at the ready, and grumbling that it should be t-shirt and shorts weather already. Climate change anyone? Al?
Wooden Bridge to Aucar Island, Chiloe, Chile
No Comments » - Posted in Travel by Damon
Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Quemchi, the City of a Thousand Views
For me, the most difficult part of travelling is always learning how and when to trust people. When I first arrive in a country, I often feel that I put up high walls, especially for those people who are trying to offer me some kind of “tourist” service…I often perceive these kinds of tourist hawkers and there wares as impersonal, and in that sense less (dare I break out the quotes again, yes!) “authentic.”
Wearing his gringo disguise, Damon surveys the outgoing tide on the way to Quemchi, Chiloé.
No Comments » - Posted in Travel by Damon
Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Pololo
In Chilean Spanish, “pololo” and “polola” mean “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” respectively, but apparently the term “pololo” is also used for these horse-sized bumblebees.
In Japan, the grasshoppers and earthworms are huge, and everything else is tiny. I guess each country gets a few oversized critters. When the used the phrase “all creatures great and small” I suppose in some cases they mean both great and small at the same time. Fly on Pololo.
(ed. note. The author was later informed that his source on this Pololo name was incorrect. Too bad, it makes a good story. The bees are still huge, though.)
