The Freaks Come Out at Night
The town of Copiapo (population approx. 30.000) has two faces and yesterday I had the opportunity to see both. During the day, there was a festival in the plaza put on by one of the candidates who is running for mayor- there were a few performers who sang before the candidate spoke, some kids putting on a drum show, children blowing bubbles and people selling all types of food. So small town.Night time was a completely different story. I went to the plaza again with some construction workers that I had met earlier in the day who were staying in the same residencial (like a hostal but people usually stay for longer- it was the cheapest place in town at only 4.000 pesos or about $7). While they drank a bottle of rum and taught me all of the bad words in the Chilean Spanish language, I was able to see the other side of the town- the groups of old drunk men lurking in the corners, the transvestites walking around (yes, even in small town Chile!), and the domestic violence that could be heard from the street. The guys designated themselves my bodyguards so I was protected, which ended up being a good thing....
By 3am, they had finished a bottle of rum, two boxes of wine (I was not drinking) and had met some other older drunk guys on the street. One of them, about 45 yrs old, could not stop complimenting my Spanish, telling me how beautiful I was and blah, blah, blah. But there we were, a group of seven, standing in a dark corner making conversation, singing songs, and basically looking like a bunch of winos. When somehow the topic of..... da da da dum(b)..... Bush came up. Well, the same guy who couldn´t control his tounge earlier had trouble again- he proceeded to tell me that all gringos should go to hell for putting someone in like Bush in office because we were annhilating (sp?- sorry Mrs. Hall!) the Iraqis as a people and culture and that in the future we will won´t be safe anywhere and will need to have bodyguards to protect us because we murdered innocent children with our missiles. He was starting to get in my face, so one of my bodyguards kindly stepped between us....
Well, he began backing away from us towards the corner of the street, all the while his voice raising as he screamed at me to get out of his country and go back to the shithole where I came from with my inconsiderate, capitalistic brothers who only care about themselves.... and he continued backing up, literally right into two police officers who were standing on the corner! They proceeded to pour out the bottle of wine that he had in his hands and put him in the back of the truck to cart him off to the drunk tank.
My bodyguards got a good laugh at that- they said basically said that he got was he deserved for treating me like that. Maybe. But that didn´t make me feel any better. Because if what goes around comes around, then does that mean that the cycle won´t ever stop?
It seems that some common sense would do us all some good, wouldn´t it? Unfortunately, common sense isn´t all that common. Shoot, maybe I didn´t have common sense for being out that late at night with a bunch of drunkards in a foreign country... but here I am, safe and sound (in Caldera, a different town, by the way). And without trying to sound defensive- I wasn´t drinking nor was I trying to hurt someone, nor did I ever feel like I was in danger. I had bodyguards (which we will all need in the future, remember?). :-)
On another note- September 11 is also the anniversary of the day that Pinochet took power in Chile. I saw on tv while eating lunch some pictures of the protests and riots that are going on RIGHT NOW in Santiago- more people without common sense (most of whome, by the way, are only in their late teens- they weren´t even born when Pinochet took over!). I don´t pretend to have all the answers, but come on- as if violence is really going to solve or change anything that has already happened.
Me with my bodyguards before lunch at the residencial.
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